To build or to Mac?

[Battie]

Hello everyone. I am finally in a position to get a new computer, but I am torn.

I can get an iMac 17" with a student discount for $1199. I will not need to purchase any new software, because the one program upon which I rely most heavily will work on OS X.

I can also build a PC for less than $1000, including the screen. These are the parts I'm looking at:

- ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard
-Antec SUPER LANBOY Silver anodized aluminum ATX Mini Tower Computer Case - Retail
-GENERIC 18" 2-Head Red SATA (SERIAL ATA 150) Cable Model SERIAL ATA 18 - OEM
-NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - OEM
-ASPIRE CF12SL-UBL 120mm Blue LED Light Cooling Fan - Retail
-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
-pqi TURBO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model PQI25400-2GDB - Retail
-BenQ FP91G+ Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor - Retail
Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W Power Supply - Retail
-AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail
-POWERCOLOR X800GTO256MBDDR3 Radeon X800GTO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail


Good stuff? Am I missing anything?

The problem I'm having with this is that I have no idea what to do about OS. Can I run 32 bit applications on a 64 bit processor? What do I do while I wait for Vista to come out? Can I use the beta and then buy a license?

If I have to upgrade all my applications, I may end up spending at lot more money on the self-built than the Mac.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[A Taffer]

Hello everyone. I am finally in a position to get a new computer, but I am torn.

I can get an iMac 17" with a student discount for $1199. I will not need to purchase any new software, because the one program upon which I rely most heavily will work on OS X.

I can also build a PC for less than $1000, including the screen. These are the parts I'm looking at:

- ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard
-Antec SUPER LANBOY Silver anodized aluminum ATX Mini Tower Computer Case - Retail
-GENERIC 18" 2-Head Red SATA (SERIAL ATA 150) Cable Model SERIAL ATA 18 - OEM
-NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - OEM
-ASPIRE CF12SL-UBL 120mm Blue LED Light Cooling Fan - Retail
-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
-pqi TURBO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model PQI25400-2GDB - Retail
-BenQ FP91G+ Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor - Retail
Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W Power Supply - Retail
-AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail
-POWERCOLOR X800GTO256MBDDR3 Radeon X800GTO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail


Good stuff? Am I missing anything?

The problem I'm having with this is that I have no idea what to do about OS. Can I run 32 bit applications on a 64 bit processor? What do I do while I wait for Vista to come out? Can I use the beta and then buy a license?

If I have to upgrade all my applications, I may end up spending at lot more money on the self-built than the Mac.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

The Athlon 64's run in 32 and 64 bit mode so yes you can run Windows Xp and your 32 bit applications on it just fine. The parts you have selected are good parts, they would make a fine pc. I would not recommend getting the beta because its still in the testing stage where the bugs are being worked out. If your programs run fine in Xp why get Vista unless you really need it? If you want to run something in 64 bit mode you will need Vista later. Just install it next to Xp or wipe your harddrive and reinstall after backing up your data. The only thing I can think is missing is a keyboard and a mouse and sound speakers (optional) (your motherboard has built in sound). Have fun with your decision.

 

[Battie]

The Athlon 64's run in 32 and 64 bit mode so yes you can run Windows Xp and your 32 bit applications on it just fine. The parts you have selected are good parts, they would make a fine pc. I would not recommend getting the beta because its still in the testing stage where the bugs are being worked out. If your programs run fine in Xp why get Vista unless you really need it? If you want to run something in 64 bit mode you will need Vista later. Just install it next to Xp or wipe your harddrive and reinstall after backing up your data. The only thing I can think is missing is a keyboard and a mouse and sound speakers (optional) (your motherboard has built in sound). Have fun with your decision.

Haha, keyboard and mouse. I would forget that.

I figured I'd be happier with Vista because either way I'm going to have to pay for the OS (my laptop is running of an OEM liscence, so that's not going anywhere) and I wanted to be as up to date as possible. I also like the new features and want to try them out. Does Vista also have a 32 bit mode?

Thank you for your advice. I feel better about building my own system if things will still work.

 

[micro]

Yep mac's are great unless you are a gammer.

Rember thaat vista will be utilizing dx10. The x800 series isnt capable of using dx10.(directx 10 high def) but i dont know that even the x1900 is capable of it either.

 

[A Taffer]

Haha, keyboard and mouse. I would forget that.

