ECS is a terrible brand. Their boards are the cheapest of the worst, or worst of the cheapest.
Grab something like a Gigabyte or ASUS.
Spend the extra bit of money and get the 720 processor. You appear to want to overclock, and it will be much easier with the 720. You may also want a better cooler, something like a Xigmatek Dark Knight is still cheap and is very good.
I'm not a fan of buying older video cards, I'd go with a GTS250/9800GTX+, HD4770 or HD4850.
I have looked at some of your components, and I can see several upgrades that you should use instead of what you have planned. Take a look at my thread. I've done significant research on the best components for the money. Also - what is your budget?
Here are some pointed suggestions that I can say directly.
GPU Radeon 4770 is likely to out perform your 8800
RAM Suggest DDR3 RAM, not DDR2 - better performance for not much $$
OS Why 32bit OS? If you are purchasing - get the 64bit!!
HD For $10 you can get a 750GB HD - if you need the space, it isn't much $
CPU Get the X3 720 CPU - it will be Black Edition - therefore you can OC, and also it has a higher base at 2.8 vs 2.6GHz
ok my budget is about 600 to 650 dollars and the reason for 32 bit os is becasue i get 20 dollars off and heard some bad stories about drivers for 64 bit
Message edited by alexgreat on 05-25-2009 at 11:14:24 PM
i dont really want to overcock just want to keep pc cool lol, also changed motherboard to ASUS M4A78 Plus AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard for about 10 bucks more.
Message edited by alexgreat on 05-25-2009 at 11:15:55 PM
I'd go for the 64 bit. It's just $20 and you'll thank yourself when you decide to install more than 3GB of RAM. As for drivers, stick to the bigger brands for Video and MB and you should be fine. 64 bit has been around long enough and is gaining enough market share that vendors are paying attention.
Besides, it is basically where things are going, especially since 64 bit software and hardware can theoretically address 1.8 billion GB (1.8 petabytes i think) as opposed to only 4.2 GB with 32 bit addressing.
This build down below allows you to add another 4770 later on for Crossfire if you so choose. This psu is not only modular, but it meets ATI's requirements for the 4770 in Crossfire. This build also allows you to over clock.
That video card is sold out and i was told not to get a gigabyte motherboard and can you explain whole windows 7 thing im a noob i know
If you don't have an o/s (Windows) then you can dl window 7 on a pc or laptop (you want 64 bit), and then burn it to a disk and use that for your operating system...saving you like $100. As far as Gigabyte boards go, they are a very trusted name. Read the reviews on them....like the ones on newegg. I'm not sure who's giving you advice, but if it's the same person who was talking about drivers for 64 bit then I wouldn't listen to that persons advice. XP 64 bit might have crap drivers, but Vista 64 has excellent drivers and support. Then again anyone still using XP to game with needs their head examined. If your going to game you want a 64 bit o/s to read all of your memory, and of course Vista and Windows 7 support DX10.... DX 11 for Windows 7. So ya it's the year 2009 and this is where it's at if you want to game on a pc these days. XP is cooked and done for, and 32 bit o/s are good for office machines with less than 4 gigs of memory.
Im going to order my computer parts tomorrow so i have taking your guys advice and got a Asus motherboard and a better hd (specs below), My final question is i am in my price range but with the 2.6 triple core cpu and a 8800GTS 525 MB video card if i am to upgrade one what should it be and why?
ASUS M4A78 Plus AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
no i'd say its pretty stable. i have a similar build to yours except i have a gigabyte motherboard. excellent motherboard might i add, never given me any problems. i have the 8800gts but the 320MB version and i have an intel core 2 duo e6550. windows 7 (64 bit) runs well and i have not had any driver/stability problems since i installed it a while ago. im still able to play all my games and i've not had one issue with the OS so far. i would say go with the OS until march 2010.
I originally bought a ASUS M4A78 Plus motherboard and it was no good. After terrible customer service from both the vendor and ASUS, I returned the board and bought myself a ECS GF8200A Black Series which is working wonderfully for me.