Should i get a new motherboard/cpu/memory...?

F

Fila

Geek Trainee
Basically i am going to keep my video card (8800 ultra), audio card (x-fi extreme gamer), 2x hdd, dvd-roms and probably my psu (it is 750W).


I currently have a single core AMD and i want to change for Intel (deh, it's about time). I am still going back and forth on the idea, don't know whether i should wait until the summer or get them now.


Now looking at my PC i will only change the aforementioned thingies in the title.


Mainboard: No idea. I want it to have 2x LAN and at least 1x Firewire and good overclocking capabilities.

Memory: DDR2-1066 (i will try to get as lower latency as possible. atm it looks like 5-5-5-15 or 5-5-5-18) or if you have a better suggestion...

CPU: This is where i do not know. I am pondering between the e8400 (or e8500) and the qx9650. (of course any other suggestion, i am open)

I looked around benchmarks and stuff and i saw that for day to day use and gaming there is no difference between the 2core and the 4core but i will probably get into video editing and i do not know whether i should go for the 4core now or wait for my next upgrade. Thing is the bloody thing is rather expensive atm and i would feel a bit dirty to have to ask my dad for money after he pushed the idea of getting me a new car and stop patching my old one to work on a day to day basis.

If i do go for the 2core one i want it to overclock it to 4ghz (or at least 3.6gzh but i would like 4).
Therefore i would also need a suggestion for a good cooler (would prefer air cooler though).


So yeah... that's about it. I keep wondering and don't know whether i should do it or not, whether i should wait for the summer or not.

I am thinking of going SLI mode as far as video card goes but for that one i did decide to wait until the summer and see whatever nvidia comes up next and see whether it is worth getting it or just find another 8800 ultra on ebay and SLI them.
 
Oh yeah. Memory would be 8gb as i will use Vista 64bit. (well i am using it now with 2GB)
 
I looked for more processors and i saw the Q9450 which seems to be a happy medium as in same performance in games as the rest of them but i get the extra kick in the video software from the quad cores and it's affordable.
 
Fila said:
I looked for more processors and i saw the Q9450 which seems to be a happy medium as in same performance in games as the rest of them but i get the extra kick in the video software from the quad cores and it's affordable.
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I agree, good shout mate
 
as for mobo you can either go X48 chipset or if your going to go SLi with that Ultra card of yours then you can get a nForce 7 mobo

i recommend these two:

X48: Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 Intel X48 (Socket 775)

nForce 7: EVGA nForce 780i SLI nForce 780i (Socket 775)

just to let you know that the X48 chipset mobo is best at overclocking

As for CPU i would say forget a dual core and go quad but get the Q9450

For memory get something like this ; G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PK PC2-8500C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK)
 
They are all good including Geil but i recommend you g for Corsair or OCZ
 
Thanks.

Will go for Q9450, Evga Nforce 7 and OCZ for the memory.

Hmmm... do you know by any chance a good cooler that fits the motherboard?
Everyone seems to be raving about thermalright ultra-120 but that thing looks massive and i don't wanna buy one and find out it doesn't fit in :D

I currently have thermaltake blue orb 2 which works great but the memory barely fits in my DFI nforce 4 motherboard.
 
Fila said:
Thanks.

Will go for Q9450, Evga Nforce 7 and OCZ for the memory.

Hmmm... do you know by any chance a good cooler that fits the motherboard?
Everyone seems to be raving about thermalright ultra-120 but that thing looks massive and i don't wanna buy one and find out it doesn't fit in :D

I currently have thermaltake blue orb 2 which works great but the memory barely fits in my DFI nforce 4 motherboard.
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Well the Thermalright Ultra is a very good cooler but if your going to get the Q9450 then that's supposedly better at power consumption therefore creates less heat so i guess you could go for a smaller cpu cooler maybe a arctic cooler would do the trick, if your going to overclock the Q9450 to high speeds then get something else but tbh there are so many to choose from. But looking at your rig it's rather expensive so if you got the money to buy this sort of setup why not invest in some water cooling instead??? that way you can overclock the Q9450 to very high speeds :P
 
Heh... considering what the prices used to be i find this to be actually rather cheap. (although it might seem that way because it's missing a video card from the total price, hehe).


I don't know. Watercooling systems just scare me...

Is it just me or should they start making the motherboards bigger? Seems that nowadays you cannot go out and purchase a motherboard without the fear that the Cooler gets in the way of the RAM or Heatpie (for example i am scared that my cooler would touch the strange EVGA heatpipe) or the video cards (if you use SLI or triple SLI) leave no room for simple PCI cards.
 
Fila said:
Heh... considering what the prices used to be i find this to be actually rather cheap. (although it might seem that way because it's missing a video card from the total price, hehe).


I don't know. Watercooling systems just scare me...
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Well you can get a pre built water cooling system and just simpley plug in cpu block and heat sink and away you go no need to connect tubes and pumps. something like this: Swiftech H2O 120 Compact Kit

Fila said:
Is it just me or should they start making the motherboards bigger? Seems that nowadays you cannot go out and purchase a motherboard without the fear that the Cooler gets in the way of the RAM or Heatpie (for example i am scared that my cooler would touch the strange EVGA heatpipe) or the video cards (if you use SLI or triple SLI) leave no room for simple PCI cards.
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Yeah i understand what you mean but the thing is mobos are having to be made more powerful and have loads more features which intern means they need to be cooled which is why these days you have mobos with loads of copper pipes all around cpu, north bridge and south. But most cpu coolers will fit in, you just have to be careful when buying one, if i was you i would look at the reviews of people and see what mobos they fitted theirs on.
 
I've checked and it seems that the cooler that i have actually fits in on the EVGA motherboard. So yeah \o/

And since i am quite pleased with it, as in it actually keeps an AMD quite cool, i think i shall stick with it.

Thanks for all the help. Can't wait to get this stuff and have my PC fly with 8gb of ram :D
 
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