I figured I'd be happier with Vista because either way I'm going to have to pay for the OS (my laptop is running of an OEM liscence, so that's not going anywhere) and I wanted to be as up to date as possible. I also like the new features and want to try them out. Does Vista also have a 32 bit mode?

Thank you for your advice. I feel better about building my own system if things will still work.

As far as I know Vista will be 64 bit with a 32 bit application that allows them to run just as Xp is 32 but allows 16 bits to run. Not entirely sure on this but Microsoft has said the 32 bit ones should still run just fine. I don't know if they will release 32 and 64 bit or just have them in one.

 

[Battie]

Yep mac's are great unless you are a gammer.

Rember thaat vista will be utilizing dx10. The x800 series isnt capable of using dx10.(directx 10 high def) but i dont know that even the x1900 is capable of it either.

Ick. Can you recommend a card that can handle it? They seem to get very expensive after the x800 series...

And just to note: I'm not a gamer, but I do intense work with Corel Painter, and I need something that can handle that without overheating or being sluggish (both are current problems for me).

 

[A Taffer]

Ick. Can you recommend a card that can handle it? They seem to get very expensive after the x800 series...

And just to note: I'm not a gamer, but I do intense work with Corel Painter, and I need something that can handle that without overheating or being sluggish (both are current problems for me).

If Corel says you need a DX10 (Direct X) card to handle a new version you want, usually the manufacturer will specify what version of DX their newest cards can use. It'll say on the box to if it needs the new DX10, if not, then you are ok. Just about any video card out there can handle what you are using if it has at least 128mb memory which is kind of standard these days. For programs like that though you'd benefit from 256mb, and those are aplenty too. DX10 isn't even out yet so its not something to worry about just yet but keep it in mind.

 

[Battie]

If Corel says you need a DX10 (Direct X) card to handle a new version you want, usually the manufacturer will specify what version of DX their newest cards can use. It'll say on the box to if it needs the new DX10, if not, then you are ok. Just about any video card out there can handle what you are using if it has at least 128mb memory which is kind of standard these days. For programs like that though you'd benefit from 256mb, and those are aplenty too. DX10 isn't even out yet so its not something to worry about just yet but keep it in mind.

Well, as far as that goes Painter should be fine. I'm using version 8 on Windows XP on a laptop with a cheap Radeon card that grabs 64 mb out of the system memory. *Anything* has to be better than that.

I was more concerned about Vista with that comment. I could just stick with XP like you said, but I would really like to not have to upgrade this thing for a while.

 

[A Taffer]

Well as far as a DX10 card, just wait until some models are released and get one that fits your budget, they always release high end expensive ones and low end cheap ones. I wasn't able to find some cards planned from Nvidia and eVGA and ATI so far I bet they will release more information on future models soon.

 

[Quantos]

I don't know if MS is still offering it, but they did have the public Beta of Vista for $10 for the 32&64Bit Versions of the DVDs shipped to ya, or free downloads.

Before you worry about 64Bit versions of windows (I'm using 32bit XP on an AMD64 with no issues), unless your applications also use the 64Bit version, or your using over 4G of memory (I doubt with the budget your building under), the only advantage you'll get (and it can be big though) is with an AMD64X2, is the Dual core (Running the apps & os on seperate cores

 

[tall73]

I would stick with xp. Whatever nice features you get in Vista are offset by the higher resources usage.

 

[Battie]

If I'm understanding you all correctly, I might be happiest forgetting Vista and getting 32-bit Windows XP Professional? It's legal for me to buy the OEM version since I'm also buying parts, right (newegg sells it, so I would assume it's okay...)?

At first I wasn't too thrilled at the idea of being stuck on an OS that might soon become obsolete, but it would save me a lot of money (on the video card) and trouble worrying about my programs. So at work I was thinking that I might make some flavor of Linux (any recommendations?) as my main OS and use Windows only for my art applications.

How does all that sound?

 

[Quantos]

If I'm understanding you all correctly, I might be happiest forgetting Vista and getting 32-bit Windows XP Professional? It's legal for me to buy the OEM version since I'm also buying parts, right (newegg sells it, so I would assume it's okay...)?

At first I wasn't too thrilled at the idea of being stuck on an OS that might soon become obsolete, but it would save me a lot of money (on the video card) and trouble worrying about my programs. So at work I was thinking that I might make some flavor of Linux (any recommendations?) as my main OS and use Windows only for my art applications.

