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View Full Version : Going to build a PC, hardware people chime in



lloyd mcclendon
February 18th, 2007, 08:24 PM
My laptop is getting dated, time for an upgrade & I want to build a desktop. I've never done this before and am not much of a hardware geek. I don't play games but run a web & database server (no serious load or anything) and do development with eclipse.

This is what i've come up with so far, what i tried to do was pick stuff on new egg that has a lot of good reviews. i think 2 gigs of ram and a fast hard drive is important for what i do.

case: Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply $99.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811129155)

processor: AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1.8GHz Socket 939 Dual Core Processor $179.00 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103588)

mobo: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD Motherboard $149.00 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131568)

ram: OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory $215.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820227210)

hd: Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive $159.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136033)

cd: SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black IDE Model $39.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827151136)

video: ATI 100-437602 Radeon X1300PRO 256MB GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card $109.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102677) -- no idea about this but it looks ok & is cheap.

$984 w/ shipping .. thoughts?

is this processor any good? anyone have it? i don't really care about overclocking but would probably try it when i'm bored. can i get something similar cheaper? 1000 is a little over budget i was hoping to be around 6 - 700. Is anything I've listed not nice with ubuntu? Windows will go on here eventually but ubuntu is what i always use so it's important that everything works out of the box, if i struggle with something i'll jsut return it

maniacmusician
February 18th, 2007, 08:36 PM
If I were you, I would "settle" on some aspects of the computer that can be upgraded later; like RAM. The case you've chosen is great, except it has the built in power supply; You have to make sure that it has enough watts. There's a basic PSU calculator here: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

I would definitely make some changes to what you have.

Processor: Go with Intel Core 2 Duo. I personally would pick the E6600. But, since you're tight on cash, you may want to go with the E6300 or E6400 instead. They're more expensive than the one you chose, but perform WAY better.

Motherboard: depends on the processor that you choose. Since I hope that you'll change your processor choice, I'll hold off on recommending mobos.

RAM: That RAM is great value, great choice. But to save money, I would go with a lesser quantity. I recommend either 512MB or 1GB as a temporary solution. You can always upgrade RAM later, better to hold off for now and use the money for other parts. Besides, with Linux, 1GB should be plenty until you can afford more.

HD: Don't get an ATA150 drive....search for a SATA 3.0GB/s drive that's in your price range. I would recommend one from Seagate or Western Digital. Don't buy from Maxtor, I've had bad experiences. You should be able to get a better SATA drive than the one you chose for around the same price.

CD: I'm not sure. I guess it looks fine for basic needs.

Video: NO!!! Get an Nvidia Card, not an ATI card! for around $130, I think you can get the GeForce 7600GT, which is a much better choice. A good manufacturer is EVGA.

Try that on for size and see what you come to for price. I'm afraid it's probably going to be expensive, but the good news is, the system I recommended will last for a while.

spockrock
February 18th, 2007, 08:39 PM
ummm ..... I would suggest a core2 duo machine.....unless you specifically want an amd, core2duo generally is faster then the AMD's right now. and yeah if you wanna use linux I suggest getting nvidia, ati drivers in linux are uhh.... craptastic.

lloyd mcclendon
February 18th, 2007, 09:03 PM
great stuff thanks guys

the 1 gig of ram makes sense, i can easily throw in more later. i've been told that 400 watts is more than enough for almost everything. i've also been told that is a great deal on the case.

the cd drive i don't even want, i'm just buying it to install ubuntu. after that i might even return it. i'll look into some nvidia cards instead. what's wrong with ata 150 and why is sata better? is it faster? i'm not much for disk space, 80 - 100 gigs will be more than enough, but i need it to be quick.

as far as the processor, who knows. that one just was rather popular and seemed to offer good bang for the buck. i'll have to spend a lot more time evaluating a bunch of different ones, the market is so oversaturated. it would be nice if someone would come out and say this is the best bang for the buck and show me a graph.

