Craig Hanley Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 I am after some ideas and advice please. I know its been done to death before though, any help from the wealth of experience on this forum is appreciated. I have done a lot of reading on various systems, boards, cpu's, ram etc, etc, but am still undecided. I am close to making a new pc purchase, and have been reviewing several motherboards. I am on a fairly tight budget, and several of these below have the capacity to have DDR2, or DDR3 ram. Basically, i have decided on Q9300 or Q6600 cpu to use with the purchase. Does anyone have any experience with any of these motherboards listed below, or can recommend one for me to purchase? http://asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1694&l1=3&l2=11&l3=534&l4=0 http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2740&ProductName=GA-EP35C-DS3R -(This one doesnt have IEEE1394, that I also need for some video work I do, but I may be able to add one in manually) http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=709&l4=0&model=2331&modelmenu=1 http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4Core1600P35-WiFi%2b&s=n Also I was set on an Nvidia 8800GT 512mb vidoeo card, until I found this below. It is an ATI card, but from doing some reading, it doesnt sound too bad. Most people I see on the forum, use the Nvidia 8800 or higher, soI was wondering if anyone still uses ATI cards, and if this one is any good? The pricing is similar to the 8800...maybe slightly more, but if it is worth it I may go to ATI. http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2856 Any information would be greatly appreciated. Regards Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ White Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Hey mate, Firstly that graphics card you mention is the latest generation from ATI but you have listed the "50" model, where as you want the "70" model (HD4870) this card has by far the biggest bang for buck at the moment! it will beat the 8800GT 512 you mentioned and not break a sweat, it even performs better than the new generation NVIDIA 260 in some benchmark testing. with this latest 48 series release ATI have really got themselves back in the game! As for mother board, CPU, RAM etc, this is a trickier area to reccommend as it really depends on your total budget and if you want future expandability. As a basic guide, the Q6600 and Q9300 are solid performers, overclock a treat and are now quite cheap! The basic pro's and con's are as follows- If you go with the Q6600 you can have a really good performing system at a low price because your motherboard and RAM need only be DDR2 which is cheaper! this is because a Q6600 has a bus speed of only 1066Mhz. For best results you should always match the cpu bus speed to the speed of the RAM, therefore you can get away with DDR2 1066, and a mother board such as the fantastic Asus Maximus Formula which gives you great CPU support but with DDR2 instead of (expensive) DDR3! This system will be a good performer at a great price, BUT very little future expandability because of the bus limitations imposed by the DDR2 support. If you want more future expandability and are willing to pay more for it then i would reccommend the Q9300, with an Asus P5E3 mother board and some DDR3 RAM. This way although the Q9300 is similar in performance to the Q6600, you get a bigger bus of 1333Mhz which you can then match with DDR3 RAM. This means at a later date you can upgrade the CPU without it being bottle necked. Both the Asus boards i have mentioned here are fantastic performers, and while you may think they are a little pricey, it really pays dividens to have a quality motherboard, a budget motherboard will have a strangle hold over your other components! Both these Asus boards use the iX38 intel chipset which i have found to be very stable and a good performer. This system will cost you more than the one mentioned above but you will have future expandability with this one as the board and the RAM will support a bus of up to 1600Mhz, where as with the Q6600 option, although you could upgrade the CPU you would still be limited by the DDR2 maximum bus of about 1150Mhz. I tried to keep it simple, but i always get carried away once i start I hope this gives you some direction. Russ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtualwombat Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 What Russ said. Cheers, Noel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Hanley Posted August 1, 2008 Author Share Posted August 1, 2008 Hi Russ, Thanks for your input and feedback. It certainly gives me some direction, and a few more ideas. I should probably mention that the budget is really tight -as per the treasurer (aka the wife), so it is less that $A1000. Having said that, I have a case, monitor, keyboard, speakers,etc, so I only need a psu, mobo, cpu, ram and video card. The reason i found these mobo's, is that I think I can go from ddr2 to ddr3 ram, without changing motherboards...I think...please tell me if thats wrong??? The second ASUS board you mention would be at the top end of my price range, so thats worth considering. Seems like a good all round board. I'm not sure if I would overclock though...its a bit new to me, but I have read that it's easily done on these latest chips. Is that X38 chipset the latest from intel? The ATI4870 is out of my price range - end of story on that one..sorry cant go there. The question I guess is, would the ATI 4850 out do the 8800GT? Some information I've read would indicate it would. Interseted in any other ideas that may assist in my purchase. Regards Craig P.S - your a man of many words Noel ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ White Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Hey Craig, To answer your questions mate DDR2 and DDR3 modules are "Keyed" differently, this means the slot between the contacts is in different possitions and will therefore not fit in the same slots. A motherboard RAM slot will either take DDR2 OR DDR3 NOT both! However, some motherbaords as you mention can take both, they do this by having both types of RAM slots on the motherboard, so you either use the DDR2 slots