Hi I'm thinking of building a new system out of the parts listed below and wanted to check they are "sensible".
I need stability above all but must also be fast(ish) for media encoding etc. This PC is for my girlfriend.
I'm re using the other parts from her old PC such as Case, Floppy, HDD and DVD-Burner.
I have recently got a new Seasonic S12-430 for her (Better than mine )
1, Will this pc overclock well?
2, Will it be stable?
3, Is 1GB enough for vista? (not getting it for ages though)
4, Is the 946GZ Chipset any good?
5, Is the onboard graphics good enough for basic (3D) games like the sims? (and for Aero?)
6, Is it going to need a force 10 wind to keep it cool? (her case only has 80mm mounts)
7, I need to solve the one PATA channel prob should I....
A, Use a Cheap SATA2PATA adaptor?
B, Use a ATA card for the Optical drive or the HDD?
C, Put the Optical drive in a USB box?
First off, what form factor is your case?
Does it need to be mATX?
Will need to know this before I can help you with yor MB selection.
This MB's onboard graphics will not support Vista.
I am almost certian you need at least a GMA950 integrated graphics solution to run Vista.
It may be able to play some basic games, but not verry many and not verry well.
Your CPU is a verry good overclocker but I doubt your MB is.
1Gb ram is pretty low for Vista.
On my system at boot it uses ~750Mb before I even open any programs.
2Gb would treat you much better.
Really need to know what your budget is and what form factor you need your MB to be before I can help you more.
looks good, though I have no idea how well that mobo would 1. overclock or 2. if its stable
3. It will run, though not as fast as it could
4. the 945 series chipset is older, It will be ok for this system
5. sims will probably be ok, integrated graphics aren't enough for aero though
6. I doubt heat will be a problem as long as you don't go crazy on the overclocking
7. They make SATA DVD burners or you could get a SATA HDD, or you could get a different mobo or A B C
A. Sure
B. that would work
C. seems like kind of a hassle but yea
IDK about the overclock, or if you'd really need it anyway but I think your good as long as you 1. dont care about aero or get a graphics card and 2. do something about the one PATA
hi thanks for responses am going to change the spec completly (as you do)
Anyway gonna go for a
Gigabyte GA-965G-DS3
E4300
KVR667D2N5/512 Kingston Value Ram (about the only memory in the Gigabyte Memory list that i could find!)
Have now got a VIA VT6421 Raid card and seems to be okay in my test ( I practice RAID arrays with two old 4.2GB WD drives. It also recognises an old CD-rom so hope it picks up her DVD-Burner.
Hi I'm thinking of building a new system out of the parts listed below and wanted to check they are "sensible".
I need stability above all but must also be fast(ish) for media encoding etc. This PC is for my girlfriend.
I'm re using the other parts from her old PC such as Case, Floppy, HDD and DVD-Burner.
I have recently got a new Seasonic S12-430 for her (Better than mine )
1, Will this pc overclock well?
2, Will it be stable?
3, Is 1GB enough for vista? (not getting it for ages though)
4, Is the 946GZ Chipset any good?
5, Is the onboard graphics good enough for basic (3D) games like the sims? (and for Aero?)
6, Is it going to need a force 10 wind to keep it cool? (her case only has 80mm mounts)
7, I need to solve the one PATA channel prob should I....
A, Use a Cheap SATA2PATA adaptor?
B, Use a ATA card for the Optical drive or the HDD?
C, Put the Optical drive in a USB box?
Why do you need more than one IDE channel? You can make the HD the Master and the DVD drive slave. You'll get much better performance, however, if you get a SATA hard drive. 300 gigs for under $100 seems to be the norm online.
I'd go with a G965 chipset motherboard. the integrated X3000 graphics are actually the best I've seen. I've compared it to a 7600 GS card and it's not far off.
MB and CPU look decent.
Your MB's onboard will suport aero and should allow for basic gaming.
Depending on your budget, it might be worthwhie to get the GA-965P-DS3 mb with a little better video card.
Give this, or this ram a try.
Corsair makes some of the best memory out there.
Unless you need raid 5 or 10, I am not shure what you would need a raid card for.
Gigabyte's DS3 MB supports raid 0 and 1 so you should be fine without it.
the integrated X3000 graphics are actually the best I've seen. I've compared it to a 7600 GS card and it's not far off.
Meh...
X3000 performs almost the same as the 6200TC, not the 7600GS.
Plus it will share memory with the rest of the system.
Here are some charts to play with to see the diffrence.
the integrated X3000 graphics are actually the best I've seen. I've compared it to a 7600 GS card and it's not far off.
Meh...
X3000 performs almost the same as the 6200TC, not the 7600GS.
Plus it will share memory with the rest of the system.