BarfBag
February 18th, 2007, 09:10 PM
Check those parts on Tiger Direct (http://www.tigerdirect.com/). It may be cheaper. Plus, they have amazing shipping.

maniacmusician
February 18th, 2007, 09:12 PM
ZipZoomFly has great shipping too. I think the most important thing at this point though is to change the actual parts that he's picked :D

spockrock
February 18th, 2007, 09:17 PM
great stuff thanks guys

the 1 gig of ram makes sense, i can easily throw in more later. i've been told that 400 watts is more than enough for almost everything. i've also been told that is a great deal on the case.

the cd drive i don't even want, i'm just buying it to install ubuntu. after that i might even return it. i'll look into some nvidia cards instead. what's wrong with ata 150 and why is sata better? is it faster? i'm not much for disk space, 80 - 100 gigs will be more than enough, but i need it to be quick.

as far as the processor, who knows. that one just was rather popular and seemed to offer good bang for the buck. i'll have to spend a lot more time evaluating a bunch of different ones, the market is so oversaturated. it would be nice if someone would come out and say this is the best bang for the buck and show me a graph.

Umm actually that drive is fine, what maniac musician was suggesting was Sata 2 drive that is which is ata 300. However seeing how that no drive right now even saturates the ATA150 bus, the raptor drive is still I believe the fastest drives out there. If you want a speedy drive thats it.

If you really want speed grab a couple of those and run them in raid0 :)

maniacmusician
February 18th, 2007, 09:28 PM
I was looking out for future compatibility. Sata 2 will probably be the dominant type after a little while. Also, from what he's said, I don't think he really needs a raptor...so for that same price, he could probably get a bigger SATA2 hard drive, which will be fast enough for him.

for the processor, if you're looking to save money, I would go with the Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 or E6400. AMD's are cheaper, but Intel processors outperform them. The best bang for your buck will be at the lower end of the Core 2 Duo series.

spockrock
February 18th, 2007, 09:33 PM
yeah I agree, go with a higher cap sata2 drives with 16MB of cache, raptors are expensive and while faster its hardly noticeable. You could get save some cash by switching your drive and going with a faster cpu/gpu or ram.

Also if you oc, core2duo is really good for best bang for your buck, as they pretty much at that point outstrip any thing AMD has to offer.

maniacmusician
February 18th, 2007, 09:36 PM
I decided to dig up a few hard drive links to prove my point. I haven't really dug into the specs, I'm just using these as examples that you can get much more from SATA2 hard drives for a better price.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140) - $95

Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 3.5" SATA 3.0GB/s Hard Drive - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144417) - $70

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148108) - $150 (the same thing you were going to pay for your Raptor, but you get over 400GB more space. And this is a fast hard drive as well; these all are)

Of course those are OEM drives so you'll have to make sure you have spare screws and buy the cables seperately. But that's it. Make sure you have screws and cables. But the price is a way better deal than what you were getting, and they're pretty fast hard drives.

peanut butter
February 18th, 2007, 09:47 PM
I have to disagree with the suggestion for the processor,(core 2 duo) it is a lot of power, but maby its too much. I built a computer with an Athlon 64 3000 and it happily runs apache and mysql, along with KDE and about 5 instances of firefox. all with 512MB of ram. I dont think its a good idea to get the latest and greatest now, because it will just become obsolite. I agree that sata seems sorta faster than pata. I am sorta biased because I just like AMD.(mainly because of Intel not giving out the specifics to make an oss bios). The case you picked out seemed a bit expensive, when you can get an ok quality Rosewell for about $35. The mobo you picked out was a bit over the edge. I would look into a cheaper ECS.

WalmartSniperLX
February 18th, 2007, 09:51 PM
Unless you're ready to wait a while for amd to release open source drivers, I would NOT recommend a X1K series gpu. Go with a nvidia alternative. Ive worked with a few mainstream graphics cards in different computers, and my x1600pro is horrible in linux with the proprietary drivers (current open source drivers dont work). The acceleration is just BAD and everything LAGS HORRIBLY!! And as far as the cpu goes, the Opterons, now are no longer the top edge in power (lost to the Core 2 Duos, Quad Core conroes, and the new Conroe based Xeons), but it still makes an excellent choice if you want to go with an AMD architecture pc. Its really up to you. A core 2 will give you more power, but you may not even need it. My friends Opty is EXTREMELY STABLE and I would generally enforce your query on the Opteron

RAM: DONT GET OCZ, theyre top quality but most of the shipments made to my friends company came deffective. If you check reviews on many OCZ ram, you will notice a lot of shipments came defective as well. I personally recommend (and use) patriot. I told my friend about my memory and he ordered himself a pair of Patriot 512s DDR 400 for his opty system, and ordered more for a client. It works flawlessly

