Upgrading friends computer. Have questions...

[jasonb55]

My friend currently has a HP computer. The only thing I know right now is it has a core 2 quad processor and 6gb of ram. He has about $800cdn to put onto it. I have recommended the following to him but have a few questions myself.
• 650w Antec Truepower powersupply - $69.99
• Powercolor Radeon HD6970 - $354.99
• Intel x25-m 120gb SSD - $250
• windows 7

It is used primarily for gaming at a max resolution of 1920x1080.
First concern is will the powersupply be enough for the system? (above plus DVD drive and second harddrive)
Second concern is if the videocard is overpowered when paired with the processor?
Third is the SSD. I have no experience with them. I have read lots of bad press about OCZ Vertex 2's and that is why I selected the intel one. Currently, NCIX has the vertex 2 for $177 after MIR and Would like to save him some money if possible. Should I stay away from the vertex 2 or is it a good choice???


Thanks
Jason

 

[mnewsham]

SSD is good, I HATE OCZ right now but the Sandfroce controller is good. The powersupply is actually a little over kill, 500w would be enough. The GPU will be CPU bottlenecked in some games but a lot of games are more GPU intensive so it will still help out a lot and he can take it with him to another build if he wants.

 

[jasonb55]

Is the Intel drive worth the $75 premium over a vertex2?? If it's negligible, I would like to be able to save him that money.
Also, you said 500w would be enough. Would it be better to stay with the 650w and bring it over if/when he upgrades his processor/motherboard?

Thanks
Jason

 

[mnewsham]

Is the Intel drive worth the $75 premium over a vertex2?? If it's negligible, I would like to be able to save him that money.
Also, you said 500w would be enough. Would it be better to stay with the 650w and bring it over if/when he upgrades his processor/motherboard?

Thanks
Jason

No, when you upgrade motherboard and CPU you will most likely be getting one that is more powerful but uses less power, for example the current high end processor the core i7-2600k has a TDP of 95w. Most Core 2 quads were 95w as well. If you upgrade to a lesser sandy bridge processor however, some of them have a TDP as low as 45w for a quad core. So no a bigger PSU is not needed. And the intel drives are known for not having many bugs or firmware issues, OCZ and other sandforce drives DO have some bugs and OCZ recently has had some problems. I would personally stick with the intel or go to a samsung controller or wait for the vertex 3 drives to come out and see how they work.

 

[jasonb55]

Thanks. That was very helpful.

 

[mfenn]

No, when you upgrade motherboard and CPU you will most likely be getting one that is more powerful but uses less power, for example the current high end processor the core i7-2600k has a TDP of 95w. Most Core 2 quads were 95w as well. If you upgrade to a lesser sandy bridge processor however, some of them have a TDP as low as 45w for a quad core. So no a bigger PSU is not needed. And the intel drives are known for not having many bugs or firmware issues, OCZ and other sandforce drives DO have some bugs and OCZ recently has had some problems. I would personally stick with the intel or go to a samsung controller or wait for the vertex 3 drives to come out and see how they work.

:thumbsup:

OP, you could also go for a non-OCZ Sandforce drive like the Corsair Force 120GB. It is a bit faster and less expensive than the Intel.

With regard to the possible bottleneck, it really depends on the current Core 2 Quad. OC'ed Q9550? Probably not bottlenecked. Stock Q8300? Probably bottlenecked.