New build with Pentium D805, need ideas......

[marbles348]

I'm going to build around a Pentium D805. Not so much for gaming but movies and music. There are so many different combinations to choose from that it's confusing. Hopefully with your help i can narrow these choices down and build a nice system.
Any information about motherboards, power supplies, video cards would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance...........

 

[Flopmouth_Fish]

What is your budget? What games will you be playing? Do you already have a copy of Windows?

 

[PeterBateman]

here is an idea buy any dual core besides the d805, prices have come down enough that there should at least be one other cpy besides the powerhungry....hot...d805

 

[phreejak]

Here are two articles written about Midrange and highend PSUs comparisons after testing. It should help you make a more informed decision about your PSU

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/psus/index.x?pg=1

http://www.bytesizedreviews.com/?rev_id=302

 

[marbles348]

Budget is around 1000 US. Won't really be playing any games unless the kids want to. Yes, i have Windows XP Pro.

Thanks for the links to the articles, very informative Phreejak.

You don't think the 805 is reliable PeterBateman, or are you just sick of seeing it on the forum? I haven't read many bad reviews for it on any site.

Thanks for the search link SupremeLaw.

 

[Flopmouth_Fish]

You don't think the 805 is reliable PeterBateman, or are you just sick of seeing it on the forum? I haven't read many bad reviews for it on any site.

The Pentium D 805 overclocks well, but it performs poorly at stock speed. This is mainly because of the 533MHz FSB, which leaves the CPU bandwidth-starved. Also, because it's a 90nm process, it runs hot at stock speeds; very hot when overclocked.

If you're not going to overclock, a better choice of CPU would be the Pentium D 915, which is a 65nm process with the 800MHz FSB. It would overclock better than the 805, to boot. It's $148 at newegg, versus $97 for the 805D.

Or you could, as other people have suggested, go with a Core 2 Duo setup. It would cost more for the CPU and motherboard (if I'm not mistaken, C2D only works on a board with the 965/975 chipset), but you'd have overall much higher performance.

You could always look into the socket AM2 Athlon 64s and X2s. AMD dropped their prices a lot recently, meaning that you can pick up an Athlon 64 3200+ for $86, or an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ for $153.

As for the video card: You mentioned that the computer won't be used for very many games. In that case, stick with a cheap, low end card like the 7300GT or X1300Pro. If you want more graphics power, then get a 7600GT.

One final thought: Your needs aren't very high, and AMD CPUs are very cheap. You might want to reduce your overall budget to something like $600; you'll still get a system that will fulfill all your needs.

-FF

 

[marbles348]

The athlons do look quite nice also FF. Would the 7600GT possibly run a few games if needed? Also, would the AM2 be a better choice than a 939 for future ugrades?

Thanks Supreme, i've seen quite a few warnings about the stock cooling for the intels, makes me lean more towards the athlon, i really have no preference, just want something up to date since the one i'm on now is oh about 7 years old and very slow. Still runs well but god awful slow, lol.