[redsniper]

So, I've already been planning on getting a 500-1000 GB hard drive for Christmas, but after seeing a budget computer for sale at Wal-Mart with specs comparable to mine, I'm considering a more extensive upgrade.

Current specs are:
430W Antec Truepower
Abit IP35-E
Core 2 Duo E6320
2GB RAM
Radeon X1900XT

Video card is starting to feel a little dated, so I think I might replace that depending on how much of an upgrade I can get for a decent price. RAM is so cheap now that I'll almost certainly get more of that. I think that the mobo and CPU are still good enough to last me a while longer.

So, what are some good video cards nowadays? Looking for PCIe, let's say $300 or less (preferably less). Oh and are all the usual brands still good for hard drives? Seagate, WD, Maxtor, etc.? I've been using Maxtors for years now without much trouble, so I think I'll keep doing that, unless recent models have been exploding or something.

Thanks in advance HLP. I always value your advice.

[CP5670]

So, what are some good video cards nowadays? Looking for PCIe, let's say $300 or less (preferably less).

Look at the 4870 1GB and GTX 260-216, which are both around $230. They are comparable and trade blows depending on the game. Those are probably the best deals right now. There should be an updated 55nm 260 coming in the next few months, but it's probably going to be only a slight improvement over the current one.

I've been using Maxtors for years now without much trouble, so I think I'll keep doing that, unless recent models have been exploding or something.

Maxtor has not existed for a few years now. They were bought by Seagate quite a while ago.

The sweet spots in terms of price/capacity ratio seem to be 750GB and 1TB right now. The Hitachi drives were slightly faster than the Seagate and WD ones but also ran a bit warmer, last I checked.

[Spicious]

If you're getting a 1TB, go for the Samsung.

[chief1983]

Yeah the Seagate 1TB and 1.5TB drives have been having issues.  Newer models have updated firmware supposedly, but there's no guarantee yours wouldn't have been on the shelf for a while.  The Spinpoint F1 is one of the most underrated drives on the market.  Any Samsung drive actually performs amazingly well these days, and they also have more data/platter than any of their competitors in the 1TB drives I believe.

[redsniper]

they also have more data/platter than any of their competitors in the 1TB drives I believe.

Wait, how can this be? Don't hard drives have the same sized platters? Wouldn't any 1TB hard drive have the same data/platter?

[Bob-san]

Your core system looks alright. I have an IP35-E as well, but I have an E2140 with it. Anyways--look at a Radeon HD 4830 for about $100. Those are a good upgrade and are (dirt) cheap. Other than that, more RAM? Another 2x1GB set should make your computer a good bit faster. The E6320 could probably be swapped out with an E5200--but that's $82 or so right there and I have heard that 45nm support has been shoddy with the IP35-E's. If Abit would live up to their promises of 45nm support or you could force them to, it'd be all good.

[chief1983]

Redsniper, the F1 uses one less platter for the same amount of space.  It was either 3 vs 4 or 4 vs 5.

[Spicious]

Samsung uses 3, Hitachi uses 5 and the rest use 4.

[chief1983]

Ok so yeah.  Samsung was able to get a whopping 333 GB on one platter, as opposed to at best 250 for anyone else.  Their drives are also supposedly incredibly quiet.

[Bob-san]

Ok so yeah.  Samsung was able to get a whopping 333 GB on one platter, as opposed to at best 250 for anyone else.  Their drives are also supposedly incredibly quiet.

Actually Western Digital has 334GB platters too. They use them on their new Caviar SE16 320GB drives (single-platter) and their Caviar SE16 640GB drives (dual-platter). I don't know about the others though. I would assume WD is using the same 334GB platter design on at least their more recent Caviar GP and Black 1TB drives as well, but I could be wrong. I am 98% sure that Seagate was well has 334GB platters in some of their drives at least.

[chief1983]

Ok, well this article is a bit old, so it might be wrong now, but here.

[redsniper]

Oh... OH! Multiple platters, that makes sense.

