So I'm thinking an Upgrade?

[irishsk8rpatrick]

So I'm thinking an Upgrade.

Just processor, ram and Motherboard.

I have a video card, just a small x300 but I don't play video games, just counter strike: source. I have a Ultra Microfly, Dvd rw blah blah, and a creative sound card. audigy se i believe.

Motherboards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127023

-or-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813154014

Ram

Just some 1.8v so if i get the abit, it won't fry.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820146118

CPU
Now this is hard,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103778
or the 5000+

just soemthing cheap that will contend with the c2d.

If i got Intel, which c2d would you recommend?

THanks a bunch.

Patrick

 

[jackluo923]

If you're going to upgrade, what are you upgrading from? Please tell us the Specs first. Tell us your budget range too.

 

[irishsk8rpatrick]

Upgrading from a

Pentium 4, northwood 2.4 ghz
1 gig of ram ddr 400mhz
nvidia fx 5500 256 mb
Ecs motherboard 661-fx i believe
LG multi Dvd-ram
and a creative sound audigy Se

Budget is from about <$400

 

[jackluo923]

If you're not overclocking or overclocking a little bit, I suggest you getting a Pentium D805+Biostar P4M890-m7 board combo deal from Newegg for 89.99$
http://promotions.newegg.com/Intel/052507/index.html
and after July22nd, you can get yourself a very nice C2D cpu for under 150$ for midranged C2D and 250$ for top model. YOu might want to consider Q6600 too priced at 250$ also.

and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565
$Crucial Ballistix dual channel 1GBx2 CL4 for mere
So the total price tag is 89.99+70+150(for c2d cpu upgrade after july 22)-10(sell the pentium D after you get c2d)=~300 plus tax.

If you're overclocking, then get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128012R
Gigabyte DS3 for 95$
For the Ram get the Crucial Bullistix stated above. Those are great RAm for extremely cheap price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154001
Tuniq Tower 120 for 60$

For the Cpu, i suggest you wait for the july 22nd price cut for the overclocking built and get yourself a Q6600 and OC to about 3.2Ghz with stock volts.

So for the overclocking rig, the price tag is
95$+70$+250$(Q6600, of course you can use cheap c2d cpu such as E4300 and still have great OC and peformance) = 415$ <- a little bit over your budget, but you can spare 15$ for extremely performance..

I hope that helps.


Edit: i did the overclocking rig's math wrong

Suppose to be this 95$(DS3)+70(2GB crucial Bullistix Cl4 800mhz ram)+60$(Tuniq tower 120)+250(Q6600)= 475 grand total. Sorry its 75$ over your budget, but it is a great buy. You should consider spending 75$ more to get this amazing deal.

 

[irishsk8rpatrick]

Biostar, pentium d is shit. not gunna lie. i rather wait til july 22nd, but thanks for the ram, that's nice stuff, but i need 1.8 v i really like that intel abit fatalt1y board =]
I also like the HDMI thing, =], but I like to invest in a motherboard, it has a large impact, with ram and stuff lol...

 

[jackluo923]

Biostar +Pentium D 805 is just tempory, besides its only 90$ for the combo, very cheap.

The crucial Bullistix is great find, but i got mine 677mhz crucial ram 1.8V CL3 for 67$CND Which is about 60$USD for 2x1GB. I think i don't need 800mhz ram thus it's a better buy for me.

you said:

but i need 1.8 v

I'm not sure what you meant, could you explain it?
And I don't think the Abit is a good buy if you're overclocking. Like people said, mobo with integrated graphics never overclock well. But it's ok board for the non-overclocking rig. But if you consider the 100$ Ds3, then DS3 will win because i can overclock quite a bit for 14$ less.

 

[irishsk8rpatrick]

Ah, well Memory, ram, etc, runs at a voltage, if you up the voltage you can oc' more, usually. well the Abit Fatal1ty board will OC' like a charm, I won't use the Onboard, but it only uses 1.8v alot of people have had problems, they blow out the board by using >1.8v, thus they don' t think it's good.

I've seen Gigabyte you talk of, ehI like asus more, but i don't OC' alot only inm the winter, much colder =] But, If i wait til July 22nd, I would get a cheap core 2 duo, plus I just want good performance, tthus I skimmed it down to two motherboards, the ram, and CPUs. =/

and I'm stumped

 

[jackluo923]

Gigabyte DS3 can OC more than ABit board. I ahve a question, if you're not going to use abit's onboard, then why do you care about HDMI thing? If you disable the onboard video, then HDMI will go to waste. Also Gigabyte DS3 can do 1.8v and much greater than <1.8v so you have nothing to worry about. Besides, you don't even need to raise the voltage for the Crucial BUllistix memory i told you about. Those memory are capable of running 1.8v @800mhz CL4. They have micronD9 chip thus has great OCing capability. If you up the voltage to around 2.0V, then i will do 1066mhz+ without a hitch.

