Some tentative thoughts on a new build

Freakitchen

Freakitchen

Freakitchen

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Hi fellas,

I'm looking at treating myself to an upgrade in the next few weeks, but admit that I'm quite out-of-the-loop when it comes to newer hardware, I just haven't been following it all that closely.

What I'm looking for is the absolute best value-for-money motherboard, processor, memory, power supply and possibly/probably video card combination! Am hesitant to give a maximum budget coz of the 'value for money' aspect - I'll spend as much or as little as is needed to get that, if that makes sense! But I'm expecting to spend round about the £500 mark.

My current system is an AMD 4400+ (skt 939) with 2GB of RAM and an ATI x1950Pro.

Upgrading to a quad core is my primary aim here, as I do a lot of multi-tasking and video encoding. I've never overclocked in the past as my primary concern is for a stable, cool, and quiet running system, but I might be convinced to do so if the savings are significant. I noticed that OcUK *guarantee* the Q6600 @ 3Ghz now, but what do the Q9xxx series offer that's better?

Also looking for 4GB of RAM, Vista x64, and a quality motherboard (ASUS preferably) with the most 'future proof' chipset for a reasonable price (am I right to look at X38s?). I'm not interested in dual video cards for gaming, though how feasible is it to run two cards independently for three monitors? What video cards would offer a significant improvement over my x1950pro for a sensible price?

Looking at the Corsair 520w for a power supply.

Cheers in advance for any replies.
 
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Haven't had much time since I made this thread to think about this project, but today I've been browsing the shop a bit, and thought I'd post some more specific questions.

First thought is the motherboard, I'm wanting to go with ASUS, and depending on which CPU I get, might be doing a little overclocking. At the moment, I'm struggling to see the advantages of the various chipsets that seem to be all around a similar price point. Hoping to spend between £100 and £140 here, and I know 'futureproof' is rarely achievable these days, but I'd like this board to be able to take one CPU upgrade in maybe 18 months time, as I did with my current skt939 board. I'm looking at the following:

Asus P5K-E WiFi Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-241-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

Asus P5E3 Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-250-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=946

Asus P5E Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-249-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=946

Asus P5Q-E Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-281-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1155

So at the moment, I'm leaning towards the P5Q-E, as it seems to be the 'newest' chipset and has native support for 1600FSB processors. This, as far as I can see, is the only big difference between all of them. I'm struggling to see the difference between the two X38 boards, and neither of them seem to support 1600 natively. The P35 board is attractive because of its price, but I'm guessing this goes against what I'm saying about longevity.

All comments appreciated, if anyone thinks I should post this as a new thread in motherboards, then I will do.
 
The Q9XX0 series are 45nm so run a bit cooler and are faster clock for clock but they also cost more so you've got to decide if that is worth it.

Any 8800GT would give you a decent improvement at ~£100.

If you want to run dual graphics cards then it might still be worth going for the HX620 unless you are going to run one good graphics card and one low powered device purely for a second display.

The difference between the X38 motherboards is mainly the support for DDR3. As for the rest I don't know anything much about the P45 chipset yet, the P35 is well tried and tested but doesn't support PCI-E 2.0 and might not support new CPUs (in a years time say).
 
Cheers for the reply. It's taking me a while to respond because I'm supposed to be quite busy at the moment!

Have decided I don't honestly need a £100+ motherboard, so I'm now looking at the P5K Pro. It has all the features I want, including dual video card slots.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-266-AS

One thing that's confusing me is the CPU support list for that board:
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5K PRO

With an upgraded BIOS, it says there's support for the latest 1600FSB processors, what's going on there when the board is only reported to support up to 1333? Does this mean it's likely to support future processors that presumably will run at this speed?

At the moment, I'm only looking at getting Motherboard, Processor, and RAM to improve general performance and video encoding. A better graphics card and power supply to go with it can come later if and when I start wanting to play games. With this in mind, does the P5K Pro, a Q6600 and 4GB Corsair sound like a worthwhile upgrade? Since the processor is 'guaranteed for 3ghz' is it a no-brainer to Overclock it?
 
