So ive been running my single cored computer for too long, time to upgrade. I'll keep my current case/dvddrives/hdds/soundcard/etc. Current rig: AMD64 3800 Newcastle MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum 2GB Corsair XMS TwinX2048-3200PT BFG OC GeForce 7800GS 256MB (AGP) Ive got an Ultra X-Finity (2nd Generation) 500 Watt PSU lying around i could use for the new build. Comp mostly for gaming tho i do use PS/DW and little video editing. Since i dont 'upgrade' often so im thinkin quad over duo extreme for some 'future proofing' but i can be persuaded otherwise. Not really planning on SLi/CF, i can deal with 5 less fps. Budget around $500~600. Im thinkin q6600 for the cpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115017 very unsure of a good mobo 2gb of some higher end (corsair/ocz)? ddr3 ram 1 placeholder videocard with leftovers (anything is better than agp right?)
Corsair DDR3 Ram. I would suggestion 4Gb, but with your budget, 2Gb of at least DDR3 will be really nice. Get a high end montherboard for future upgrades. Quad cores can be buggy / not support a lot of games, but it's being worked on. Still a lot of computing power there.
I've never heard of Quad Cores being buggy or a lack of support for gaming. If you use XP then get 2GB, if you're doing Vista go for 4GB. The EVGA 790i motherboard is a beast. That's for SLi setup. I'm not too familiar with the Crossfire motherboards yet. Up until recently ATI didn't have the best cards. Although now you could still argue that nVidia has the best single GPU cards out there, or at least comparable. I'd probably still go for an nVidia in your price range. For your price range.... Here's a decent MB for DDR3 memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813157131 For DDR2 you can't go wrong with Gigabyte: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128078
I'll be using my current HDDs so ill be running XP --- so ill be going 2GB of DDR3. im thinkin this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820145183 i also looked at this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820145182 but its $30 more expensive and the only difference i noticed is the larger heatspreader. is there any other difference? So if i do get a mobo made for SLi does that mean it wont work optimally if i get an ATi card or vice versa? I'm not planning for SLi/CF anyway so are there any mobos out there that will give me the same performance as a SLi/CF ready mobo but with just one PCIe x16 slot, just so its cheaper. ie this one for $40 cheaper http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813157135
Im pretty sure if you get a sli mobo it will give you a shadow card to put in the other slot. I don't think it matters though it may be cheaper to buy just with 1 slot not really sure though. I would suggest the Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale over the Core 2 Quad, in all the fps charts and timings I have seen the C2Duo 8500 has out performed the C2Quad 6600.
^I can roll with that. ATM my new parts are lookin like this, nothin in stone so keep the criticisms/advice comin: C2D E8500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115036 ASRock P45TS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813157135 Corsair 2GB DDR3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820145183 that leaves me with ~$100 for a video card
intel has new CPUs out in a few months buying a q6600 for future proofing is in my opinion fail. e7200 for NOW proofing. $120 (overclocks more or less the same as the e8500 but costs half as much, a 4Ghz c2d is a good chip regardless of how much l2 cache it has) biostar p45 board $110 2GB micron based DDR2 RAM(DDR3 costs 4 times as much and performance is largely the same overall) $30 HD4850 $170 remember gaming performance is usually 90% video card, 10% CPU-memory performance, so spend accordingly.
Kind of why I mentioned no need for a Quad Core. That's meant for more intense applications that require Memory (RAM) and Processing power. Such as designing, video, and other types of work. However, they still typically required just high-end RAM. Which DDR3 offers even at it's lowest.
explain to me how DDR3 is of benefit on intel's current systems which use off chip memory controllers and have a system bus which is all but maxed out by DDR2. if the max memory bandwidth a chipset at 1700mts can provide is 6800mb/s and DDR2 is able to give over 8000mb/s then it's pointless. and yes you could overclock the northbridge faster to say 2000FSB, but at that point you'd have to relax the chipsets timings and you'll get WORSE memory subsystem performance than if you'de stayed at around 1800-1850(which has a theoretical cap of 7400mb/s or so) and used a more aggressive memory strap setting. as it stands many people who are benchmarking and going for world records are still hanging onto their DDR2 kits because there are times when DDR2 is faster. as it is performance gains from apps which are sensitive to memory performance are in the low single digits. I've heard people say between 1-2% on average. now on intel's new platform which uses an integrated memory controller and supports trichannel memory... yes DDR3 will be of benefit, but in that case you have no other choice anyway. behold the glory of DDR3 http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2989&p=7 now admittedly the kits that most would buy today are better than the ones in the review, but just look at the performance diference between DDR2-800 6-6-6(which is absolute ---- WAY crappy) and the highest DDR3 single digit differences not even worth thinking about. Where DDR3 is useful would be situations where you need lower power consumption
Ok well true, but if he does utilize DDR2, then he needs to get high end stuff, and not the crap like 6400 or some sh*t... Don't really want to start a fight here or anything, just trying to help him out getting him the highest end stuff he can get. But, seems like you know your stuff, you I'll give you the floor. I'm still learning more technical details as I gain more knowledge about PC specifics.
I'm using DDR2-533(PC 4300) in my system. I have it overclocked to DDR2-900 4-3-3 though. And I've tested the kit and it does in fact do DDR2-1200 at reasonable volts. with RAM it's not about ratings it's about the chip being used. a G0 revision e6700 will hit around 100-400mhz more than a B2 revision x6800.
hows this setup according to ya: e7200 $120 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115052 BIOSTAR TForce TP45D2-A7 $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813138127 CORSAIR Dominator 2GB $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820145043 SAPPHIRE Radeon Toxic HD 4850 512MB $180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814102760 Subtotal $450 I never even heard of biostar before this so i picked that one because it was in my price range. EDIT: Newegg had the TForce I45 but it was 'open box' (just realized).
if you want to spend half as much on RAM I can tell you that these have micron d9 ICs in them http://www.tankguys.com/product_info.php?c...roducts_id=1805 I'm surprised it looks like DDR2 is on the way up as far as pricing goes it was $30 for the good stuff(if you got lucky you could find some for $15-25 after rebate) now it's around $40
looks like newegg just dropped the price of a better biostar mobo so ill prob be switching to that one BIOSTAR TForce TP45HP $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813138123 do you also have a suggestion for a good CPU heatsink. not gonna go for a record or anything but seems everyone and their mother can do a significant OC to the e7200 and default heatsink is probably not the best way to go. ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 --- $25 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835186134 seems to be the favorite on newegg, ill have to check the dimensions on it tho since its HUEG Also, I dont know how long it will take for newegg to get the Toxic 4850s back in stock. What would be the next best alternative? One of the other factory OCed? Any with a better heatsinkfan?
That heatsink is a solid preformer nothing amazing this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835233003 is the best price/peformance HSF out today. Yeah if dont plan on running sli or crossfire you may wanna look at some boards with one PCI Express x16. Dont get that Corsair its overpriced I would get some Gskill http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231144
