Help w/ buying Mobo, CPU (1 Viewer)

[Dumsum]

Yo guys, my trusty Soltek mobo and Athlon XP 2500+ have treated me very very well over the last... very long time, so much so I haven't needed to upgrade for ages and hence I'm TOTALLY uninformed about what's happening in the motherboard and CPU scene these days. What's hot, and what's not? Is the AMD vs Intel debate still raging?

I'd be fine sticking with what i have but unfortunately, it seems either the motherboard and/or CPU have rorted themselves.

I mainly use this computer for general every day use as well as watching TV, DVDs, listening to music etc., no gaming, that shit bores me. With the imminent release of Vista, what's your opinion on where I should go? Budget < $700.

 

[Collin]

Performance-wise for desktops, the Intel 'Conroe' rules all right now. The official brand name is 'Core2 Duo'. If I had $700 to buy a mobo and CPU for productivity purposes right now, I would most likely purchase a $500 E6600 Conroe (which may I add, performs on par to an AMD FX-62) and the rest on a i965 Conroe motherboard. You can go for a i975 board too.. but atm they're more pricey and the main benefit is support for SLi/Crossfire (gaming-related).

Now let's move onto the ISSUES. If you were still on a XP 2500+, then you're using DDR RAM. The vast majority of Conroe boards are DDR2.. I've only seen one or two boards (cheapies from Asrock) which still give support to DDR1.

If you wanna spend somewhat less, grab yourself an AMD skt939 board with a cheap Athlon X2 3600/3800+. Thanks to competition from Intel (or more specifically.. the 'Big C'), AMD chips are going for CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP right now.

 

[Collin]

Nice. How much and where? Aren't you replacing an old XP Athlon too.. good upgrade.

 

[Dumsum]

Thanks for the info Collin, I've gone around looking at a few options, presented below. I've decided I'm probably gonna have to grab some new (DDR2) RAM as well.

2x 512MB Kingston DDR2 for $120 ($60 each). Is it worth spending a bit extra and going Corsair?

PLUS one of the following:
1. Intel Mobo DP965LT ($200) + E6300 ($300) OR E6400 ($380). Is there $80 worth of difference between the 6400 and 6300? Total = $620 or $700.
2. Gigabyte GA-945GM-S2 + E6300 ($470 as combo). Total = $590.
3. Gigabyte GA-M51GM-S2G + Athlon X2 4200+ ($455 as combo). Total = $575.

What do you think of these options?

Edit: just realised I'll be needing a new graphics card as well (don't have pci-e card) but that can come next Youth Allowance pay day.

 

[Collin]

Gotta run to work in 5 minutes, so I'll make a quick reply.

Forget about the X2 4200+. The E6400 performs on average around the same as a X2 4400+, and costs less. Fyi, the E6300 performs around the same as a X2 3800+, and they're overclockable to AMD FX-62 equivalents.

As for E6300 vs. 6400, if you just need it for everyday stuff, then you probably have no need for an 6400. The E6300 is ample for those activities.

Don't have time to check out those mobos right now, but Gigabyte and Asus make pretty good Conroe boards.

If you're looking for a video card for Vista, wait for nVidia and ATi to release their G8x/R6xx range soon. They will be the first DX10 compliant cards.

 

[fatmuscle]

www.zazz.com.au
today only (8/9/2006)

 

[Dumsum]

Wow that's extremely tempting. Sell off all the shit I don't need... hmm...

Edit: pity I don't have credit card...

 

[andykillz]

Whirlpool forums are very good for knowledge on computers.(Wish i had joined before i built my computer)

Anyway here is the best possible hardware for the set prices http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/index.cfm?a=wiki&tag=rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs

CPU: Intel Pentium D-820 2.8GHz 775-Pin $175
Motherboard: Gigabyte 8VM800PDM $69
RAM: 512MB Samsung DDR2-533 $76
HDD: Western Digital 80GB IDE $56
Case & PSU: SuperFlower X-Mask w/ 350W PSU $80
Optical Drive: Pioneer 111D Black/Silver $51

 

[velox]

Whirlpool forums are very good for knowledge on computers.(Wish i had joined before i built my computer)

Anyway here is the best possible hardware for the set prices http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/index.cfm?a=wiki&tag=rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs

CPU: Intel Pentium D-820 2.8GHz 775-Pin $175
Motherboard: Gigabyte 8VM800PDM $69
RAM: 512MB Samsung DDR2-533 $76
HDD: Western Digital 80GB IDE $56
Case & PSU: SuperFlower X-Mask w/ 350W PSU $80
Optical Drive: Pioneer 111D Black/Silver $51

as if you would bother with the cheap x2s

 

[Collin]

as if you would bother with the cheap x2s

X2s? I believed he mentioned Pentium Ds. Speaking of X2s AND Pentium Ds.. some of them are GREAT buys right now. Just because Conroes are out doesn't mean it suits everyone's budgets. Some people just want a cheap dual-core.. and until Intel releases an E6100 & E6200 Conroe, there are GREAT dirt-cheap buys out there now like the AMD X2 3600 and discontinued Pentium Ds.

 

[velox]

sorry i mean as if you would bother with pentium d when the x2's are so cheap

 

[Templar]

If you are getting a Pentium D, at least stick with the Presler cores. Smithfield produces so much heat that you'd be very worried about how long it will last.

 

[Collin]

sorry i mean as if you would bother with pentium d when the x2's are so cheap

I saw an X2 3600+ for $170 the other day. So cheap!

 

[AsyLum]

Where at? I'm thinking of replacing this a64 3200 (and x2 are compatible with 939 yeah ?)

 

[Collin]

Where at? I'm thinking of replacing this a64 3200 (and x2 are compatible with 939 yeah ?)

939 is discontinued man.. the X2 3600+ is AM2 only. lol

 

[AsyLum]

939 is discontinued man.. the X2 3600+ is AM2 only. lol

Haha, bastards, they lied to me

I knew I should've gotten the X2 from the beginning

 

[AsyLum]

How much have you go to spend dude? If you're willing to wait, '07 will be a good year for AMD...

At the moment, I was looking to just upgrade for the sake of upgrading, but I seemed to have missed the boat by two-three months haha.

Looks like I'll be waiting for a Conroe or Intel-G5

 

[velox]

kentsfield quad core.

 

[AsyLum]

Well, while i'm a die-hard advocate of the Core 2 Duo, I was wholehartedly thinking of moving to AMD before the Conroe. I still think that AMD can claim top crown next year...

But if you're looking for the best right now, a Conroe/Allendale + DDR2 + 965P Mobo will do you well. Since I got the Core 2 Duo, multimedia tasks have shot up performance wise. It hardly blinks at h.264 encoding, and even though my P4 could handle HD 1080p WMV/QT decoding, it only worked with no other applications running. Right now, I can watch HD 1080p with tons of other applications open, (utorrent, firefox, media player classic, and itunes, etc). Nothing has been too tough for the Core 2 so far...

Right now, the 3200 is holding up quite well, outside of rendering/encoding there isn't too much of a worry for me so I may hold out till the DX10 cards come out, and things 'stabilise' a tad more to force me into having to upgrade. I think any upgrade I do now would just be purely for e-penis rather than necessity and I'm far too poor to do that.

 

[Serius]

before conroe, anyone who said they support Intel would be laughed out of the forums. Now intel are posing some genuine competition for AMD and AMD has no real answer to the conroe except price cuts.

RAM brand doesnt really matter unless you are a hardcore overclocker. Even then alot of overclockers have got incredible results from generic RAM, its just that good brands like corair increase your chances of getting a luck of the draw godly overclocking stick.