Check my new specs please!

[tankslapper]

Woo hoo, finally upgrading! No specific questions really but feel free to throw some opinions at me I'm looking forward to it!

My old specs:

Athlon XP 2600+ (Barton) multiplier changed, running at 3200+
DFI NFII Ultra Infinity
1 GB Corsair XMS PC3200 (2x512)
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

New stuff:

CPU:
Intel® Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe Processor 1.86GHz, 1066FSB, LGA775, 2MB Cache Retail
$189.90 shipped
Zipzoomfly.com

Mobo:
Asus P5W DH Deluxe 975X P4/Celeron 1066FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Dual Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail
$219.99 shipped
Zipzoomfly.com

RAM:
Corsair TWIN2X1024A-6400 1GB Kit DDR2-800 XMS2-6400 Xtreme Performance Memory w/Black Heat Spreader Retail
$121.00 shipped
Zipzoomfly.com

Video Card:
Asus EAX1950PRO CF/HTDP/256M Radeon X1950 PRO CrossFire 256MB PCI-Express Dual-DVI Retail
$189.99 shipped
Zipzoomfly.com

PSU:
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V
$155.00
PCPower.com

Newegg is charging $169 for the PSU when the manufacturer's own site is selling it for $155. Whaaa?

Anyway,

When my bank account recovers I plan to add a better CPU cooler so I can overclock, more RAM and a few other things too but I'm expecting a pretty good boost in gaming performance for now.

Comments on my choices anyone?

Thanks!

--------------------------------------------
*EDIT* updated list!

Intel® Core 2 Duo E4300 (changed)
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (changed)
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB Kit DDR2-800 XMS2-6400 (changed)
Asus EAX1950PRO CF/HTDP/256M Radeon X1950 PRO (same)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V (same)
-back to stock cooler

 

[DavidoFoo]

Different videocard?

 

[stogez]

Unless you really love that mobo for some reason, I'd swap it out for an Asus P5B-E or Gigabyte DS3 and get 2gb of ram. Everything else looks pretty good.

 

[tankslapper]

thanks, i'm not tied to the mobo at all. both of those look like good choices at first glance & i'm reading up on them now.

DavidoFoo, something wrong w/ that video card? what would you go with? it's a HTPC first, gaming system second so video playback is most important. That made me lean towards ATI but am not a Nvidia or an ATI loyalist. Game wise it's mostly driving games for now.

 

[tankslapper]

oh, and i normally only run at 1280x720 or so. i just want to be able to crank on the eye candy with smooth play . i also liked the way the cooler on the asus video card looked like it would exhaust right out the next slot because i only have two 60mm fans or exhaust.

 

[tankslapper]

i don't have the height for a Ninja cpu cooler so i'm going w/ a katana

those two motherboards are pretty tough to choose between but i think i'm leaning towards the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3. i know it might not clock as high but the layout & having decent audio will work better for me. i wanted to get more ram so thanks for the push stogez

going with 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-6400... unless i'd need the 8500 for overclocking???

also any more thoughts on the video card?

 

[Geomagick]

To help with a good overclock you might want to change the CPU to an E4300. It is roughly the same clockspeed at stock but has a lower default FSB and thus a higher multplier. This means that the overclock becomes more chip orientated than mobo.

Otherwise thats not a bad setup. I agree with trying to go for 2GB though.

 

[KenAF2]

tank,

Intel® Core 2 Duo E6300 (same)
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (changed)
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB Kit DDR2-800 XMS2-6400 (changed)
Asus EAX1950PRO CF/HTDP/256M Radeon X1950 PRO (same)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V (same)
Scythe Katana CPU cooler (added)

That's a better config than your initial post.

That said, do you really need a $155-$170 power supply and that $40-$50 CPU cooler? The Intel Core Duo E6300 already includes a very nice cooler that gets most people to 3+Ghz. I would drop that $50 CPU cooler and look for a cheaper power supply.

I didn't see your hard drive listed. I assume you are not using a 2-3 year old hard drive in your new system. Drive performance has improved significantly in that span and has a large impact on Vista performance. Take a look at the new Hitachi Deskstar T7K500. If you don't require large capacity, then look at the Raptor 74Gb on clearance at Best Buy.

What monitor do you have? I would cut out unnecessary costs and save the money for a new monitor if your existing one is 20" or less.

