Hi all,

For the last few days or so I have been wanting to upgrade or start a new computer.

The thing is I seem to want two things, on one hand I want to build a PC for playing music, a sort of base for a 16/44 to 24/192 music server with scope for connection with HDMI which will do Bluray and its audio via a single HDMI.

I have my eye on a couple of Mobos which do this, but I think making a solid decision will take a little longer, so may put this off.

On the other I think I will want to play my current games better.
I had thought of a specific HDMI mobo with which I could add components later which are suited to a gaming PC, but seem to find conflicting threads on these things, as it stands I probably have around £400 to play with, but would prefer to spend more.

SO... I am once again thinking of the Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 mobo.

I am sure my biggest bottleneck in this system is the CPU single core 400mhz , 2.2 Ghz AMD 3300.
I am sure I would see improvements in my HIS IceQ 3 3850 AGP with the Asrock board and a better processor, thereby improving my current games and giving me an upgradable stepping stone.

I can change from DDR 400 to DDRII 667 and probably profit from the sale of the DDR 400, and benefit from the faster DDRII which is cheaper.

I could install a far more powerful CPU with a 1066fsb and also change from my old Hyper PSU to a better Be Quiet PSU, and maybe even try a more up to date GPU, all of which could be utilized in a board such as the Biostar T45 or such at a later date. Much easier on the wallet.

What do you think?

I know I could sell some stuff, but it looks like I would benefit from being able to spend more over a period of upgrading and end up with a better PC than just trying to spend my current budget.

What do you think, does it sound sensible? I will get a few months playtime and be able to upgrade gradually, my sister gets my old Mobo, OS and some other parts, and I can use the Asrock for a little longer in a second system until I decide on an HDMI board.

or ?

Steve

The ASRock motherboard is great as a "stop-gap" or mid-range PC and that is about it.

Don't expect any great overclocks on it as it uses a crappy cheap VIA chipset. 1066Mhz FSB CPUs run well on stock and that should be it, they don't really overclock well. Budget CPUs like the E2xxx, E4XXX and E5XXX overclock great though as this board is really intended for the low budget sector.

DDRII RAM can only support up to 667Mhz speeds maximum and only 2GB total (Both DDR or DDRII respectively), but you can run 800Mhz or 1066Mhz RAM providing that they are low voltage models. This motherboard does not have any voltage option settings for anything. So make sure RAM modules are 1.8-1.9V for DDRII.

The PCIE graphics slot is only 4x speed so that will limit pretty much any modern card. Not to mention you will need BIOS updates (Either motherboard or graphics card) to get them working. But seeing as you will be using an AGP card, this won't matter.

So apart from some limitations, it is actually quite a good board. I had my Rev.1 version for over a year now and before it ran a Core 2 Quad Q6600 and Nvidia 6800GT AGP perfectly fine. Its now relegated as a second PC with a E5200 and ATi Radeon 4830. It is a good board to run older hardware like IDE hard drives etc and a good introudction to the earlier Intel Core 2 line.

I decided to order this, now I just have to decide which processor.

From what I have seen on other forums when the HIS Ice Q 3850 AGP was released, I should be able to get more out of it with this board, a my old system is so much of a bottleneck. So I should be happier for a couple of months at least.

So ? ? ? The Intel Q6600 or E7400? To be honest with the sort of games I play, Red Alert 3, C&C Tiberium Sun 3, Dawn of War, I am sure any one these will be plenty (but I do more than just games so what is the most useful?), the most powerful graphics card I will probably go for in future months would be a 4870 on a Biotech board, so this will allow me to get the Processor, next month the better PSU and so on.

Well if you are going to go for the E7400, you'd have to be sure that the motherboard's BIOS is its latest official one, P2.10, otherwise you may have a problem, unless you can source an older supported CPU from somewhere in order to flash it.

The Q6600 runs straight off as that is supported since the board's incarnation. You won't be able to overlock this until your next and much better motherboard though, but its still great at stock.

Originally this motherboard wa supposed to only run the 65nm Core 2 Duo/Quad's, but ASRock being the geniuses they are, managed to squeeze in some of the 45nm CPUs with their BIOS updates.

Whilst it may be more expensive, I would say go for the Q6600. Seeing as you do other work like Music etc, then it will help a lot. Once you get the new motherboard, you can switch the Q6600 to it, and then just plop in some budget CPU on the ASRock should you wish to use it again.