Here are some charts to play with to see the diffrence. Well let's see. I own both. If I run a test with the 7600 GS, then take the card out and enable the onboard graphics and run the same test and the numbers are negligibly close....how does that NOT make them comparable? Hmmm. :?
Where exactly are the x3000 numbers in your chart? I don't even see my 7600 GS card in the chart!
Conclusion
1.In real world gaming the GMA950 beats the GMA x3000 hands down even when the newest 14.25 drivers are used.
2.The geforce 6200 beats the GMA950 easily.
Unless you need raid 5 or 10, I am not shure what you would need a raid card for.
Gigabyte's DS3 MB supports raid 0 and 1 so you should be fine without it.
She does't need RAID (yet) but she is training for a Administrator (not IT Admin!) job and eventully i will (later this year) get her a decent SATA system drive and use the RAID card for 2x Big storage drives in RAID 1. So the RAID card is just to get her HDD and ODD on seperate channels (not good to bout more than one device on one channel, unless you data transfers dont copy from one to the other.)
***Just noted (as you mention) that it has an onboard SATA RAID controller so will remove the SATA/PATA RAID card when upgrading to SATA.***
Conclusion
1.In real world gaming the GMA950 beats the GMA x3000 hands down even when the newest 14.25 drivers are used.
2.The geforce 6200 beats the GMA950 easily.
Yes the X3000 is no wonder and I dont expect it to compete with even a £30 PCI-e card but it means I save £30 for a nice meal with her.
At Xmas I going to get her a nice GPU 8-series (and maybe Vista will be better by then).
And also three SATA disks (one 160ish system drive and Two RAID 1'ed 500GB Drives.
Hopefully new X3000 drivers will be relased to improve it, not that i'm going to update her GPU drivers once a month! (asking for trouble sometimee so will put it off for when I Reinstall windows
Well I see that you are going with mATX are you going to have a tight budget I love building PCs on a budget. I do pretty well in getting great performance for my dollar.
Although I have never personally used a standalone RAID pci card. I believe that the onboard RAID should suffice.
I have heard that the AMDx2 Windsors overclock really well and stay cool. If you are serious about overclocking make sure you use something other than stock cooling fans although I have heard that the stock fans are pretty good.
Conclusion
1.In real world gaming the GMA950 beats the GMA x3000 hands down even when the newest 14.25 drivers are used.
2.The geforce 6200 beats the GMA950 easily.
Gee, that would be impressive, and on topic, if his build for g/f was to be built for games. I believe he said it was for media encoding. And reading your links, it appears that x3000 spanks the GMA950. Right now the X3000 doesn't do as well with OpenGL...games!
Yes the X3000 is no wonder and I dont expect it to compete with even a £30 PCI-e card but it means I save £30 for a nice meal with her.
Dinner w/ a Lady > Video card
Quote :
At Xmas I going to get her a nice GPU 8-series (and maybe Vista will be better by then).
And If that dosen't get you laid, I don't know what will
Best luck finding your MB.
Wish I could help you get the right revision, but I am in the states and don't know anyone who ships to the UK.
Also, if you plan on doing more then a moderate OC, you should consider a better HS.
BTW, need to correct my first post.
Not that it makes much a diffrence, but your inital MB would have supported Vista and Aero.
Here are the specs for that MB's chipset, which features a GMA 3000 (not X3000).
Still a bad overclocker, but it will run vista.
1, Will this pc overclock well? If you use Core 4300 perhaps to 266 Mhz because it supports 266 Mhz(1066 Mhz oced)
2, Will it be stable?
3, Is 1GB enough for vista? (not getting it for ages though) yes
4, Is the 946GZ Chipset any good? get a 965 that's good
5, Is the onboard graphics good enough for basic (3D) games like the sims? (and for Aero?) 946GZ = GMA3000, 965G = GMA X3000 big difference, search the web about it.
6, Is it going to need a force 10 wind to keep it cool? (her case only has 80mm mounts) 1 side air duct, 1 rear fan (for sure), 1 input fan (recommended)
7, I need to solve the one PATA channel prob should I....
A, Use a Cheap SATA2PATA adaptor? Please no
B, Use a ATA card for the Optical drive or the HDD? Optical ata always, HDD sata always
C, Put the Optical drive in a USB box?No
6, Is it going to need a force 10 wind to keep it cool? (her case only has 80mm mounts) 1 side air duct, 1 rear fan (for sure), 1 input fan (recommended)
B, Use a ATA card for the Optical drive or the HDD? Optical ata always, HDD sata always
6, which way should the side fan point input or extract? should the tube that comes with them (the ones i've seen) go right over the CPU HSF?
B, yeah definatly do you happen to know why anandtech slate the WD1600AAJS drive yet it's the best "cheap" drive on toms HDD chart?
)
