So i'm running the current rig in my sig, and it's lasted me two years before i needed to upgrade (got my EVGA 8800 GT last week and love it) but i'm thinking the rest of the pc is bottlenecking it, plus it's not as fast as it was in the past. I have done reformat's and cleaned the pc, and it runs fine for a few days, then slows down again, so i've decided that this summer i'm going to be upgrading to an intel dual core, probably a p35 board, don't want/need sli, and 4 GB of ram. My os won't support all 4 GB, but i do plan to also get vista 64 bit. Now, i have some questions. Will my ultra x2 550 watt PS be able to power a overclocked dual or quad core, 8800 GT, 2 cd drives, 1 sata HD, plus my UV cathods, 2 x 120mm LED fans, 1x 90mm fan, and 1x 80 LED fan? I'd think it would be alright, as it's not that i wan't to be cheap, but being 16 and having limitted amount of work, money isn't easy for me to come by. My idea's now... Mobo A p35 board that has IDE for my cd and dvd drives, a few sata connections for the HD, just in case i want a second HD in the future, some overclocking room for the cpu, ram, and gpu, and a quality board. I don't want to skimp on parts, so i don't mind spending $$$ on something if it is worth it. Now if you told me to get a x38, i would laugh at you. I'm stuck between Abit, DFI, Gigabyte, possibly Asus. I wan't something that will fit my needs and have some nice extra features. CPU Plan to overclock, and i really don't need a quad core, so i would rather spend some cash on a high clocked dual core like the E8400, or the E6850. Now, the e6850 is 10 dollars more, and has 2 MB less L2 cache, so would the e8400 be the better choice? CPU Cooling I would love liquid cooling, but since money is tight, i'm thinking artic cooler 7. It's easier for me to find that than a thermalright, and it's cheaper. I don't plan to do any hardcore overclock anyways, something gentle. Ram My plan was 4 GB, but i'm not sure what to go with... I'm thinking highest speed ram that mobo supports, DDR2, 4 GB. Now, Corsair twinx, Corsair dominator, OCZ reaper... the list goes on and on... Any personal experiences with any companies worth mentioning? Service and what not? OS Will be using vista 32 bit until i can afford the 64 bit version. Thanks in advance. Matt
Yes, I'm building a new computer with similar specs (Quad, 8800GT, 4GB etc) and will be using a 520W I would say ASUS P5K-E as that's what I am getting but the IDE port is in a bad position to be used. You should probably get a GA-EP35-DS3P as the IDE is in a better position and looks to be a good board, just make sure you have good airflow over the PWMs when overclocking. Get the 8400 will be of more use to you, 45nm=better over clocking, more cache is good. Plus it has SSE4 instructions so if you do any media encoding it would benefit from that. Don't really know too much about coolers ATM, have a look at reviews, bit has a good selection. 4GB is good to get, its like 2GB was a while ago, you don't NEED it but it helps, and programs will use it in the future, plus Vista will be snappier. As for what to get, whatever you can afford, Corsairs good. Also 4x1GB DIMMs are better than 2x2 as said by Ryan somewhere, slight improvement. Might want to watch for bit-techs review of 2 vs 4 vs 8GB RAM in a system. Unless I dreamed Tim saying that.
I am running Vista x86 with 2Gb and everything runs fine (I some some gaming and ripping of blue-ray, plus database development etc). 4Gb will be good in the future, but I have a m/b with DDR2 and DDR3 so will replace my 2GB DDR2 with 4GB DDR3 later in the year when prices are cheaper.
The main thing i do with my pc is internet surfing, gaming (CoD4, CSS, WoW, maybe new games in the future) music, a bit of photoshop, now and then i might make a gaming montage, but i noticed my pc is starting to slow down, so if im upgrading, i'm spending the cash to make it last. I have no real budget, because i know cheap budgets mean cheap parts, but i was looking to spend roughly 275 tops on a mobo, 300 or so on processor, and like 175 - 200 on ram. I'm going to start saving after my birthday in May, and in the summer i'll also be working. If i have some extra cash, i may go purchase a SATA cd/dvd burner/reader drive, that would only be like 50 bucks? Thanks for the advice so far. More is welcome!
A lot can change in a couple of months in the computer world. I would wait until about a week before purchasing before deciding.
