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Review my final build - Drop from P45 to P35?

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - Review my final build - Drop from P45 to P35?

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Stregachess   07-10-2008 at 02:10:51 PM




Can someone please review this before I place my order today?
After reading the headline story I'm wondering if I should drop back from P45 to P35, any suggestions.
Will not overclock, mostly for playing poker, home movies, videos, and pictures.
Thanks!

Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Intel Motherboard - Retail

MSI NX8800GTS 512M OC GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT ATX12V / EPS12V 550W Power Supply - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model

CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Microsoft ZG6-00006 Black PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard 500 - Retail

SAMSUNG 204B-BK Black 20.1" 5ms LCD Monitor - Retail
(2 of these, as I'm using this PC to multi table Poker)

RAZER RZ01-00050200 Anarchy Red 7 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Laser Copperhead Mouse - Retail

ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T - Retail

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVD for System Builders - OEM

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

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WR2   07-10-2008 at 02:28:39 PM
- 0 +

For a non-overclocking system used the way you describe the E8400 3.0Ghz dual core will be the faster option.
Any gaming? You chose a nice Crossfire motherboard (for two ATI cards) but you chose a Nvidia video card?
With only $18 difference I think most would suggest the new HD 4850 ATI video card vs the 8800GTS G92

The only knock I really saw on the P45 boards is the slightly slower RAID performance (and USB), a bit more power used and no "real" advantage over the P35. Yet if you look over the benchmarks the P45 actually did well vs the P35 - just not a significantly better job as you'd expect.
Since you're not using RAID I'd say stick with P45. If you're only going for 1 video card you can go with the P5Q unless the Deluxe has some featuer you need. P5Q / P5Q-E / P5Q Deluxe

Save a bit more and get the Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1. I don't believe you need any of the extra features in Ultimate. http://techreport.com/articles.x/15009/10

Everything else looks good.

Reply to WR2
JDocs   07-10-2008 at 02:30:38 PM
- 0 +

If the money is not a problem I'd stick with the P45 board, better PCI-E bandwidth and the motherboard itself was constructed at 65nm instead at 90nm(P35) so it is meant to run cooler and overclock better. If your trying to save a bit or don't really intend doing heavy overclocking the P45 should be quite nice.

Head up though, Copperhead mice are known to have issues with some Asus boards, a simple BIOS patch fixes it and the Asus P5Q is much newer than those BIOS updates but I thought I'd let you know just in case.

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to JDocs
Stregachess   07-10-2008 at 03:39:54 PM
- 0 +

Hey WR2,

Looks good great ideas.

I don't know much about E8400 VS Q6600, I went with Q6600 as it's so standard in all the reviews I read. I'm really mostly concerned with being able to play 8 tables of poker over two 20" monitors, second is editing home movies of my daughter, and dealing with thousands of digital pictures that sort of thing. I you think that the E8400 is a better fit can everything else remain the same? No real gaming for me...

Regarding this..
> You chose a nice Crossfire motherboard (for two ATI cards) but you chose a Nvidia video card?
I don't think I'll be using two cards, basically I asked for suggestion from a friend on what board would support running two monitors. Did not realize that my MOB is focused more towards ATI, that hurts my head?
Does that mean the other card will not work as well?

Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1 vs Ultimate is a great catch! I did not see the differences, I still might go with the Ultimate as it looks like with the desk top control I could sit in the den with a notebook and still use the desktop which might be pretty cool...




Reply to Stregachess
Stregachess   07-10-2008 at 03:46:05 PM
- 0 +

JDocs wrote :


Head up though, Copperhead mice are known to have issues with some Asus boards, a simple BIOS patch fixes it and the Asus P5Q is much newer than those BIOS updates but I thought I'd let you know just in case.



If you have a better suggestion on a mouse that would be awesome, the main demand is how fast it will move between two monitors to play poker. I'd like something quick that does not require a lot hand movement.

I really thought that something like this might work...
Logitech 904353-0403 Gray 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB + PS/2 Wired TrackBall TrackMan Wheel
I'm right handed for most things but with a mouse I'm a lefty so I don't think these type of products are designed for left handed people.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Reply to Stregachess
WR2   07-10-2008 at 04:11:31 PM
- 0 +

Editing home movies might be a good reason to choose the quad over the dual core CPU.
But the actual advantage might not be there partly because the dual core has the faster clock speed.
In this review the E8400 beats out the Q6600 on four media creation benchmarks: Video encoding and editing Check the other benchmarks as well - the WorldBench is about the closest to how you'll use your computer. For the dual monitor, 8 poker tables the E8400 would definitely be the faster CPU.

For a single video card it won't matter if choose ATI or Nvidia flavors. Any video card you're likely to look at will handle two monitors easily.
The 8800GTS (G92) is more video card than you actually need if you're not 3D gaming a lot.
How about a silent video card? POWERCOLOR Radeon HD 3650 512MB

The Remote Desktop Connection features built into Vista Ultimate are also available to a savvy user just by using "Remote Assistance" option in Vista: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Assistance

If you want the Wi-Fi option the Deluxe might be the board for you - although if your DSL or Cable modem is already Wi-Fi capable that would work as well for Remote Assistance or Remote Desktop Connection in Ultimate.



Reply to WR2
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