NOTICE TO POST BELOW: That is true. Core2 is much better prepared for the future. It even has virtualization technology for Windows *Vienna, but I dont know if that matters if you're a linux user :P

maniacmusician
February 18th, 2007, 09:56 PM
I have to disagree with the suggestion for the processor,(core 2 duo) it is a lot of power, but maby its too much. I built a computer with an Athlon 64 3000 and it happily runs apache and mysql, along with KDE and about 5 instances of firefox. all with 512MB of ram. I dont think its a good idea to get the latest and greatest now, because it will just become obsolite. I agree that sata seems sorta faster than pata. I am sorta biased because I just like AMD.(mainly because of Intel not giving out the specifics to make an oss bios). The case you picked out seemed a bit expensive, when you can get an ok quality Rosewell for about $35. The mobo you picked out was a bit over the edge. I would look into a cheaper ECS.

well the advantage with a Core2Duo is that it wont become obsolete immediately. C2D is by no means the latest and greatest. That would be Quad-core. Core 2 Duo is becoming "mid-range." It's an ideal processor that will last longer. And I like AMD as well, but the fact of the matter is, Intel is just overpowering them. I'm going to go with the thing that gives me better performance.

The logic comes down to this; If you want to get a new system again soon, within the next year or two, then I would go with AMD, because current AMD processors are getting obsolete, fast. If you want to keep a system for a longer time, then I would go with Intel, because at the moment, those processors are just more durable and powerful. They won't be left in the dust as Linux advances, but they'll keep up.

The motherboard will depend on the type of RAM, Video card, and Processor that you choose. I recommend picking your motherboard last.

peanut butter
February 18th, 2007, 10:00 PM
yes, but my point was that you dont need the power of a dual core processor. I still use an Athlon 1900 as my regular desktop machine, it does everything I need it to do. So yes if you need a dual core Please buy a core2duo. It will be better in the long run. but if you dont need the power, why spend the extra money?

lloyd mcclendon
February 18th, 2007, 10:20 PM
i run eclipse & two instances of tomcat at the same time. i need a little more than you do. 512 mb and an old processor is not going to cut it, need something zippy

and those hard drives, those are all 7200 rpm, won't 10000 deliver much faster seek times?

spockrock
February 18th, 2007, 10:24 PM
@ maniac musicians hdd suggestions, all those are good but the WD, it only has an 8MB cache, if you want speed fork over a little bit extra for the 16MB varient.


@peanut butter I see what you are saying my htpc runs an Athlon xp 2500+ oc though to 2.3Ghz but sufficed to say, it does everything smoothly, but at the same time, and I myself love AMD as well, but core2duo simply put out classes the AMD offerings, and we simply put buying a computer now means its better to get an intel. If the poster wants he can wait of AMD's K8L core cpus which will be offered in both dual and quad core configurations, and for the enthusiast can grab two quad core K8L and drop them into the 4x4 platform from what AMD has stated, 8 cores anyone? hmmm......

spockrock
February 18th, 2007, 10:28 PM
i run eclipse & two instances of tomcat at the same time. i need a little more than you do. 512 mb and an old processor is not going to cut it, need something zippy

and those hard drives, those are all 7200 rpm, won't 10000 deliver much faster seek times?

yes it will but will it be that noticeable??? If you want raw speed get a raptor, I am just saying you can get higher cap, slower but hardly noticeable for less money.

mips
February 18th, 2007, 10:54 PM
video: ATI 100-437602 Radeon X1300PRO 256MB GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card $109.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102677) -- no idea about this but it looks ok & is cheap.


STAY AWAY !!! Get a nVidia card.

maniacmusician
February 19th, 2007, 01:52 AM
i run eclipse & two instances of tomcat at the same time. i need a little more than you do. 512 mb and an old processor is not going to cut it, need something zippy

and those hard drives, those are all 7200 rpm, won't 10000 deliver much faster seek times?
as spockrock said, it won't make that much of a difference. SATA2 has enough of a speed increase that 7200 RPM would work pretty well for you.

