Recommend me a basic mATX setup please

Snash · 30 Jul 2007 at 16:40

Haven't upgraded in a while (last upgrade was XP1700 T'bred

) and me thinks it's time to take a step up. Am now wanting to go down the mATX route, neater case etc. Don't play many games, only those that are a few years old so no high end power needed.

I have a decent PSU, HDD etc so would only need mobo, processor, RAM and case. Have near enough settled on the SG01 Silverstone having now seen it in the flesh.

Any recommendations for mobo/CPU? Happy to go AMD or Intel. Only requirement for mobo is the usual on board stuff and DVI. Doesn't need to be capable of overclocking.

Biffa · 30 Jul 2007 at 17:22

Budget would help

And perhaps what you plan to do with it.

Snash · 30 Jul 2007 at 21:13

Biffa said:
Budget would help

And perhaps what you plan to do with it.

Budget not really an issue within reason but only to be used for general duties. No photoshop, encoding etc - the most stressful thing it would be doing is playing those two year old games

Tute · 30 Jul 2007 at 23:39

I don't think any of the G33M boards have DVI, only the F-I90HD.

What I would recommend doing is going for a G33M board like the Asus P5K-VM or Gigabyte G33M-DS2R as they're exceptional boards, and adding something like this to it.

That way you have DVI and you're set up for your games.

RAM and CPU depend on whether you're willing to overclock. If you are, then an E2140 paired with this would give a good overclock. If not, then you're going to have to spend more on the processor (E6600?), but you can get away with slightly cheaper RAM.

Snash · 31 Jul 2007 at 07:17

Thanks Tute - what's the noise like on the Sapphire X1650 XT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)? I'd also like it relatively quiet. If I was to go for a cheapo motherboard like the Abit IP-95 Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard would it work with the Sapphire?

Tute · 31 Jul 2007 at 16:25

That X1650 will be silent, they put out such little power I don't know why they bother with a fan anyway - on a case with reasonable cooling, passive would be more than enough!

And there's a reason that board is so cheap - it doesn't support Core 2 CPUs. So if you go for it, you'll have to pick up an old Pentium 4 or Pentium D.

And I really don't advise that.

Snash · 1 Aug 2007 at 07:47

Tute said:
That X1650 will be silent, they put out such little power I don't know why they bother with a fan anyway - on a case with reasonable cooling, passive would be more than enough!

And there's a reason that board is so cheap - it doesn't support Core 2 CPUs. So if you go for it, you'll have to pick up an old Pentium 4 or Pentium D.

And I really don't advise that.

Eh? It says on the website "LGA775 Socket for Intel® Core™ 2 Duo/ Pentium® D/ Pentium® 4/ Celeron D/ Celeron® Processors with 1066 MHz FSB" :confused:

Anyway, there are probably other reasons why it's so cheap

Any thoughts on the Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD? It's cheaper than the Asus and Gigabyte boards and has the DVI. Would I be wasting my time trying to play games by the on board graphics?

Cheers.

Snash · 1 Aug 2007 at 08:03

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £56.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £39.99

Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD ATI Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £61.99

Sub Total : £158.97

Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25

VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £29.26

Okay been looking at some combinations as I don't want to spend too much, all I'm really looking for is a reasonable upgrade and a performance boost over my existing Athlon T'bred XP1700.

Any thoughts? Is it false ecomony going for the budget processor?

Total : £196.48

Tute · 1 Aug 2007 at 11:16

Odd, I could've sworn that board didn't have support for C2D last time I looked!

In which case, if you're not overclocking then that board would be suitable for your needs.

The Abit F-I90HD is a nice board, however the one I had failed on me (two RAM slots packed up) so my experiences of it was cut a little short.

Kezmo · 1 Aug 2007 at 17:57

Tute said:
Odd, I could've sworn that board didn't have support for C2D last time I looked!

In which case, if you're not overclocking then that board would be suitable for your needs.

The Abit F-I90HD is a nice board, however the one I had failed on me (two RAM slots packed up) so my experiences of it was cut a little short.

Loads of people have had probs with that board from what ive read, also woulndt he be betteroff with one of the newer chipset boards for future upgrades ?

Snash · 1 Aug 2007 at 20:01

Kezmo said:
Loads of people have had probs with that board from what ive read, also woulndt he be betteroff with one of the newer chipset boards for future upgrades ?

