I am throwing out my old P4 system and STARTING from SCRATCH!

[DarkFudge2000]

FOlks, its that time again for me...I have decided to to throw out my old P4 2.6 system overclocked to 3ghz with 1Gig of PC3700 RAM. The video card I have is an Geforce 4 6800GS AGP and none of the new games run with any decent visuals turned on anymore....I'm sick of it and want a NEW PC.

I usually build my PCs every 2-3 years or so and overclock the crap out of them and the video cards.

My fine fellow americans, and everyone else, please partake in my new PC building ritual and help recommend me a piece by piece system that I will build. I am going to buy the parts you guys recommend.

So what is the system I should buy now. I havent been following the PC parts scene since the last few years have gone by so I will go by what you all recommend is the best bang for your buck.

My budget is about $1350 for just building a system. I already have a beautiful monitor.


Please recommend a

CPU
Motherboard
Case
Power Supply
RAM
Video Card
Hard Drive


anything else I may have left out needed to build a kick @ss system!

Oh...also is Windows XP still the OS of choice or has Vista come around now to be a great OS for games?

I will also use the system for photo editing, watching occasional porn and movies, and sometimes MS Office work (if I have time)

Thanks all!

MOD EDIT: Moved to General Hardware.

 

[Markfw]

Q6600 cpu (thermalright ultra 120 extreme HSF)
Gigabyte X38-DQ6 motherboard
Antec 900 case
Fortron 700 PSU (the blue one)
OCZ PC 6400 2x 2 gig (future proof)
8800 GTX video card
And Seagate hard drive.

 

[DarkFudge2000]

Thanks...whats the price for all these components ?...is it under my budget?

Is this GTX video card as fast as the new ATi 3870 cards?


why the gigabyte mb?


Is there any special model 6600 chip I need to look for to OC very high ( hopefully up to 3.4ghz)

Is this a big enough step up from my current P4 system to make it worthwhile?


thanks

 

[JustaGeek]

I think he meant 8800GT.

Can't imagine anyone recommending 8800GTX today...

And yes, NVidia 8800GT is as good or better than ATI 3870.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: DarkFudge2000
Thanks...whats the price for all these components ?...is it under my budget?

Is this GTX video card as fast as the new ATi 3870 cards?


why the gigabyte mb?


Is there any special model 6600 chip I need to look for to OC very high ( hopefully up to 3.4ghz)

Is this a big enough step up from my current P4 system to make it worthwhile?


thanks

The GTX is still faster than any of the ATI cards by a good amount. The 8800GT is also a good option if you can manage to get your hands on one, still faster than any ATI card, almost as fast as the GTX, but half the price. The gigabyte board is one of the best boards. The Abit IP35-Pro is also a good option. G0 stepping Q6600's are what you want, but thats all that most places should have at this point. As for the differance over your P4..worlds of diffarance, no comparison.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

that should be under your budget if I haven't smoked anything today by mistake.

 

[Markfw]

The DQ6 is the best motherboard for a quad. It is the only one I know of that has NO vdroop. Also, I already killed a DS3, which is a good motherboard, so from now on, they will all be DQ6's.

 

[TC91]

just a thought, i dont think you should throw out your old system. keep it as a backup in case anything goes wrong with your new one, or you can use it as a server or media centre or just a basic workstation.

 

[taltamir]

build a system for 675$ (half your budged) every 1-1.5 years instead of every 2-3 years... you will get SO much more... both for your money, and for your experience.... You will be 20% slower at that price... but a year from now could upgrade to something twice as fast... that way you avoid the horrible frustration of having an antique at year 3 (which you currently have with a p4 and geforce4... HAHAHAHA. Seriously...)

Oh, and I really hope that by "throw" you mean "sell on ebay" or "take apart and sell parts on ebay"...

Video card: HD3850 - 180$
Processor:

 

[DarkFudge2000]

Why wont I have luck finding an 8800GT?

Also isnt the ATi 3570 the newest graphics card on the market?...why wouldnt it be as fast as the 8800GT or GTX?

Also what is NO vdroop mentioned above that I would want a Abit motherboard for?

thanx

Also will any type of RAM make a difference?

and does AMD have a Quad chip that I should consider comparible to the Intel Quad 6600?

thanks

Also no one mentioned if I should stick with XP or go with Vista or even Vista 64???

 

[Markfw]

Stick with XP for the OS.

Vdroop is when the vcore drops a LOT whn the cpu is under load. This can cause instability. I recommended a Gigabyte X38-DQ6 motherboard, as it is the only one I know of that doesn't have this problem.

And for RAM, any decent PC-6400 will work fine to OC a Q6600 to 3.6

 

[boomhower]

The ATI cards are the newest but not the best. Stick with an 8800gt. As mentioned it is faster than ATI's cards and almost as fast as a GTX at half the price. And no AMD does not have a quad worth looking at right now.

For the rest of you system I would say a corsair 620HX for PSU, Ultra 120 Extreme HS, Scythe S-flex fan, Crucial Ballitix 800Mhz RAM(2 or 4gb, your choice), case of your choice(to much of a personal taste thing), a seagate 7200.11 HD. I am not to up to date on the best mobo for quads so I will stay out of that one. Even though you didn't ask I would recommend a Lite-On DVD burner, a little loud but fast and reliable.