I agree that peanut butter's setup probably wouldn't cut it for you (even though it works just fine for peanut butter; everyone has different computing needs), but you'd do fine with a C2D and SATA2 drive.

it would probably be better than your current setup...what are you using right now?

lloyd mcclendon
February 19th, 2007, 06:55 AM
right now i'm using a 2 year old pentium m laptop. speed wise it's just about ok, but the video card doesn't support anything higher than 1280x800. it's old and starting to act weird. just sits on my desk because the batteries are good for about 40 seconds.

updated parts list,

cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 $185.00 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115005) --- looks like a good buy and i can turn it up if need be. i am netural on intel vs amd, whatever is best bang for the buck & this looks like it.

hd: Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $62.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136062) -- fast enough & super cheap for 16mb and way more space than i need

ram: Patriot Signature 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) $103.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820220145) -- will buy another one of these down the road

mobo & video: BIOSTAR I945PCOMBVGA1 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Motherboard with GeForce 7600GS 256MB Video Card $159.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813138051 ) -- great price on what looks like a solid board & video card, thoughts?

case: same as before, i'm pretty set on this... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811129155

cd: same piece as before, don't care.

w/ shipping & after rebates all that is only $615 which is well within the budget. looks pretty solid, i'm gonna sleep on it and if i don't get any more suggestions i'm gonna do it. if i don't have cables and stuff i'll just pick those up. i forgot i also would need a wireless N card, damn. i wonder what else i am forgetting

maniacmusician
February 19th, 2007, 07:17 AM
the mobo looks okay, but there are no reviews and I've never used anything from biostar, so I can't vouch for them. Spec-wise, it matches up with your processor and RAM (however, keep in mind that 667 MHz is probably the fastest you will ever get your RAM to go on that mobo).

Make sure that the motheroard has all the ports that you'll need. For instance, I notice that it's missing Firewire ports.

Actually, I took another look at those specs, and I noticed that it doesn't say anything about IDE connectors...the CD drive that you picked requires one. You should confirm whether this board has an IDE connector or not. If it doesn't, don't worry, you can still use it; just get a CD drive with a SATA interface. But clear that up before you order.

Since this comes out to 615, that's totally within your range. If you can afford it, think about splurging for an E6600 processor. It offers a 4MB L2 cache (twice the size of the e6300) and it's overclocking is marginally better as well. If you can't afford it, don't worry, the E6300 is pretty damn decent too.

And yeah, you probably are forgetting some things :)

Don't forget to use the PSU calculator I linked to on the second page. Now that you have power-consuming things like a dual-core processor and the 7600GS video card, your voltage may have changed. You should use the value you get from the calculator + 50-100 watts more to guarantee a good power supply. It can't hurt to make sure that the one that comes with your case will be good enough.

Bad or underpowered PSU's can fry your entire system, so it's good to be cautious.

Edit: Some more things to think about:

-The E4300 Processor overclocks better than the E6300, and its other specs are about the same

-In the coming months, the E6300 is going to be upgraded with a 4MB cache as well (which is a huge plus), so you may want to wait for that.

spockrock
February 19th, 2007, 07:32 AM
yes a good powersupply is really important.....

mips
February 19th, 2007, 10:38 AM
ram: Patriot Signature 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) $103.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820220145) -- will buy another one of these down the road

Keep in mind that you will get better performance out of 2x 512mb sticks than 1GB stick. Unless you go for 2x 1GB sticks

turkeybrain
February 19th, 2007, 12:45 PM
I don't know if this will help you, but I have recently splashed out and bought myself a new computer. It has a:
Core 2 Duo E6300
ASUS P5LD2 mobo (don't get that though, you should see how long it takes to go thru the bios!!!, and its old technology with a P945 chipset)
1Gb DDR2 @667MHz
Seagate (only the best for me...) 250Gb SATAII
XFX 7600GT (slightly overclocked from the factory :) )
Pioneer 111D DVD burner

I must say that I am very pleased with it. No compatibility issues, and it is oh so very nice and fast. And if you are so inclined, like me, it moonlights as a gaming system as well... Nicely.

For a mobo I recommend a P965 chipset, unless you are serious about performance, then go and get an nVidia 680i mobo. Although that won't come cheap... My other computer (one is mine, one is the family computer - the one I'm about to talk about is the family one) runs basically all the same specs as mine, (core 2 E6300, 1gb RAM, 7600GT) except a Gigabyte 965P-DS3P. I am very pleased with it, it runs oh so much better than mine! It boots in seconds (very very nice, I must say) but unfortunately it only supports Crossfire. I didn't know it when I ordered it - they had run out of the board we originally ordered so we got upgraded. Get something SLi compatible though, that is possibly the thing I regret most about my computer (the P945)

But if you are worried about performance, it won't let you down. Just don't skimp too much on the motherboard. That is my advice in a nutshell.

