Upgrade spec, opinions please...

[jazzygm]

[yep, another one of these threads ] Thinking about upgrading my Athlon XP system. Have put up with crashes and instability from this system for too long (even after a mobo replacement).
Here's what I'm looking at:

Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) £116.14

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB) £68.99

OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Enhanced Bandwidth Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR800C44GK) £51.74

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD6401AALS) £63.24

Western Digital Caviar Green 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD6400AACS) £57.49

Asus ATI Radeon HD 3650 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (EAH3650/HTDI/256M) £49.44


The important part for me is that it's stable, I don't game (yep, at all) but I do tend to be heavy on the number of open processes and the number of disc operations which my current system dies with.

I've put all the bits I'm considering in here but obviously it's the cpu+mobo+ram combo that's the real decision breaker. I won't be shifted on having two hard drives, but which ones are welcome to debate.

I've put a deliberately cheap cpu in because it can be overclocked comfortably to 3Ghz (as far as I know) and I don't need cutting-edge performance. Plus with the 775 socket I should be able to pick up a cheap cpu upgrade in about a year/18 months as the new LGA socket rolls in.

I don't game so the graphics card will be more than adequate (I want dual DVI), I have a seperate sound card and won't be needing raid so I might have overkilled on the mobo? Does my choice of RAM also seem a bit excessive for what I need?

Thoughts please?

 

[95thrifles]

Well RAM wise Id look at this, its faster and will allow more headroom for OC, between the 2 HDD's its your call really, both are great the black is slightly faster as it has dbl the cache, however the green is quieter and uses less power (save the environment and all that - think its ONE, yes ONE whole watt, lol) You could save a bit of cash and just get a P43 board, theyre pretty much the same as the P45 boards just without crossfire support, seen as you dont game you dont need this, personally Id look at the gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L at £80, saves you £30 there. You'll want a nice aftermarket coooler for clocking, the sunbeam is very good value/performance
You dont game but you could put that £30 mobo saving into the gfx card and get this one, its passive so would make your system nice and quiet

 

[ro55o]

As 95thrifles has mentioned above, go for the faster, cheaper ram (even cheaper than above)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-149-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817

Go for a P43 board instead of the P45, I can't see you needing the extras that come with the P45.

If you are going with 2 hard drives, either go for 2 black or 2 green, I wouldn't want to really mix them (ones faster, the other's more environmentally friendly), especially if you are going to raid them, and I don't see why not.

You'll need a CPU cooler to overclock the E5200 to 3.0ghz and beyond, the one 95thrifles has suggested is a good shout.

 

[jazzygm]

Thanks for the help guys, basic message is: just go for faster RAM straight out and skip the fancy low latency stuff.

I had a look at the P43 boards but I'm still urging towards the P45 just because it will give me space to upgrade at a later date (1600 fsb and 1200 ddr2 support on the P45)

Drives: I intended to use one as a 'main' drive (black) and the other as a storage and backup drive (green), I wouldn't want to set up a raid, mirroring might mean crushing what data integrity I have if a software corruption propogates and anything else wouldn't make sense for my backup needs.

Will look at suitable coolers, thanks for the recommendation. The passive graphics card intrigues me, thanks for that pointer!