For your OS go ahead and get Vista. Everyone can debate that XP is faster, you can modify this and that to get DX10 visuals but the fact is Vista and DX10 is the future so you might as well bite the bullet and go with it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Q6600 cpu (thermalright ultra 120 extreme HSF)
Gigabyte X38-DQ6 motherboard
Antec 900 case
Fortron 700 PSU (the blue one)
OCZ PC 6400 2x 2 gig (future proof)
8800 GTX video card
And Seagate hard drive.

Why 8800GTX and not 8800GT?

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Q6600 cpu (thermalright ultra 120 extreme HSF)
Gigabyte X38-DQ6 motherboard
Antec 900 case
Fortron 700 PSU (the blue one)
OCZ PC 6400 2x 2 gig (future proof)
8800 GTX video card
And Seagate hard drive.

Why 8800GTX and not 8800GT?

I might have got the nomenclature mixed up, I thought the fastest was GTX ( I was going by memory).... I defer to best judgement on that one, the rest I stand by.

 

[AVP]

I agree with what everyone else has suggested, but go for the $80 Gskill ddr2 800 2x2gb kit on newegg. Just don't skimp on the Hard Drive, case, power supply (especially), and dvd burner, stuff that can last you 3-4 upgrades if you decide to keep it that long.

 

[boomhower]

The absolute fastest is the GTX(*edit*not counting the ultra) but the GT will get you nearly all the performance for half the price. If you are really intent on spending $500 on a video card go with 2 GT's in SLI.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I like Marks suggestion with a GT not GTX, I would only change it if you can wait a couple of months.

Then you would have the option of E8XXX or Q9XXX 45nm next gen Intel CPU's, and probably the new G92 based nvidia GTS with 1gb mem

The early samples of the 45nm parts are clocking crazy, Q9XXX to 4ghz+ on air and the E8XXX's hitting 4.5ghz+

 

[taltamir]

definitely vista64 with 4gb of ram...

Unless you go for 700$ system... in which case 2GB of ram and XP.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: DarkFudge2000
Why wont I have luck finding an 8800GT?

Also isnt the ATi 3570 the newest graphics card on the market?...why wouldnt it be as fast as the 8800GT or GTX?

Also what is NO vdroop mentioned above that I would want a Abit motherboard for?

thanx

Also will any type of RAM make a difference?

and does AMD have a Quad chip that I should consider comparible to the Intel Quad 6600?

thanks

Also no one mentioned if I should stick with XP or go with Vista or even Vista 64???

The new ATI cards still aren't as fast as the 8800GT or GTX. The 8800GT's just seem to sell out as soon as they get them in, they are by far the best bang for the buck video card right now.

AMD doesn't have a quad that is comparible to the Q6600. If you look at the benchmarks of their new CPU's, you'll see that clock for clock they do = Intel in performance for the most part, but they are running at lower clock speeds..and you'll likely have a hard time finding one as well.

As for Vista, I wouldn't call it a great OS for games, but it's pretty much on par with XP now for the most part, as long as you run in Direct-X 9 mode. I'd go with the 64bit version of Vista if you plan to use 4gb of ram, if you are using 2gb of ram, stick with XP.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
The DQ6 is the best motherboard for a quad. It is the only one I know of that has NO vdroop. Also, I already killed a DS3, which is a good motherboard, so from now on, they will all be DQ6's.

People have been observing vdroop on the x38-dq6..

 

[D13S3L]

Originally posted by: taltamir
definitely vista64 with 4gb of ram...

Unless you go for 700$ system... in which case 2GB of ram and XP.

Agree 100%

Vista 64 is solid and 4gb ram makes it extra smooth.

 

[Denithor]

Abit IP35 + e6750 for $295 (after shipping + $25MIR)
Corsair 2x1GB DDR2-800 for $47 (after $40MIR)
WD 750GB HDD for $150
Antec Earthwatts 430W power supply for $35 (after $30MIR)
DVD Burner for $28

Pick a case (Antecs are nice with good airflow) for $50-100.
Choose a video card: 3870 for $220-270, 8800GT for $270-330.
Stick with XP Pro for now, there is nothing yet out that really requires Vista.

Total: Around $900 including video card & case. In 6-8 months pick up a Penryn quad-core and in about a year begin looking for a replacement video card. In a year pick up another 2GB of memory and move to 64-bit Vista. When upgrading you should be able to sell off your old parts to help offset the cost of new parts.

EDIT: The trick is to upgrade individual parts often enough that you can get some cash for the old parts.

 

[boomhower]

Originally posted by: Denithor
EDIT: The trick is to upgrade individual parts often enough that you can get some cash for the old parts.

I agree but sometime it is hard to convince my better half of that. More times than not you net cost is going to be cheaper than waiting until the older part is obsolete.

 

[DarkFudge2000]

How do you all feel about this system recommendation by Tech Report .com?
Would you change anything?

Component Item Price
Processor Core 2 Quad Q6600 $279.99
Motherboard Abit IP35 Pro $179.99
Memory Mushkin Enhanced 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-800 $139.99
Graphics XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB $289.99
Storage Western Digital Caviar SE16 750GB $149.99
Samsung SH-S203B $33.99
Audio Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer $79.99
Power supply Antec NeoHE 550W $99.99
Enclosure Antec P182 $139.99
Total Buy this complete system at Newegg $1393.91

Processor

 

[Markfw]

Case : Antec 900 $70 AR
Motherboard: P35-DQ6 open box $179
PSU Fortron 700 $99.99 AR

I wouldn;t even bother with the sound card..

The rest are OK