Partial upgrade

[Oddish]

I'm going to upgrade a trusty old 3 GHz Pentium system and I'm looking for some input from the gracious experts on the forum.

I'm upgrading mostly to get a really fast and responsive system that can handle Vista without any problems and play HD video etc. It will mostly be used for office applications, web browsing, downloading and the occasional hd movie.

I really don't think I'm ever going to OC this rig, but it wouldn't hurt to have the option to squeeze out a little extra performance in a couple of years.

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to RAM so I need some help choosing 4GB of quality RAM that will keep up with the rest of the system and not act as a bottleneck. If I understand QuixoticOne's post in this thread I don't really need 800MHz memory to keep up, can anyone confirm this? I'm having a hard time understanding why most people are building systems with 800MHz or higher RAM if there's no benefit!?

Below is what I've selected thus far, aside from RAM. Any comments? Is 4GB of RAM overkill considering I won't be doing any serious gaming? Will I see any benefits at all by going with 4GB instead of 2GB?

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

MB: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4

Graphics: Asus GeForce Extreme N8800GT (maybe a Radeon HD 3800 if the price is right)

RAM: ???

 

[Oddish]

Alright how about I suggest a couple of options, and you tell me which is best?

1. Kingston HyperX DDR2 PC6400/800MHz CL3 2x1GB

2. Corsair XMS2 Pro Xtreme TwinX DDR2 PC6400/800MHz CL4 2x1GB

3. OCZ Titanium DDR2 PC6400/800MHz XTC EPP CL4 2x1GB

4. Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC6400/800MHz CL4 2x1GB

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Oddish
Alright how about I suggest a couple of options...

If nobody replies, you could turn this thread into an upgrade blog. :laugh:

 

[DSF]

For what you want to do, every part you've chosen is overkill. I don't have time at the moment to be more detailed, but I'll give you a more thorough answer later.

Edit: Ok, here goes. First, for the mundane office tasks and web browsing you described, there's zero reason to get a quad core chip. The expense (not that the Q6600 is at a bad price point) just isn't justified. Even without overclocking you'd be fine with an E4500 or E6550.

I gather that you're not planning on gaming, at least not much. What's the most graphics-intensive game you intend to play? Chances are, if all you want to do is watch HD video, you could save yourself a considerable amount of money by going with a card like the 8600GT or similar.

Finally, the motherboard. Here are the features of the GA-P35-DS4 that aren't on the DS3L model:

-4 more SATA ports
-Onboard RAID
-Firewire
-Second PCI-e x16 slot, which is probably useless for you

Do you need any of those features? If not you can save yourself $80 or so by going with the DS3L version.

 

[Oddish]

Thanks a lot DSF! Very useful information. My reasoning for going a little overkill is that I'd like this system to last 3 or 4 years, but maybe it's still overkill. I'll do some more research and look for cheaper alternatives and post an updated configuration.

 

[Arcanedeath]

I'd acutally suggest 2 of these STT DDR2-800 2GB/128x8 S-RIGID Memory you can get 2x 2gb of ddr 2 800 for less than $100 delivered, whats not to like?

 

[Oddish]

Unfortunately Super Talent is very hard to get in Sweden, but thanks for the suggestion.