decent mobo but trying to save cost

nevyn

nevyn

nevyn

Associate
Joined
14 Nov 2003
Posts
367
Hello again after about 4 years away from the forum.
Much has changed since my last foray into PC building so I am after some sound advice from you guys who are up to speed.

Here is the story

I am in the process of upgrading a PC I built for my dad a few years ago to Windows 7 x64

It has an ASUS P5-AD2 mobo and I am struggling to get the soundcard to work through lack of driver support.

Dad has given me permission to spend some of his cash on a few key upgrades but want to re-use as much as possible. (It is my inheritence I am spending after all) .
He mostly uses the PC for editing pictures and creating family videos from his HD camcorder and a bit of visual basic coding; so nothing too strenuous like 3d gaming or the like, but he is impatient and wants stuff to happen quick.

The current kit is:
graphics card (details to follow)
3 GB of DDR 2 RAM 2 x 1GB Geil and 2x 500MB Corsair XMS
3x 200GB SATA drives in a RAID 5 (System drive)
1x 1TB SATA drive (for content)
PSU (detail to follow)
My question is..

Are there any suggestions for a decent reliable mobo that will:
take a newer i5/i7 processor (newer than the current P4 3.4 I mean)
still accept the older DDR2 RAM
be able to do a RAID5 system drive

Will I likely need to replace the PSU ?

It needs to have built in sound (I think they all do now)
Bags of USB ports (USB3 would be cool if available but not essential)
Decent chipset cooling although he won't want me to oc the pc his office is pretty warm and I always have to upgrade his cooling.

Not sure what else to tell you by way of info or what other questions to ask but I am sure your feedback will generate further questions.

Thanks in advance and glad to be back. I think I am going to build a nice new system for myself soon
 
Hi there

May I ask what the make/model number, voltage, frequency and timings are for each of the memory modules?

Also, what are the make/model number of the 200GB SATA drives?

Finally, would you be able to provide details of the PSU?


My first thought is that your best option is to go down the AMD AM2+ route. This will allow you to re-use the existing RAM and install a current generation Phenom II or Athlon II CPU.

In regards to sound, unless your dad is a audiophile - the onboard sound is pretty decent these days and included on basically all boards.
 
I will update with the details you asked for when I get home but I have to say I am an intel man when it comes to CPU so don't fancy the AMD route particularly.
 
Ah, well that could be a problem - non of the current generation i3/i5/i7 platforms support DDR2 RAM, you will need to buy DDR3 RAM - which isn't particularly cheap.

You could get a newer intel s775 board and buy a second hand Q6600 2.4GHz quad core for ~£80 (or buy a new s775 quad core from a retailer [1] [2] - but they are extremely expensive for what they are). This will give good performance, however the price will be higher than an AMD system of comparable performance and there will be no upgrade options as s775 is a dead socket. Meanwhile most AM2+ board support cutting-edge CPUs like the Phenom II X6 hex cores - so CPU-only upgrades are available in the future if you go down the AM2+ road.
 
Ok so here are some more details

PSU is Enermax EG435AX-VHB(G)
RAM is XMS2 CM2X512 4.4.4.12 5400 2v and Geil (no model) 4.4.4.12 6400 2.1v
200 GB SATA are Maxtor Diamondmax 10
1TB SATA is Samsung HD103UJ

A question ...

Are AMD CPU still known for being a little on the hot side ?

Nev
 
Good PSU there, definitely keep that if it is running OK.

The RAM is a little on the slow side. Considering the planned uses (video and image editing) you may want to consider upgrading this. If you do upgrade the RAM then you may as well go for either an AMD AM3 system or Intel i3/i5.

As for the HDDs you may want to run this software with both the F1 and the RAID5 array and see which performs better - and use that as the system drive. If you went for the F1 then I can guarantee it will be more responsive, but the test will determine which is better for read/write speeds.

As for AMD CPUs being hot, not really - at the moment it is the Intel Nahalem chips that are space heaters :)

Do you have a budget in mind? If so i'd be happy to spec you up a few options.

Also, is it integrated graphics that are currently being used or is there a discrete graphics card in the system?
 
Hi

Thanks for the reply

I have been looking at the prices on the site and struggle to find reasonable price boards that do Raid5

I suppose Raid is not necessary but the 1TB drive has all his media on and so the 3 200GB drives have to make up the system drive somehow

Either one as a system drive or two or more of them in a raid config.


The GPU is an n9800GT 512M

I guess I could re-use the RAM in my mothers computer as it is probably better than she has currently, I will have to check

As for budget my dad said "Just build me something fast and reliable but don't go mad"

I think he is expecting 200 - 300 quid.

