New Computer - Spec Ok?

nucoben

nucoben

nucoben

Associate
Joined
7 Jun 2008
Posts
26
Hi All,

My graphics cards keep dying so I think something in my computers motherboard or power supply is frying them, so I am getting a new one! What do you all think of the below spec?

Collermaster Elite 335 Case - £31.67

Coolermaster Silent Pro Modular 600W Power Supply - £75.99

Asus P5Q SE2 Intel P45 - £67.99

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.5GHz 4MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail - £129.99

The graphics card will be a BFG GTX260 OC, I dont have a choice in this as it will be an RMA replacement from BFG.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************
On a related note.
The reason for this upgrade as I say, is graphics cards keep dying in my old machine.

Specification:
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe
2*1GB DDR2 Crucial Ballistix RAM + 1*2GB DDR2 Kingston (Will be used in new machine)
Generic PSU - 600W (Cost around £50 at time of purchase)
AMD AM2 Athlon X2 4200+

Graphics Cards:
BFG8800GTS - No longer posts with this, whilst waiting for RMA replacement I borrowed a friends ATI HD Radeon 2900XT which kept getting BSOD's and display driver stopped responding.

BFG RMA replacement arrived, GTX260OC (Very nice of them to send this in place of an 8800GTS!) not BNIB, wrapped in bubblewrap/anti-static bag but looked new. However after a couple of days use this now artifacts all the time. We then put it in my bro's pc who uses a GTX280 and it did the same thing. (We did try format reinstalls!).

We are now currently using an old PCI-E*16 6600GT which appears to have no problems at all. (Though we havent tried stressing it in game due to it being a bit to old).

We have tried all the graphics cards in both PCI-E slots. The only pattern we see is that the graphics cards which require additional power from the 6-pin connectors seem to stop functioning whereas the old 6600 which is powered through the PCI-E port seems fine. Is the PSU damaging it?

Any ideas? Should I consider not getting a new computer and just waiting for another graphics card replacement to try out? My concern is...if they send another new GTX260 and it breaks again they will think I am damaging it and not send me another! So I would have to shell out another £100 on a new graphics card which I would like to avoid!

Massive post and many thanks to all those whom have time to respond to any of the above!
 
I would not go with socket 775 personally, what will be your max budget.

Edit:

Done a quick spec, the motherboard will allow SLI.

CP-244-AM_60.jpg
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £121.89
(£103.74) £121.89
(£103.74)
CA-008-CS_60.jpg
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) £73.99
(£62.97) £73.99
(£62.97)
MB-354-AS_60.jpg
Asus M3N72-T Deluxe nForce 780a SLi (Socket AM3/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £71.99
(£61.27) £71.99
(£61.27) Sub Total : £227.98 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00 VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £41.65 Total : £279.63
 
Last edited:
Don't buy socket775 anymore its old tech.

intel1136 or amd am3 is the way to go.

You almost getting a whole new pc so its crazy not to get the newer stuff.

Give it a few minutes and CAT-THE-FIFTH will advice you better.
 
Another with AM3 amd DDR3, Dropped the Phenom to a Athlon:

MY-026-PA_60.jpg
Patriot Sector 5 Viper II 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel + 3D Mark Vantage (PVV34G1600LLKB) £82.76
(£70.43) £82.76
(£70.43)
CP-258-AM_60.jpg
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 2.60GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £77.98
(£66.37) £77.98
(£66.37)
MB-198-GI_60.jpg
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AMD 770 (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £73.99
(£62.97) £73.99
(£62.97)
CA-008-CS_60.jpg
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) £73.99
(£62.97) £73.99
(£62.97) Sub Total : £262.74 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00 VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £47.73 Total : £320.47
 
The generic PSU is what has destroyed three graphics cards.

It is on its way out and no doubt caused your existing 8800GTS to go kaput.

The 2900XT drinks power so your PSU was even more stressed before and probably got even more damaged. Hence when you attached the GTX260 it was damaged too.

The reason the older 6600GT works is because it has very low power requirements.

Junk the crappy PSU now before it destroys any more components you have!!

You maybe able to salvage your existing system unless the PSU has caused permanent damage to the bits!!

It reminds of the infamous EZ-Cool PSUs.

What speed is your RAM BTW??
 
Last edited:
I have 2 Crucial 1GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4 Lifetime Warranty and 1 Generic 800MHz Kingston 2GB Stick.

Cat, do you think it is worth me just buying a new PSU for now and saving the cash? Or could it have damaged the motherboard to the point it could damage another graphics card if I put one in? I am so glad we didnt test my bro's GTX280 in there, he would have killed me!

Also, why is everyone swaying so much more to AM3 rather than S775 Q8400, benchmarks seem to show they are even and in game the Q8400 seems to outperform? Am I missing something critical?

Q8400 v AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620

Or is that as I am comparing a £130 processor to a £70 processor! (Though even the Phenom doesnt beat it much) Need a little swaying to go back to AMD, the 4200+ severely disappointed me, I bought it for £250 on release and it was £50 1 month later! :p
 
nucoben said:
I have 2 Crucial 1GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4 Lifetime Warranty and 1 Generic 800MHz Kingston 2GB Stick.

Cat, do you think it is worth me just buying a new PSU for now and saving the cash? Or could it have damaged the motherboard to the point it could damage another graphics card if I put one in? I am so glad we didnt test my bro's GTX280 in there, he would have killed me!
Click to expand...