The P5K is a good motherboard although it doesn't support both slots running at 16x, one goes at 16x and the other at 4x which would be fine for a lower powered card.

As for the CPU support, with a bios revision it should work with the 1600mhz CPUs when they come out but since it isn't native it might not be quite as solid as a motherboard that was designed for it. Shouldn't be an issue though.

That should still make a nice upgrade, overclocking a Q6600 with those parts is pretty simple, there are a few guides kicking about I think and if not you can get further advice in the overclocking sub-forum.
 
Cheers. The idea about a second card would be to connect up an LCD TV in addition to my two monitors, though again, that's something that can wait until I feel the need. Just nice to know that I could. Would only be used for watching video, so speed isn't an issue.

Part of me is tempted to wait for a bit of a price drop on the Q9450, as I'm not so keen on buying into 'older' generation technology. The fact that it runs cooler and draws less power appeals too. I could afford to buy the chip, it's just concerning me that, at the moment, an overclocked Q6600 would be better value for money at current prices. Anything on the horizon from Intel that might cause the Q9xxx series to get a little cheaper?
 
Cheers for that link, that's very useful to know, especially if the Q9450 is set to be discontinued and replaced, rather than reduced in price. If the Q9400 is released when I'm ready to buy then I'll go for that, otherwise, I'm still thinking the Q6600 will be more than enough.
 
upgrade.jpg


Just posting this for some final confirmation, gonna order in the next couple of days. The heatsink is the only part I'm not entirely sure on, I've only ever bothered with stock coolers before, but I figured since I'd like to get this Q6600 running at 3Ghz while still maintaining a cool/quiet system, it was worth it. Chosen this one because I've seen it recommended before, and it's not overly expensive, but I'm open to other suggestions if there's something better for a decent price.

Cheers,
 
I would get the retail cpu, only a few pounds more and has a three year warrenty.
And i would consider getting either a true 120 extreme or a tuniq tower.
 
qwerty321 said:
I would get the retail cpu, only a few pounds more and has a three year warrenty.
Click to expand...

The warranty (any amount of warranty) is void if you overclock so it doesn't make much sense to spend more for no gain and have a heatsink sitting spare. Yes, you can probably return the CPU anyway and the retailer will be none the wiser if you have overclocked unless you were really over-zealous with the volts but it isn't technically legal.

Freakitchen, it looks fine although as qwerty321 also suggests you could spend a bit more and get a better CPU cooler if you wish.
 
semi-pro waster said:
The warranty (any amount of warranty) is void if you overclock so it doesn't make much sense to spend more for no gain and have a heatsink sitting spare. Yes, you can probably return the CPU anyway and the retailer will be none the wiser if you have overclocked unless you were really over-zealous with the volts but it isn't technically legal.

Freakitchen, it looks fine although as qwerty321 also suggests you could spend a bit more and get a better CPU cooler if you wish.
Click to expand...

OEM chips have 1 year warranty

Retail have 3 years you need to keep the box tho

Makes sence spending a few more pounds for that extra peace of mind

There is no way for any retailer to tell if you have clocked the chips, Intel might but there return rate is so low it would make no financial sence to test every chip.
 
Smirnoff said:
OEM chips have 1 year warranty

Retail have 3 years you need to keep the box tho
Click to expand...

Yep, I know, thank you. I'm simply pointing out that legally you've voided your warranty by by overclocking, I did also note that the CPU manufacturer is unlikely to be able to tell unless you do something pretty major but it still isn't technically legal.
 
Thanks, I think I might go for the retail chip, in fact, I might give it a go with the stock heatsink first, without overclocking the chip, and see how performance goes. If/when I do the overclock, I can get a GOOD cooler on its own.

I also noticed that the ASUS P5KC is the same price as the P5K Pro at the moment, and it offers crossfire and DDR3 support extra. Won't be using either, but still, figured I may as well get the most I can for my dosh!
 
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