It would be great if you could give me some suggestions, preferably from items available in the shop on this site.

Thanks for you help
Nev
 
Ok quick update on the drives


Hmmm I am really surprised by the performance difference in the drives
You were quite right the Samsung does perform better WAY better.

Are the Maxtors really that much slower or is it the Raid on the Mobo making it so slow?

I happen to have a 500GB Samsung on the shelf I could give him it is an HD501LJ
(Used to be my Linux disk in the quad core system I recently gave to my sister)

I could put a couple of the Maxtors im my mums machine as she only does word processing, email and web browsing on her machine and she has a tiny drive that is getting very full.
 
Last edited:
ok

What about this
Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156)
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C10 (2000MHz) Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G2000LV4GK)

Will my PSU work with this mobo ?
is it a good one ? or should I go for the UD4?
is the combination I have chosen decent ?
 
Last edited:
Hi there, the chip and motherboard you picked are great - should be really fast for video and picture editing. That combination will also overclock really well if you get some decent CPU cooling.

However, the RAM is not the one to go for - this is what you want (there are issues with many of the OCZ gold kits).


The PSU will certainly work with that combination and a 9800GT GPU.

The main problem with that build is that it is a bit over budget.

The difference between the UD3 and UD4 is mainly the UD4 can do Crossfire and SLI properly, the UD3 can't. If you Dad isn't doing high-end gaming then this won't be an issue. In fact you could happily go with one of the cheaper H55 or H57 boards - they work fine with the i5 CPU and bring the costs down a bit.

As for HDDs, I would just save yourself hassle with RAID and buy one of these. It will be even faster than the current samsung 1TB. Running the F3 as the OS drive and the F1 as the storage drive will be a nice and quick setup.
 
Hi

I spoke to Dad and he would like the option of an external USB3 drive in future so the P55 board is the one to get

is the ASUS or the Gigabyte better

I have always been an Asus fan but have been dissapointed with the more recent boards I bought from them and my mum's DS3 is rock solid

there is a Asus P7P55D-E Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
or the UD3 board I posted earlier

I guess then I will put my spare 500GB drive in my mum's machine and get a newer drive for dad's. is it worth spending a bit extra to take advantage of the 6Gb/s SATA on the new board? dad said don't worry about the cost if he is getting a good machine...

Nev
 
Update

I just had a look at the 1TB 6Gb/s drives and the reviews showed that there is not much performance benefit over the F3 so I think I may as well save him a few pennies and get the drive you suggested.
I really like the Samsungs anyway as they are quiet and reliable I have them in all my systems now.
 
Aye, the 6G SATA HDDs are a bit of a misnomer. You would expect them to be much faster than the 3G ones, but they arn't. This is because even the fastest 7200rpm mechanical hard drives can't push through more than 150MB/s of data for any sustained time. Since the SATAII (3G) interface can do at least 250MB/s then it really isn't a bottleneck.

As for USB3, the cheapest option (and sticking with an i5 CPU) would be to get this board. However, are you certain you will need USB3? I ask because the majority of external drives these days use eSATA which (as discussed above) is more than fast enough for mechanical hard disk connection. If you decide you don't need USB3, then you could go for an even cheaper motherboard like this.

ASUS vs Gigabyte? Tough call, they are both pretty great IMHO. I would just get whichever was cheapest.

If it was between the Gigabyte P55A-UD3 and the ASUS P7P55D-E, I would go with the ASUS as it has an eSATA port.
 
Hi

Thanks for your reply

As it happens I needed to get the bits tomorrow so I can build it before the weekend
I went for the UD3 (i didn't notice the lack of e-Sata)

I think that if getting an external drive he would go for a USB one anyway so it is usable on my mum's PC too

Thanks for all your help it has meant Icould make a decision quickly.

In a month or so I will be looking to buy a new system for myself and that will be a slightly more exciting project,

I will want an ultra quiet, ultra fast machine maybe even 6 core so if you are around when I am looking perhaps you can give me some pointers on the way to go at that time.

Nev
 
Cool, the UD3 is a cracking board, I'm sure your dad will be happy with it :)

As for your new system, I would be happy to help. Just post up your budget, uses and requested special features (ie ultra quiet) and I'll come up with a few specs (best do it in a new thread so you get the maximum number of responses). I would definitely wait until the end of October/start of November if you can as the new AMD HD 6000 series will be coming out then (assuming you will be using the machine for gaming).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom