*Guide to Choosing Parts*

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Excellent thread, great info.

I would nitpick just a little on the list of cases though. When I built my dad a new system last year (and therefore, what I'm saying may no longer apply) I started with a Coolermaster case similar to the ones listed. The plastic parts were very cheap and flimsy and broke off at a touch. It was the worst quality I've ever seen in a case. I returned it and got an Antec instead. The Antec looks like a fridge but it works for him. It has plenty of room and good cooling.

I personally still use my modded Chenbro Genie. I have only two nitpicks with it... all the new hardware is black so it looks bad in beige (as far as I can see they don't make a black version), and I wish it had a slide out tray. Otherwise it is a great case. The bottom line for me is the space and the cooling and the Chenbro is great for that.

I also have a modded Addtronics 6896A, another great case but with a little less space than the Chenbro.
 
Thanks for the information especially the various Intel chipsets now as, I've been considering going for the P45 chipset as, I feel it will be a wise choice at this moment despite the fact, with the new I7 cpu's coming out well, that shall mean going not only to another chipset but, also changing out motherboards still, that's okay with once prices come down soon I hope..


BeachHead
 
AMD CPU Chipsets
In AMD world there are really only three motherboards to consider:

AMD 780G
This would be the budget choice. It's not the overclocker that the 790GX is, and doesn't bench quite as well. However, if the extra 20 US$ is going to be too much, it is not a bad choice at all.

AMD 790GX
This crossfire board is quite nice really. Good prices and performance, and it includes an onboard GPU that's very strong for onboard. The combination of graphics power and support for Phenom II make this board quite nice for the home user that needs something stable but not the fastest gaming experience. Think of it like the P45, only with onboard graphics as well. PCI-E 2.0 @ X8 in crossfire. A bit more pricey than the equivalent P45 board, which tends to even out system costs between an AMD 940 build and an Intel Q9550 build.
Oddly, AMD pushes this chipset as THE chipset to have currently, even though the 790FX is shown to be a bit faster.

AMD 790FX
A bit more pricey that the 790GX, this board will have more features but no onboard GPU. Most of the deluxe AM2+ boards will fall into this category. PCI-E 2.0 @X16 in crossfire. Similar to an X48 board, but for AMD CPUs.


How about AMD 790X? I’m just wondering why it is not in your lists comments please

 
I need to do some more work there, thanks for bringing that up. When I started this many months ago now, AMD was not such a big factor and the chipsets were not as well known. We still suffer from a lack of information and benchmarks.

I'll start some threads here and elsewhere, do some research, and if we're lucky I'll have enough solid info to be clearer about the various AMD choices.
 
I've been out of the hardware loop for quite some time (notice my current setup!), so I've basically been lost in a stormy sea of Too Many Choices. This article pretty much answered 90% of my questions. Very nicely done!

First post since July '07 btw 😛
 
Yes I should. There was an even better article done somewhere in Europe too, that had a bigger list, but I lost it 😛

I suppose I should link the calculator, but I hesitate because I feel there are many different factors involved and I, personally, like more margin and tend to recommend that way. It can get to be a pretty ugly argument sometimes 😉 Well, usually it a polite argument actually 😛

Lately though, with the economy so bad, my margin has been shrinking.
 
Meh, whatever works, There's really not that much price difference in some of the PSU lines anyway. I don't think many will care as long as their system is running.

BTW, does OC-ing really use up that much power? I put in a PhII940 (94W under load) and the OC calculater says it'll use up 228W if I OC it to 1.5V and 3.5GHz...?
 
Quick random thought - Since Vista has so many issues and at this point most of us are just waiting for Windows 7 ( I know I am ) You may want to mention that Xp users or soon-to-be users don't want any memory over 2 gigs since even the 64-bit system of Windows won't detect/use all of it. Maybe in the memory/RAM section somewhere?

If you need more then 2 gigs it's a shame you have to run Vista, but for the casual gamer, XP is still the best option in my opinion - Even with the limitation on RAM usage.
 
Dual Core vs Quad core.

My question is which one runs old games better? I like to drag out my dinosaur games (ie. Deus Ex or Myst1-4 sometimes Zelda a link to the past on emulators). Since Quad cores still are not the normal for most games, will I lose the ability or have decreased playability of old games when I build my new system?
 
not to mention i heard that one day all the processing will be done on ur g card because of it being way faster to process things is this true?
 


No, the GPU does some things well but it's not a full blown processor.
 
I'm considering these two rigs-
RIG 1
Core i7 920 2.66GHz
3GB RAM DDR3 1066
MSI X58 PRO SLI
Radeon HD 4850 512

RIG 2
Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66 GHz
MSI P45 Neo 2/ MSI P7N
GeForce GTX 275/2x GTS 250/2x HD 4850

Which one is better for gaming? Gaming is pretty much all this thing will do-for other stuff I use my dad's laptop. Also, which one is better for future proofing? I intend to keep this for the next 5-6 years, with only minor upgrades like RAM or a new GPU(will get a DX11 GPU in 2011). I play at either 800*600 with 2x AA or 1024*768 with 0x AA. Will these systems give me good frame rates at these resolutions with all settings maxxed out? I play racing games like GRID and NFS and shooters like GRAW and Rainbow Six.
 
The new AMD dual-cores are not "just plain slow" anymore. You could also add a strong recommendation against buying Phenom Is for gaming. You didn't list any nVidia chipsets, either - you should at least cover them, or point out more clearly that they are necessary for SLi outside a Core i7 rig.
 
Yes I had tried to address that dual core issue yesterday and just messed it up. Thanks for the catch. I drastically simplified the paragraph.

I added a line about nVidia. I do not recommend any chipsets from them at this time, and I'm not alone. I keep waiting (and wanting) to be proven wrong.
 
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