Choosing Cpu, motherboard, Memories for new system.

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ECS P4M890T-M2 (V1.0B) Socket T (LGA 775) VIA P4M890 Micro ATX Intel M...erboard will work. Will this motherboard last at least for 3 or 4 years before i start to upgrade on a new motherboard.
 
Yes, motherboards still have IDE controllers on them, so you could use your older HDD. Some of the newer boards only have one channel though, so you can only connect 1 master and 1 slave.

The only reason to get that ECS board is if you want to continue using your DDR1 RAM. Also, I haven't seen any mention on the ECS website whether or not it supports dual channel memory, so you might miss out there.

Have you settled on the other components for your build? And does your current 480W PSU have a 20-pin or 24-pin? You can still use a 20-pin supply on some 24-pin boards, but there's no guarantee it will be stable.

Maybe you should consider using your existing IDE HDD and PSU and purchase a good motherboard, entry level C2D, and decent RAM. You can upgrade the PSU and HDD later. To meet your $500 budget, you could spend ~$200 CPU, ~$200 RAM, ~$100 MoBo.
 
My PSU is a 20-Pin. as you said i might use only one drive and one HDD and use my 60GB. But i should upgrade to a good motherboard. Then i will need to upgrade only the cpu, mobo, and memory since the ones that i have are ddr. and maybe the powersupply. Maybe to get the E64 2.13GHZ conroe 2 (What do you mean C2D ?), GeIL 1GB (2 x 512MB) memory but not sure what mobo to get. also a power supply. Also i don't mind buying DDR2 memory.
 
My PSU is a 20-Pin. as you said i might use only one drive and one HDD and use my 60GB. But i should upgrade to a good motherboard. Then i will need to upgrade only the cpu, mobo, and memory since the ones that i have are ddr. and maybe the powersupply. Maybe to get the E64 2.13GHZ conroe 2 (What do you mean C2D ?), GeIL 1GB (2 x 512MB) memory but not sure what mobo to get. also a power supply. Also i don't mind buying DDR2 memory.
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If you are looking at holding onto your motherboard for 4-5 years and you've decided to go with Intel, I suggest you go with a P965 chipset like the Gigabyte S3 suggested before. These boards support up to 8GB RAM, which is probably the most common component to upgrade. Lower end boards only go up to 4GB. It’s kind of crazy to think that you’ll ever need that much RAM, but remind yourself how much memory you had in your computer back in 2001... 256MB was the norm back then and now everyone has 1-2GB.

Does your 480W PSU have the PCI-Express 6-pin power plug to run your 7900GT?
 
The Psu did not have the pcie plug so i had to buy the adapter for it. But i don't mind upgrading the power supply. So far i have this is in mind and tell me if that's a good combo :
GeIL 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300
GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor
It comes out at $507 with shipping and handling from the site you guys have recommended(newegg). If should add a power supply, which one should be a good one to buy that won't fried the mobo or the cpu in a day.
 
Forget about my last PSU suggestion, I just noticed that it doesn't have a PCIe plug.

Getting into PSU territory!!! We're going to attract the power supply nazi's 8O (you'll know who they are by reading some HDD threads)

Read this excellent post: PSU 101

What to look for:

1) PSU has all the connections you need (6-pin PCIe, 8-pin or 4-pin CPU power, 24-pin main, SATA, etc..)
2) Enough watts for your setup?
3) Does it supply steady power? (you'll have to scour reviews for this, or you can stick with trusted brand names)
4) Bonus: Dual 12V rails with combined high amperage (about 30A combined)
5) Bonus: Active or Passive PFC
6) Nice to have: modular cabling
7) Personal preferences: case color, LED lights, silence

On a side note, that Gigabyte motherboard is one of the new boards that only has one IDE channel so you will have to connect a HDD and DVD to the same cable until you get an SATA HDD. Are you OK with that and do you have a cable that will allow you to connect those two components? Optical drives are traditionally at the top of the case while HDD's are at the bottom and it may be tricky connecting them to one cable.
 
I do have enought space where to connect the drives with ide. so if that's my solution to it for now i don't mind messing with it. As long as i have a running a pc.
 
Hi guys, I am greatful that you gave some feedback on this post. I check out the motherboard that you guys provided here on the post Gigabyte. I am trying to find a mobo that has Firewire already. I have a RAID 500GB HDD that i want to connect to my computer since i have all my files backed up on it. I am going to get the Conroe e64 and Geil memroy 1GB DDR2. I liked the motherboard that you guys suggested but i am trying to find one that supports firewire. Since i am planning to use my firewire HDD with it.
 
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