Hi all,
Long time lurker, and member of this forum, pretty much read it everyday.
Having a hard time deciding what I should buy for my new pc.
Gone through various specs. Here's what I have currently.
My current main system is:
CPU: Athlon64 3500 [email protected], stock cooler Skt 939
RAM: 1Gb Geil Golden Dragon PC3200
MOBO: Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe
GFX: Asus Nvidia 7600GS
HDD: 2x250GB Samsung Spinpoint SATA2
PSU: Antec TrueBlue 480W (old)
Monitor: Dell 2407 24"
Case: Crappy old heavy Chieftec thing with 80m fans
OS: Windows XP Home(oem), Ubuntu Linux 64bit 7.04 on Hdd1, Hdd2 is storage.
2nd (and previous system):
CPU: Athlon-Xp Mobile @2.4ghz, some Thermalright copper heatsink.
RAM: 512mb PNY PC3200
MOBO: Asus A7N8X-Deluxe
GFX: Ati 9800 Pro
HDD: 40gb IDE
PSU: not sure, 300w iirc
CASE: Old Globalwin from OCUK with 6x80mm fan holes, not used cos it sounds like a plane taking off
OS: Ubuntu Linux 6.10 32bit.
Ok, I'll be building 2 pc's, one for me one for my brother. He has exact same system as my main above, cept diff brand ram (corsair), 17"crt, and some of my old IDE hdds' but everything else that matters is the same.
I'm looking to spend about £1000 per PC. Would like the new system(s) to last at least 2-3 years. Being on a 939 system at the moment, I feel its wiser to do a whole rebuild instead of upgrading what I currently have (ie difficulty in getting a 939 X2, and the cost of ddr1 compared to ddr2).
I will be retiring the athlon-xp system and turning my current system into a web/media/backup server for the family.
I use my current system for the usual, web, video streaming etc, and tinkering with linux, occasional programming (need to do more but im lazy
), and gaming.
Ive been looking at various motherboards, chipsets, gfx cards, ram etc but just can't seem to make a decision as whats best for me.
CPU:
Q6600 - might as well get this, it clocks well, and its a decent price. I would like to get 3.6ghz on air for near 24/7 use. Going for quad cos I hope it'll last a long while, and I'll have a quad core for when games/software starts to utilise it more in a couple years. Will get a Tunic, or Ultra120 Extreme to go with this.
MOBO:
Currently thinking I might as well just get a P35 mobo, as I've never used SLi on my current board, and doubt I will buy a 2nd gfx card in the future if i went SLi now.
Motherboards I'm torn between are:
1. Abit IP35 Pro - Heard a lot of good things about the IP35Pro, has all the things I need. But is the vdroop bad on these? and how bad/how many ppl have had to reseat/re-tim the heatpipes?
2. Asus P5K Premium - again, heard a lot of good things about this board, I would be more used to the bios, but I prefer the sata ports on the abit. Also got a bit worried reading xtremesystems forums about some sata2 drive incompatibilities, is this all fixed now??
Also, how much of a difference will PCIe 2.0 make when the new architecture gfx cards come out? An unanswerable question probably, but would it be worth going for X38, in case.
RAM:
May as well get 4gb, as I will be buying 64bit Vista HP. Guessing the minimum I would need would be 800mhz ram to run 400fsb.
Am I right in thinking [email protected] = 9x400fsb, and ddr2 ram would be 2x400fsb=800mhz with a 1:1 ratio?
Would like a good solid reliable brand, that will work with above motherboards.
GFX:
Most people would probably say get a GTX for my 24" monitor, especially the XFX one, but that offer will be gone by the time I order (prob this weekend).
The gfx card will prob be the one thing I will have to/most likely to upgrade before the rest of the system.
Was originally looking at the GTS512 mostly, cos its near GTX performance, and I'm not super fussed about high AA/AF, 1920x1200 res is good enough imo. Plus the gtx is a power hungry beast and runs rather warm?
But a friend recently tempted me with EVGA and aftermarket cooler, as its pretty much on par with GTS512, but with the extra cooler the cost difference is negated.
So choices are GTX - might possibly last longer for my res, with the extra ram and mem bandwidth - but is the difference really noticable? and for how long will it be?
GTS512 - lower pwr consumption, near gtx performance from the benchies ive read, and cheaper than GTX.
GT - again cheaper than GTS512, nearish performance to GTS512, but stock cooler less efficient and noisier? ie requiring aftermarket cooler, negating the saving.
CASE:
Buying a new case has got to be one of the hardest decisions. I was tinkering with the idea of water cooling a couple months back, and I still might want to delve into that area in future (not done it before to still a little scared by it).
That being said, Ive looked at:
1.Lian-Li cases - lovely but very expensive, woulda gone for a V2000B, but dont like upside down motherboards.
2.Akasa Eclipse - love the slide out mobo tray (like my old globalwin), but it lacks watercooling grommeted holes. and can the Tunic/Ultra120 extreme be fitted on the mobo and slid in all ok?
3.Antec P182 - another heavy steel case, very quiet apparently, and has watercooling grommeted inlet/outlet.
Never modded a case before, ie cutting holes for rad mounting. Don't have the tools or confidence I wouldnt ruin a lovely case, so would probably go for an externally mounted rad should i delve into watercooling in future.
So, there ya go, thanks for taking the time to read this, any help/advice appreciated.
