advice on proc & grfx please ?

dealgan

Hi folks,
I need some advice from you experts.
I'm (over)due an upgrade, but not sure which way to go.

Current system is:
Skt478 3.4 P4EE on an Abit IC7-G m/b with some sort of coolermaster (vortex ?) axial fan (manual control) +Big Heatsink on northbridge (no fan)
1GB ocz Pair PC3200 (I think)
2x36gig raptors in raid 0
wd caviar 250g + 500g sata drives
Ati radeon agp card - can remember which model, but its noisy as hell.
sonata case with a dabs value psu (550W PSU Titan 12cm)
Dell 19" CRT

Main use is games, but also a little video editing (dv tape to dvd), cd & dvd burning, etc.Nothing major.

Want to build a better & quieter machine

After reading reviews, etc and looking at prices on komplett/dabs my first stab gives me this:
Core 2 Quad, Q6600 2.4
Abit AB9 QuadGT
2GB of PC5300/PC6400 Ram ?
8800GTS 320M Card ?
Keep existing hdds


Questions:
Are abit boards still near the best, or have asus taken over ?
Is the C2Quad a better choice than the C2Duo ?
What ram should I go for .. what speed & what make ?
Is the 8800gts a bit overkill ? games are mostly racing sims (rfactor, gtr, etc)
What case & psu ?
Noise: doesnt have to be silent, but would like it to be low noise.
Lastly, whats is a good 20" lcd for games ?

As you can tell from my questions, it's been a while since I built a decent box, so lost touch a bit with whats good & whats not.

Budget - around 1000 if thats realistic ?

Advise please.

Cheers.

8T8

Brand doesn't matter too much and Abit are a different company these days bought out by another but kept the name either way anything that uses the Intel P35 chipset should do fine it's just a matter of features/extras being your guiding line really if those matter to you.

The Quad vs the Duo well if your apps are multi-threaded and seeing as your doing some video encoding they may well be in that case the quad "could" offer significant performance bumps over the Duo. But if your apps aren't multi-threaded then you may just be better off with a Duo instead.

2GB of PC6400 (DDR-2 800) will do fine get some Crucial or Corsair RAM.

For the GPU the 8800GTS 320 just for racing games it may be a bit overkill though you wont have any performance problems and can easily load up on AA/AF but there are cheaper alternatives.

Case anything that appeals to you really but the Antec P180 cases are fairly popular.

For the PSU something from Seasonic M12 line will do the job very high quality and quiet in use.

For a display are you keeping the CRT or going to get an LCD & is it your first LCD ?

A budget of 1000 means corners will have to be cut e.g keep your current PSU or CRT display depending on what you want.

Anti

personaly i would stay away from the antec p180, as they are very messy to work with, and its hard to get the cabeling tidy for a good airflow. Just go for one you like the look of, just do a bit of research on it to make sure the air flow is good in the case. I would reccomend anything from lian-li or silverstone, but you will be talking 300€ and morejust for the case. A antec 900 is a good case, very good cooling, and flashy looking but might not be your style.

Forget the seasonic m12 range, get the corsair 620hx, which is a rebranded searsonic modular psu, thats cheaper then the seasonic, and has a quieter fan.

The 8800gts will be over kill for the games you play, but it will be good for future games that come out. A x1950 would be perfect for you, but its not futureproof at all.

As 8t8 said 2gb of pc6400 will do you perfect, if you are going for vista i would reccomend you get a 2x2gb kit (4gb) as vista will use 1.2gb of ram as soon as you turn the machine on 4x1gb kits dont seem to work to well on alot of boards, so a 2x2gb kit is the safe option, and it allows you to run the ram in dual chan mode.

This:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=331032

Would be awesome for games and movies, see if you can find a cheaper price on www.dabs.ie or www.pixmania.ie

G'luck

dealgan

8T8 wrote:

anything that uses the Intel P35 chipset should do fine

OK, Thats the sort of info I needed.

8T8 wrote:

if your apps aren't multi-threaded then you may just be better off with a Duo instead.

Again, thats good info. Mabye I'll stick with a Duo.

8T8 wrote:

For the GPU the 8800GTS 320 just for racing games it may be a bit overkill though you wont have any performance problems and can easily load up on AA/AF but there are cheaper alternatives.

Any suggestions, or just pick to budget ?

8T8 wrote:

For a display are you keeping the CRT or going to get an LCD & is it your first LCD ?

I'll add an lcd later. cant do it in budget. Yes, will be first decent lcd.
(only have a 15" LG & a 17" Dell on analogue graphics)

8T8 wrote:

A budget of 1000 means corners will have to be cut e.g keep your current PSU or CRT display depending on what you want.

My current PSU is surprisingly quiet ! (being a 40 euro dabsvalue special !) Might try keeing it and the sonata case for a while & see how it works out.

Anti wrote:

if you are going for vista i would reccomend you get a 2x2gb kit (4gb) as vista will use 1.2gb of ram as soon as you turn the machine on 4x1gb kits dont seem to work to well on alot of boards, so a 2x2gb kit is the safe option, and it allows you to run the ram in dual chan mode.

