Hi,
I spent an agonizing spring researching for what parts to buy for my new computer, but when I had finally decided on all the parts (based on an E6600 CPU) the Intel price drop was announced! So I waited and now that some time has passed I have to start over.
So I’m hoping you will help me as you have in the past and give me some feedback on the parts below. I apologise if my questions have been asked before. (If I read anymore posts my head will surely explode!)
I plan to use the PC mainly for recording music (with MIDI-sequencer, HDD-recorder and so on), gaming, and ”normal use”, maybe including some htpc’ing. I am not going to overclock.
CPU: First a stupid question: E6600 and E6700 are more expensive than the new and faster E6750. Is this simply because Intel has ”abandoned” the old generation CPUs, or are there any disadvantages to the E6750, or other reasons why someone would want to buy one of the old ones? (Bugs or something?)
Assuming that’s not the case, I then have to decide between E6750, E6850 and the old quad core Q6600. I have tried looking at the CPU charts at Tom’s - http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html - but that left me little wiser. There are so many benchmarks, many of which point in different directions, and besides I’m not sure how much they mean in practice. What do you think? Should I just go with the cheaper E6750 or would my money be better spent on one of the others - and which one?
MOBO: Back in May I had decided on the Asus P5B Deluxe. Is that also a good choice now - and for the CPUs I’m now considering?
Interestingly, on Asus’s homepage it says: ”Intel® Quad-core CPU Ready”. But seven lines below it says: ”Compatible with all FSB1333/1066/800/533MHz CPUs except Quad Core”. I’m not really sure how to interpret that? (In regards to wheather it supports Q6600). :/
(http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&l4=0&model=1295&modelmenu=1 )
RAM: Since I’m not going to overclock I should get RAM that is synchronous to FSB, and from what I understand that should be DDR2-667 if I go with E6750 or E6850, or DDR2-533 if I go with Q6600. Have I got that right?
Video card: In May I had decided on the ASUS Geforce 8800GTS - probably the version with 320 MB RAM. Is that still a good choice or has something better come along in the same price range?
Case: I had decided on Antec Performance One P182. Still good?
PSU: I was thinking either the Corsair HX620W or the 520W. Any better ones out there now? And if not, do you think the 520 will be enough? (I don’t think I will be using more than 2 hard drives.)
Other than that I was leaning towards a Hitachi DeskStar T7K500 250 GB HD and a Pioneer DVR 112D DVD. I will probably get Win XP to begin with, but maybe Vista down the line.
Thanks for reading.
I spent an agonizing spring researching for what parts to buy for my new computer, but when I had finally decided on all the parts (based on an E6600 CPU) the Intel price drop was announced! So I waited and now that some time has passed I have to start over.
So I’m hoping you will help me as you have in the past and give me some feedback on the parts below. I apologise if my questions have been asked before. (If I read anymore posts my head will surely explode!)
I plan to use the PC mainly for recording music (with MIDI-sequencer, HDD-recorder and so on), gaming, and ”normal use”, maybe including some htpc’ing. I am not going to overclock.
CPU: First a stupid question: E6600 and E6700 are more expensive than the new and faster E6750. Is this simply because Intel has ”abandoned” the old generation CPUs, or are there any disadvantages to the E6750, or other reasons why someone would want to buy one of the old ones? (Bugs or something?)
Assuming that’s not the case, I then have to decide between E6750, E6850 and the old quad core Q6600. I have tried looking at the CPU charts at Tom’s - http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html - but that left me little wiser. There are so many benchmarks, many of which point in different directions, and besides I’m not sure how much they mean in practice. What do you think? Should I just go with the cheaper E6750 or would my money be better spent on one of the others - and which one?
MOBO: Back in May I had decided on the Asus P5B Deluxe. Is that also a good choice now - and for the CPUs I’m now considering?
Interestingly, on Asus’s homepage it says: ”Intel® Quad-core CPU Ready”. But seven lines below it says: ”Compatible with all FSB1333/1066/800/533MHz CPUs except Quad Core”. I’m not really sure how to interpret that? (In regards to wheather it supports Q6600). :/
(http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&l4=0&model=1295&modelmenu=1 )
RAM: Since I’m not going to overclock I should get RAM that is synchronous to FSB, and from what I understand that should be DDR2-667 if I go with E6750 or E6850, or DDR2-533 if I go with Q6600. Have I got that right?
Video card: In May I had decided on the ASUS Geforce 8800GTS - probably the version with 320 MB RAM. Is that still a good choice or has something better come along in the same price range?
Case: I had decided on Antec Performance One P182. Still good?
PSU: I was thinking either the Corsair HX620W or the 520W. Any better ones out there now? And if not, do you think the 520 will be enough? (I don’t think I will be using more than 2 hard drives.)
Other than that I was leaning towards a Hitachi DeskStar T7K500 250 GB HD and a Pioneer DVR 112D DVD. I will probably get Win XP to begin with, but maybe Vista down the line.
Thanks for reading.