Choosing Cpu, motherboard, Memories for new system.

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dtechlogic

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Jun 6, 2006
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Hi guys,
Now i am ready to upgrade my computer. So far i have bought a video card EVGA 7900 GT CO 256MB. The part that i will need to upgrade will be the motherboard, CPU, Memory, And HDD because all my HDD are EIDE and i don't think i can use them with newest motherboard since they are sata. I have 500 dollar to spend. The purpose of the computer will be for gaming, video editing and ripping. I have the Drives already so i just need to upgrade the important parts. since the memories i have are DDR and i i am looking into a mother that might support them, if not then i have to buy DDR2. Please suggest what will be the best one or midrange cpu or motherboard to get. Also will i have enought to get a Conroe 2 or i should just buy AMD motherboards. Thanks.
 
Not necessarly that i have to keep the memory. I can sell them later on which i am going to do with the parts that i have at this moment. I just want to some good gaming experiencing with worrying of memory at the playing time. I just feel that i want to to upgrade to Conroe 2 which is the best so far.
 
Is anyone aware if any hardware sites (THG, Anandtech, etc.) has measured the performance hit one would get by running DDR1 with a C2D? I guess the ECS board has both DDR1 and DDR2 slots so you could eventually upgrade when RAM prices finally drop but I'm curious.
 
I don't have a small tower. I have a mid size tower since the mobo is a microatx board and i am sure the case i have is not a micro size one or it does not matter.
 
I'm not completly sure, you'd have to ask Wusy.
I believe that in overclocking and in heavy gaming, such as with Oblivion, FEAR and BF2 there would be a significant drop in performance due to the FSB of the Core 2 chips and the difference in speed that would trouble DDR, but I think that in most real world application, such as editing, movie watching and non hardcore games, it wouldn't make that much of an issue.
But I could be wrong.
If anything I'd strongly recommend moving to DDR2 when using Conroe though. I mean, whats an extra $50 or $60 when it comes to moving like a rock, or moving like a Ferrari?
 
i've tested ddr 400 & ddr2 533 on asrock 775dual-vsta, the ddr2 won only 0.6% in general performance (benchmarked by pcmark05 system suite).
 
That's very interesting...

The VIA chipset must have some custom memory dividers in order to run the frequencies for DDR1 out of sync with the 266MHz base FSB that C2D's use. I bet memory prices are boosting the sales for these types of boards that allow people to hang on to their old memory for a while longer. I just looked at the RAM that I bought just 3 weeks ago and its gone up $110!!!! Did they stop making RAM or something?? Unbelievable.
 
I don't mind of upgrading my memory if i have to. Also Tigerdirect was selling the Conroe2 with ghost recoon advance warfighter. If i should get that one or just buy it from newegg. What do you guys recommend. Since you have been doing this longer then me. I think i will buy the Conroe 2 instead of the AMD.
 
if you have the money, go for core 2 duo.

you'll be pleased with the processor performance especially when you came from pentium processor. but becareful to choose the motherboard you are up with because some of them are not too compatible with your other hardware, especially when it comes to dual motherboard (dual ddr & ddr2, dual agp & pci-express).
 
I'm kinda leery of buying from Tigerdirect after my last build with them (seriously, their rebate program sucks like all hell) but if hey have a good deal I wouldn't swear off of them. Upgrade the RAM if you have the money, and just keep looking around.
Try pricegrabber.com also.
 
The VIA chipset must have some custom memory dividers in order to run the frequencies for DDR1 out of sync with the 266MHz base FSB that C2D's use.
Click to expand...

i guess so. the cpu-z can't displayed the real fsb:dram ratio, i run ddr400 in bios and cpu-z told me i'm running 533mhz with 1:2 fsb:dram ratio. i doublechecked this with asrock technical support, and they said their board was already right after they checked with ostilograph or something like that (i forgot the name).

i used sisoftsandra lite sp1, and the memory bandwidth (ddr400 dual channel) was around 3900+ mbps. with command rate 1T i could achieve 4000+mbps but the system would be unstable, so i used the default 2T command rate.

i used 2x 1gb corsair value select ddr 400 with nanya chipset running 3-3-3-8, and 2x 512mb ocz value ddr2 533 running couldn't tell the timing and the chipset (it's supposed to be 4-4-4-xx).

the corsair value select can be set to 2.5-3-2-5 2T ddr400, i found it pretty stable with e6300 & asrock 775dual-vsta, p4 2.4 & 3.0HT & intel d865perl desktopboard.
 
I have a Budget of 500 Dollars to spend. I am going to take time on deciding what i should get instead of just grabbing parts everywhere. I think i can go 50 dollar more over my budget. Thanks to all.
 
here's a link from a real pc build benchmark. of course the hardware were used were different to eachother, but i think it's ok for a quick thought about the performance you will get if you're interesting at the same hardware were used in this test. oh i forgot the text is in indonesian language, you can see the benchmark graphic and take a quick thought about it, but don't make this as your only reference in buying processor.

http://www.zero2hero.or.id/home/content/view/107/2

to rwpritchett:
indeed, the price for both ddr and ddr2 are increasing heavily too here in surabaya, indonesia. couple months ago i bought 1gb ddr400 for around $80, not it's priced for $120, and there are no different amount of price with the ddr2 ram.
 
 
Is there much of a difference between the e64 and e63 Conroe2. Also 2.5-3-2-5 2T How is that setup. Is it done through the Bios setting. Since that's new to me. Thanks. Is it better to buy online then in the store. I was looking at the motherboard that pcclub has in stock.
 
i actually still want to try a real world test when using both e6300 & e6600 and see the difference. a friend in this forum who is "13thmonkey" said to me that technically there will be a jump in performance, but practically you can't tell the different especially when using general application (exclude gaming and rendering).


i'm using e6300, asrock 77dual-vsta, 2gb ddr400 3-3-3-8 2T. it runs a lot faster than my old p4 2.4ghz, but i do want to try e6600 if i can. 😉

from your current pentium 4, there will be a leap in performance with the e6300, and the difference with the e6400 is the leap will be a bit bigger than e6300. on average performance e6400 is more less 7% faster than e6300. and e6300 is more less 60% to 90% faster in several applications than pentium 4 2.4ghz, 30% to 60% faster in several applications than pentium 4 3.0ghz.

yes, the 2.5-3-2-5 2T is set from the BIOS, if you do memory benchmark, there will be less than 5% gain in memory bandwidth and less latency, but in real world, you hardly can see the difference. archive manager such as 7-zip & winrar manager are more affected by memory frequency & timing, the bigger frequency and the tighter timing would give you a fast archiving.
 
Thanks, and i am still checking out benchmark on the cpus and mobo. to see what i should get. if i should buy the e63 or e64 conroe 2. Thanks guys for all the help.
 
Thanks. I really appreciate every help i get with my purchase and what ever you guys think will be good for use on my new pc just let me know.
 
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