The motherboard maybe fine or damaged. The RAM would work in an AM2+ motherboard. However since you have three sticks it won't work in dual channel in an AMD or Intel setup and hence reduce memory performance.A new PSU would be the cheapest option and a £50 upgrade to an X2 6000+ but it depends on whether you want to play it safe or take a chance.

nucoben said:
Also, why is everyone swaying so much more to AM3 rather than S775 Q8400, benchmarks seem to show they are even and in game the Q8400 seems to outperform? Am I missing something critical?

Q8400 v AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620

Or is that as I am comparing a £130 processor to a £70 processor! (Though even the Phenom doesnt beat it much) Need a little swaying to go back to AMD, the 4200+ severely disappointed me, I bought it for £250 on release and it was £50 1 month later! :p
Click to expand...

The X4 955BE is cheaper than the Q8300 and faster in almost everything.

An X3 720BE would also be another good upgrade to consider and has around the same speed as a Q8400 and Core i3 530 in games for around £100:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=89&p2=83

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=118&p2=83

http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?id=7488
 
Last edited:
For around £300 this is what I would get:

AMD Phenom II X3 720 ~ £100

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=cp-238-am

or

phenom ii x4 955be ~ £122

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=cp-244-am

4gb 1066mhz ddr2 ~ £68

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=my-192-cs&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817

asus m4a77d ~ £60

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=mb-376-as&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1482

or

asus m3n72-t ~ £72

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=mb-354-as

ocz stealthxstream 600w ~ £60

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=ca-023-oc&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

ddr3 does improve performance a small amount and reduce power consumption a bit with the phenom ii but 1066mhz ddr2 still is more cost effective:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-x4-955,2278-3.html

The OCZ StealthXStream 600w is a solid PSU and is excellent value for money. It has got good reviews:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/451

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/power_supply/ocz_stealthxstream_600_watt_psu/1

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...-stealthxstream-600w-power-supply-review.html

http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=522
 
Last edited:
Anything for/against this motherboard instead of the ones advised?
M4A785D-M Pro M-ATX

Also, looking at reviews the stock fan is quite noisy on the AMD's, any particulars you would recommend? Do you know if that will fit on that motherboard being M-ATX?
Artic Cooling Freezer 7

And finally, the RAM, does that have a massive performance impact or do you think I could get away with my old RAM for several months? As at the moment, with the case it is about £75 over budget.

amdbundle.png


And thanks so much for the advice so far, this has been infinitely more helpful than I ever imagined it would have been :D
 
You could keep your balistic ram, but 2gb is not much these days, get another 2gb kit, so you fill all four memory slots with 1gb sticks.
 
Not seen your operating system mentioned? I presume its a 32bit version? These can't use anymore than 4gigs of ram anyway(3.8 to be precise).
 
That's cool. But I still think an extra 2gig kit will do. Unless the difference in cost makes the 4gig kit a no-brainer.

You could use your ballistic and a 4gb kit? Giving 6gigs across all four slots.
 
The Asus M4A785D-M Pro seems to have good reviews:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/motherboards/asus-m4a785d-m-pro-643092/review

http://motherboards-reviews.com/ASUS/socket_AM3/M4A785D-M_PRO/ASUS_M4A785D-M_PRO_review.html

This review regarding the Phenom II X4 stock cooler is also useful to read:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16744/4

The Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 seems quite decent according to this review:

http://hi-techreviews.com/index.php...-arctic-cooling-freezer-7-pro-rev-2?showall=1
 
Last edited:
how about, and just throwing this out there, why not spec up a system and just buy the PSU. Fit that, and see how it all fares, and then worst case you end up buying a new system!
 
joey2cool said:
how about, and just throwing this out there, why not spec up a system and just buy the PSU. Fit that, and see how it all fares, and then worst case you end up buying a new system!
Click to expand...

I would love to do that, however I am concerned that if the motherboard or so is damaged it may cause further damage to a new graphics card which I may struggle to replace. Or is it only possible for the power supplies to cause damage to the graphics card? Otherwise this way seems a no brainer! Though putting all these specs together...I would love a new system now!

The M3N72-T seems fantastic for an extra £10 however I cannot see myself using any of the additional features to ever justify the £10. Unless that chipset offers some bonuses. I did not realise AMD made their own motherboard chipsets until this evening!

Looking at both chipset drivers from AMD/Nvidia, AMD dont even offer Windows 7 drivers yet! So perhaps it is best I shell out the extra £10 and go for the M3N72-T.

Edit: And thanks for pointing out the reviews on fans cat, I will stick with the stock to begin with and put those £££ toward additional RAM.
Also, RAM wise, I think 6GB would be overkill for my use so I currently intend to leave the old bits in the old one, invest in another PSU and sell it on to make some money back on this new machine I think. I cant wait to get rid of the old case which takes up half my desk. Good ol Kandalf
 
Last edited:
Technically the M3N72-T Deluxe is the better motherboard but the BIOS and support seems very iffy ATM - I would check on the internet about this!

If you are not overclocking the cheaper Asus M4A785D-M Pro would be fine. It even has integrated graphics too!

The chipset drivers are available on the Asus website:

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=yCI8UenairUZJWET&templete=2
 
Last edited:
Thing to consider is that with the current super high DDR2 prices you could sell your kit and get almost free upgrade to DDR3 : ).

Even 2x1 GB of good sticks go for around 30quid now and you can get 4gb of DDR for around 60 already.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom