http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] index.html

With prices of just about everything except computer components increasing, we stretched our budgets out a little...

Honestly it's a good article to give an idea to people on how to spend their money, but I think that on some component choices it is mistaken, like PSU for instance, for $125 you could get a more powerful from a more reputable brand with maybe better quality (Don't know too much about AeroCool units other than I wouldn't put $120 on one of their units).

Also if I were to be on a $2000 budget I would push it for SLI GTX, but then again that's just an opinion. Other than that I really don't see why anyone would use an MSI board with eVGA and GIGABYTE making (In my opinion) superior products, let alone an MSI 650i. You could very well get an eVGA 680i mobo for maybe... $160-180? depending on which one it is.

Well, I agree that the 650i mobo is quite questionable.

While it may be a fine board for the CPU specified, why limit yourself that way in the future.

1) Newer CPUs, even the Quad Cores, are going to have much faster FSB so you will need the speed then.

2) This is starting to get to be an older board. Full support for the Penryn processors is likely to be not as great as with a P35. Have they promised Penryn support on this Mobo. I certainly hope so.

I believe the 680i can support Penryn CPUs, not sure if ALL can, but at least some.

Hmmmm...Excellent article.

It would certainly be remarkable if more applications could be optimized for multi-core technology like DivX. Thread-level parallelism built into the OS does not quite seem to do the job as well as an optimized app.

Great article, especially for ppl who are looking to build in the future, like me!


Definitely seems to me the best bang for buck system is the mid cost system with some changes like a 8800 GTS 320 MB instead of the GTX. And a GA-P35-DS3R instead of nvidia SLI garbage mobo.

I can't wait for the high-end build and overclocking, although the B3 stepping will hurt the Q6600's OC results. Boo B3, haven't they run out of them yet?

Can someone just clear this up for me..

Divx 6.6..doesn't it transcoding to Divx (AVI), rather than MP4 as cited in the benchmark results? Perhaps the Pro version does, I'm not sure.

Either way, the associated transcoding times look fantastic - it's just a pity the other audio/video software has yet to catch up.

DivX/XviD videos are typically called "MPEG4" or "MP4" in spite of the .avi extensions, to differentiate them from uncompressed avi's. So far as I know, the name came up as a higher-compression alternative to the MPEG2 format used in traditional digital video (and later modified for DVD's).

i haven't built a computer in years so i haven't paid attention to all the technology, but im in the market and looking to use this computer as a base.

i have two changes im thinking about making:

-more ram. Im planning using windows vista and looking for this computer to last a while. Is there a point to which you have too much ram. Im thinking about going up to 4 gigs

-Different mobo. i want to leave the door open for SLI. From the little research ive done, it seems like this mobo is a bit gimped, any other suggestions/tips on what i should be looking for.

Thanks in advance for the help

p.s. i mostly plan on using the computer for gaming, nothing else really intensive

4 gigs of ram is a good amount, just make sure you pick up the 64-bit version of Vista or your system won't make use of it

32-bit OS's can only use 3gb of RAM, anymore is a waste and can cause problems if I remember correctly.

You need a 64-bit OS (Vista 64, XP64) to use 4gb of RAM).

Under Vista 32 there are no issues with 4 gb of RAM other than not being able to use all of it. Vista 32 will see between 3 and 3.5 gb of Ram depending on your configuration but there is no stability issue.

what about a switch to a 680i chipset, like the EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 for example. is this worth the extra 20$ while still retaining overclocking potential?

Keep in mind with Vista 64 there are quite a few application compatibility problems. Check the support website of your favorite apps before you go 64-bit. Unfortunately, this drove me to stay with 32-bit in my recent system build.

On the MOBO, I agree that there are better options out there. I wanted to do some moderate overclocking and video editing, so I got the P5k Deluxe.

Regarding the G0 stepping, I talked with AVADirect and they added this as a selection in their system builder, so you can specify this new stepping. They have gotten rave reviews from quite a few people and my experience so far is very good too (week two of my new system).

In any event. You enter the water by building/buying a rig you are pretty much comitted to keeping it for a good period of time. Make you video card/memory upgrades only when needed.

Having to do another gaming rig article a few months later and comparing performance and cost issues ignores the really salient point of spending another $1500 in just a few months. For what? A 25% increase? Not really smart imho.

It's been a solid PSU for us for a while now. I don't think it's a good idea to withold a recommendation just because the brand name doesn't dump alot into advertising...

As far as SLI - yeah, if this was a gaming system marathon we probably would have gone SLI in the midrange. But the marathon is for all-purpose systems. Maybe we'll do a gaming marathon in the future.

Yeh, and piss everyone off by using an E6850 in the high-end because they overclock better than quad-cores, and games aren't designed for quads. That could be fun!

That's what I was trying to say... sort of. I'm not saying it's not a solid unit, since I haven't done any testing or seen any on it, but if it was MY money, I wouldn't drop the $120 on it and I usually recommend on stuff/choices I would get for myself, if it's someone else's money, then I don't mind one bit

Vista 64 has compatibility problems? Nahhhhh you must be kidding!

Huh...? The only compatibility problems I've ever got with XP 64 and Vista 64 is my futile attempt to run 16-bit software, which won't run on a 64-bit platform. I would like to know why do people keep spitting the same crap over and over, but have never actually tested it for themselves.

Huh?.....I thought he WAS kidding.
I am curious....how many 64 bit applications do you have on your X64 systems?

I am running x64 XP and there just does not appear to be a great deal of software to take advantage of the platform.