As far as graphics cards, keep in mind that ATI will release its next-generation in about six weeks. Nvidia also has new cards planned for late February. That said, you would do better to budget ~$150 for a video card every ~12 months, rather than forking over $300 on a board that will be equaled by those at half the cost in six months.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: tankslapper
Check my new specs please!

I would use an nVidia card over the ATI.
But other than that, I rate it an 8.95 out of 10.

 

[AstroGuardian]

The stock cooler will be just fine with OC'ing. And also the E4300 cpu will be much better to OC. It will havg with E6700 is overclocked right just with the stock cooler from Intel which is one very very good cooler.

 

[tankslapper]

Originally posted by: KenAF2
That's a better config than your initial post.

thanks to you guys, that's why i'm here!

That said, do you really need a $155-$170 power supply and that $40-$50 CPU cooler?

i found the cooler for $23 and somewhere i saw heatsink benchmarks that led me to believe that the stock cooler was awful for overclocking. i have an odd case and think it would benefit from a more "directed flow" of air instead of it blowing straight down too but maybe i'll see how the stock one does first. as for the PSU, i know it's overkill & i was going to go for the $99 Silencer model but the more powerful one is more energy efficient. since the PC will be running almost constantly, i figured it would pay for itself... umm... eventually!

I didn't see your hard drive listed.

i'm good drive-wise

What monitor do you have? I would cut out unnecessary costs and save the money for a new monitor if your existing one is 20" or less.

it's a 46" DLP TV w/ HDMI in. this is my HTPC/gaming system. i probably should have mentioned that!

over $300 on a board that will be equaled by those at half the cost in six months.

good point

thanks a lot everyone, i'm feeling a lot more confident... and still reading

 

[Roguestar]

Needs better memory. And try not to buy modules smaller than 1Gb unless you're not going to upgrade much in the future. I wouldn't buy a 1Gb "kit" of 2x 512 sticks over a 1gb stick now, even at the loss of dual-channel until you get another one. If you can afford, splash out a bit more and get a 2x 1Gb kit. If you want to overclock either get the E4300 and that memory, or the E6300 and better memory. The Corsair doesn't have a good reputation for running over rated speeds lately. Look for some Crucial, G.Skill, OCZ, Geil or Patriot 6400.

 

[KenAF2]

it's a 46" DLP TV w/ HDMI in. this is my HTPC/gaming system. i probably should have mentioned that!

I'm guessing that is a 720p DLP, since the 1080p models typically start at 50". Hence, it doesn't make sense to spend too much graphics card because you won't be running a resolution higher than 1280x720.

I still think you're spending too much on a power supply. A cheaper alternative would be the Corsair HX 520 for $99 ($89 after rebate) shipped from Buy.com. Review:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article692-page1.html

 

[tankslapper]

i agree completely that i'm overpaying for the psu. i had a silencer 270 way back that really impressed me so i decided to go with pc power & cooling again. according to them, "Our Silencer 470 ATX is 74% efficient. Our Silencer 610 EPS12V is 83% efficient." i don't know exactly what that means but since this pc runs 24/7 it sounded like the more powerful model would save me money on the electric bill.. eventually. but wow that Corsair PSU looks cool. i'm looking for more reviews now! did you hear that? it was the "cool factor" overtaking brand loyalty. i love that sound

going with the E4300 and 2x1GB RAM for sure now too

oh, and yes, it's a 720p tv set. i don't do high resolutions (only 1280x720) but i want to be able to nearly, if not max out AA, shadows, lightmaps & all the options in my driving games. i picked ATI because of supposedly better video quality when watching DVDs etc. and i saw a benchmark somewhere (tomshardware maybe?) that ATI just killed nvidia on need for speed carbon while being pretty even on everything else. some of my games have a splash screen for nvidia but i don't know if it's just an ad or the games are optimized for nvidia. so yes i'm a little torn! ahhh! lol

 

[stogez]

I would say that the E4300 is not really necessary. The DS3 with new bios can hit 450mhz+ pretty easily so 3.2ghz is well within reach. If you do want the E4300 which will definitely make overclocking easier and less mobo dependent, you should wait a month or so till prices come down to where they're supposed to be. Its supposed to be a $160 processor. And it will probably be down even more soon.