New computer: Cube or sonata? and many other questions

Iwantbatteries · 11-18-03, 06:11 PM

Well I'm going to start buying things for the new computer I'm making and there are a couple major decisions I must make before I start

so make you voice herad and decide where I spend my money

Case:
Antec Sonata-
Pros-very quiet, nice looking, mid size case is easier to work in
Cons- Needs to be dusted regularly, scratches easily
Shuttle XPC-
Pros- small, will fit on one of my shelves instead of on top of desk, easy to lug to LAN parties
Cons- Hard to work in, low heat disapattion, more expensive
Name Brand beige case- Inexpensive solution, usually fits the bill, not particularly attactive.

Processor- 3 dollar cost difference is insignificant
Athlon XP 3000-Motherboard will cost me less, higher benchmarks for games higher synthetic benchmarks
Pentium 4 2.8gHz- 800mHz front side bus, higher 3d benchmarks

Hard drive
Serial ATA-Faster acces times, larger cache, more expensive
ATA- Same long term transfer rate, cheaper

Graphix cards:
Radeon 9500 pro: Better prerformace, 50$ more
Radeon 9600 Pro: Good performance, less expensive.

the big think i can't decide on is the case and gphx card, the others I'm leaning towards intel and SATA. Anybody got any thoughts?

Null · 11-19-03, 01:04 AM

I personally prefer AMD as far as processors, and definantly get the 9600 Pro or even the XT (as far as I know it performs better than the 9500). As for the case a shuttle would be nice, but they aren't too cheap, and you can't go wrong with good old beige :D. For the hard drives I don't think 1st generation SATA is really that much faster (unless it's a WS Raptor) but they're also not that much more expensive (and Seagate makes nice drives). Well there are my suggestions.

Iwantbatteries · 11-19-03, 08:18 PM

Ya, if I get SATA I'll prolly go with the raptor, But the raptor makes a little too much heat for a mini-PC, so that would probably only be in the sonata