Building a system.

[Inuakurei]

Hello. i am building a computer and my friend recamended these parts for me. I will be using it for gaming and working in photoshop and illustrator and other design work. Here are the parts.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156078

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104060

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118012

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166021

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003

One question i have is, this motherboard is currently out of stock. is there one thats similar that i can get that will still work with the rest of my setup?
also should a get a duo or quad core processor? i know games run better on duo but would a quad make the computer faster overall? or is it just a waste?

 

[slomo4sho]

First of all, provide a budget so we better match performance to price at your budget...

In the future, it is usually better to provide brief description of the parts as well and not just a link.

 

[Inuakurei]

ok, i have a budget of around 900$, and the parts i am most concerned about are the motherboard and cpu.

I dont know to stick with the 3.0duo or if a 2.5quad will be worth it. basicly i want to know if the quad will speed up my computer more than the duo.

Also i need a different (possible sligtly better but around the same price) intel motherboard that will still fit my graphics card/wireless card and everything else.

 

[sprucebr1]

Good choice for the graphics card. In your case, using photoshop and the like, a quad core may not be a bad idea. The Quad might not show the high performance of the E8400, but I think you will be able to use the extra cores. The mobo is a good one, I have one thats very similar. You might actually want to check giga-byte.com to see that the BIOS on that mobo will work out of the box with the E8400.

 

[slomo4sho]

The dual cores are going to be better for gaming currently as they have higher initial clock speeds and the quad cores are better for multi-tasking.

Get the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 bundled with a ASUS P5Q Pro, much better choice of MOBO at the same price point due to bundle discount
http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/AddToCart.aspx?Submit=ADD&ItemList=Combo.138376


CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Chan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

The PSU will be a little overkill if you don't plan on adding a second GPU later on down the line. I would recommend dropping down to this 550watt model.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

 

[Inuakurei]

Cool, just one question. why the different RAM? the motherboard says the standard memory is DDR2 1200. and that ram is DDR2 800, would that make a difference?

 

[slomo4sho]

Unless you plan on overclocking the E8400 past 4 GHz, DDR2 800 is all you need. The motherboard states it will accept up to DDR2 1200 but that means that DDR2 1200 is the maximum the board can support without overclocking. All boards are backwards compatible with lower clock memory.

 

[kurtyboh]

+1 for slomos parts....again

 

[Inuakurei]

Ok thank you Slomo, just one more question and im good to go. Would DDR2 1066 be much of an improvement over DDR2 800? Or is spending the extra 40$ not worth it?

 

[kurtyboh]

not worth it...

 

[slomo4sho]

You will not see any noticable improvement by going with DD2 1066 over DDR2 800. Save your money and stick to the DDR2 800.

 

[Inuakurei]

Ok, thank you for your help i really appreciate it. /bow