Dom
Long time lurker, and member of this forum, pretty much read it everyday.
Having a hard time deciding what I should buy for my new pc.
Gone through various specs. Here's what I have currently.
My current main system is:
CPU: Athlon64 3500 [email protected], stock cooler Skt 939
RAM: 1Gb Geil Golden Dragon PC3200
MOBO: Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe
GFX: Asus Nvidia 7600GS
HDD: 2x250GB Samsung Spinpoint SATA2
PSU: Antec TrueBlue 480W (old)
Monitor: Dell 2407 24"
Case: Crappy old heavy Chieftec thing with 80m fans
OS: Windows XP Home(oem), Ubuntu Linux 64bit 7.04 on Hdd1, Hdd2 is storage.
2nd (and previous system):
CPU: Athlon-Xp Mobile @2.4ghz, some Thermalright copper heatsink.
RAM: 512mb PNY PC3200
MOBO: Asus A7N8X-Deluxe
GFX: Ati 9800 Pro
HDD: 40gb IDE
PSU: not sure, 300w iirc
CASE: Old Globalwin from OCUK with 6x80mm fan holes, not used cos it sounds like a plane taking off
OS: Ubuntu Linux 6.10 32bit.
Ok, I'll be building 2 pc's, one for me one for my brother. He has exact same system as my main above, cept diff brand ram (corsair), 17"crt, and some of my old IDE hdds' but everything else that matters is the same.
I'm looking to spend about £1000 per PC. Would like the new system(s) to last at least 2-3 years. Being on a 939 system at the moment, I feel its wiser to do a whole rebuild instead of upgrading what I currently have (ie difficulty in getting a 939 X2, and the cost of ddr1 compared to ddr2).
I will be retiring the athlon-xp system and turning my current system into a web/media/backup server for the family.
I use my current system for the usual, web, video streaming etc, and tinkering with linux, occasional programming (need to do more but im lazy
), and gaming.Ive been looking at various motherboards, chipsets, gfx cards, ram etc but just can't seem to make a decision as whats best for me.
CPU:
Q6600 - might as well get this, it clocks well, and its a decent price. I would like to get 3.6ghz on air for near 24/7 use. Going for quad cos I hope it'll last a long while, and I'll have a quad core for when games/software starts to utilise it more in a couple years. Will get a Tunic, or Ultra120 Extreme to go with this.
MOBO:
Currently thinking I might as well just get a P35 mobo, as I've never used SLi on my current board, and doubt I will buy a 2nd gfx card in the future if i went SLi now.
Motherboards I'm torn between are:
1. Abit IP35 Pro - Heard a lot of good things about the IP35Pro, has all the things I need. But is the vdroop bad on these? and how bad/how many ppl have had to reseat/re-tim the heatpipes?
2. Asus P5K Premium - again, heard a lot of good things about this board, I would be more used to the bios, but I prefer the sata ports on the abit. Also got a bit worried reading xtremesystems forums about some sata2 drive incompatibilities, is this all fixed now??
Also, how much of a difference will PCIe 2.0 make when the new architecture gfx cards come out? An unanswerable question probably, but would it be worth going for X38, in case.
RAM:
May as well get 4gb, as I will be buying 64bit Vista HP. Guessing the minimum I would need would be 800mhz ram to run 400fsb.
Am I right in thinking [email protected] = 9x400fsb, and ddr2 ram would be 2x400fsb=800mhz with a 1:1 ratio?
Would like a good solid reliable brand, that will work with above motherboards.
GFX:
Most people would probably say get a GTX for my 24" monitor, especially the XFX one, but that offer will be gone by the time I order (prob this weekend).
The gfx card will prob be the one thing I will have to/most likely to upgrade before the rest of the system.
Was originally looking at the GTS512 mostly, cos its near GTX performance, and I'm not super fussed about high AA/AF, 1920x1200 res is good enough imo. Plus the gtx is a power hungry beast and runs rather warm?
But a friend recently tempted me with EVGA and aftermarket cooler, as its pretty much on par with GTS512, but with the extra cooler the cost difference is negated.
So choices are GTX - might possibly last longer for my res, with the extra ram and mem bandwidth - but is the difference really noticable? and for how long will it be?
GTS512 - lower pwr consumption, near gtx performance from the benchies ive read, and cheaper than GTX.
GT - again cheaper than GTS512, nearish performance to GTS512, but stock cooler less efficient and noisier? ie requiring aftermarket cooler, negating the saving.
CASE:
Buying a new case has got to be one of the hardest decisions. I was tinkering with the idea of water cooling a couple months back, and I still might want to delve into that area in future (not done it before to still a little scared by it).
That being said, Ive looked at:
1.Lian-Li cases - lovely but very expensive, woulda gone for a V2000B, but dont like upside down motherboards.
2.Akasa Eclipse - love the slide out mobo tray (like my old globalwin), but it lacks watercooling grommeted holes. and can the Tunic/Ultra120 extreme be fitted on the mobo and slid in all ok?
3.Antec P182 - another heavy steel case, very quiet apparently, and has watercooling grommeted inlet/outlet.
Never modded a case before, ie cutting holes for rad mounting. Don't have the tools or confidence I wouldnt ruin a lovely case, so would probably go for an externally mounted rad should i delve into watercooling in future.
So, there ya go, thanks for taking the time to read this, any help/advice appreciated.
Dom