[redsniper]

So I went ahead and got the Samsung and got it formatted and such. Then I come to find out that it intermittently stops being detected by Windows when I try to copy files to it. So I reboot and see that it doesn't even show up in POST sometimes. After doing some research (which I guess I should have done before getting this) it turns out that this is a fairly common problem with this drive, on any OS.

So, I guess I'll try returning this to Samsung. In the meantime, what are some other good 1TB hard drives? Some of the troubleshooting threads I've seen have mentioned the WD Black Caviar, which I'm leaning towards getting.

[Bob-san]

@redsniper: This may help you: http://www.tigerdirect.com/. I buy my parts here and I saved about $200 when I bought my Athlon 6000+ processor here. Of course read the reviews of customers and products to make yourself feel better. One tip is to never get something that is used when buying software or hardware, I feel.

I have a Maxtor hard drive but I heard that Seagate is a good brand. When it comes to processor, I think Athlon is better than Intel. Well, at least when it comes to certain things, like price and power. But Intel might have better firmware inside the processor. But when you pay more for an Intel, you are mostly buying the name.

I always manually build my pc. Buying it in a proprietary fashion isn't as upgradable and is very limited in compatibility with other parts, when buying a Dell for example vs a home made computer piece by piece. It may only be able to work with a Dell video card, for example, or whatever video card a Dell uses. It might also cost more since they built it for you. Depends on the parts inside too.

So long as you have an appropriate connection, there's not really anything proprietary with monitors.

Anyways--my new WD CavBlack 1TB is working fine. They're worth a look.

[Ghostavo]

When it comes to processor, I think Athlon is better than Intel. Well, at least when it comes to certain things, like price and power. But Intel might have better firmware inside the processor. But when you pay more for an Intel, you are mostly buying the name.

Wait, what? Intel's 45nm (at least) processors draw less power than AMD's while still being better performance wise.

[Bob-san]

By the way--my WD Black 1TB has been running for just a week. It's going well, basically. Other than that, long warranty period and I've not heard of any issues.

Anyways--AMD has an advantage at some price points. $55 motherboard (Foxconn AMD780V+SB700) and $50 processor (Athlon X2 5000+) is very difficult to beat. At low price-points, AMD has a big advantage with their 65nm parts. Other then that, AMD still does well gaming. The difference between Intel and AMD with the low-end and the mainstream is slim.

[BloodEagle]

You use stock fans? 

[ssmit132]

You use stock fans? 

For most users the stock fan is perfectly adequate. I suppose if you have a gaming machine, you want uber fans though... Or liquid cooling (you could try filling up your case with cooking oil or something ).

[Bob-san]

This applies to several people in this thread....

Can we stop this? I don't mean to be rude, but you'll sound more intelligent with your head removed from your nether region. Know your facts and at least know where to get your figures when you're talking about computer hardware. Otherwise, you'll sound worse then the guys that do the podcast over at PC Gamer. Those guys are idiots, especially talking about computer hardware. Anyways--back to my point. If you're going to say something about the pros or the cons of AMDs and Intels, please know enough to back it up with fact, even if you don't cite it. If you want the real information, avoid mainstream forums and go for the center of the overclocking or hardware world: XtremeSystems. Even if they're not writing the news (they're often the source of the news), the new forum there is a good guide towards which reviews are BS and which are not. Beyond that, you can check the various sections on a tonne of information on overclocking, configurations, results, and basically everything that has to do with computer hardware.

[Ghostavo]

I meant performance when I said power (powerful), not power consumption.

Then it's even worse than you think.

I agree with you that AMD has an advantage with agressive pricing, but only because that's the only thing they have right now. Overall (power consumption, performance, you name it) since the Core 2, Intel has been way ahead. I just hope that AMD can launch something significant in time so that Intel is forced to lower the price of their Core i7.

Here's something interesting to look at, althought it's one of the most loopsided charts as there are much more balanced ones, but it's from a real life program.