Looking to buy a new system

[Demolition Man]

Okay here's where I stand at the moment....

A) I know that I want to have at least 1 gig of RAM inside the box.

B) I'm not certain if I should go for a Athlon 64 or a Semperon processor. My main uses are DVD authoring, music work (recording/mastering/etc), some gaming (mostly Flight Sim 04, Fable, and a few emus), and of course web and e-mail and the like. For those needs should I either go for a Athlon 64 based unit or will a Semperon one be just fine.

C) Are any systems these days still including AGP ports? My current box is running off of an ATI Radeon 9600 card with 128 megs of RAM on it. I can't see throwing it away but if I have to ditch it for a PCI-E card which one should I get that will do the job for me (and free up the potential 128-256 megs that the onboard card would use up).

Thanks CAG in advance. :D

[erehwon]

A) You can get that easily.

B) Don't even consider a Semperon. The Athlons aren't that much more, but you might have a problem finding companies that use them. I don't think Dell sells desktops with AMD processors. Someone correct if I'm wrong?

C) I would say most pre-built systems from Dell, HP, Compaq, etc. are using pcie now.

For pre-built systems, you can usually find good coupons for Dell. I'm not sure who makes the best pre-built systems.

[Full_Throttle]

Hmm, I would go with a Dell or HP prebuilt; they have good reputations. If you would want to buy a replacement card for a computer, it would most likely be PCIex16, since those are standard for nVidia cards (which I believe are better all around than Radeon). I would choose to go with... DUAL 7950GX2 FOR UBER OWN!!!!1!!1! Not. How 'bout a 7300GT? 256mb onboard RAM. Check it out here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125036

Good luck on your search!

[Moxio]

Okay here's where I stand at the moment....

A) I know that I want to have at least 1 gig of RAM inside the box.

B) I'm not certain if I should go for a Athlon 64 or a Semperon processor. My main uses are DVD authoring, music work (recording/mastering/etc), some gaming (mostly Flight Sim 04, Fable, and a few emus), and of course web and e-mail and the like. For those needs should I either go for a Athlon 64 based unit or will a Semperon one be just fine.

C) Are any systems these days still including AGP ports? My current box is running off of an ATI Radeon 9600 card with 128 megs of RAM on it. I can't see throwing it away but if I have to ditch it for a PCI-E card which one should I get that will do the job for me (and free up the potential 128-256 megs that the onboard card would use up).

Thanks CAG in advance. :D

1_ 1 GB of RAM is actually becoming the minimum, ESPECIALLY if you want to play any modern games. 512 will only get you decent surfing, email, and word-processing. If you plan to use any multimedia programs (video editing, etc.) or games you'll want 1 GB+ and a large hard drive(s). Thankfully, 1 GB of RAM is fairly cheap, and 2 GB is reasonable (Low- to mid-100's).

2_ Athlon 64 is definitely better than a Sempron.

3_ AGP is becoming obsolete, as PCI-E is going to take over the graphics market (just like AGP made PCI obsolete). You'll certainly want to stick with a 16xPCI-E if you want to play games in the (somewhat) long-run.