Conroe Build #45432 - Need help!

[tiesto]

Hi! I'm looking forward to buy a computer in August. Seeing the Conroe crushing the entire AMD squad increased the need for a new computer. Right now, I have a P4 1.7 GHz with 512 MB SDRAM and a 9800 PRO. Not a really good gaming rig. Obviously, my next rig will be for mainly for gaming, but also for storage (music, files), Internet, work (Office, Photoshop) and see movies.

Below are the parts I chose (but not final parts, it depends on your advices!). I still do not have a motherboard because I don't know if I should wait or not for nForce 570. I might not buy an additional 7900 GT for a good six months so I don't know if this chipset will be really useful (SLI being its main feature).

My budget, well it's under $1900 CAD ($1675 USD) with taxes and shipping. About $1700 CAD/$1500 USD (without TX and Sh.) in Canadian standards (as I live in Canada).

CASE : Antec P180 $135 CAD
Link Here

PSU : Antec TruePower II 550W $110 CAD
Link Here

Additional Fan : Antec TriCool 120 MM $12 CAD
Link Here

CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Retail Box $399 CAD
Link Here

GPU : eVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT KO $335 CAD
Link Here

RAM : Mushkin EM 2X 1GB DDR2-800 PC2-6400 5-5-5-12 $240 CAD
Link Here

Hard Drive : Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB SATA II $120 CAD
Link Here

DVD : Sony 16X DVD-ROM OEM $25 CAD
Link Here

DVD Writer : BenQ DW1655 OEM $48 CAD
Link Here

OS : Windows XP OEM $96 CAD
Link Here


Total w/o taxes, w/o motherboard : around $1520 CAD ($1343 USD).

Thanks in advance!! :lol:

 

[Giraffe]

Well i dont know much about chipsets so i cant help u there.

will u actually get a 7900gt in around 6 months for sli?
by the time you get the 2nd card it will be aging and u will want dx10 or a next generation card.

 

[tiesto]

I will get one, at the earliest, in early 2007, probably around my birthday (March). But not before that. So SLI might not be my priority.

Will the nForce 5xx chipset be faster than the Intel 965/975 using only one GPU?

If I buy a cheap motherboard right now, and it happens to be incompatible with the DX10 card I want to buy (in 2007 - if I buy one, that's pure supposition), can I buy another motherboard and move all my pieces from my old to my new motherboard?

Thank you!

 

[Giraffe]

I dont know if the nforce chipset will be better but hopefully some1 else will.

I think that all m/b's will support dx10 as long as the have 16xPCI-E
however If im wrong and your motherboard wont support dx10 then yes you can just move all the pieces to the new motherboard.

 

[tiesto]

looks good just add the intel 965E mo board when it comes out and you will be good for several years

Which board, sorry?

 

[440bx]

I still do not have a motherboard because I don't know if I should wait or not for nForce 570. I might not buy an additional 7900 GT for a good six months so I don't know if this chipset will be really useful (SLI being its main feature).

Thanks in advance!! :lol:

Based on what is available right now, I like the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe. I really don't know if the nForce 570 will be a better chipset than the 975X but I doubt it.

One potential problem for you is that the P5W DH does not support SLI, only Crossfire. On the other hand, it seems to me that both SLI and Crossfire are more of a waste of money than anything else. I base that opinion on the fact that every new GPU generation offers more performance than the previous generation in SLI or Crossfire setups. Other than bragging rights, I don't see the point.

Also, when someone brags to me that they spent twice as much money as I did for less performance, it makes me wonder what is it they are bragging about. 8O

Hope that helps.

 

[zpert]

I'm in a similar situation, although I do want SLI eventually, but from what I've heard, I'd wait for the new nForce 590. Here's a link you should really read to make a better decision review. I'm about ready to order parts to build a new computer, and I'm currently waiting on the X6800 processor, XFX XXX 7950GX2, and a motherboard to come out, most likely Asus, with the 590 sli chipset. Performance wise, I don't really think you'll notice a difference, so it all comes down to features, where nVidia really shines with 590. I love the fact you can change BIOS settings in windows, without having to keep restarting the system. VERY nice. That's my opinion on all of it.

 

[tiesto]

I'll see about the nForce 570. I just want a cheap SLI board, or non-SLI. I will fait for better benchmarks. Hopefully, nForce chipset should be out by mid-August.

If not, well, is the GigaByte GA-965P-DS3 (or something like this) a good board?

 

[zpert]

Well I'm going to get an Asus, cause the reviews I've read have it on top as far as features and performance. I don't know how the Gigabyte compares, I haven't read on it at all, sorry. I would try to find reviews from Anandtech, Tom's Hardware, Guru 3d, HardOCP, or just search on google for the kind you want and put reviews after it. You can search HardOCP for your gigabyte, and it will look at many different review sites, and come up with matches. If you spend the time to look at these sites, I can almost guarantee you'll find something helpful.
-Paul

 

[tiesto]

So, should I wait for nForce 500 or should I go with Intel 965 Chipset or whichever is the best?

