A couple systems with a few questions.

[MrTorture]

Alright, myself and my GF are going to be playing AoC. I have been looking at PC builds for a long while... and when we found out her PC wouldn't run the game that pushed us forward.

Anyways, I was looking a couple builds and I think I have come to what I want. I had one build that was Quad and I think I'm going to put that behind me. Anyways, here are the 2 builds I have been looking at for our new PC.

These will both be using Windows XP Pro.

PC #1 --
E8400 3.0Ghz
4Gigs DDR2-800
Asus P5N-D Nvidia nForce 750i SLI
Geforce 8800GT 512MB

PC #2 --
Q6600 2.4Ghz
4Gigs DDR2-800
eVGA Nvidia nForce 780i SLI
Geforce 8800GT 512MB

PC #2 is what I'm going against now. I don't plan on doing any OC really.. maybe a little bit.. , I don't do much besides play games, I do some video editing and stuff every once in a while. I don't plan on doing SLI any time soon or anything and I don't have the best budget (about 1100 before windows/shipping).

With PC #1 I can get a better power supply, and cooling and still be about a 100$ cheaper then PC #2 ($945 compared to $1030 or something)

I was just wondering what everyone here would say about these?

PART 2!!

Alright, since we are basicly turning my GF's old PC into a video player/back up. I have also been thinking of upgrading my current PC, which she will be getting because she doesn't care much. At least she says so.

Current Specs--- (Please take in mind this is older and cost me 600$)
Pentium D 940 3.2hz
2Gigs DDR2-533
Geforce 8500GT 512mb
Abit IP95 Mobo

For this PC I was thinking of upgrading the CPU and the Graphics Card.. I have read around a lot and have read that the PCI-E 2.0 Cards will.. and won't work in the PCI-E 1.0 slots. I am 95% sure that they will in this Mobo.

Also, I know the MB can use C2D, although I am assuming that it can not use the new 45nm chips. So, basicly I have 2 questions.

1) Can the IP95 use a 8800GT PCI-E 2.0?
2) Can the IP95 use the new 45nm chips or only the 65nm chips?

Anyways, thanks for reading and responding!

 

[MrTorture]

Oh, I also have another question... (Reminder I haven't done computer stuff.. in 5 years about...) For those top 2 systems I listed, What kind of PSU would I need? I was thinking 600W would be good enough. Although, I've had people tell me to make sure I have a good PSU.

 

[Andrius]

If you plan on going SLI with 8800GT you need about ~650W. NVIDIA recommends 750W. If you're not planning on SLI skip the SLI motherboard and get something like a P5K-E board. Corsair TX 750W was about $120 on newegg when I last checked. For a single graphics system a Corsair VX 550W for $70 from http://www.buy.com/prod/Corsair-VX-550W-Power-Supply/q/loc/101/205852646.html is good enough.

Edit:
1.) The IP-95 board from Abit can run 8800GT (it's backwards compatible with PCI-E 1.0).
2.) The IP-95 is based on an VIA chipset. The 65nm C2Ds will probably work. The 45nm C2Ds will likely not work.

 

[MrTorture]

The reason I picked out SLI Mobos is I would like the option to do so in the near future.

 

[Andrius]

I think it's only a good choice if you do SLI right away (I've done the same thing 3 years ago. I wanted the option but I never used it. It didn't work for me so I tend to advise against it. Feel free to ignore me on this as I'm not a demanding gamer). I'm looking for a CPU Support list for the IP-95 but Abit's homepage is dreadful...

CPU support for IP-95
http://www.abit.com.tw/cpu-support-list/mb/via_p4m890_ip-95.htm
Thank god for .com.tw pages

 

[roadrunner197069]

I sent you a PM.