What price range do you want to pay for the CPU after the price cut? The bestbuy ( not BESTBUY the retailer, lol) is Q6600 because its price is cut about 50%. If you want to buy a cheap cpu such as E4300, you don't even have to wait. There's not gona be a price drop for the low ends.

I've seen Gigabyte you talk of, ehI like asus more

If you like asus more, i could find you a nice deal on Asus P5B Delux which overclocks better than DS3 and of course a little more expensive. But you can bragg about it. It all depends on the amount of bling bling you have.

i don't OC' alot only inm the winter, much colder

Do you know how to OC? If you do that's a great way to gain performance. You shouldn't hesitate to oc a C2D unless you have very high ambient temperature such as 29'C without AC. If you're going to overclock, you'll need a aftermarket cooler for optimal result which is 60$ for the very best or 2nd best air cooler. Think about it, if you can nearly double the frequency, lower the temperature and cut the noise by 4x on a E4300 for only 60$, it's way better deal than getting X6800 rated at 2.9Ghz. You dont' have to worry about temperature with E4300 on tuniq tower 120 because the CPU usually hit its limit before it starts overheating.

 

[jackluo923]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131028R
Asus P5B Deluxe Wifi AP for only 112$ USD .. WOW... you should buy this instead of DS3.

 

[irishsk8rpatrick]

I got a Matx case, =[

But, i think i would use the HDMI, But, do you know of anymore price drops? My CPu gets around a 30c ide right now in like..85ish weather, F that is.

Let's not forget AMD, im not side taker, but I do like price/ performance stuff =]

 

[jackluo923]

Well, I wouldn't get an AMD because i wanted a quad core and intel's quad core beats amd's upcomming native quad. I don't care about if amd's quad is more superior, as long as one has better Priceerformance, i'll take which ever wins. Right now and probably for the most of 2008, Intel quad will win thus i'm buying intel quad.

Anyways, amd is not worth buying if you're overclocking. Say if you buy a E4300 and overclock it to 3Ghz, it beats any Amd dual core selling right now for only 113$. But if you don't want to take the advantage of free performance offered by c2d, Amd has better price vs performance at stock.

HDMI isn't worth getting a that abit mobo. Lcd TVs ususally have more than HDMI imput thus you could buy a VGA to DVI converter and hoook your graphic card to your TV without the HDMI port.

If you overclock the E4300 to around 3Ghz with tuniq tower, the temp should be lower than your current setup with about 4x quieter noise. But since you're using a Matx case, it might be a problem using such HSF. There are toones of HSF to choose from that you can use for OCing E4300 so you don't have to worry about E4300 overheating when you're overclocking.

 

[irishsk8rpatrick]

Ah yeah ive lookedin to that, thermalright 120 extreme is the bset as of now. Hm.. okay, well, Cut amd out. I think ill stick to the muskin since their cheaper, but what do you think would be more performance tuned, Asus, or a Gigabyte? I've never used either.

I don't plan on OC'

but I've been looking at this motherboard. tell me what you think.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131043

 

[jackluo923]

Uh.... Asus P5B has more performance than Ds3 because it can achieve slightly highier FSB than DS3. But if it has the same FSB, the performance is the same.

Also, Thermalright 120 Extreme is the best in air cooler, but only 1-2 degrees better than tuniq tower while the price difference is a lot. I'd rather spend the extra money on case fan to improve air flow thus better temperature.

Mushkin is cheaper? Can you give me a link?

Anyways.... its sad to hear that you're not planning on OC. In that case, you should buy an AMD instead because Intel cost more if you're not OCing.

About the motherboard you linked in the previous reply, why would you need a on board graphic if you have a graphic card already? Are you planning to go greeen and save some power and save the environment? then you are better off giving the green organization money to plant some trees instead. You can buy a better product without the integrated graphic card for lower price.
But the choice is all yours, you can choose which ever mobo you want.

 

[irishsk8rpatrick]

Hookay then. Thanks.

 

[f61]

I found some interesting choices here also:

motherboard $100 NOTE: NO on-board video chipset!, but Quad ready, and 45nm ready.

memory $90 Boots as 5-5-5-15 at 1.8V

Intel E4400 $140

eVGA 7600GT $100 minus $15 rebate = $85

Total $415 with a better Graphx card

The P35 MoBo presently has limited o/c capabilities, as time goes on look for upgrades to BIOS.

If you really want that HDMI, that would involve that Biostar word you don't like and AMD CPU's that most people here don't like. But, the newest TF7050 is pretty good, and an AMD x2 4600+ is $30 cheaper, plus you get to o/c to your hearts desire. If you decide on this, the Graphx card gets upgraded to a 7900GS... more pipes and better bandwidth (256bit) and its $400 b/4 rebate. So my options include a graphics card in the package. Ball's in your court.

f61