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05-01-2007, 08:16 PM
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#1 |
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Member (3 bit)
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 4
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Graphics Editing/Gaming Build or Upgrade?
I built my current PC in 2003 and have decided it's time to upgrade or build a new one, and have not built anything since then, so I'm a bit out of touch.
I'm looking for a system that will run Photoshop CS and other graphics editing programs in addtion to running games such as The Sims 2, City of Heroes/Villains, FFXI, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Unreal Tournament, etc., without slowing down the machine. I'm on a budget between $1000 and $2000, preferably on the low end of that range. This is box only, as I have all the peripherals that I need at this time. The current system that I have has a tendency to run programs very slow (even after cleaning up/defragging, checking for viruses and such) and also shuts down at times. The fans tend to run loud as well. My current build is as follows: 2 HD-SG120SATA Seagate 120GB Serial ATA 7200RPM 8MB Harddrives P4 800FSB D-Raid SATA DDR-D400 1k-Lan/FW (I believe this is a gigabyte mobo) P4 3.2 Ghz-C 800 Mhz FSB 512k Cache Box (Intel processor) 2 512MB DDR PC3200 400Mhz Memory ATI All In Wonder Radeon 9800Pro 128MB NEC DVD/DVDRW/CDRW 52x CD-Rom IDE Is this upgradable or would it be better to just make a new build? I would like to get a new case and am considering the COOLER MASTER Ammo 533. Also, I'm currently looking at upgrading to NVidia over ATI. Thank you in advance. |
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05-01-2007, 08:39 PM
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#2 |
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: tfp
Posts: 1,923
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Welcome to PCMech!
At this point a complete new system makes much more sense than an upgrade. The current processor and ram standards are not compatible with your motherboard, and once you're looking at a new Mobo, cpu and ram, plus a better video card, that's pretty much a new system. Here's what I'd recommend: CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e6600 MOBO: Asus P5B (Pick one with the features you need/want) GPU: eVGA nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS (or GTX if budget permits.) HDD: Seagate 7200.10 320 GB SATA hdd (larger if you need it) DVD-RW: Any retail Lite-On SATA drive (retail comes with Nero, OEM does not). RAM: 2GB Corsair Value Select DDR2 667 (if you plan on overclocking, get Corsair XMS2 800mhz) PSU: Corsair HX520W powersupply Windows XP Home (get one with an upgrade coupon for Vista; vista's too unstable just yet, but once the first service pack comes out, you can apply the coupon to your upgrade). Case is pretty much personal preference. That should put you at around $1000, depending on your decision on a video card. If you can, I'd invest in the GTX model with as much onboard RAM as possible. With your budget, I'm honestly not sure if it makes sense to put more money towards the Core2Quad processor ($530) or not. Someone else can perhaps weigh in on that.
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System: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe AMD Opteron Denmark 165 Sapphire Radeon 4850x2 2X1GB G.Skill DDR400 Ram Corsair 850W PSU Thermaltake Soprano case Seagate 7200.10 320GB Last edited by LeftyAce; 05-01-2007 at 08:43 PM. |
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05-01-2007, 08:40 PM
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#3 |
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Member (11 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 1,616
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EDIT: Looks like LeftyAce beat me to the first post. I'd go ahead and do a new build as well. Your kind of limited in how far you can upgrade socket 478 processors these days. That machine would make a great Linux box or server or something though, so I'd keep it running.
