New System Opinions

[jeff5]

Since I'm fairly certain my motherboard is dead, I'm going to buy a new system. I'm not going all out here, only have a 19" monitor at this point so can't go crazy resolution wise. I'm not going to crossfire/SLI. I might OC a little, and will probably give this system to my wife in the next year or so and build myself a better one. So I know I have to spend money but I don't want to go too insane.

That being said:

HD: Already have a WD Cavier 16MB 640Gig HD

Power: Just bought Thermaltake Purepower 600Watt but I'm open to exchanging that at Tiger. Got it for 89.99.

OS: Going to stay with XP for now

Case: Reusing my old one

Rest of the rig is here: https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=12899407
(I clicked share, I hope you guys can see it)

Couple of notes. I chose the ASUS video card because I really have no preference of manufactuer, it has a good rebate, and a game so what the hey. I have an optical drive already so that's why there isn't one included.

Thoughts and opinions are welcome. Thanks!!

 

[calinkula]

Good setup. You could save a little $$ by going with a P35 board. But if you got the cash and aren't too worried about spending it, than you can go with the P45 board. Is this PC going to be used for gaming?

 

[jeff5]

Thanks for the reply. It will mainly be used for gaming.

 

[calinkula]

Then you're at a good setup. I got an E8200 + 8800gt and have done some overclocking. The only game I can't run with everything on max and AA on full is Crysis. But then again what system can.......

 

[aevm]

You can get a Corsair 650TX at newegg for $90. Worth returning that Purepower IMO.

Shame on you. If you build a better system next year, give that one to your wife.

Newegg won't show me your list, I get the login page. Anyway, for 1440x900 something like HD 4850/E8400 would do all right.

 

[ke7diz]

i would go with a 4850 with a non standard cooling they can run pretty hot on the standard version
his made a duel slot version i liked(haven't got it yet though)

 

[jeff5]

Thanks guys. Here's the system if you can't see my Newegg

MB: Asus P5Q-E
Video: Asus ATI HD4850
RAM: OCZ Reaper 2Gig PC8500
CPU: Wolfdale 8400

Stuff I already have:
HD: WD Cavier 640 GB HD
Power: Thermaltake Purepower 600Watt

I'll think about that with the PSU. I'm not sure if want to for 50 watts. Is the Corsair that much better? Thanks again.

 

[WR2]

Not going Crossfire?
You're a good candidate for the ASUS P5Q SE P45 $105

 

[aevm]

The Corsair is better, according to the reviews. It also has 52A instead of 48A. On the other hand, the Purepower 600W is plenty for your system, good quality, and modular. If you don't feel like returning the Purepower you don't have to, it will do the job nicely.

The P5Q-E supports Crossfire. It will drop to x8+x8 with two cards, but apparently that's not a very big deal at 1680x1050 or less. If you're considering adding a second card later, the Purepower is still good enough.
Tell you what, replace the PSU if you want to try Crossfire at some point, and don't bother if you don't.

Very good MB, video, CPU, HD.

You're getting PC8500 but no aftermarket cooler. Weird combination. If you overclock the PC8500 makes sense but you need a cooler too. If you don't overclock you can get 2x2GB PC6400 (that is, DDR2-800) instead for a similar price, and it would be better.

 

[bdollar]

yes corsair is that much better than thermaltake. you could also drop down to like 500w and do corsair, pc power and cooling, even antec or ocz.

+1 to p35 if you want. will save you money and function as well. but either way check your mobo. many of the p45s are more for their crossfire capability. if you know you aren't going to do it then don't pay for that.

+1 4850 is going to be great for that resolution shouldn't have any issues

e8400 is a good cpu. e8500 is $20 more but only .16ghz more. for some people worth it. for others not so much.

2gb is probably enough but may want to consider 4gb. even on 32 bit system it can be beneficial and if you ever do upgrade to 64-bit (recommend vista) it will be practically necessary.

great move on the hdd. price per gb can't be beat.

 

[jeff5]

Thanks guys.

The reason I'm only doing 2 gigs is because I don't have a 64bit OS. Once I do upgrade to Vista next year I'll get 4 gigs, and if I do plan to OC sometime next year I'm going to invest in a CPU cooler as well.

Do you think that even without a 64bit OS that the extra 2 gigs at a slightly lower speed will be better? I didn't think it would do anything if I didn't have a 64 bit, as it would only recognize 2 of the 4.

I'll think about that SE MB as well. If I'm not going to crossfire like you said it may be a good option to save $50.


Thanks a bunch folks, any other comments would be welcome!

 

[aevm]

I bought 4 GB of RAM and see only 3.25 when I boot in XP-32. That's OK with me, it's still better than 2 GB. So yeah, I'd get 2x2GB DDR2-800 regardless of the Windows type.

The higher speed RAM won't make any difference until you overclock, and you may not really need it even then. With a P45 and an E8400 you can get to 3.6GHz using DDR2-800 easily.

 

[jeff5]

So I've decided to even go cheaper. Since this is an interim system I'm trying to minimize cost, but still have something decent.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=12899407

Basically going 7200 wolfdale and a P5Q SE. A bit cheaper OCZ memory PC6400 2 gigs, although its the one ASUS recommends for that board, and keeping the same video card.

I'm also going to take back the 600 Watt Thermaltake, I can get a 500watt Thermaltake from Tiger for $39.99 after the rebate. 500 watts should be fine for what I'm doing, no crossfire, etc. I can always upgrade in the future, which I usually do and like to tinker around with this junk anyway.

 

[WR2]

Sound reasoning. And a nice bit of savings to boot.
I think it will be a well balanced, strong performing system. E7200 is good OC'ing CPU.