Pardon the simple natured questions, but I've been out of the loop for a few years.
I'm looking to upgrade(mb, proc, vid, memory, power?) my 4 year old system and have a few questions..
I'm trying to figure out what hardware is best suited for each other. I already purchased an AMD 64 X2 5200+ retail for $229 and a BFG 7600GT 256MB PCI-EX-16 for $92.99 AR from newegg.
I was about to purchase memory and a motherboard but decided to hold off and so some more research. I need an AM2 mobo, no video, onboard firewire, SATA RAID, sound, 2+ pci slots, etc... My brands of preference are ASUS, then MSI and Gigabyte.
I did a power search on newegg and came up with the following list:following list: I also woudl like to spend <$120. I would never need SLI, so thats not important to me.
Options are (increasing price):
GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX
ASUS M2N-E SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 500 SLI MCP ATX
GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX
MSI K9N SLI Platinum Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX
MSI K9A Platinum Socket AM2 ATI CrossFire Radeon Xpress 3200 ATX
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX
As far as which chipset (nForce4, 500, 570) goes i'm clueless. The reviews on newegg are really misleading as well since they are individual. I'm just looking for an all around reliable well built board that I will probably never overclock (but the option is nice to have).
The last question is related to memory:
I noticed some memory has a certain voltage range that doesnt appear to be compatible with the motherboard. Some range from 1.8V fixed to 2.2V fixed. What do I need? 4-4-4-12 timing seems fine for my purposes. Here is the Filtered list on newegg. Do I need DDR800? Would DDR667 be a bottleneck? How is OCZ memory?
And lastly.. with this configuration do I need a new power supply (right now I have a 450W ? On top of this i've got dual Seagate SATA 320GB drives, an IDE 200GB drive CDRW/DVDRW drive and 3 case fans. With my video/memory/mobo combo and i pushing the limit?
Sorry for the lengthly post, i just want to make the right decision. Please share all as much as possible. Thank!
I'm looking to upgrade(mb, proc, vid, memory, power?) my 4 year old system and have a few questions..
I'm trying to figure out what hardware is best suited for each other. I already purchased an AMD 64 X2 5200+ retail for $229 and a BFG 7600GT 256MB PCI-EX-16 for $92.99 AR from newegg.
I was about to purchase memory and a motherboard but decided to hold off and so some more research. I need an AM2 mobo, no video, onboard firewire, SATA RAID, sound, 2+ pci slots, etc... My brands of preference are ASUS, then MSI and Gigabyte.
I did a power search on newegg and came up with the following list:following list: I also woudl like to spend <$120. I would never need SLI, so thats not important to me.
Options are (increasing price):
GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX
ASUS M2N-E SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 500 SLI MCP ATX
GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX
MSI K9N SLI Platinum Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX
MSI K9A Platinum Socket AM2 ATI CrossFire Radeon Xpress 3200 ATX
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX
As far as which chipset (nForce4, 500, 570) goes i'm clueless. The reviews on newegg are really misleading as well since they are individual. I'm just looking for an all around reliable well built board that I will probably never overclock (but the option is nice to have).
The last question is related to memory:
I noticed some memory has a certain voltage range that doesnt appear to be compatible with the motherboard. Some range from 1.8V fixed to 2.2V fixed. What do I need? 4-4-4-12 timing seems fine for my purposes. Here is the Filtered list on newegg. Do I need DDR800? Would DDR667 be a bottleneck? How is OCZ memory?
And lastly.. with this configuration do I need a new power supply (right now I have a 450W ? On top of this i've got dual Seagate SATA 320GB drives, an IDE 200GB drive CDRW/DVDRW drive and 3 case fans. With my video/memory/mobo combo and i pushing the limit?
Sorry for the lengthly post, i just want to make the right decision. Please share all as much as possible. Thank!
Facebook
Twitter