Edit: Ordered! (With time to edit though). Thanks for all your help guys. =)
I was determined not to post, but I've given up! So much has changed in the ...7 years since I made a desktop.
Looking for a motherboard to go with this system. Have a £50-£110/$100-$220 budget left. ---- Intel Quad Core Q6600 95Watt G0 Stepping £126.90 $253.8 Edit for future readers: UK buyers can get this cheaper on Overclockers
Sapphrie HD 4850 512MB £128 $256 (heh, memory/price in £/price in $ all consecutive powers of 2) Edit for future readers: UK buyers can get a cheaper 4850 on Overclockers (Gainward edition)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 CPU Cooler £18.57 $37 ThermalTake Soprano Black Middle Tower Case £47 $94 Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case £87.54 - Well worth the upgrade according to reviews. Worked with the case before also. Plus should last me a good 10 years unless there's some radical motherboard form factor change or something.
Edit: Chosen mobo; Asus P5Q Pro - P45- £80.41 $161
Total: £584.77 / $1,168.78 Bit more than planned, but budget is quite flexible. (Especially if someone gets round to buying my MSDN subscription on eBay ) ----
I don't really plan on upgrading for 4 years, nor am I going to wait for Nehalem. I play a lot of games, and don't expect to be able to play the top end games 2 years from now in anything other than medium-low settings.
Edit: If I do upgrade graphics it would be a while from now; so I am aiming for a cheap non-crossfire supporting P35/P45 mobo intending to replace the gcard later, rather than go with a more expensive X48 and upgrade later by adding another card.
Based on using a P35 or P45 chipset, I've narrowed my vendor's motherboard list to these candidates. (x48 boards too expensive when not using Crossfire) --The list-- Asus P5Q Deluxe - P45 - £129.25 $260 DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2R £123 $246 Asus P5Q-E - P45 - £108.90 $218 Asus P5K Premium - P35 - £107.35 $215 Asus P5Q - P45 - £97.53 $195 Asus P5K-E - P35 - £94.85 $188 DFI LANPARTY DK - P35-T2RS£87 $174 Asus P5KC - P35 - £86 $172 - Only one to support DDR3 also Asus P5K Pro - P35 - £81 $162 Asus P5Q Pro - P45- £80.41 $161 - Chosen. Best out of all really. Asus P5K - P35 - £72.79 $145
Twin x16 are not viable at my resolutions. Thanks shadowduck for that tip!
I already have an old SATA & 2 IDE hard drives as well as a dvd+-rw and don't plan on replacing them.
Thanks _so much_ in advance for any advice. I'm in way over my head.
Thanks for your reply shadowduck. I am likely running under that res for the foreseeable future, so plan to use a single card at the moment and later either upgrade the card or add a second.
Narrowed list of boards down to just those that support DDR2, use P45/P35 and have onboard audio. Wrote the full list up so it's easier for people to point out ones to avoid/recommend.
I'm still confused about chipsets. Read loads of articles (most more than once :\) and still can't find a clear winner between p35/p45 given the cost differences. THG says P35 has faster usb/sata throughput and is better if building a new system, other comparisons say p45 "wipes the floor" with p35. Most bonuses apply to crossfire which I may not ever use. (I'm assuming by the time I upgrade ~2 years from now it's probably more viable just to replace the 4850. Still want opinions on that assumption though).
Thanks again all.
Message edited by BlueNovember on 07-20-2008 at 02:22:05 AM
P45 is the newest chipset that replaces P35. P35 will be phased out.
Smart call on the video card- in 2 years you will want to just replace the video card.
P35/45 is really about the same. If you never plan to Crossfire go with the cheapest motherboard that meets your needs regardless of the cihpset. Both work well.
I think I'm going to go with the Asus P5Q Pro;
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech [...] U-P5QP#top Interestingly, it's priced $30 cheaper than the "Asus P5Q" (no pro). Only down side compared to all the others (up to £120!) is a lack of eSata port (back connector provided and 6 onboard sata+2 drive expert), no dddr3 support (doubt it will be worth it), and no optical (which I never use anyway).
Think I'll use extra cash on getting a better case.
Mmm. It's £28 ($56) more expensive than the P5Q Pro, which has a header + free backplate for an eSata port. Not as elegant perhaps, but good enough.
Quote :
yes P5Q-pro, but skip the Reapers, they are having some problems on P5Qs. Check with Crucial, I think they have the most success on those boards.
Cool. I'm actually going with the Corsair ram. The bracketed items were just the next models up by cost on novatech's webpage. Thanks for the heads-up though.
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