Case & Mobo

Status
Not open for further replies.
Are you going to be re-using anything that should be taken into account? ie. what kind of video card (agp or pcie), memory, psu...
 
Im not reusing my PSU, im installing a PCI-e card, i need 2 or more memory slots 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM please. Sorry i forgot this stuff. IDE Hard Drive, and standard DVD+RW drive.
 
The Antec Sonata II case comes highly recommended from me. I absolutely love them.

They come with dual 120mm cooling fans, beautiful glossy piano black finish, and an industry recognized 450W Antec TruPower PSU... and usually can be found under $100 at NewEgg. They have LOTS of room to work inside, nicely setup, cool neon blue lighting on the front panel and are almost completely silent in use.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155

Now on the motherboard... as it's a Socket 775 dual-core, I'd recommend getting a Core 2 Duo compatible motherboard. THis way, say by next summer you want to drop in Intel's newest Core 2 Duo.. you can. I'd also recommend to stick with Intel chipset for P4/P4-D as these yield the best performance and stability:
Asus P965 chipset, single PCI-Express mainboard: $169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030

Asus i975X chipset, dual PCI-Express (for SLI or Crossfire): $269.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131025

Both of the above motherboards require DDR2-800 memory, which is fairly inexpensive/affordable now as well. Both are also Core 2 Duo ready for future upgrade.
 
Yup, you're really asking for trouble with that kind of budget to be completely honest.

While I'm sure you can scramble together a frankenstein motherboard of 3rd party chipsets, no-name psu/case and such that will allow your cpu to snap in/and snap-into... I'd expect lots of instability, blue-screens and issues.. if not poor performance. It's either that or hit EBay in hopes of finding used parts of quality.

I wouldn't skimp on the PSU, and it's extraordinarily difficult to beat the Sonata-II given it's includes of the best PSU's -AND- a case at $89-$99.

On the mainboard- you can find cheaper, but you'll be locked in to PentiumD/Celeron, or using a cheaper chipset that may result in poor performance or instability. I'd strongly urge to hold-off and raise the extra cash to be intel chipset + core 2 duo ready + hyperpath/asus performance. :)
 
Yup, VIA Chipset again.. which can after much work yield semi-okay performance/stability, but I truly don't recommend these 3rd party chipsets for Pentium D/P4 775 systems -at-all-.

The PCI-x4 bandwidth PCI-Ex16 slots work with most NVidia PCI-E cards.. but you're right that it will be with lower bandwidth.

Perhaps this would be a better choice for $79
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128317

Intel 915PL chipset, full x16 PCI-E slot, Pentium-D/775 compatible, 4 DDR2 slots, dual-channel support
 
What does the chipset do lol, im sorry but i dont know, i thought it controlled the video. But im gonna go with that one you just posted, unless nickslick has a better idea. Thanks for the help :D
 
The chipset controls access to memory (Intel systems), IDE/SATA controllers, integrated network card, etc.etc.

The VIA you listed does not support Dual-Channel memory.. which you can think of like the PCI-Ex16 at x4 speed.. single-channel memory controller instead chokes the CPU for bandwidth. I can't imagine running a dual-core or core 2 on single-channel memory!

The last motherboard I posted has dual-channel and full x16 bandwidth PCI-E.. so both memory bus and PCI-E bus run at full speed/bandwidth.

It seems you can choose one or the other, or both for a little bit more. Presler core Pentium-D's run great on ddr2/dual-channel.
 
Three things-
1) Remove the 1gig stick (unless you plan to buy 2 of them). You need a dual-channel kit, 1gig (2x512) as dual-channel needs memory in precise pairs. OCZ makes good memory, and this kit for $83.99 (there are cheaper and GSkill, but your gamble if you want to use pqi/gskill memories as they are value-memory companies):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227006

2) I'd recommend just using the onboard sound versus that diamond soundcard.. else pick up an Audigy PCI such as this one for $27.99:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102003

3) What games will you be playing? The X1600 Pro has great pixel shader performance, but lacks in fillrate.. this makes it a wonderful card for brand new games like Oblivion, Halflife2, etc.etc.. but if you're playing older games or games without a lot of shaders, it'll struggly a bit. It's kind of deceptive as it lists it as a 12-pipeline card... consider that a 4-pipeline card with 12 pixel shader pipelines (for running shader code in directx9.0 games).

Lastly, the case you've chosen is great.. but not as good as the Sonata-II. I'd still say stick to the Sonata as the 450W power adds more juice, it's much nicer/quieter, better cooling and nicely setup. Worth it.. especially if you wait a week or so since it's often times at the $89.99 point when NewEgg has it on special.
 
F1N3ST said:
Counter-Strike Source, BF2, Doom 2 (Some), GTA.
Hmm.. The X1600 Pro will handle those games just great. You also might want to look at 7600GT's which are in similar price range but have a bit more fillrate for Doom3/BF2. Both would be great choices for your price range/budget.

Ill look for a case that looks like that case i chose, but a better PSU. Thanks.
Hey, there is always the option of buying case and PSU individually too. I'd recommend an Antec TruPower 400W or better for that power hungry Presler core.. and make sure it has at least 25-30A on the 12V rail (or dual 12v rails that add up over 25A). From there, there are a huge number of cases without powersupplies pretty cheap if you're looking for something more stylish. Just be sure to add-on lots of fans as these Preslers do run hot.. moreso if you plan on overclocking. (I'd say at least 2 case fans for one in front intake, and one back exhaust- be they 80, 92 or 120mm).

Also, be sure you pick up a $5.99 tube of Artic Silver 5 for your new CPU/fan. It's far superior thermal compound for afixing the heatsink/fan to the new CPU. The stock thermal "pad" Intel puts on their fans clearly suck and run quite a bit hot that way. A little isopropyl alcohol cleaning the old crud off and putting AS5 there instead can run your CPU a good 5-10C cooler at idle and at peak temps.

On your quoted memory, in *theory* those should both work, but it's not guaranteed since it'll be a case of BIOS support for the motherboard. The motherboard is certified to be compatible with like 99% of the DDR2-533 memories, but it's anyone's guess which forms/versions of DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 it may recognize and configure.
 
Ill buy the PSU/Case combo, takes out a lot of shipping for fans and PSU. Plus the combos have the fans already installed. i was gonna buy that artic silver 5 stuff but i didnt know how to put it on, any help there. Im gonna get that good memory, and return it if it dosnt work.
 
Thanks again, i am getting together a parts list, i almost guarantee prices will go down by christmas, when ill be buying this computer. So i may be back asking for advice on a direct x 10 card :D Do you have AIM or MSN? There also might be some better proccessors out by then.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back