As a starting point, here's the build I'm planning to do. It's right in the middle of your price range so you can upgrade or downgrade price as you'd like. The PSU for example is a bit overkill as I plan on adding more hard drives, and the motherboard is the more expensive model as I use firewire, and the case is my own preference. Motherboard: ASUS P5B-E Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131070 $146.99 Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache Processor - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115002 $323.00 RAM: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145098 $104.99 Video Card: eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI-E HDCP Video Card - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130071 $389.99 Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V 620W Power Supply - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139002 $169.99 CASE: Antec Performance I P180 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case – Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129017 $124.99 Hard Drive: Seagate 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140 $79.99 Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black 16X 2M Cache SATA DVD Burner - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106046 $33.99 Card Reader: LINKSKEY LKA-CR15B 19-in-1 USB 2.0 Black Card Reader/Writer - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820300901 $12.99 O.S.: Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium DVD - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=32-116-202 $111.99 TOTAL SYSTEM: $1,498.91
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Laptop HP DM4t / i5-560M / 14.1 WXGA Widescreen / 1GB Radeon Mobility 6370 / 4GB RAM / 320 GB 7200rpm HD / DVD-RW / 802.11n & BT wireless First Build Abit IC7-G Max II Motherboard / 2.8C 800mhz P4 / 1024 DDR 3200 (2x 512 in Duel Channel) / Saphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128 / Samsung 120 GB SATA HD / Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM / NEC DVD-RW Last edited by Staren; 05-01-2007 at 08:46 PM. |
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05-02-2007, 05:02 PM
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#5 |
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Member (11 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 1,616
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You'll want to change your optical drives. There is one issue with 965 boards, and that is the IDE controller is a 3rd party POS. Going all SATA is easier.
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05-02-2007, 06:39 PM
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#6 |
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Member (3 bit)
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 4
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Thank you for pointing that out.
Would these be better? Reader: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16827106039 Burner: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16827106040 Is there a reason LITE-ON is the preferred manufacturer for optical drives? |
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05-02-2007, 08:58 PM
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#7 |
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Kickin' it
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 7,723
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Good reader, but that burner won't burn DVDs. Here is the one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106072
We recommend LiteOn because they are good quality and the Retail units come with Nero software. Its a good combo.
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05-29-2007, 03:53 PM
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#8 |
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Member (3 bit)
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 4
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I have some more questions - a friend of mine went over the build and made some suggestions and I was wondering if they made a significant difference.
Here's the recommended build from my friend: Recommended Box: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $49.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16811119068 MSI P6N SLI-FI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $119.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813130082 EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail $294.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814130082 APEVIA ATX-AS520W-BK ATX 520W Power Supply - Retail $59.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817148008 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail$225.90 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16819115003 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail $87.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820231098 Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM $99.99http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136054 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $69.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822144701 Subtotal: $1,008.83 Here's the build I came up with using the suggestions from the thread: COOLER MASTER Ammo 533 RC-533-SWN1 - Retail $74.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16811119098 ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $144.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813131070 EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail $559.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813131070 CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - Retail $169.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817139002 Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6700- Retail $319.00 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16819115002 CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS2GBKIT667D2 - Retail $75.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820145098 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $79.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822148140 LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model SHD-16S1S-05 - OEM $17.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16827106039 LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 - Retail $45.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16827106072 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail $89.99 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16829102006 Subtotal: $1,578.91 Are these builds comparable? Any pros and cons between the two? |
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05-29-2007, 04:39 PM
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#9 |
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Member (11 bit)
Premium Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 1,616
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Ok here's my answer to your friends changes. It's a little brutal.
That power supply is basically a generic nothing brand. It may work fine for a while but when PSUs die they can take other parts with them so you want to keep to known good brands for that part. It's very critical. Here is our forums running list of manufacturers. You'll notice that Apevia isn't anywhere on there so we have no info. http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195 MSI motherboards are considered second tier manufacturers. They're decent, but I'd prefer not to use them for a high end build. SLI and other dual video card set-ups are kind of a waste of money in my opinion and that of most here. By the time you buy the second card the next generation is already out. Your much better off keeping up a single higher end card then two lesser cards. The performance difference has been proven time and time again. The RAM he picked out I have no problem with. G.Skill is solid. A raptor again like SLI just isn't worth the price unless you have the money to burn. A 7200.10 is very near as fast and realistically there isn't a difference in day to day use. Last edited by Staren; 05-29-2007 at 04:44 PM. |
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05-29-2007, 07:21 PM
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#10 |
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V12
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Houston, T.E.X.A.S
Posts: 3,488
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The 620w for your build is overkill. Get the 520w version and save some cash. You can get it for $95 at www.zipzoomfly.com with free shipping.
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“We must not let ourselves get driven off course, no matter what happens we must stick to our natural game” -Zenedine Zidane |
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05-29-2007, 07:36 PM
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#11 |
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Wx geek
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Indiana
Posts: 6,638
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Apevia used to be called Aspire - and it's on the bad list.
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"It is the way of man to make monsters and it is the nature of monsters to destroy their makers." |
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