Trying to make this work.

[JonBeam]

Alright. I am trying to throw together a second desktop fast and cheap. Will upgrade parts bit by bit later, but at this point I'm really just trying to have a starting point. I may or may not buy newer parts for my current desktop and throw older parts in the frankenstein.

Currently I have in my primary desktop:

Asus P5QL-Pro
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300
4 GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 Mhz

(Edit: If it matters, the two video cards that are already bought and paid for are EVGA GTX 460 and EVGA 9400 GT)

I recently upgraded my power supply and video card, so those are taken care of for both machines. I will worry about upgrading the video card in the secondary machine later and run it off my old one for now.

I am aiming for another quad core. Something in the Q8200-Q9400 range. Will most likely replace the Q8300 and pass that to new machine.

So...when trying to find a suitable motherboard and memory to go with this I noticed that DDR3 was slightly cheaper than DDR2. Now I am thinking it would be better for me to buy DDR3 and a new motherboard for my current desktop and hand down the whole setup as the P5QL-Pro doesn't appear to support DDR3.

This leads me to the question...what motherboard will pull this all together? A socket 775 quad core and DDR3? I'm not trying to spend a lot of cash. I do prefer Asus these days, though. Will it be worth the price drop to go this route? I don't consider myself a gamer as I don't do it often enough to define myself by it, but I do, however, do it often enough that my computer should be defined by it.

Oh, and any arguments against Corsair XMS3? And....this is a stupid question, but is it better to have 2 1gb chips or 1 2gb chip? Is there any change at all in performance by having 2 physical chips?

 

[o1die]

Find a replacement board first; ddr3 boards tend to cost more, while the ram is cheaper. Socket 775 wasn't originally designed for ddr3; check ebay or craigslist for a replacement board, then if you find one, sell your old board and ram. Go for a 2x2gb kit of ddr3; I got mine used for only $30, and it overclocks at 1600, but with an h55 board; the socket 775 is more dependent on the cpu fsb for ram speed.

 

[JonBeam]

As the post stated, I am building a second computer. Thus I will not be selling my old board. It will be going in the second computer or staying in the one it is in.

I am looking for suggestions on solid asus socket 775 motherboards that support DDR3 1333.

 

[o1die]

If you have a full size atx case, then the p43 chipset should work fine. Newegg has a biostar p43 for only $59.99 new, or an asrock p43 DE3 for about $53 shipped as open box with no accessories. You can order the backplate from asrock america for $5. I had good luck with biostar, and one rma return only took nine days, faster than anyone else. The biostar board only has 2 ddr3 slots, but a 2x2 or 2x4 gb kit of ram is plenty. Newegg has a relatively low inventory of ddr3 775 boards. You can also search pricewatch or ebay. Since 775 is dead as far as new cpus, I recommend you spend less on the board and load up on ram. I found my 2x2gb of kingston 1333 ddr3 for $30 used on craigslist, and it runs at 1600.

 

[Wish I Was Wealthy]

Alright. I am trying to throw together a second desktop fast and cheap. Will upgrade parts bit by bit later, but at this point I'm really just trying to have a starting point. I may or may not buy newer parts for my current desktop and throw older parts in the frankenstein.

Currently I have in my primary desktop:

Asus P5QL-Pro
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300
4 GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 Mhz

(Edit: If it matters, the two video cards that are already bought and paid for are EVGA GTX 460 and EVGA 9400 GT)

I recently upgraded my power supply and video card, so those are taken care of for both machines. I will worry about upgrading the video card in the secondary machine later and run it off my old one for now.

I am aiming for another quad core. Something in the Q8200-Q9400 range. Will most likely replace the Q8300 and pass that to new machine.

So...when trying to find a suitable motherboard and memory to go with this I noticed that DDR3 was slightly cheaper than DDR2. Now I am thinking it would be better for me to buy DDR3 and a new motherboard for my current desktop and hand down the whole setup as the P5QL-Pro doesn't appear to support DDR3.