OffHand
February 19th, 2007, 02:50 PM
Keep in mind that you will get better performance out of 2x 512mb sticks than 1GB stick. Unless you go for 2x 1GB sticks

Only if it is dual channel memory, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel

mips
February 19th, 2007, 03:45 PM
Only if it is dual channel memory, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel

Yes and if you look at the MB he picked I would say it uses dual channel memory.

Technically speaking the memory is not dual-channel, the mother board provides that function and not the ram.

dannyboy79
February 19th, 2007, 04:14 PM
I don't know if this will help you, but I have recently splashed out and bought myself a new computer. It has a:
Core 2 Duo E6300
ASUS P5LD2 mobo (don't get that though, you should see how long it takes to go thru the bios!!!, and its old technology with a P945 chipset)
1Gb DDR2 @667MHz
Seagate (only the best for me...) 250Gb SATAII
XFX 7600GT (slightly overclocked from the factory :) )
Pioneer 111D DVD burner

I must say that I am very pleased with it. No compatibility issues, and it is oh so very nice and fast. And if you are so inclined, like me, it moonlights as a gaming system as well... Nicely.

For a mobo I recommend a P965 chipset, unless you are serious about performance, then go and get an nVidia 680i mobo. Although that won't come cheap... My other computer (one is mine, one is the family computer - the one I'm about to talk about is the family one) runs basically all the same specs as mine, (core 2 E6300, 1gb RAM, 7600GT) except a Gigabyte 965P-DS3P. I am very pleased with it, it runs oh so much better than mine! It boots in seconds (very very nice, I must say) but unfortunately it only supports Crossfire. I didn't know it when I ordered it - they had run out of the board we originally ordered so we got upgraded. Get something SLi compatible though, that is possibly the thing I regret most about my computer (the P945)

But if you are worried about performance, it won't let you down. Just don't skimp too much on the motherboard. That is my advice in a nutshell.

doesn't the 965P chipset NOT have a IDE connector on it, so they thru on the JMicron thingy which Dapper and not sure about Edgy DOES NOT support the JMicron? Can you comment on this cause I want to buy a new motherboard, getting the Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz. i'll need new ddr2 ram (since I can't run my old 1.5gb DDR400 PC-3200 ram correct?), a new pci-express vid card (cause I can't stick with my GeForce 6200 turbocache agp card right?) and that's it. I hate the fact that just because I want a new Core 2 Duo, I have to upgrade the ram and vid card and motherboard. Why did intel do this??? I have a 775 socket, it's the Foxconn 661FX which says it supports CPU Type: Pentium 4 Prescott / Celeron D. Well, see the thing is is that I want a little more speed, I own a Celeron D 2.66ghz which runs at 533mhz FSB. Is it worth buying all that stuff or just upgrading to a P4 or Pentium D?? Anyone shed some light here for me. I already have 1.5gb ram, and a decent enough graphics card for an Ubuntu Dapper Drake Server. Its a Mythtv box and it's the master browser server for my network (2 xbox's, winxp pro, laptop w/Xubuntu and then of course the Ubuntu box I am referring to). But it's jsut that when I am moving my mouse around and what not, it just doesn't seem fast enough for me. Newegg has a Pentium 4 650 Prescott 4 3.4ghz 2mb l2 cache LGA 775 with a Rosewill RCX-Z775-SL 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - for $124.99 here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116196
would it just be wiser to do this instead of going to it all?? I don't want to spend too much. Cause I looked at hte duo core 2, that's like $175.00, for 1gb ram, that'd be over $100, then a vid card would be over $50. motherboard would be over $100, so all that would be $425.00 which is WAY more than I want to spend. Any opinions would be grateful! thanks

lloyd mcclendon
February 19th, 2007, 04:18 PM
i'm a little leary about the biostar mobo as well, but their other products have pretty solid reviews. the ports are all there, no need for firewire. i will check into the ide connector for cd, if not i'll just get a sata one - thanks for pointing that out.

the 6600 is $315, that's too much, especially when it will be outdated in a few months. $175 for the 6300 looks like good bang for the buck. the psu calculator says i need 220 watts, 450 should be adequate.

and the mobo has 4 slots & supports 4 gigs, so it makes sense to just get one 1gb stick. i'll get a second one a few weeks later.

dannyboy79
February 19th, 2007, 04:32 PM
it doesn't make sense to get 1 stick if the mobo supports dual channel ram that's for sure. you'll get better performace out of 2x 512mb chips running in dual channel, than just 1 stick of 1gb ram. check out all the reviews on dual channel if you don't believe me.

