New computer (rebuild)

[JiF]Stepovich · Post by **[JiF]Stepovich** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:47 pm

Alrighty then. I got the okay from the wife...
I'm going to do a full upgrade...I have to keep
up with Smuckers at the LAN after all

Mother board
power supply
vid card(s)
processor

I'll open this up for recommendations and
really appreciate any input from everyone!

[JiF]AlbieDamned · Post by **[JiF]AlbieDamned** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:22 pm

Motherboard - Get one that can handle Intel CPU's, or if not, then AMD CPU's
Power Supply - Make sure it works on 120V since that's what most household outlets supply in the US
Video card - I recommend PCI-express or AGP. The PCI and ISA cards are a little dated now.
Processor - See motherboard

Ok, I'll shut up now.

[JiF]Stepovich · Post by **[JiF]Stepovich** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:28 pm

Did I say any input?
Guess I asked for it

[JiF]KellysHero · Post by **[JiF]KellysHero** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:43 pm

More details are need, how much are you wanting to spend? Going to build it yourself? Do you plan on overclocking? Single video card or thinking SLI (2 of them?) New RAM or going to use your old stuff? If so, what's your old stuff?

nVidia's latest GPU,

8800 GTX (1 gig of ram I think) runs for $600ish
8800 GTS with 640 megs of ram for $500
8800 GTS with 320 megs of ram for $300 A recent review says the 320 meg card is great up to resolutions of 1600 x 1200.

300 - 600

CPU, Core 2 Duo E4300 less cache, but I hear it overclocks like crazy. $175
Core 2 Duo E6400 $222
Core 2 Duo E6600 $315

CPU's 175 - 315.

MB's ~100
PSU ~100

RAM??? 2 x 1 gig chips (2 gigs total) $150 to $300.

Total system cost $1000 to $1400 at least ball park figures.

I recently "upgraded" my system from a P4 2.4 ghz with 2 gigs of ram and a BFG 6600 OC apg card to a Athlon 3700+ with 1 gig of ram, and the BFG 7600 for about 400 bucks and the system flys compared to my old one. I've only played 2142 a couple of times, and on the old system it sucked wing, the "new" system which is really a year plus old technology lets me run at 1600 x 1200 resolution with I think most all eye candy turned on.

[JiF]rIot · Post by **[JiF]rIot** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:51 pm

What are the funds reserved for this build???

[JiF]Stepovich · Post by **[JiF]Stepovich** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:59 pm

I'd like to keep it under $1500.

My brother in law is going to do the build for me...he
gets to scavenge the old parts so he has incentive

I don't plan to overclock.
I'm in the air about the SLI...I doubt it but want the
build to leave the option open.
RAM is fine, I have pretty recent stuff, 2gigs.
Have AMD CPU now, I'd like to stay AMD.

[JiF]KellysHero · Post by **[JiF]KellysHero** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:15 pm

Intel's Core 2 Duo cleans the clock of anything AMD has out their right now. The E6600 for ~300 was knocking the crap out of AMD's FX-60 something chips that were retailing for $900. (my data maybe a bit old though) Depending on when you built the system, your RAM may still be an issue, is it DDR1 or DDR2? If your AMD is a socket 939, it's likely to be DDR1 (184 pin), if it's socket AM2 then you are running DDR2 (240 pin) and you'll be fine. But I'm thinking if you have an APG slot for your video card, you probably have DDR1 still.

So we need the specs on your current system to see which parts will work.

[JiF]rIot · Post by **[JiF]rIot** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:50 pm

[JiF]Rhykin · Post by **[JiF]Rhykin** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:54 pm

I bought a E6400 (~$210), an Asus P5N-E (~$135), ad Tuniq Tower ($54), a XFX 7900GS and DDR2 900 PC2 7200 Ram as well (~$280). I then overclocked the E6400 by over 40% with NO problem (2.13ghz to 3ghz) and still have room to go higher, I just don't have the need to right now. I had a budget of $1000 and thought it worked out pretty well. I'd say a E6600 and over clock it a bit, get a nice case with some nice cooling. Even if you don't decide to overclock, E6600 is still a wonderful chip.

[JiF]Stepovich · Post by **[JiF]Stepovich** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 5:51 pm

Mobo for the E6600?

[JiF]rIot · Post by **[JiF]rIot** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:01 pm

Step, you have let them convince you to turn to the darkside, this cannot happen....

[JiF]Stepovich · Post by **[JiF]Stepovich** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:14 pm

LOL
Not yet, just compiling a list of possibilities

[JiF]KellysHero · Post by **[JiF]KellysHero** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:25 pm

[JiF]Stepovich wrote:Mobo for the E6600?

Asus P5N-E, There are quite a few out there.

[JiF]Stepovich · Post by **[JiF]Stepovich** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:00 pm

[JiF]KellysHero wrote:
[JiF]Stepovich wrote:Mobo for the E6600?
Asus P5N-E, There are quite a few out there.

RAM for the board? I noticed in the
Newegg reviews some people had problems installing the sticks, any particular kind work
better?

[JiF]Smuckers · Post by **[JiF]Smuckers** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:07 pm

Step, my pc has yet to be approved by the war department.

ASUS M2N4-SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard $88.99
ASUS EN7950GT/HTDP/512M GeForce 7950GT 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Splendid Video Card $264.99
COOLER MASTER RS-550-ACLY ATX12V / EPS12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, cUL, TUV, NEMKO, BSMI $117.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+(65W) Windsor 2.0GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor $135.00
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory $280.00
Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2b 1pk w/Upgrade Coupon for Vista $139.99

Hopefully the department head will approve my budget soon. If not I will be at the lan with the same old same old. P4 2.8 1gig ram ATI Radeon X850 video.