OR the DDR3 ones, but you cant use both at the same time! The downside is that this method cuts down your total potential RAM capacity though as you only have 2 slots for each type, instead of the 4 that you would normally have. So i would say make your descision and stick to it, either go one way or the other, dont try and accommodate both as there will always be a compromise! If the HD4870 is out of your price range, then the 4850 is a definate contender, as far as bang for buck it is a massive performer and i would have no hessitation in reccommending it! The 8800GT and GTS are good cards, but are getting older now and the new NVIDIA offerings i am less than impressed with! not so much for their performance as their pricing strategy. The problem with NVIDIA of late, is that due to a lack of equal competition they have become less inventive with their technology choosing to release a miriad of cards that only slightly improve performance over previous releases, and then charge a massive premium for the dissapointment. Yes NVIDIA currently have the most powerful cards, but in my book it is the "bang for buck" that counts more, who wants to pay $500 for a card that can give you 40fps, when you can get a card for $200 that will give you 30fps (numbers mentioned here for demonstration purposes only!) I live in a land where money does NOT grow on trees, but common sense is FREE! In short, get the HD4850! it has more efficient memory and a higher clock speed that the 8800GT. Also the ATI HD48** are the only cards 100% compliant with the next Direct X release standards. Make sure you get a double slot NOT a single slot model, the double slot has much better heat dissipation control and will exit the hot air safely out the back of your case, where as the single slot model will leave the hot air circulating around inside your case! All the best mate, Russ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Hanley Posted August 1, 2008 Author Share Posted August 1, 2008 HI Russ, Great advice...you may have convinced me on the 4850...I saw it at a computer fair last weekend, and it started me thinking about other cards than the 8800. Make sure you get a double slot NOT a single slot model Just what does that mean? Does this require 2 slots on the mother board for it to plug into? The one I am looking at now, has only 1 ??? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ White Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Not 2 slots on the mother board, 2 slots at the rear of the case. It basically means the card is double height, so it covers 2 rear brackets! This way the hot air is out of the second slot (the first slot contains the monitor connectors as normal) The only downside to a double slot card, is that due to it's height it will usually cover up another connector on your motherboard, like a PCI slot etc, but this is a small price to pay for a much cooler case! Also you mentioned the Intel chipset, the X38 is not the newest as Intel has since released the X48 chipset but like everything else new it's a premium price and some of it's features are not fully supported yet. The P35 is an older chipset now which has been left behind by the X38 which makes it the best choice for now. (best choice for Intel, there have been some good NVIDIA chipsets recently too, but lets not move the goal posts again!) Cheers mate, Russ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Hanley Posted August 1, 2008 Author Share Posted August 1, 2008 HI Russ, Got u now..that makes sense. You mention Nvidia chipsets. I'd be happy to look at any you may recommend just to get a better overview of what is out there to make an informed decision? Regards Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ White Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 The latest NVIDIA chipsets are the 680i, 780i and 790i. The "i" after the number is important as this denotes an intel processor chipset, which is what you will need for the "Q" series processors mentioned above. There are pros and cons to each chipset manufacturer but there always will be, just do your homework before buying anything, and make sure you buy the best you can for your money. Saving money on a lesser component may feel good at the time, but it is faulse economy in the long run. I have several computers at home, one with a 780 chipset, another with a X38 chipset. Both have performed flawlessly although it would be unfair for me to compare the two as the system with the X38 board in has a much higher CPU specification. Happy shopping mate, Russ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Hanley Posted August 1, 2008 Author Share Posted August 1, 2008 Thanks Russ, Those boards with the Nvidia chipsets are a bit more expensive than I wanted to pay, especially the 780, and 790.The models that I found, only have DDR2 RAM, although there are probably more if I looked harder. I may stick to the X38 or the E45 Intel chipsets though, as the budget unfortunatly has a limit. The setup Wolter has is great, although I have priced his components in Aus, as a complete new pc the same as him, and they are out of my budget. Although several components including the cpu are within reach. If there is anyone else out there that feels that can put some input into this thread, I would love to hear from you, especially some of the more techo minded like Russ. ;D regards Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Hi Craig, It's always going to be a sort of trade off one has to do as we all have to work hard for our "pennies" What I can advise you and I think others will agree as well is to go for the mobo with the "longest life expectancy" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Hanley Posted August 7, 2008 Author Share Posted August 7, 2008 I was pretty set on a motherborad to purchase, when I found this one... http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P45TurboTwins2000 Has anyone used Asrock boards? If so, do they recommend them? and any other opions on this board would be appreciated? i am having trouble finding a review on this board though..... Regards Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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