New WoW Machine

[Kevin]

Intel vs AMD. Doesn't matter. The problems most people say with older AMD processors were generally the fault of the chipsets (even in the Athlon early days). I was very soured on VIA for awhile because of this. Intel being so much larger and having the ability to mass produce their own chipsets was a big deal for them in the stability arena. Now it doesn't matter. NVidia and VIA both make very solid and stable chipsets for the AMD platforms. Intel and AMD both make very solid processors that perform well. I suggest you let your wallet make your decision here.

Motherboards: Contrary to what Roland said, ECS is fine if you use their boards for what they are intended for. A low cost basic solution that you won't be overclocking or planning on upgrading what is in there much after you build the system. All the ECS boards I have used have been stable basic boards. However I'm generally and ASUS man though I'm waning a bit recently, I've noticed that there seem to be some quality control issues if you get one of their lower end (i.e. not labeled deluxe) level boards. Gigabyte is fine though they still have a tendency to have major differences in the same "model" of board depending on what revision you get. That annoys me personally. When DDR 333 will work in rev .08 but not rev .07 or other stuff like that but all the marketing is for the latest rev of the board, well that turns me off. The products however are solid once you figure out what you are actually getting. No real issues or comments on Abit, MSI or Tyan though I've used less of them.

As Roland said when pricing keep an eye on what is included. Some of the cheaper motherboards become more expensive when you have to go and get SATA cables or what not.

Sound: I've heard of the soundcard you mentioned but that is the sum of my experience with it. Creative is the standard for the home market, but I've had some horrible installation issues with some of their cards at times, still I stick with them despite some of the installation issues. Of course a lot of the onboard sound options now are actually very solid and low on CPU usage as well since they have real onboard processing. A lot of the interferance and crosstalk issues that older onboard solutions have are gone as well. Very likely that you will end up with a motherboard with onboard sound and LAN and there generally isn't a reason to not use them. However there are still several very popular host based audio options on motherboards, I'd stay away from those still if that is going to be your primary sound.

Mac vs Intel: OS X has really made Macs nice systems to use in many ways. They are a lot more stable than they used to be and can actually multi task now for one. However there is still an application gap between the platforms. Macs are still more expensive for the equivalent power in nearly every case as well. I will no longer tell anyone to stay away from Macs anymore but I'm definitely a PC man.

General reading. I still think the Anandtech pricing and buyers guides are a good basic source of info to help with planning what to get and what might work for you. Tom's and Arstechnica are of course great resources as well.


I ran my own computer consulting and system building company out of my home from 97 till 2000 when it got to big for running out of the house and I decided to get back into school instead of taking the plunge and getting a store front. I haven't done as much work since 04 on and pretty much non this year because of my condition. But I just figured I'd let you know where I'm coming from. I'll be glad to give more specific thoughts and info if you want.