Bartender
February 19th, 2007, 04:35 PM
I recently went from 1GB of dual channel to 2 GB of dual channel in my W2K PC. Not by pulling the 2 original 512's; I populated the second pair of RAM slots. I'm sure it's snappier, but not really obvious like a jump from 512 to 1 GB would be.

I want to add a very strong caution about buying one stick now and planning on filling the other half of the dual channel slots later. That can backfire on you. The second stick has to be identical to the first. All those little latency and clock settings inside the chips must be the same. Say you buy one stick now. A year later you want to get the second one. What if they're not making the same memory anymore? You could play hell trying to find one.

There's a certain amount of variance in the actual performance of what would appear to be identical RAM modules. Often the RAM manufacturers will test their finished products and grade them by results, pairing up similarly performing modules for sale in those twin-pack sets you see at the stores. This is especially true if you're paying for premium memory.

Just wanted to warn you about that. I never buy dual-channel memory unless it's sold as a pair but you don't have to do it that way.

lloyd mcclendon
February 19th, 2007, 05:06 PM
i'm going to get the second stick like 2 weeks after when i get another paycheck so i'm not too worried about it. hell maybe i'll just get them both now and be done with it. thanks for the heads up

dannyboy79
February 19th, 2007, 05:15 PM
can anyone comment on my questions? please, I am not trying to hi-jack, it just doesn't make sence to post another thread about hardware when it can all be in 1.

spockrock
February 19th, 2007, 05:31 PM
umm it has a connector but the IDE controller is no longer on the chipset so most boards do use the jmicron IDE controller, if you want just an nforce board if you like, I believe they are supported.

dannyboy79
February 19th, 2007, 05:50 PM
what about my other questions? performance between Core 2 Duo 6300 and a P4 Prescot 650? I just read that an 8X agp is actually better than 4x pci-express vid card when tested on a ASRock 775Dual-VSTA. At the same site, www.anandtech.com, they also found that DDR2 wasn't THAT much of an improvement over DDR on the platform I am considering. check it out: http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2814&p=1. I am considering this so that all I have to update right now is the CPU. BUT, I am looking for comments from people about what I asked above regarding the processors since I already have a motherboard that can handle a P4 Prescot 650. so it's either new P4 650 (around $150.00 total ) OR a new motherboard and a new Core 2 Duo (around $275 total). So is the $125.00 highter price going to be worth it???

mips
February 19th, 2007, 06:47 PM
the 6600 is $315, that's too much, especially when it will be outdated in a few months.

That sounds like a rip-off or an error. I'm pretty sure a 6600GT card can be had for under $100 on newegg.

dannyboy79
February 19th, 2007, 06:48 PM
mips, I am pretty sure he is talking about the CPU.

hod139
February 19th, 2007, 06:49 PM
I've always trusted the Ars Technica System guides (http://arstechnica.com/guides.ars).

dannyboy79
February 19th, 2007, 07:09 PM
are people missing my questions, don't want to answer them cause they think I am hi-jacking or does no one know??

mips
February 19th, 2007, 07:10 PM
mips, I am pretty sure he is talking about the CPU.

Oops, who feels like an idiot now....me! :redface:

dannyboy79
February 19th, 2007, 07:28 PM
no need to feel like an idiot!!!! We're all only human. so, do you think it's worth spending $85.00 MORE to get the speed of a Core 2 Duo over a P4 Prescott 650? Cause I am either going to buy a ASRock 775Dual-VSTA with a INTEL CORE 2 DUO E4300 (BX80557E4300) 1.8GHZ

OR

stay with the motherboard I have and buy a INTEL PENTIUM 4 650 (BX80547PG3400F) 3.4GHZ EM64T W/2MB CACHE 800MHZ.

