Please advise on new build components

[tomkear2006]

Finally given up on my old 939 setup since I am having all sorts of problems which I am sure are motherboard related. Having looked about the place it seems impractical to replace the motherboard, I might as well go for an almost full new system.

Can anyone advise on the following setup?:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHz Socket 775 800FSB 2MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
ASUS P5B Socket 775 Core 2 ready P965 chipset onboard audio ATX
Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-12) Heat Spreader

I already have PCI-E Graphics card, decent case, wireless card that can all be moved over to the new system.

Thanks,
Tom Kear

[Cricket]

What are you going to be doing with this computer?

The P5B is an older motherboard, you might want to look at the P5K instead...gives you more upgrade options down the road.

And the RAM you have listed is faster than you need. For a 800MHz C2D you can use DDR2 533 or DDR2 667...you really only need DDR2 400 but that's hard to find.

:) Cricket

[tomkear2006]

What are you going to be doing with this computer?

The P5B is an older motherboard, you might want to look at the P5K instead...gives you more upgrade options down the road.

And the RAM you have listed is faster than you need. For a 800MHz C2D you can use DDR2 533 or DDR2 667...you really only need DDR2 400 but that's hard to find.

:) Cricket


At the moment I just want a system that doesn't decide to die at random and it as powerful or better than my current 939 X2 4400+. I have plenty of guts at the moment but the system is horribly unstable.

[Khalil]

Socket 939s are about the most stable systems you can own as long as you have the right motherboard brand. What brand is your motherboard and chipset?

The Intel setup you listed is excellent and will serve you well.
Are you running all those Operating sysmtes on the same hard drive with seperate partitions or are you using several hard drives?

[tomkear2006]

Socket 939s are about the most stable systems you can own as long as you have the right motherboard brand. What brand is your motherboard and chipset?

The Intel setup you listed is excellent and will serve you well.
Are you running all those Operating sysmtes on the same hard drive with seperate partitions or are you using several hard drives?


Understood that 939 is a good choice, the mistake I made was being a noob to self-builds and choosing an ECS motherboard a short time ago.

I was running all 3 OS's from separate partitions on a single drive but that is a thing of the past. I am suffering from random power downs, regardless of OS and have tried all sorts to solve the problem. My mind is firmly set that it's the motherboard at fault.

[tomkear2006]

Maybe this will do as a replacement for the current motherboard I have. I could do with keeping the price LOW:

ASUS A8V VM-SE 2xPCI-1XPCI-E-2XDDR ONBOARD VGA / 7.1AUDIO+LAN/2XIDE+2XSATA

[Alaron]

Normally I'd skip that board since it uses a VIA chipset. But 939 boards are so scarce right now, choices are limited. If you want to just avoid the hassles you're having with that ECS board for cheap, that should be fine. Otherwise, go with the full upgrade listed above.

[Khalil]

Maybe this will do as a replacement for the current motherboard I have. I could do with keeping the price LOW:

ASUS A8V VM-SE 2xPCI-1XPCI-E-2XDDR ONBOARD VGA / 7.1AUDIO+LAN/2XIDE+2XSATA
This board will do very well for you, VIA makes good chipsets as long as you don't plan on power gaming with the rig.

[Brothersoft]

Well, you guys think of nVidia chipset? If just to change motherboard, I think ASUS A8N is also a good choice.

[Alaron]

Nvidia chipsets are great for AMD, and that board is also good. Problem is finding one these days. ;)