Trying to spec a new build, need help with MB and RAM selection!

[Matt_Smi]

First off I will say this will be the second computer I have build (for myself anyway), so I already own a copy of XP SP2 that I plan to use, I also already have a nice 20” LCD and wireless KB/Mouse set, so this build is only for the computer itself. I also have quite a few parts that I will be re-using from my current build, without gutting it and still keeping it running as a secondary comp. That said I have most of it spec’d out, but with any new build I always have a tough time trying to decide on the motherboard, and also what RAM will match up and work best with it. I am looking to start with 2GB of RAM, then upgrade to 4GB later on if I need it. But my current build (listed in my sig) used to have 1.5GB of ram and I doubled it by upgrading to 3GB and barley noticed a difference, so I think 2GB is fine for now, with XP at least.

Also, my overall budget is $1,500 for this build, it is geared towards mainly media and gaming, I have tons of music, videos and pictures on my machine. I also like to edit pictures with Photoshop and would love to get into video editing. Finally I do a lot of DVD ripping with DVD Shrink or DVD Decrypter, while I am doing this forget doing anything else, my CPU is pretty much pegged, which is one area I would love to improve. I would like to be able to tweak my system and overclock it and bit, but still have it stable, both the CPU and GPU. Finally I want to be able to multitask like crazy basically, which is why I hope the quad core will be great for this, because I was also considering the E6850 Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz for the CPU, but I think that the Q6600 will be better for multitasking, esp. if I OC it to 3.0, which I have heard it can stability do on air cooling. Hopefully this gives you enough info on what I am looking to achieve and if my proposed build will satisfy my needs. So to get on with it, here is what I have so far...


Case: LIAN LI PC-60BPLUSII W Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16811112116

Power Supply Unit: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817139002

**OR**

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad 750W
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817703009

Not sure which one to go with, the PC P&C is only $20 more, and has more power and is rated to run Dual 8800 GTX's (not that I plan to do that but who knows), but it does not have modular cables, which I love, because I like to make my cases super neat. Either way I am sure either will be fine for this PC.

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 (With Zalman CNP9500 Heat Sink that I already own)
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16819115017

Video Card: Evga 7900GS (With Zalman VF900 Heatsink that I already own)
Here is the deal, I currently own this card, and I plan to use it for this new build for the time being, because I want to see what new nvidea based cards are coming out this year, otherwise I would just get the Evga 8800GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130319
But I am leaving aside $300-350 in the budget for the video card.

Hard Drives: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822136131
I also already own a WD 3200KS 320 GB HD as well as a Seagate 7200.10 320 GB HD which I plan to reuse, this gives me over a TB of space, plus I have 500 GB and 120 GB external drives for backups of my most important data. The 750 GB's job will be to house all my media, and I may add a second drive in the future if needed.

Optical Drives: Lite-ON SATA DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16827106057
I also have a Lite-ON IDE DVD Burner in my current build which I planned to reuse for this build as well, so I can burn DVD's on the fly.

Floppy Drive: Freebie Mitsumi from my current build


This puts me at a total of $770, with a need for a Motherboard, RAM and eventually Video Card. I figure $250-300 for the MB, $300-350 for the Video Card and $100-150 for 2 GB of RAM, this should put me just above or below the $1,500 mark.

For the motherboard I was thinking of going with the Evga 780i http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813188024
I want something with at least two 2.0 PCI E slots, should I go SLI someday, I want an optical out for sound, and this ESA seems interesting but it not needed, also built in WIFI would be nice and save me a PCI slot. In my $250-300 price range everything else I want seems to be pretty much standard, IE 6 SATA ports, Firewire, E-SATA, ect. If not the Evga board then it would prob be an Asus, but they make so many damn boards I just cannot decide.

For the RAM, anything that matches with the MB and will OC well with it is fine, as far as brands go I really like Corsair RAM and have had great luck with it in the past. I have also had good results with Crucial, but mainly for upgrades on old systems, and Kingston has been good to me, but I have heard mixed things about their RAM recently.

Hopefully I did not give TOO much info, but I am putting so much planning into this that I wanted to give as much as possible without making it too long to read. I am really just stuck on the MB and RAM combo here, so any suggestions that would meet my needs would be great and if you have questions please let me know. Thanks so much!

[shadowpr]

If you're going to overclock, you save money by getting the oem processor.

For ram, look at corsair xms2 ddr2-800 cas 5.

[Dave21]

Get the corsair 620 W PSU. More reliable.

I don't recommend going SLI. Not worth the performance gain for price.

However, that board you selected is good but you can save money by going for a asus p5k board. It has wi-fi as well. Also good for overclocking. Save money there and invest on better video card.

The 9800GX2 is coming out mid-march some time. That's two video cards in one. So you don't need SLI.

[Katreat]

SLI is a lot of money for not all that much performance gain. For most people with a budget it is not the way to go. If you plan on a monster new monitor in the near future then it can help with resolution issues, by monster I mean like 28-30".

I would recomend the P5K-E. Very stable board and I have always heard Intel CPUs perform better with Intel Chipsets anyway, so that is a plus. Since you have a cooler you can buy OEM and save a bit on the CPU.

I have seen mixed reviws on the 780i boards. This is one of the most interesting reads, sounds like if you really want SLI you might should wait for the 790i to fix all the bugs.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...-heels-unhappy

Most newer boards dont have native IDE support, would recommend you change your Burner to SATA.

The E6850 is over priced for the performance gain over the E6750. The Q6600 is a great processor and probably what you need if you multitask more than you game. You might check out the new E8400, suppose to be a fantastic OC'er if you want more speed with less cores. I think the new 45mm quads are almost out, or maybe they are out, but probably a big jump in price.

Kat

[Matt_Smi]

Thanks for the responses so far, a few questions and points.

shadowpr, Good point about getting an OEM processor, that saves me $20, and I do not need a fan nor thermal paste so it should be fine, and thanks for the RAM recommendation.

Dave21, Any particular reason the Corsair PSU is more reliable? I have always thought that PC Power and Cooling were considered top of the line units, is this just in your experience?

As for SLI, I do not necessarily want to go down that road, but at the same time, it would be nice if my rig could be prepped for it, in case it ever improves or whatever. But right now I have heard the same, the cost to performance ratio is just too low.

I will look into the Asus PK5 boards, such as this one…
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131182
Or even this cheaper version here…
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131196

not sure what the difference between these two is, and as far as memory for these boards goes,
should I get the Corsair dominator (DDR2 1066) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145043
or the Corsair XMS2? (DDR2 800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034
I have used XMS2 in the past with an Asus board and it worked excellent, the price is also right, but the Dominator is not priced too bad either, esp. for it being what I consider very high end RAM. But again this is where I start to confuse myself and need guidance haha.

I am not sold on the 780i, it was just an option, but these Asus PK5’s seem like very good boards, so I will prob go down that road.

[shadowpr]

I like the P5K-E. I don't think you could go wrong with that.

As for the ram, Depending on how much you plan to overclock, you will be fine with the ddr2-800. Just get the one that is cas 5. : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590

[Katreat]

With the 6600 which is a 1000 fsp processor I would think the 800 would be fine for a mild to moderate OC. If you are really going to push it then 1066 might make sense. I have not OC'ed in years so cant make a definate recommendation.

Kat

[Matt_Smi]

So I have a new idea, since my current rig has a ton of good parts in it, and I am mainly only planning a new build in order to get a quad core processor out of it, I am thinking of just upgrading the MB, CPU and RAM on my current machine and reusing everything else. I do not want my current machine to do to waste since I have a lot of money into it and quality parts. My current build is listed in my signature, but it is pretty good and everything should be compatible, so here is what it would look like with a mix of new and old…

Case: Generic, customized (already own, but may still upgrade to the Lian-Li Case)

Power Supply: Antec Neopower 480 watt modular (already own, the first and supposedly the most reliable one)

Motherboard: Asus P5K-E/WIFI-AP $150
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813131196

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 OEM (With Zalman CNP9500 Heat Sink that I already own) $250
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16819115018

RAM: 2X Corsair XMS2 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $66
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590

Or

2X Corsair Dominator 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) $158
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145043

Video Card: Evga 7900GS (With Zalman VF900 Heatsink that I already own)

Hard Drives: Western Digital 3200KS 320 GB HD and a Seagate 7200.10 320 GB HD, both 3.0 Gbs, may add a 750 or TB drive as needed…

Optical Drives: Lite-ON SATA DVD Burner and CD-Burner (that I already own)


So I only have to buy the MB, CPU and RAM for a cost of under $500 if I go with the XMS2 RAM, or $558 with the Dominator RAM. And then down the road I may upgrade my video card and add a hard drive and/or another 2 Gb of RAM to make the thing even more powerful.

What do you guys think of this? All these parts should play nice together right? I just don’t think I should build a whole new machine when I really just feel that the weak spot on my current build is the CPU/MB combo.

[Dave21]

Get the XMS2 DDR-800. You don't need DDR2-1066 unless you do serious overclocking.

Do you really need quad core? Have you checked out the E8400 to save some money. The dual core will blow away your current processor.

You might have to upgrade your power supply in the future if you plan on getting a high end video card.

[Matt_Smi]

Originally Posted by Dave21 Get the XMS2 DDR-800. You don't need DDR2-1066 unless you do serious overclocking. Do you really need quad core? Have you checked out the E8400 to save some money. The dual core will blow away your current processor. You might have to upgrade your power supply in the future if you plan on getting a high end video card.

Ok, I will go with the XMS2 then, it is much cheaper anyway, I do plan to OC, but only by about .2-.6 GHZ.

I am not sure if I need the quad core, but I want whatever processor is going to be best for serious multitasking, which I assume the quad core will be best for, esp. if I can OC it to 3.0 Ghz stable, which I am not banking on, just may try. The E8400 looks powerful too, but it is only $10 less
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037
so it is not much of a money saver, but if it is better for multitasking than the quad then I may consider it.

I am aware that depending on what video card I decide to go with I may need to upgrade the PSU as well, which is not a big deal for me, I will prob go with a Corsair unit and will upgrade that part when the time comes.

I guess my whole plan here is to start with a new MB/CPU/RAM combo, then slowly upgrade the rest of the build with a PSU/Video Card, another HDD, more RAM, new Case, ect. until it is pretty much a whole new build. I think it is more fun that way and not as big of a hit to the pocket all at once, plus you get to wait and see what comes out, which can be a bad thing if what comes out is not compatible with your hardware!

[Dave21]

Originally Posted by Matt_Smi I guess my whole plan here is to start with a new MB/CPU/RAM combo, then slowly upgrade the rest of the build with a PSU/Video Card, another HDD, more RAM, new Case, ect. until it is pretty much a whole new build. I think it is more fun that way and not as big of a hit to the pocket all at once, plus you get to wait and see what comes out, which can be a bad thing if what comes out is not compatible with your hardware!

Yea, just so you know a new chipset will be out late this year which sucks because whatever we get now will be old technology once the new chipset is released from intel.

[Katreat]

Originally Posted by Matt_Smi I am not sure if I need the quad core, but I want whatever processor is going to be best for serious multitasking, which I assume the quad core will be best for, esp. if I can OC it to 3.0 Ghz stable, which I am not banking on, just may try. The E8400 looks powerful too, but it is only $10 less http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037 so it is not much of a money saver, but if it is better for multitasking than the quad then I may consider it.

The Quad will be the better processor for multitasking and more future proof. The 8400 is a faster processor for gaming and I think is considered superior for OC'ing. Both are very nice and will be huge upgrades for you so it is really a personal choice. The new 45 mm 1333 FSB Quads are comming soon, but they will cost more so not sure if that is an option you want to wait for.

Kat

[Matt_Smi]

Originally Posted by Dave21 Yea, just so you know a new chipset will be out late this year which sucks because whatever we get now will be old technology once the new chipset is released from intel.

And then once that chipset is out, there will be another new one around the corner that will be ready to outdate it , that is just the game you play, there is never really a perfect time to build, with that said, since my current build is working fine and I am in no rush, I am in a good position to play the waiting game for a bit and upgrade to the best value components as they come out!