lloyd mcclendon
February 19th, 2007, 11:59 PM
how is this not hijacking? it's cool though i do it all the time. i'm in no position to answer your questions but i coulnd't see anyone buying a pentium 4 these days. i have a pentium 2 machine if you are interested.

i think i'm pretty well set, just have to check on whether or not the cd drive will work. still unsure on the mobo but i'm gonna call biostar to check it out. any quick suggestions as to tools i'll need to build it, how to build it (i can see my cpu and mobo turning into a paper weight, how the hell do they go on) any last minute crap i might be forgetting etc.

this thread has been a pretty good resource thanks

maniacmusician
February 20th, 2007, 04:53 AM
no problem lloyd. I believe I can help you out with that list bit as well (putting it together): http://tools.corsairmemory.com/systembuild/report.aspx?report_id=12472 You can ignore the first page or 2, they're about component selection (which you've already done).

But they actually show you how to put everything together. Pretty handy.


Dannyboy: I'd go for the Core 2 Duo. Yes, it does make that much of a difference. Oh, and the JMicron controller issues have all been cleared up, so as long as you have an up-to-date kernel, you'll be good to go.

maniacmusician
February 20th, 2007, 06:13 AM
oh, by the way, lloyd, aren't you forgetting to buy a monitor? if you go for LCD, it's going to be a painful add-on to the current price.

lloyd mcclendon
February 20th, 2007, 08:11 AM
nah i already have a widescreen ... 1280x800 does not look good, that's the whole reason i'm doing this. 1900 x something will be sweet

that motherboard has actually gotten great reviews, i decided to pull the trigger. here's the mobo, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138034 .. with an $80 nvidia card i really didn't save much, but i would have bought that card anyway. i looked into the i965 but apparently there's several compatability issues i don't want to get involved with.

parts list is the same as before except i opted for 2 gb of pqi ram. also a $20 wireless card with good linux support and an antenna with a 6ft wire to move it about.

total w/ shipping was $750 - $50 rebate on the case so 700 for a pretty solid system is ok with me. if i can get this to boot ubuntu without blowing up i'm going to overclock up to 2.5 and see what we've got. bang for the buck

maniacmusician
February 20th, 2007, 08:17 AM
Cool. I'm buying a similar setup. Same case as you, I think, but the E6600 processor, 1GB G.Skill RAM, an awesome Gigabyte board. I already have a video card and hard drives and stuff, so what I listed above is going to cost me about 650 dollars. I have a thread in the Cafe with all that stuff listed.

Anyways, have fun with your system. Core 2 Duos are worth drooling over. Oh, and make sure to check out that link I provided a couple of posts back that guides you through putting your PC together. You'll probably find it helpful, since this is your first time.

dannyboy79
February 20th, 2007, 03:07 PM
you could have gotten your motherboard for 69.96 and a E6300 Core 2 Duo for 187.92. I decided to go with the E4300 and the ASROCK 775DUAL-VSTA.

turkeybrain
February 22nd, 2007, 01:02 PM
doesn't the 965P chipset NOT have a IDE connector on it, so they thru on the JMicron thingy which Dapper and not sure about Edgy DOES NOT support the JMicron? Can you comment on this

To the best of my limited knowledge this is true. A friend of mine just bought a new system with the P965, and he said he had some significant trouble installing. I don't know if Edgy supports the 965 from the live CD, but I imagine it wouldn't. To get them installed you will need a specific live CD with driver support for the JMicron IDE chipset. I personally don't know where to find one for Ubuntu (I haven't looked), but I do know there are Gentoo ones available. (This is what my friend runs) I would imagine there would be some about, I just don't know where. Of course, an easy way to get around this would be to install from a USB CD drive, rather than have to use the JMicron chip. You should be able to get some drivers quite easily once it is installed.

But I still recommend going for a P965 over the P945 I have. And whatever you do, don't get an Asus P5LD2!

Oh, and you will need to get new RAM, a new video card (assuming you don't already have PCIE), and a SATA HDD, unless you want to get a SATA to IDE adaptor to run your HDD. Assuming you don't already have a SATA HDD...

Just make sure you are future proofed with whatever you buy, make sure it has SLi (or crossover) support and quad core support, in case you feel the urge to get a new CPU in the future.

I tell you this as I am a bit annoyed with a few of the choices I made. Make sure you can upgrade in the future. It will keep most of your hardware around for longer.

And go a Core 2 Duo, they are good.