How does all that sound?

Yes, you can buy the OEM version (they may also have win xp64)

and about it being obsolete, rember microsoft on;y this year stoped supporting win 98

 

[A Taffer]

If I'm understanding you all correctly, I might be happiest forgetting Vista and getting 32-bit Windows XP Professional? It's legal for me to buy the OEM version since I'm also buying parts, right (newegg sells it, so I would assume it's okay...)?

At first I wasn't too thrilled at the idea of being stuck on an OS that might soon become obsolete, but it would save me a lot of money (on the video card) and trouble worrying about my programs. So at work I was thinking that I might make some flavor of Linux (any recommendations?) as my main OS and use Windows only for my art applications.

How does all that sound?

I just suggested sticking with Windows Xp because it sounds to me what you are doing will work in Xp and the video cards that are out now including the one you selected will work just fine. Vista is a nicer upgrade and has more features but you pay more money for 1) Vista and 2) a Vista compatible DX10 video card. Xp will be supported for at least the next 8 years. You would save money. Linux is a good choice for an alternative OS if you like that, FreeBSD too, (a Unix variant which MacOS is based off of). Many flavors out there.

 

[zoziw]

I can get an iMac 17" with a student discount for $1199. I will not need to purchase any new software, because the one program upon which I rely most heavily will work on OS X.

Two pages, good grief, just get the Mac.

 

[Battie]

Two pages, good grief, just get the Mac.

Haha, I wondered why no one had spoken up for the Mac yet.

However, I am really leaning toward building. Macs are awesome, but building my own computer will be a great learning experience and I will save a few hundred bucks.

 

[rdale]

From the specs of the components that you've chosen... you would be very happy with the performance I think.

Couple things to consider... you said that you're not a gamer so the DX10 capable card is a non issue. The beta version of Vista performs superb on only DX9 cards now, and will in the future... keep in mind what you want to do with the new computer. Working with graphics seems to be the most demanding task that you'll be throwing at it so... you could even go for a slightly cheaper card that would meet your specs for now, then give it a year or so, let the prices come down, then shop for a card that would amaze you.

Two gigs of DDR2 ram, that hard drive with a 16meg buffer, and the speed of the processor... I don't think that you'll be wanting for graphics or performance.

If it were me... I'd build the system with your chosen components, run Vista beta until Vista is released (it wont cost you anything for now, and we're only talking months now ). Then, format the disk, install the release version of Vista, wait for a good price on a newer graphics card if you still need it. Being this close to Vista coming out, with the specs of your components, I think you'ld prolly wish that you had waited for the new OS.

2¢

 

[Battie]

From the specs of the components that you've chosen... you would be very happy with the performance I think.

Couple things to consider... you said that you're not a gamer so the DX10 capable card is a non issue. The beta version of Vista performs superb on only DX9 cards now, and will in the future... keep in mind what you want to do with the new computer. Working with graphics seems to be the most demanding task that you'll be throwing at it so... you could even go for a slightly cheaper card that would meet your specs for now, then give it a year or so, let the prices come down, then shop for a card that would amaze you.

Two gigs of DDR2 ram, that hard drive with a 16meg buffer, and the speed of the processor... I don't think that you'll be wanting for graphics or performance.

If it were me... I'd build the system with your chosen components, run Vista beta until Vista is released (it wont cost you anything for now, and we're only talking months now ). Then, format the disk, install the release version of Vista, wait for a good price on a newer graphics card if you still need it. Being this close to Vista coming out, with the specs of your components, I think you'ld prolly wish that you had waited for the new OS.

2¢

Yay, now I'm getting excited.

I visited the Vista site last night and beta testing is closed. :-( Do I have any other options? That sorta stinks.

Is it true that the official release has been pushed back to July? I wish I could wait until it comes out, but I really need a new computer like, a year ago. :-D

 

[rdale]

Give me a couple days to check... maybe someone else would know... I think that it's possible to get a second key if you already have one, like for a different computer. Need to find out if it's legal to give someone else the key if yours is still ok. If it's possible/legal, I'll send it to you in a pm. Sorry, I haven't kept up with the release dates...

 

[rdale]

Sorry Battie, looks like you'll need to use XP. You should be able to use the "Home" version as opposed to the "Pro" version to save a few bucks for now. Then, get Vista when it comes out, if you still want it... good thing is... the specs are good on your computer hardware-wise.