Help, I'm overwhelmed. Really, I've been spending days trying to decide what to buy.

mwguitarman · 12-26-2008, 11:13 AM

Current Situation:
I build my current pc about 4 years ago. I'm going to replace the motherboard, CPU, and memory and am overwhelmed.

Current Build:
-Socket 754 ECS board with a NFORCE3-A motherboard with the nForce3 250 chip
-AMD Athlon 2800+ 1.81GHZ Processor
-1 Gig of Ram (not sure on the speed)
-Nvidia GeForce FX5600 256MB Graphics Card. (pretty old)

Issue:
It's just not keeping up as well as I'd like with photo editing and some Audio recording that I do. Every once in a while I'll play a PC Game which it isn't the best at.

Goal:
Build a good family pc. One which will last at least a couple of years and be quicker at recording audio, using fire wire to transfer hi8 videos on to dvd via fire wire card, play games fairly well, quicker at editing photos. I am not a hard core gamer.

Delima: There are so many more chipsets and processors and motherboards than when I built my last system and I'm spending days tring to figure out what to buy. I seriously need help.

What I've spec'd on New Egg with the link:
$66 / Foxconn A7GM-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186141

$56.99 / AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Brisbane 2.7GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103210

$54.99 / G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231166

Is this an adequate setup?
The 780G chipset is supposed to be good for graphics, will it be better than the graphics card I have now?

I have XP Home edition, it's not 64 bit. Is that an issue?

Some of the boards say the 1066 ram only works with an AM2+ processor otherwise 800 speed. This isn't an AM2+ processor but the website doesn't specify that I need an am2+ processor for the 1066 speed. Will this be an issue?

Would there be a justifiable reason to spend another $100 to buy Vista (specifically the 64 bit version?)

I really need help and appreciate any advice.

**wrench97** · 12-26-2008, 01:03 PM

You don't need a 64bit version of windows unless you want to use more than 4Gig of Ram
An AM2+ is basically a Phenom Quad core.
The X2 AMD CPU is getting pretty old and is pretty far behind the Intel Core2Duo it still makes for a decent cpu but lags behind Intel in speed.
The Video on the 7 series AMD boards is some of the finest for integrated but games need the functions of discrete video cards.

What kind of budget do have for this build?

Have a look over these charts comparing CPU's
In this one for Photoshop CS3 the lower the number the better use the pull down menu to see other programs> http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/d...-CS-3,826.html

12-26-2008, 11:13 AM	#1 (permalink)
mwguitarman Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 1 OS: Windows XP Home Edition	Help, I'm overwhelmed. Really, I've been spending days trying to decide what to buy. Current Situation: I build my current pc about 4 years ago. I'm going to replace the motherboard, CPU, and memory and am overwhelmed. Current Build: -Socket 754 ECS board with a NFORCE3-A motherboard with the nForce3 250 chip -AMD Athlon 2800+ 1.81GHZ Processor -1 Gig of Ram (not sure on the speed) -Nvidia GeForce FX5600 256MB Graphics Card. (pretty old) Issue: It's just not keeping up as well as I'd like with photo editing and some Audio recording that I do. Every once in a while I'll play a PC Game which it isn't the best at. Goal: Build a good family pc. One which will last at least a couple of years and be quicker at recording audio, using fire wire to transfer hi8 videos on to dvd via fire wire card, play games fairly well, quicker at editing photos. I am not a hard core gamer. Delima: There are so many more chipsets and processors and motherboards than when I built my last system and I'm spending days tring to figure out what to buy. I seriously need help. What I've spec'd on New Egg with the link: $66 / Foxconn A7GM-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186141 $56.99 / AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Brisbane 2.7GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103210 $54.99 / G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231166 Is this an adequate setup? The 780G chipset is supposed to be good for graphics, will it be better than the graphics card I have now? I have XP Home edition, it's not 64 bit. Is that an issue? Some of the boards say the 1066 ram only works with an AM2+ processor otherwise 800 speed. This isn't an AM2+ processor but the website doesn't specify that I need an am2+ processor for the 1066 speed. Will this be an issue? Would there be a justifiable reason to spend another $100 to buy Vista (specifically the 64 bit version?) I really need help and appreciate any advice.

12-26-2008, 01:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,579 OS: Win7	Re: Help, I'm overwhelmed. Really, I've been spending days trying to decide what to b You don't need a 64bit version of windows unless you want to use more than 4Gig of Ram An AM2+ is basically a Phenom Quad core. The X2 AMD CPU is getting pretty old and is pretty far behind the Intel Core2Duo it still makes for a decent cpu but lags behind Intel in speed. The Video on the 7 series AMD boards is some of the finest for integrated but games need the functions of discrete video cards. What kind of budget do have for this build? Have a look over these charts comparing CPU's In this one for Photoshop CS3 the lower the number the better use the pull down menu to see other programs> http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/d...-CS-3,826.html __________________ Power Supply and Selection Last edited by wrench97; 12-26-2008 at 01:04 PM.