Upgrade Help

Computer Forum CPU, Motherboards and Memory
1

Hi. I am planning to upgrade my PC. More like overhaul it. :smiley:
These are the components that I am planning to buy:

  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86 GHz) / E6400 (2.13 GHz)

  • Asus P5B - VM (Intel G965 / ICH8, 1066 / 800 / 533 MHz, 4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 800* / 667 / 533 MHz, non-ECC, un-buffered memory, ESATA and IEEE 1394 Support, Intel® GMA X3000, Intel® Clear Video Technology)

  • Kingston 1GB 800 MHz

  • Samsung 250GB 7200 rpm SATA

These are the components that I’ll be transferring from the old PC to the new one:

  • Sony DVD Burner
  • Creative CD-ROM
  • Asus DVD-ROM
  • Sony Floppy drive

Everything else goes.. in the trash bin. I am not sure if I missed something important regarding the things that I am going to buy. Here are some questions that are bothering me.

Are the components compatible with one another? I really have no idea in building this up.

What I am after is a Firewire port for the Handycam. Once I have a Firewire port, can I plug the Handycam and edit movies right away or do I need to have another hardware component such as cards?

Is it ok not to use a video card give these specs?

Is it ok to use a microATX board in an ATX casing? The computer store only has P5B-VM, which is microATX. Just in case the ATX counterpart of the P5B is available, are the specs good? Or does this board have issues?

What PSU do I need? I have just encountered this term recently, I thought that all PSU’s come hand in hand with the case, like a package.

By the way, I will be using Windows XP Pro.

Thank you for reading.:smiley:

2

Instead of Kingston, get
Corsair DDR2 1GB DDR800, XMS2-6400, matched pair, with Heat Spreader

Motherboard: Something like Gigabyte P35 DS3R.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 + Zalman 9700 LED cooler (I’ve got NT and im happy with it)

If you are going to upgrade your GPU, CPU or any other parts in future, I suggest getting a Corsair HX520W PSU. At least you won’t be lack of juice when overclocking that CPU :slight_smile:

good luck

3

Thanks for the useful info. I’ve got other things to ask.

What are the differences between a 1GB RAM and a 512MB x 2 RAM in terms of performance?

Is Samsung a good brand when it comes to hard drives?

Thanks for bearing with me. I’m really new in this building up stuff, and I’m a bit confused with what the guy from the computer store said and the replies that I’ve been getting in forums. :smiley:

4

2x 512 mb enables dual channel mode which adds much performance to the pc.

Talking about Samsung, it might sound it’s not trustworthy product, but still, it’s in the peak of performance comparing to the WD or Seagate. As the years pass, this product becomes a good choice.