I got a question for a nerd. Building a new computer

[mleichtle]

Would I see any difference in any of these for what I do?

Newegg.com - ZOTAC GF8200-C-E AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8200 Mini ITX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards with a quad core under $150.

Newegg.com - ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Atom N330 1.6GHz Dual-Core 441 NVIDIA ION Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo - Motherboard / CPU / VGA Combo

Newegg.com - ZOTAC IONITX-C-U Intel Atom N230 Mini ITX ION Platform Motherboard/CPU Combo with 90W PSU - Motherboard / CPU / VGA Combo

Mostly web surfing but I do some light cad work, alittle photo and video editing, and play with blender. And I want to start exploring the relm of HTPC. I also share with my two kids, have there own profile in xp, and always leave some program running and slows me down.

My current system is 6 or 7 years old athalon 64 2800. Lately I've been noticing my grafics are a little slower with some of those funny games on facebook.

[thrytis]

If you're looking for CAD, photo, and video editing, your first one is probably going to be a lot better since those tasks rely heavily on your processor, and the atom processors in the other two will be limiting. I think any of those should be fine for video playback on a HTPC providing you are using software that can take advantages of the video processor.

[natausch]

I would be a little concerned with a dual-core Atom's ability to handle CAD. They're great cheap little processors, but their ability to handle intense graphic programs is marginal. The first one looks promising, but it depends on your monitor inputs.

1. Are you staying with your existing case? If so, what form factor?
2. What type of monitor do you have? The first one is HDMI output, so if your monitor only acceps VGA connections you may be stuck with one of the second two
3. What is your model/manufacturer of your current computer? If it was homebrew please list Motherboard, memory, and hard drive models

Other things to think about is your hard drive. 6-7 years ago IDE was the standard, now SATA is even starting to look old. Swapping out your hard drive would cost more, but they're cheap right now. Same with memory, odds are you don't have DDR800, heck not even sure you have DDR400 so your memory might not be compatable.

But your first step should be to download a spy/adware program (like Adaware) and make sure your slowdowns aren't software related. Kids can wreck havoc on a computer downloading free programs full of spyware.

If you want to post your budget I should be able to help pull together some specs/ordering location in a day or two.

[dbhost]

The atom is a great little chip for Grandma to check her email, and share recipes with, but beyond that, not so much...

[jziegler]

Another thing is that I've never heard of Zotac. They might be a good brand that I've never heard of, but I'd check reviews. A cheap motherboard might be no bargin if it dies right after the warrenty expires. Buying from a well known manufacturer might cost a bit more, but might have better reliability. I've personally had good success with Asus, but there are other good names out there. As I said, it might be a good one that I just don't know, but check it out before you buy.

[Uncle Cracker]

One other bug-a-boo that might bite you is that AutoCad doesn't play well with NVidia graphics cards until you get up to the (high-priced) Quadro vidcards. Autodesk does not support the lower-priced NVidia cards/drivers, and results are "unpredictable" (I prefer to say they are predictably bad). If you are using a different CAD program, you may not see the same troubles, but if you are an ACad'er, go for an AMD/ATI-based graphics card instead.

[Salty]

I don't use CAD so I was not aware of the issue with Nvidia. Interesting.
I recently went with a Biostar MCP6P M2+. It takes the earlier Athlon 64 chips and with a bios flash it will work with many of the newer ones. Mine has a dual core Athlon II regor at 2.9 and it loads and runs Photoshop a lot faster than the LE-1640 single core did. It isn't a high end board but it has been rock stable for months.
I tend to avoid any mainboard brand that does not provide cpu compatibility information. Zotiac and MSI both have issues listing that information. Gigabyte is another good brand IMHO.

[LarryG]

I don't use CAD so I was not aware of the issue with Nvidia. Interesting.

The flip side of that is that Google SketchUp doesn't always play nicely with ATI and Intel cards, to the point the publisher doesn't recommend them. From the SketchUp web site:

SketchUp's performance relies heavily on the graphics card driver and it's ability to support OpenGL 1.5 or higher. Historically, people have seen problems with ATI Radeon cards and Intel based cards with SketchUp. We don't recommend using these graphics cards with SketchUp at this time.

I mention this because SketchUp has proven itself to be an amazingly useful design tool for woodworkers, made all the better because it's free (for the non-Pro version, which very few people need). With more and more woodworkers learning to use SketchUp its needs might be something to consider when building a new computer system. I have ATI cards in both my office and home boxes, and they work more or less okay with SketchUp, but I do see quite a bit of freezing and strange artifacts on my office system when the model gets to be large and complex. It's annoying enough that I'm semi-shopping for a replacement Nvidia card (the CAD software we use, DataCAD, isn't as particular as AutoCAD).

[Uncle Cracker]

Larry, don't know how old that info on the SketchUp site is, but ATI cards have been fully supporting OpenGL 2.0 for some time now.

[LarryG]

Larry, don't know how old that info on the SketchUp site is, but ATI cards have been fully supporting OpenGL 2.0 for some time now.

Which is what I have installed (actually it's 2.1.something as I recall). I still get artifacts and freezing, and I've read many reports from others with the same problems.

[Uncle Cracker]

Which is what I have installed (actually it's 2.1.something as I recall). I still get artifacts and freezing, and I've read many reports from others with the same problems.

Hmmm... I find myself wondering why somebody can't make cards and drivers to work with all the standards. Seems to me that's what standards are for. Frustrating...

[LinuxRandal]

Hmmm... Seems to me that's what standards are for. Frustrating...

ROTFLMAO.....

Thinking of the whole Microsoft and standards thing. Especially the OOXML thing.

[Uncle Cracker]

Well, MS is a special case. They've always tried to create and enforce a monopoly... But when you make graphics cards, it doesn't make sense to make them so they won't work with all mainstream software... That's just shooting yourself in the foot.

[KenBurris]

Sketchup

The warning shown is current.

I recently fired up Sketchup 6.4.112, and got a popup that Sketchup 7 was now available. The download instructions for XP carry the above warning.