Seeking Build opinions

[DustinM]

I'm thinking of upgrading my Pentium 3.0 HT and AGP Mobo and getting on the C2D and PCI-Ex16 Bandwagon.

Right now I have two options and I'd like to hear your opinions on the matter.

Option A) Keep my current system and just upgrade the mobo, processor, ram, and Video card.

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $142.99 (I've heard good things about this board doing very well overclocking the E6400, I also like the Asus P5B deluxe, but is it worth the heftier price tag of $230 as oppossed to the Gigabyte? Its pretty much flip a coin for me.)

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail $224.00 (best Conroe processor as far as value/overclockability from what I have read. I know the E6600 is very good as well, but its a hundred dollars more expensive, worth it or not?)

Ram: CORSAIR XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X1024A-6400 - Retail $134.00 ( I really really want 2gigs of ram, but DDR2 ram is SO stinking expensive right now! The timings are 5-5-5-15. Is that a problem?)

Video Card: XFX PVT71PUDE3 Geforce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 XT Edition Video Card - Retail $209.00 ( Video cards is my area of weaknesses right now. I'm not really sure what card is the best at this price range ~200 dollars for gaming. I don't want to go all out because I know the DX10 cards will be coming out early next year.)

Ok, so that is option A, total price tag at $710.98. Let me know if these components are compatible with each other.

Option 2: Sell my current system and build a new computer from the ground up. The mobo/processor/ram/video card components same as above. Included would be an Antec Sonata II, Seagate Barracuda 250gb, Viewsonic 19" widescreen monitor, Liteon DVD+DVDR drive, and Windows XP Home OEM. Total price tag would be about $1,300 dollars if I'm not mistaken.

My old system consists of Pentium 4 3.0 HT, ASUS Motherboard (428 socket + AGP) 17" Acer Flat screen, 120 Seagate barracuda Sata + 80gb Western Digital IDE drive, 1.5gig Ram, 1g of which is OCZ ram, the other 512 is a generic brand I picked up, and a GeForce 6600GT. Could I sell this system for 600-700 dollars to make it worth the price differental between option A and Option B?

I'm sure there are other questions I have, but I'm too tired at this point to think of what they are!

Thanks again for your help!

Dustin

ALSO, my PSU is a Antec Smartpower 450W, is that enough for what I want to build?

[EzyStvy]

Option A would be a waste. You have a box of parts you might not ever use...Seek out prices for the parts New and subtract 20 to 50% to get an idea of what the used pc is worth.

[chuck4456]

Get the Asus and the 6600. If it's going to be your main rig, the 6600 is offering you 4MB cache for just 100. more. Don't scrimp on the PSU. PC Power and Cooling is worth looking at.

[glc]

The only way the Smartpower will be suitable for a PCI-E build is if it's ATX 2.0 with dual +12v rails and a 24 pin or 20+4 pin main ATX connector. You can get a quality replacement for 50 bucks - such as the XClio 450BL.

I don't see any way you could get that kind of money for a used Socket 478 system when new computers cost less. You would do better by doing the upgrade and selling individual parts - or even building a second system with them later for some other use.

Those timings won't be an issue on the DDR2-800.

Look at the plain P5B - it's the same price as the Gigabyte. If your budget is tight, look at the E6300, it handily spanks what you have.

[DustinM]

It's the PSU that came with the Antec Lifestyle Sonata II that I bought when I built this system. According to newegg its 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0.

I didn't realize the E6600 has a larger cache than the E6400. I definately need to take that into consideration, especially since I was going back and forth between the two anyway.

I am a HUGE fan of ASUS since thats the mobo on my system I have now, so I will look into the regular P5B. IS there a problem with Gigabytes that I don't know about?

What would you guys recommend for a gaming rig video card? (Budget about 200-250 dollars)

[Cricket]

My old system consists of Pentium 4 3.0 HT, ASUS Motherboard (428 socket + AGP) 17" Acer Flat screen, 120 Seagate barracuda Sata + 80gb Western Digital IDE drive, 1.5gig Ram, 1g of which is OCZ ram, the other 512 is a generic brand I picked up, and a GeForce 6600GT. Could I sell this system for 600-700 dollars to make it worth the price differental between option A and Option B?I agree with glc...there's no way you could sell this computer for more than $400. Don't even know why you need to upgrade it as it's still a potent system. If it's only because you want to get on the C2D bandwagon then you gotta ask yourself if the upgrade is really worth it to you. Personally, I would wait till next year to upgrade or build new.

:) Cricket

[DustinM]

Well, your probably right cricket. I don't NEED to upgrade at this time, my computer has been doing great with what I've been throwing at it. the 6600GT is getting a little old, and thats my biggest concern right now. Unfortunately it doesn't make sense to throw money at a dying breed of AGP mobos, so I'm not going to do that.

To tell the truth, I have thought about waiting til the DX10 cards come out, but then again, there will always be something on the horizon that'll I want. (Quad core, etc, etc.)

[glc]

That is a very suitable power supply. I'm not aware of any problems with that particular Gigabyte (but I've had issues with their boards in the past), but as are you, I'm a big fan of Asus which is why I offered that alternative. As a matter of fact, Asus and Gigabyte recently merged. Best card in the $250 range is:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102051

However, with the huge rebate, I'd seriously consider this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814142075

If you want to stick with Nvidia, get the eVGA version of the 7900GS.

[DustinM]

I was just looking at Sapphire card right before I saw your post. Whats the main difference between the XT and GT?

Also, I just saw a Asus P5b Deluxe w/o the Wi-Fi for $194.00. I assume its new because there are no reviews on it, but it may just be worth the extra $50 bucks for the Deluxe Bios options.

I think I'll get the E6600 thanks to chuck pointing out to me the larger cache as compared to the E6400. I'll just have to save up a little more money before I do my build.

Thanks guys!

DustinM

[glc]

From Tom's Hardware:

The X1900 GT is based on the X1900 XT core, except it is crippled with some pixel shaders disabled and has a lower clockspeed. There are now two versions: the original 575 MHz core/600 MHz memory version, and the new 512 MHz core/6600 MHz memory version. Both perform similarly.

The card's main competition is the 7900 GS, which it soundly beats in almost every benchmark. The worst thing I can say about the X1900 GT is that its X1900 XT 256MB cousin performs much better for not much more money.