Help me pick a new computer configuration ...

[electron]

I currently have an AMD 64 3400 based system, 1 gig of memory, and an AGP FX5200 video adapter. With that in mind, I am trying to build something which is a little faster. I would prefer to spend as little money as possible since the hardware pricing changes so fast. This is what I came up with:

budget: http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishli...tNumber=4490829
prefered: http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishli...tNumber=4490809
extreme: http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishli...tNumber=8366848

I am hoping you guys can make some good suggestions on what to change, or approve of my choices. Thanks!

 

[Smarty]

This will be a great topic (and timely for me). I assume you will be re-using your old case? Which cases can be re-used (are there any brand specific cases that are not truly the form factor they say they are)? ....Back to Electrons topic....

 

[electron]

I have a really nice Antec case (I have never owned a better case), I believe it's similar to the Sx-1040 file server case. I will be moving the hardware into a 2u case for my new CocoonTech.com chat/2.0 test server, and reuse the Antec case to power my new parts. I will have to upgrade the power supply, but I don't see any reasons why I can't keep it.

 

[beelzerob]

I LOVE my Antec P-180b. Both of them, actually...one for me, one for wife. By the time we stop using those cases, PC's will be little tiny things you implant in your skull....

My general policy as far as complete PC upgrades (just did one a few month ago...times 2) is to get the mid-to-upper grade motherboard and RAM, and then get the lowest level video and CPU that the motherboard supports. The reason I do this is because for one thing, the video and CPU are by far the most expensive components, so this saves $$$. The other reason is that those are the most easy thing to upgrade (that and RAM). So my method is to just plan than in another 2 years or so (as needed....the last cpu/video upgrade was about 3 years after the initial purchase), I'll upgrade the CPU to the highest the motherboard can support and the fastest video card for it...and maybe more RAM...but by then, those will have come way down in price.

This has worked very successfully for me so far. Our current motherboards support all the way up to quad core, but I got a cheap dual core pentium (not even core duo). And it supports SLI, but we have a single lower end video in there now.

So for your lists, I'd go the medium priced route, but choose a less powerful CPU and lower end video card, and make sure the motherboard supports the highest-end stuff already. Anyway...that's what worked for me.

 

[dublin00]

Don't buy a GeForce 7 Series GPU for a new computer right now! They won't run VISTA "well" and you'd be much better off with any lower end GeForce 8 Series GPU at the same price. You'll probably see a price drop too in a few weeks when NVIDIA rolls out the GeForce 9 series cards so buying into a 7 series now seems like a bad idea.

 

[Helheim]

I'd get the E8400, like your preferred system, or wait for the Q9450 as then it's more future proof with SSE4 support and in theory should last longer as programs continue to get more bloated and take more power to run. I have both a Q6600 & E6600 system right now and just waiting for the Q9450 to build another one. These Core 2 Duos are great compared to the old dual Xeon systems with P4 technology I used to run and even the AMD X2 system I have.

 

[electron]

What video card and mobo did you use?

 

[Helheim]

Me? My main computer right now is the E6600 with a EVGA 7950GT Superclocked, there were no 8 series at that time. The Q6600 runs TheaterTek and is the media server it has a EVGA 8600 GT in it. I used to use Asus for motherboards but tried a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R in the last one and have been very pleased with it.

What video card and mobo did you use?

 

[sic0048]

What motherboard are you currently using (what socket, does it support dual core chips)? Is it possible to get a faster chip for your current MB and upgrade to 2gb ram and a faster vido card?

I think that may be the best bang for your buck (basically taking Rob's advice - max this system out first, and then upgrade the next time around).

 

[electron]

I need to keep my existing system in tact, since it will become yet another server in the electron datacenter

 

[electron]

Came up with a new list, using the best of all 3 lists:

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishli...tNumber=4511409

$615 BEFORE 3 rebates:

ABIT IP35-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS ATX12V / EPS12V 500W Power Supply - Retail
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6750 - Retail
G.SKILL 2GB (2x1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM 800 (PC2 6400) - Retail
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

 

[gwww]

Lots of great suggestions here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=940972

I guess it really depends on what you want to do with the computer.