M/boards, mem top end or medium ?

[Patosan]

Help I'm suffering from Analysis Paralysis !

I'm getting a new pc and after starting to check into the ins & outs of various components I feel further from a final decision than when I started. Thanks to input from some here I know that I should pay attention to my case PSU +12V rail Amps (over 24A or 2 rails) and have decided to settle for a low end GPU till I get into gaming (7600GS). But what about motherboards, mem, etc ?

I'm in Japan and a net shop "Faith" has reasonably good deals but don't give much discount for downgrading from the latest GPU 7950GT, etc. They use Asus m/boards, etc. Not being a gamer yet is it likely that I'd be worse off for using a cheaper board ? Same question for RAM mem, of course Corsair and the likes are best but I don't think I can justify paying the extra when perhaps I wouldn't notice any diff ?

Any views ?

 

[DonNagual]

The price of Corsair here in Japan is just plain nuts. Unless you plan to overclock, some good quality standard ram will work fine. I am using "samsung original" ram (purchased from Faith) and have never had any problems with it.

Corsair prices are great in the US, but here in Japan the price doubles. Not worth it IMO. Are you getting one of Faith's premade systems, or a "full kit" build it yourself package?

 

[Patosan]

I'm getting the system custom made from scratch by "Two Top", a pc chain store. [URL="www.twotop.co.jp"/URL] I went there today and have just about nailed everything down.

Core 2 Duo 6600
Asus P5B (965) m/board
2G RAM ... 21,560yen ... option Samsung @ 27,000yen
Seagate 300G HDD
Asus 7600GS GPU
Multi CD/DVD R/RW
FDD & multi card reader
Cruce 19" monitor ... just 23,800yen
Scythe case, incl 450W PSU
Extra case 12cm fan
All incl. assembly and OS install for 160,900yen. I have a ready winXP sp2 already.

I couldn't get anywhere near that using the Faith internet custom options, in fact even with Two Tops' net site the deal wasn't this good. So that's pretty good I reckon ... just a few questions :
1. Is it worth paying extra for the samsung RAM ? (I feel not)
2. Is it worth getting the P975 m/board ? (I feel not)
3. I have a 6 yr old keyboard, it's ok isn't it ? (I feel so)
4. Is there any reason to pick the Gigabyte m/board over the Asus ? (1,000yen higher)
5. Are Cruce a good monitor ? (Apparently not so popular in Jp)

 

[DonNagual]

Looking like a good system. By the way, Two Top and Faith are the same company, just so you know. One of them bought the other out this year, not sure which.

I know they use and recommend Scythe cases/PSUs a lot. I assume they are of good quality, but I have never used one. Should be fine. How many amps does it put out on the +12v rail(s)?

I also know nothing about Cruce monitors. What is it's respose rate and contrast rate?

Probably no need to get that samsung ram then. That is pretty pricy. You are not planning on overclocking, correct?

 

[Patosan]

The +12V rails are 16 & 18A which should be fine.
The Cruce monitor is discounted due to a new model coming out ... I think. I don't know all the specs and hard to find anything on the web, but I remember seeing 15ms on the price card. It has speakers too which I wanted incl with the monitor. It'll be a big step up since I'm now used to using my 14" notebook screen.

Just got back from the store and stuck with Scythe case but changed the model to a clear window type. I was at a shop last night and someone brought in a pc which had trouble ... the mobo was buried in dust and fluff. I'm sure that I'd forget to check it if there wasn't a window. It's got 3 fans; 2x14cm, 1x12cm. I'll probably leave at least one of them unplugged since not being a huge power user and the conroe running pretty cool. Gues best to start with the rear fan ON only and see how things go from there.

I've been told that front fans can lead to HDD death from too much dust ... any opinions ?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

I would change the video card to a 7600GT it shouldn't be too expensive but the performance boost u get will be very large, owing to the GT's higher clock speeds and faster GDDR3 memory.

 

[Patosan]

I would change the video card to a 7600GT it shouldn't be too expensive but the performance boost u get will be very large, owing to the GT's higher clock speeds and faster GDDR3 memory.

In Japan the GS is US$113 while GT is US$224, converting from yen that's double. I couldn't justify going higher at the moment. Thanks for the advice though.

Initially I was suggested to stick with the 6200TC since I'm not yet a gamer. After starting a thread on this card and it's position in the lower end of the market I discovered the attraction of 7300GT DDR3 as a sweet spot - great performer in the lower end. Alas in Japan the cheap Inno ver isn't available, Galaxy is but actually costs the same as any 7600GS here.

 

[nickslick74]

I would leave all of the fans plugged in. The cpu may run cool, but the other components will put out a fair amount of heat. The front fans help keep the drives cool. Is the 19" an lcd or crt? If it is lcd, make sure that the refresh rate 8ms or faster if you plan on gaming.

 

[Patosan]

I would leave all of the fans plugged in. The cpu may run cool, but the other components will put out a fair amount of heat. The front fans help keep the drives cool. Is the 19" an lcd or crt? If it is lcd, make sure that the refresh rate 8ms or faster if you plan on gaming.

The rear fan is 12cm and most of the cases only come with one fan and smaller than this. Rest assured though I'll be closely following the heat situation when I have any fans unplugged.

the monitor is TFT (lcd I guess) and the says 15ms which I assume is the refresh rate. It is 20% cheaper than the next cheapest ones which have 5ms rate. I'll think about upgrading over the next few days as it won't be ready for a week.

 

[nickslick74]

With a 15ms refresh you may see some ghosting in games. 8ms is usually the standard for gaming on an LCD.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

What about a GeForce 6800GT/Ultra or a Radeon X1600XT/PRO then? That would be nice bang for ur buck wouldn't it?

 

[Patosan]

With a 15ms refresh you may see some ghosting in games. 8ms is usually the standard for gaming on an LCD.

Now I have a question about refresh rates.
Some of the monitors which have highr rates, 15 ~ 20ms also add GTG 8ms.
GTG stands for gray to gray, but why do only some state this ?
Does the GTG value have any meaning if they already show the refresh rate ?
Then I noticed others some (6 + 6) after the refresh rate ... what's this about ?

 

[MetalX]

... not sure about that... But I'd say to not get anything higher than 8ms because with the higher ones, you can sometimes notice the time lapse between frames.