This leads me to the question...what motherboard will pull this all together? A socket 775 quad core and DDR3? I'm not trying to spend a lot of cash. I do prefer Asus these days, though. Will it be worth the price drop to go this route? I don't consider myself a gamer as I don't do it often enough to define myself by it, but I do, however, do it often enough that my computer should be defined by it.

Oh, and any arguments against Corsair XMS3? And....this is a stupid question, but is it better to have 2 1gb chips or 1 2gb chip? Is there any change at all in performance by having 2 physical chips?

Hi JonBeam ...First off I will make this quick & short as I have to go to bed for work tomorrow ...In the old LGA 775 DDR3 or DDR2 you'd be better off having only 1 x 2 GB stick of ram ...It is only the X58 chipsets & after that they say you can use all the ram ports to good use ...You also better hurry up to search & buy,because I search myself & these LGA 775 motherboards are getting more rare with the front side bus going up to 1600 MHz that's if you want those QX9770 though ...With those 1600 MHz fsb mainboards you can generally overclock higher & push your ram up higher also than the 1333 fsb mainboards (and you can still use 1333 fsb cpus on the 1600 fsb motherboards also ...So visit those Asus motherboard sites & do a lot of studying before making your choice ...

 

[JonBeam]

Best answer selected by JonBeam.

 

[JonBeam]

Both good answers. Couldn't decide so I flipped a coin. Not sure if I agree about the 1x2gb now, though. I found I could have been running my memory dual channel this whole time but wasn't because of how I had it configured. Guess that's what I get for being an amateur.

 

[Wish I Was Wealthy]

Best answer selected by JonBeam.

n Hi once again JonBeam ...Thank You very much for giving my post the best answer & I hope that you enjoy your new parts to do overclocking & gaming ...

 

[Wish I Was Wealthy]

Both good answers. Couldn't decide so I flipped a coin. Not sure if I agree about the 1x2gb now, though. I found I could have been running my memory dual channel this whole time but wasn't because of how I had it configured. Guess that's what I get for being an amateur.

Hi once again JonBeam ...You can still use all channels or ram ports ,but with the X58 chipsets & onwards all the channels get used to better use ...On HotHardWare a long time ago,they had a test to see what was the best size & number of sticks of ram to use with the XP operating system ...Before I go on about that article,do not forget that now a days even when using the XP operating system,you have to have at least 2 GB's of ram just so anti-virus/anti-spyware like the PC Tools gear called spyware doctor can run properly when your online ...Although I have used Kaspersky's & 1 stick of 1024 MHz was good enough with their anti-virus & anti-spyware gear when online ...One more thing is that PC Tools spyware doctor did seem to find more things to clear out of my pc,but I thought that Kaspersky's was better to communicate with over the phone & found the answers for me faster when I had to phone them up for support ...For that example of anti-spyware/anti-virus software I used the XP Pro operating system with service pack 3 on a AMD based AM2 motherboard that is AM2+ capable for cpu's ...+++...Now back to that article from Hothardware about the best size & number of ram sticks to use ...I will get to it fast since I have been here for a while now ...They determined that one stick of 512 MHz chucked into the first slot was the best & fastest ...Two ram sticks of 512 MHz chucked into two different channels was slower than using 1 ram stick of 1024 MHz chucked into the first ram port or channel ...Last of all was the 2 ram sticks of 1024 MHz chucked into 2 separate channels was the slowest,but do not forget you have four ram ports...1 & 3 then 2 & 4 and that is how I use the term channels...One stick of ram chucked into port 1 of the 1 & 3 channel ports,while another stick was chucked into the 2 port of the 2 & 4 channel ports ...This article was done many years ago & it will take ages to look for,but if you want you can search for it,while I am just going by memory ...In fact I may search for that article,but it may take ages since I work long hours ...