Rebuilding Computer - Need Advice

[Pilsner73]

It's been more than a few years since I have done anything with my computer but time has caught up with it's components. I use my computer for music (mp3), photos, web browsing, office programs, and of course gaming. I bought a xbox 360 recently but still think I'll want to do RTS games on the PC. I do want the option to play the latest games but don't need to play them at the highest res and settings, just something that looks good and plays well. I am not into overclocking much and value low noise levels.

The parts I'm thinking of replacing Abit IS7 865pe, P4 HT 2.60ghz, 1gb kingston hyperx, and 9800pro agp. The parts I am not looking to upgrade are a 75gb raptor sata drive, a pata benq dw1640, a pata pioneer dvd-rom, and a corsair hx620 power supply. I do have a floppy drive also. The motherboard has two dead usb ports on the back panel and the video card fan is starting to make loud noises. For OS I run Windows XP pro.

So far this is what I have come up with for good performance/price ratio components.

Gigabyte pa35-ds3l motherboard rev 2.0
Intel Core 2 duo e6550 or e6750
Corsair XMS2 twin2x3096-6400c5 (I figure go 4gb now instead of later)

For Video card I am thinking either the new 9600gt or the 3850 cards or is that overboard for my needs? I like to keep things for awhile and not have to upgrade for at least 2.5 years.

 

[MarcVenice]

What resolution will you be playing at ? I wouldn't buy the e6550 btw, rather save some money and get a e4500. Instead of the e6750, i'd rather spend a little EXTRA, and get the e8400. But the e6750 on it's own wouldn't be a bad choice. Videocard, for your needs, probably 9600gt, this one imo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127333 factory overclocked and comes with a pretty decent cooler too.

HD3850 and HD3870 used to be nice imo, but atm they can't really compete against all the rebates the 9600gt's and 8800gt's have been getting. The 9600gt is about equally fast as a HD3870 512mb btw, some games it's slower, some games it's faster. That MSI card is factory overclocked though, so it's a little faster then your regular 9600gt.

Are you overclocking btw ? If so, you could always buy a e2180 or e4500 and overclock it to 3.0ghz. As for the ram, 4gb sounds good, make sure you don't pay more then 85$ though, because for 85$ you can get 2x2gb of g.skill ram, without rebates.

 

[Pilsner73]

I don't plan on any overclocking at least not for awhile. I have been researching and that card you suggest seems like a good deal but how is MSI quality?

 

[MarcVenice]

MSI has been a pretty reliable, non-cheapo brand as far as I know. I don't own the card though, but I haven't heard of any complaints about them either. If not overclocking, e4500 or e6750. e2180 will be a little to slow when not overclocking.

 

[amdskip]

Do yourself a favor and buy a new hard drive. It's not worth it to setup a new system and have an old hard drive fail shortly thereafter.

 

[Pilsner73]

Ok so farit seems I should have a major performance gain upgrading my system to a new e6*50 chip and 8800/9600gt pci-e card from my p4 2.60ht and 9800pro old system.

So now I have question I was all set on the Gigabyte ds3l p35 board but I noticed an Asus p5k-e for $114.00 at zip zoom fly. I doubt I'll use all the extra features of the Asus but it's only 25 bucks more. Which would you recommend?

 

[MarcVenice]

What extra features does the asus p5k-e have ? If you doubt you'll be using them, if it has any, then no, I don't think it's worth the extra 25 bucks.

 

[Pilsner73]

The added features are Firewire, Crossfire support /dual pci x16 slots, external sata to go ports, two more usb ports.

Out of those I could see using the SATA to go, and the usb. The other features are nice to have but not sure I'll ever use them.

 

[MarcVenice]

Ah wait, I was confusing it with the p5k-se, which is very similar to a ds3l or abit ip35-e. My bad. It doesn't have dual pci-e 16x slots btw, one of those slots will function as 4x if I'm not mistaken, which I think isn't enough bandwith for nowadays videocards. Firewire isn't bad to have, neither is E-sata, and the extra sata slots. 25$ might be worth it, also because it will have some extra resale value. Up to you, but 25$ extra isn't bad for those extra's.

Not sure if anyone mentioned this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...7031&Tpk=abit%2bip35-e but that way you could even save more money, compared to the ds3l.

 

[Pilsner73]

I am a current Abit owner (the is7) and let's just say that this motherboard has two bad usb ports, had to repalce the NB fan, bad microphone jack. I even replaced my first motherboard for some of it's problems.

I know Abit is a different company from when the IS7 was produced and I seriously considered the ip35e but for some reason I just don't want to chance it again.

 

[jdkick]

The IP35 series has a pretty good following and seems like a solid board. That said, I went with the P5K-E/WiFi as it had the additional features you mentioned above and I prefer the back panel layout.

 

[Denithor]

Abit is a very different company since the days of yore when you puchased that IS7.

The IP35-e is a solid choice as long as you don't need all the extra goodies. I'm rather partial to mine, I have used it for over five months now with zero problems and a better overclock on my e6400 than I had on my previous Gigabyte motherboard.

The e6750 isn't a bad choice, especially if you aren't into overclocking. The e8400 is a faster/cooler chip but availability has caused price gouging to get a little out of control. If you are willing to overclock the e2180 or e4500 chips offer great value (should easily hit 3GHz and at that speed will challenge the stock e6750 in most applications).

mushkin 2x2GB DDR2-800 $90 shipped

 

[Pilsner73]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I decided to go with these parts

Asus P5k-e motherboard
Corsair XMS2 2x2048mb 6400 c5 ram for 4gb total
Intel 6750 cpu
MSI 9600gt oc card

Will not be overlocking at least for awhile. So it's been a few years since I built a system and I know there are some new features the p35/ichr9 chipsets include. I am going to be using windows xp pro 32-bit so what drivers should I be installing for the mainboard and of course the storage driver. I will not be running raid. Mainly want to make sure I install the hardware drivers correct, bios settings are optimal, so on.

 

[MarcVenice]

Everything should be pretty much plug & play. You might have to install some network drivers for the onboard lan, and get the latest drivers for the videocard.

 

[Pilsner73]

So nothing for the storage controller then? I take it the intel martix storage is when you are running raid and not needed in a single drive setup?

 

[MarcVenice]

Think so, I know my own mobo, older then yours, just recognized whatever drive I plugged into it, before I even started installing the OS. If it doesn't, you can always install that intel matrix storage thing, right ?