I'll probably try vista ... Does that mean I need 64bit vista to use the 4gb ?

Any issues with 64bit vista & general games & stuff thats not specifically 64bit ?




Thanks for the info. I'll do a bit more digging & come back to ask some more

Anti

Yep, to see the full 4gb you will need a 64bit operating system. There are a few problems with 64bit, but nothing you wont be able to fix. 99% of the time right clicking a file > compatibility > winxp sp2 will sort most issues.

8T8

For the GPU just go with an X1950Pro and you should be pretty much sorted they can be gotten very cheaply.

Stick with the current PSU you wont need a new one.

You save 150 bucks or so there which can be put towards something else also if not getting an LCD then you can easily afford the 8800GTS or better.

dealgan

Right,
Spent a while looking around and came up with this:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0ghz 1333FSB = €252
Asustek Intel P35 PCI-E ATX = €144
Sapphire Radeon X1950 PRO 512MB GDDR3 PCIE 580/700 = €147
Crucial 2x1GB 240-Pin DIMM PC2-6400 Unbuffered Non-ECC CL4 = 104.09
Thermaltake Blue Orb FX S775/AM2 = €33.15

thats 693 incl delivery.

Should I save the €80 on the processor and go for an E6750 instead ?

I couldn't find any pairs of 2GB memory any way cheap, so decided I'd stick with 2GB for now. I'd intend to build a htpc in the near future, so can shift this ram into that & replace it when the time comes.

How can I find out if the Blue Orb will fit ok ?
I did buy one of the zalman coolers (big fkat round ones) before but it hasnt fitted in any of 3 different cases/mobos I've built since !

Or, tell me if I'm mad & shoudl go for better m/b, ram, graphics, etc.

Thanks.

Anti

Yep, save yourself some money and get a 6750. Also, DO NOT get the blue orb cooler. It will not be able to cool that cpu properly. Get one of the zalman coolers like this:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=320110

Or the tuniq tower:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-SB&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=821

Or the Thermalrite ultra 120 extreme:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-039-TR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=821

What that one you will need a fan to go with it so go for this :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-005-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=4

dealgan

Update:
I've decided on the following & have ordered some of the bits :

C2Duo E6750 - dabs @ 175.81
ABIT IP35 PRO - komplett @ 185.00
OCZ Platinum DDR2 PC6400 2048MB KIT CL4-4-4-15 - Komplett @ 100.01
X1950 Pro - dabs @ 147.53

and a couple of quiet 120mm fans :
AKASA Amber Series Ultra quiet Fan 120mm 18 db(A) Komplett @ 13.00
NorthQ Silent Tornado 120mm Fan, 17-19db, 38CFM Komplett @ 16.50

I like the Abit boards, & the ip35 pro got good reviews, so I'll chance it.

I'm going to keep my windows xp pro, my sonata case, (change the case fan) and a zalman cpu cooler I had which I finally managed to install on my current system and works very well.

I was about to order some stuff from quietpc, but it was 60 euro shipping !!

Thanks again for the info.

dealgan

Update:
I didn't actually buy a m/b, or proc, or ram,.. yet.

I decided to build a htpc instead, and bought a zalman hd135 case. some quiet fans, a mini-ninja cooler and a zalman heatpipe cooler for the radeon 9800 card. I also bought an antec phantom 500 psu.

I ran into trouble fitting the zalman cooler, as it made the graphics card too high for the zalman hd135 case, so I put it all back into my sonata case.

Now I have a very very quiet system. Still trying to get airflow sorted with some fans for the graphics card cooler, but shouldn't be too difficult to sort out.

But, I'm still undecided about what to buy.

I have two main choices:
1. Buy new bits for the htpc
2. Use current bits (different grfx cooler) for htpc & update games box with new m/b, proc, graphics, ram, etc.

There doesnt seem to be a lot of cost difference whichever way I go.

dealgan

Quick update:
Ordered from komplett :

Core 2 Duo E6750
Abit IP35
OCZ Platinum 2GB kit
GeForce 7300GTGood enough, with s-video out
Scythe Ninja plus (for old system, use the mini ninja for htpc)
Hauppauge HVR3000 hope it will do both dvb-s and analogue !
Akasa amber 120mm fan Just to see how quiet it is !

Hopefully get the bits during this week

Anti

nice spec for what you need. should be fine.

dealgan

Ack
Got all the bits, put it all together nice and carefully, routed all the cables for good airflow, etc etc, powered up and nothing.

All my other pcs in the house are the older skt478, and none have pcie slots, so I couldn't check the parts to find what was at fault.
All I could do was use a different PSU, and that made no difference.

When I realised I needed to connect a speaker to hear the error beeps, I had to use one from another case. One long beep. OK, go check the m/b manual, and no error beeps listed. I googled & found it was either memory or processor.

Finally managed to check the cpu in a friend's box and its at fault

Waiting ro RMA it with Komplett.

What a pain.