 

[sluzbenik]

With all the problems on both AMD and Intel platforms people have had with the Nvidia chipsets, I don't know why Anandtech is having a nerdgasm over the Nividia 590. Maybe they've fixed the RAID problems with 590 and they've also removed the faulty hardware firewall, but still. With the 7900GT problems, I am avoiding Nvidia at the moment.

But maybe I am biased - I think SLI and Crossfire are gimmicks and if you look at the benchmarks, you are just going to be paying a crapload more in electricity and a power supply for relatively small increases in performance.

Graphics cards need new architecture, going to 200 watts of power for a graphics card is just bad design. Intel has done it with Core 2 Dual, why can't Nvidia and ATI get their act together?

 

[tiesto]

First, I'm not going SLI before let's say 9 months. Why? I'll not have the money to pay it.

Second, I'm also waiting for DX 10 Cards to come out. If they will rip the current cards like C2D is ripping AMD X2 and Pentium D, well it isn't worth it to go in SLI. Am I right?

Third, will the DX 10 cards be compatible with the current chipset (say Intel 965)?

Fourth, the thing I don't want is to buy a $200 CAD Intel 965 motherboard right now have its chipset being ripped by nForce 570 (while SLI isn't enabled) when it will come out....

As for nForce 4, I don't want that. It's old, and it's... old.

 

[zpert]

Well first off, did you read this review that I had posted? That'll let you know more about the features and performance of the nForce chipset. As far as DX10 cards being compared to the jump to conroe, I don't know if that's true or not. I know the new ATI technology coming out, the R600, sounds pretty sweet, but I haven't read anything but people's opinions on it.

On the 965 mobo, I don't think the 570 sli, performance wise, will noticeably outperform the 965. the 590 sli and the 975X were virtually the same, performance wise, and while nVidia will probably perform better after it is finally released, I doubt it would be noticeable. The main reason I'm wanting 590 sli is not performance, because they're even in that regard, it's features. I'm just really excited about what nVidia has done with their new chipset. Performance wise, it's all really speculation now though, because they're not officially out yet to compare with the 965.

The way I see it, crossfire takes up too much power and isn't worth it. So if I'm going to have two video cards, it will be in SLI. So, if I buy the 590 SLI and the new DX10 cards come out and the ATI R600 core is just freakin amazing, I can still use it on my mobo. On the other hand, if it's not all that great, I can go to SLI with some nVidia G80s or whatever. See what I'm sayin? So if you don't really care about SLI, and read the features that I linked to and aren't impressed, well then I don't see the point in waiting for the 570/590. I don't think you'll see that much performance difference, if any, between the intel and nForce chipsets. (Correct me if I'm wrong someone if you know something I don't)
-Paul

 

[tiesto]

Well, the features are nice, but not that I'm not impressed, but I'm not used to this. I have a freakin' old computer so all this will be new for me.

We can't use two ATI GPU in a nForce 590 SLI board, can we?

Well, I'm interessed in SLI but going to SLI will depend of the DX10 cards. If there's really a huge difference between the current cards and the DX10 ones, I won't SLI, or SLI with DX10 (a long time from now anyway).

Basically, the nForce chipset is more futureproof than the Intel 965 and 975X. Am I right? About Intel's chipset, which one is better for C2D, 975X or 965? Which one is the more futureproof?

 

[zpert]

We can't use two ATI GPU in a nForce 590 SLI board, can we?

Well, I'm interessed in SLI but going to SLI will depend of the DX10 cards. If there's really a huge difference between the current cards and the DX10 ones, I won't SLI, or SLI with DX10 (a long time from now anyway).

Basically, the nForce chipset is more futureproof than the Intel 965 and 975X. Am I right? About Intel's chipset, which one is better for C2D, 975X or 965? Which one is the more futureproof?

I'm pretty sure there's no way to use crossfire with the 590 chipset, I'm not dead sure tho. Well, I don't know that I'd say it's more futureproof. It depends on what you mean. The 975x supports crossfire, where the nForce supports SLI. As far as performance, they're pretty much equal. I think the new 975x mobos support DX10 too, check to make sure I'm right, but in that case, the 590 is not really more futureproof. The 965 is newer than the 975, so it's a little more updated. It does not, however, support crossfire or sli, and it doesn't overclock as well, so to me it's really not an option. Then you have the R600 to make things even tougher, so I'm in the same boat as you right now. I really want to build this thing, but I want to do it right. Yet on the other hand, there's always something to wait for, so at some point you have to just do it. I'd really like to wait and see how the 590 runs. If it doesn't run hot and has even close to the overclocks the 975 has, it's my perfect board, because the R600 is going to take too long to come out. Hopefully I'm helping here.... there's a good discussion on this topic over at Anandtech's forums here. Basically, this is pretty complicated right now, because they each differ in features, so until we have real world tests and benchmarks to see how they actually do, it's really tough to recommend one over another.