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Another i5 build suggestion wanted

geepondy

Member
Looking suggestions on a cheapest but reliable i5 build as I'm not totally up on the HW these days. I don't plan on overclocking or running more then one video card, however I will be running a video card (nvidia 9600 GT) so don't need onboard video. I would like esata on the mb to run my external HD instead of USB but that is pretty standard now, isn't it? Also I will be running Win7, 64 bit so is it better to get six gig from the get go rather then four?

I was originally just going to upgrade my current system to a Phenom II X4 940 along with four more gigs of memory but with the skyrocketing cost of DDR2 memory, I'm now considering the above mentioned i5 build, does this make economical sense?
 
For i5, get your ram in 4gb increments. The 6GB kits are for triple channel i7 setups. Yeah esata is pretty common, and most boards if they don't have a port built in they will include an expansion slot that turns one of your internal SATA into esata



Although switching from a CPU and ram upgrade to a full system replacement just because 4GB of DDR2 is $35 more doesn't make much sense to me
 
Well I have Athlon 64 X2 6000+ now and mb will take up to Phenom II x4 940, so choice is Phenom II X940 plus more ram (I have 2 gig now) or a i5 cpu, mb and ram. I guess comes down to the question of whether the i5 will blow the Phenom II out of the water sufficiently to justify extra cost.
 
I think a 940 with 4gb added for 6GB total for $250 is a better idea than an i5+4gb switch for what, $400?
 
Plus that $150 differential could be put towards a new graphics card, or an SSD, or I don't know... your savings account?
 
Aw shoot, I just revisited the supported CPU list for my Gigabyte AM2 mb and it doesn't support the Phenom II 940, nor any of the Phenom II 125W CPUs. Maybe I'll just get two more gig's of memory and live with my X2 6000+ setup.
 
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