Thanks for your input Kezmo & Tute - please excuse my ignorance - which is the newer chipset? Does the Abit F-I90HD have the newer chipset?

Tute · 1 Aug 2007 at 20:11

Kezmo said:
Loads of people have had probs with that board from what ive read, also woulndt he be betteroff with one of the newer chipset boards for future upgrades ?

I would recommend he goes with a G33M board unless he really wants onboard DVI, which the F-I90HD provides. It uses an ATi RS600 chipset, and yes there have been questions about it's stability.

I'd highly recommend the Asus P5K-VM Snash. It's a simply brilliant board, and all ready for Penryn later this year (45nm support).

Kezmo · 1 Aug 2007 at 20:49

How u getting on with your board Tute ? what u running the cpu u at and whats the temps like ?

Tute · 1 Aug 2007 at 20:51

Kezmo said:
How u getting on with your board Tute ? what u running the cpu u at and whats the temps like ?

I'm running on pence for the last week or so of the month so i've put off getting the case fans I want until next payday, which is just over a week.

Until I do i'm loathed to start clocking, as currently the only fan in there is a single 120mm.

I did quickly check it was stable at 3GHz though!

Snash · 2 Aug 2007 at 08:28

Tute said:
I would recommend he goes with a G33M board unless he really wants onboard DVI, which the F-I90HD provides. It uses an ATi RS600 chipset, and yes there have been questions about it's stability.

I'd highly recommend the Asus P5K-VM Snash. It's a simply brilliant board, and all ready for Penryn later this year (45nm support).

Just been looking at the specs for the Abit and saw that it only supports up to E6700 processors. Not exactly future proofing but then again the Asus is a bit more expensive. Argh! Decisions, decisions.

Thanks for your input guys, might take a wander into MM to see what I can get cheaper for the other bits.

Tute · 2 Aug 2007 at 09:55

There have been question marks over the reliability of the Abit board, it seems to have a higher, although not astronomical, failure rate.

I will give you one solid piece of advice though, as soon as you boot the Abit, flash the BIOS to the latest version. Abit are trying hard to fix the issues, and the enhnaced memory support one of the later BIOS revisions gives will help a lot.

If you want the onboard DVI, take the Abit. Otherwise the Asus P5K-VM or Gigabyte G33M-DS2R boards are well worth the extra here.

BUFF · 3 Aug 2007 at 22:48

Tute said:
And there's a reason that board is so cheap - it doesn't support Core 2 CPUs.

http://www.abit.com.tw/cpu-support-list/mb/via_p4m890_ip-95.htm

Anyway, for what the OP wants something like an AN-M2 & a x2 would also be a good (& v.cheap) option.

Snash · 7 Aug 2007 at 07:00

People thanks for your help in helping me decide. Eventually took Tut's advice re the motherboard (sort of) and went for the Asus P5B-VM MicroATX Motherboard, a little cheaper than the Asus P5K-VM. 2 x 1GB G.Skill HK DDRII Blue Alu PC6400 and an Intel Core 2 DUO E4400 775 2.0Ghz CPU to go in a SG01 silver case.

Started building it last night. Got the motherboard, RAM, chip and cooler in then added the Tagan 380 that I'd bought 18 months ago and never used. Don't know where I'm going to stuff all those extra power cables

Thanks again chaps

Snash · 16 Aug 2007 at 21:52

Okay, a week or so later, the system's built and generally running fine for basic tasks. Temps are good at 29C idle. But.....

The on board Intel GMA X3000 on the Asus P5B-VM MicroATX Motherboard is pants. Soldier of Fortune (original version circa 2000) is rank rotten. Even with all the settings at the lowest of the low (where you can't see what you're doing) is unplayable. I was obviously dreaming to think that it would be good for anything except browsing

So I'm thinkng of getting an X1650 as kindly advised by Tute further up - gets good reviews and seems good value for money. But problem is the space for the PCI slots is stuffed full of the cables from the power supply (Tagan 380). There's no way I could get a PCI card in there without taking scissors to the unused cables.

What do I do? Forget SFF? Change power supply? Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

Snash

Tute · 16 Aug 2007 at 22:22

No - just spend some time cable tidying. I'm sure if I can fit my 2900XT in mine then you can easily make room for just a single slot card - even if your PSU isn't modular.

And, if your bidget allows it, the X1950 Pro is a fair bit quicker than the card I originally recommended, and is an absolute bargain. Might be worth looking into that, although both that and the X1650XT would be good buys.