Author Topic: Computer upgrade question (Read 390 times)

Trog · « **on:** January 26, 2008, 02:28:53 PM »

A clip broke on my motherboard ( msi 925x neo) holding the chipset fan. I know i can take it off and solder the u shape bracket back on.

What i am thinking is if i have to take the motherboard out it is a good time to do a little upgrade. My prescot pentium 3.4 ghz runs hotter than u know what and want to get rid of it before this summer. With the new cpu/motherboard my ati graphics card should be plenty of card.

Here is my current system:

P4 Prescott 3.4 ghz
MSI 925X mobo
1024 corsair ddr2 pc 4300 pro lat 3-3-3-8
ATI x850xt card
SoundBlaster Fatality Pro Series X-Fi
ImageQuest LCD90+ digital (DVI) Monitor
Antec Nine Hundred Case
Mini Typhoon cpu cooler
Extreme spirit 2 Northbridge cooler
3 120mm intake fans
1 120mm exhaust fan
1 200mm exhaust fan

Final approach..................... My Newegg order. If i don't find or hear anything better in the next week or two i will get this setup.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive 65.99

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop 75.99

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
99.99 or (ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 149.00) i can't decide which one yet

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor 219.99

Total-461.96

I have been following toads post. Alot of great info there which has helped me pick out this setup

PS i will keep the following from my current system:
ATI x850xt card
SoundBlaster Fatality Pro Series X-Fi
ImageQuest LCD90+ digital (DVI) Monitor
Antec Nine Hundred Case
LACIE 500GB external backup drive
PSU-OCZ- 600ADJ

Any thoughts? I could really use some input that this a good setup and will all work together as i will not upgrade for another 3 yrs or so ( the only upgrade will be a graphics card when needed). My last computer build was about 3 yrs ago and i hope to get about 3 out of this one.

Thanks

Fulmar · « **Reply #1 on:** January 26, 2008, 03:29:02 PM »

You can't go wrong with that solid Seagate 250gb, the crucial ram, and the E8400. As for the motherboard, both use the newer P35 chipset which benchmarks very well and supports the new 1333mhz bus and 1066mhz DDR2. I've always been an Asus fan for years and I can't comment on Gigbyte or Abit brands from my experience.

$150 for the Abit after Rebat and $100 for the Gigabyte. The Gigabyte does not support RAID or firewire (but you can always buy expansion PCI cards for this if needed). The Abit does offer 6 SATA drive compared to the Gigabyte's 4. Both have onboard crappy audio, but I see you've got an X-Fi.

Are you looking at a RAID setup anytime in the future? Or do you have a need for more than 4 SATA drives? I'd save $50 and hassle with rebates and get the Gigabyte. Some of the Abit reviews commented on not supporting the E8400 completely (whatever that means, who knows what some of these reviewers know).

I'd give you a Asus board to use, but apparently their newer boards in the $100-150 range suck.

Trog · « **Reply #2 on:** January 26, 2008, 04:46:36 PM »

You know Fulmar i had a raid setup and 1 hard drive failed which broke the array. I had trouble finding an identical hard drive and gave up. I bought the lacie 500gb hard drive for back up and since i did need it once. I was fiddling with the x52 settings and lost 2 mos worth of work with views and such. Went into the lacie backup and pulled the file out put it back in and worked great. It paid for itself right then and there.

So to answer your question no i'm not going to raid this drive mirror or stripping.

But, never say never and i might want to leave that option open. So the Abit IP35 Pro may be a better way to go. The 50.00 difference is not going to break me.

One thing i see overall is the 10,000rpm raptor hard drive not being used much. I guess it just does not give that much of an advantage over the cost.

Thanks for the info Fulmar appreciate it.

Fulmar · « **Reply #3 on:** January 26, 2008, 05:24:28 PM »

Not really. It may help you boot windows noticeably faster, or load saved games faster. But if you're not into video editing or working with large files with lots of read/writes and file transfers, a Raptor isn't worth your money.

I use a RAID 0 setup myself for its speed and working with large graphics files, doesn't hurt with some of the videos I do as well. I knew upon going to the RAID setup that I was going to have to backup my files separately onto either DVDs, external HD's, or currently I have a spare computer working as a file server. I didn't want to buy the 2 more HD's for Raid 5 or 0/1.

Benchmarking my lone 250gb drive yielded about 70mb/sec transfer rates. Raid 0 upped it to around 105.

humble · « **Reply #4 on:** January 26, 2008, 05:31:12 PM »

Any P-35 board should do the trick. I originally suggested the abit based on the great price at the time. ASRocks, MSI and Foxconn are all ok as well. I dont think you'll go wrong with anything in there...

Looking at the MB options here are current thoughts...

DFI

This is a very good MB with alot of options for OC etc...

I'd be flipflopping back and forth between this and the Abit. I like gigabyte but neither MB I've bought personally blew me away.

Trog · « **Reply #5 on:** January 26, 2008, 06:44:41 PM »

After looking at it i will want the MOBO with the availability to raid. DFI i'll have to research them tnx Snap, looks like a good price.

Oh one other thing, will i need to buy an after market CPU cooler

Fulmar · « **Reply #6 on:** January 26, 2008, 09:14:09 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Trog
After looking at it i will want the MOBO with the availability to raid. DFI i'll have to research them tnx Snap, looks like a good price.

Oh one other thing, will i need to buy an after market CPU cooler

The stock coolers seem to be pretty good with the C2D's. I imagine the Wolfdale is similar. I have an E6400 (stock 2.13ghz) and it overclocks within standard temps up to 3.0ghz fine.

Getback · « **Reply #7 on:** January 26, 2008, 11:54:05 PM »

I like the setup. However, did I miss it or did you not purchase a power supply?

republic · « **Reply #8 on:** January 26, 2008, 11:56:52 PM »

Prescott...I remember those days.... *drifts off thinking about previous gaming rig builds*

Trog · « **Reply #9 on:** January 27, 2008, 02:00:57 AM »

Thanks again Fulmar.

I'll use my existing power supply an OCZ 600ADJ

I'll tell ya this prescott, i can boil an egg off of it

I've got it cooled down as much as i can without a water cool system and i still think at times it will not let the video card perform up to the max settings. I could be wrong, but it seems it just heats up and backs down the card. My bottle neck is this Prescott.

Fulmar · « **Reply #10 on:** January 27, 2008, 02:05:21 AM »

Yeah, Prescotts ran hot and suffered from OC fatigue (can't remember what the called it).

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #11 on:** January 27, 2008, 04:17:24 AM »

That x850 is an ancient card, you don't plan on playing anything but AH?

Trog · « **Reply #12 on:** January 27, 2008, 04:58:19 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by republic
Prescott...I remember those days.... *drifts off thinking about previous gaming rig builds*

Yep when i built it it was one little hot number top of the line everything, just look at it now, all old and worn out. She served me well.

Trog · « **Reply #13 on:** January 27, 2008, 05:02:56 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by MrRiplEy[H]
That x850 is an ancient card, you don't plan on playing anything but AH?

Nope, just AH. Nothing else satifies me, except golf and the wife, shes as sweet as when i married her 20 yrs ago