Confused, simple as.

[Psypher5]

Right, ok.

I need a second opinion. Or third, or fourth.

I don't know whether to go am2/7900gtx, or the conroe/x1900 route.

For about 1.2k I've specced myself two systems, here have a look:

amd:
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£21.95 £21.95
CA-024-LL Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower (No PSU) (CA-024-LL)
£109.95 £109.95
CA-000-SS Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.2 Power Supply (CA-000-SS)
£44.95 £44.95
SC-034-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - Retail (SC-034-CL)
£66.50 £66.50
HD-018-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA)
£43.50 £43.50
CP-168-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-168-AM)
£219.95 £219.95
GX-038-OK OcUK GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-038-OK)
£269.95 £269.95
MB-142-AS Asus M2N32-SLi-DLX nForce 590 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-142-AS)
£119.95 £119.95
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£109.95 £109.95
Subtotal £1,006.65
VAT £176.17
Total £1,182.82



Conroe:
MB-152-AS Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS)
£149.95 £149.95
MY-013-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ) (MY-013-GS)
£147.95 £147.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO)
£239.95 £239.95
CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
£214.95 £214.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£21.95 £21.95
CA-024-LL Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower (No PSU) (CA-024-LL)
£109.95 £109.95
CA-000-SS Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.2 Power Supply (CA-000-SS)
£44.95 £44.95
SC-034-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - Retail (SC-034-CL)
£66.50 £66.50
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HS-003-SY)
£26.95 £26.95
HD-018-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA)
£43.50 £43.50
Subtotal £1,066.60
VAT £186.66
Total £1,253.26



Something inside is saying intel, purely for the motherboard accessories and the ati card pushing a bit more umph. But, I'm still being drawn for the amd? Maybe becuase I've only ever used amd and am quite content with them, and the linkboost/7900gtx features.


Also, the benches of 3d apps from conroe didn't really "amaze" me, which is what this rig would be for; Photoshop, films and gaming.

So, out of the two, what would you pick?

edit: Taking into consideration amd price drops aswell, hmmm, and would need a slightly beefier psu for amd/7900gtx rig.

 

[Psypher5]

so far I have upgraded once a year (summer time), selling this rig on and moving to new pastures!

Anyway yes, I underspecced the psu a tad, seems I need 450 peak (thanks for mentioning that ghost)


The conroe motherboard seems to be perfect for me, the remote defo.

The hdd, aswell, I chose the samsung for cheapness/quietness really. Don't want to help the x1900xt anymore with its helicopter noises.

 

[Psypher5]

You can go AMD+ATI, or Intel+Nvidia too.

While Intels generally perform best on Intel chipsets, the Nforce 5 with linkboost or whatever its called will be released for Conroe around the same time as the conroe launch. Non SLI nvidia works on intel chipset boards, and so does the single slot sli 7950's.

ahhh, didnt know about linkboost on conroe, seems interesting, I'll have to see about that with benchies and whatnot nearer the time

Thanks for info about the psu, I know a 580 is just ott, hardly any systems use anywhere near that much. Cheers