[toka]

Hello everyone, I have finally decided that it is time to build myself a new PC as my current one is reaching its seventh birthday.

I have decided on the following components, feel free to tell me if you think I should change anything.

Here it goes: (it's in French but I have converted the prices)

Motherboard: MSI 750i £82
http://www.rueducommerce.fr/Composa...ur-Intel-Pentium-D-P4-Quad-Core-Celeron-D.htm

Graphics Card: 9600GT £92
http://www.rueducommerce.fr/Composa...eForce-9600GT-512-Mo-DDR3-PCI-Express-2-0.htm

CPU: Q6600 £136
http://www.rueducommerce.fr/Composa...Processeur-INTEL-Core-2-Quad-6600-2-4-GHz.htm

Power Supply: Corsair 650w £66
http://www.rueducommerce.fr/Composa.../415897-Alimentation-Corsair-TX-650-Watts.htm

Cheap Case: £14
http://www.rueducommerce.fr/Composa...Delux-SF438-Noir-Silver-Sans-Alimentation.htm

Hard Drive: Western Digital 250gb £35
http://www.rueducommerce.fr/Composa...r-SE-250-Go-8-Mo-7200-tr-min-SATA-II-Bulk.htm

Ram: Corsair 2gb £28
http://www.rueducommerce.fr/Composa...-533-MHz-CAS-4-Value-Select-VS2GBKIT533D2.htm

Total: £453


Does all this seem acceptable and are they all compatable?

I am on a budget but I have decided to get a decent(I believe) CPU and mobo, when I have the money I can upgrade the graphics card and case to something better(8800GT sounds nice). For the money have I chosen the correct items?

Thanks for reading this, please give me your opinions. :wink:

 

[Watari]

The 650W PSU seems a little overkill. The 2 GB RAM seems good for XP and pretty mediocre for Vista. The rest sounds good.

 

[patriothntr]

Looks pretty decent....I know that here in the US prices on the 9600gt and the 8800gt are so close that it would probably be worth it for you to pick up the 8800gt now...depending on the model (OCed, other features) the prices overlap quite a bit here...

If you are not going to be doing much rendering/transcoding, take a look at the e8400, which would be better for gaming.

I would also spend a couple more bucks on memory...look for DDR2-800 (PC2 6400)...It will be a lil faster.

 

[Watari]

I'm running on a 250W PSU and I have 4 GB DDR2-800 RAM, 450 GB HD, Hauppauge TV Tuner, NVIDIA 8600 GT, Intel Core2 Quad-Core PSU ~2.4GHz, and 2 Optical Drives.. 650W seems outrageous. I'd downgrade that to 300-350W, unless you plan on upgrading that computer with power-soaking hardware.

 

[patriothntr]

I believe the 9600gt takes a lil more power...If you are planning on sticking with one card, a quality 500-550w PSU would work...but I feel like I'm the guy on these forums who is calling for lower powered PSUs, and even I think 250w is real low for the 9600gt/8800gt.

The PSU you have picked out is a quality unit that you shouldn't have any problems with.

~P

 

[beefers1]

250W should work, but that's really pushing the limits. for those specs, at least go for 400-500W. maybe 350W if you plan to replace instead of upgrade in the future.

 

[toka]

Thanks for all the replies. I am planning on upgrading to 4gb ram at a later date, at the moment it would make me go above budget. I will look for the faster 800 memory though thanks.

From what I have seen the difference in price between the 9600gt and the 8800gt is about $40/£20/25 euros which is tempting but I am not sure the difference in performance is worth it, not when you're on a budget.

Now for the PSU, I will consider downgrading to the Corsair 550w. My main reason for choosing the 650w is to leave open the possibility of adding another graphics card later. That is also why I have chosen a sli motherboard. Is the PSU being modular important?

Future Proof is a silly term but I would still like my computer to last me as long as possible and that means for it to be easily upgradable.

Once again thanks for the replies, if anyone else has anything to add feel free.

 

[beefers1]

Future Proof is a silly term but I would still like my computer to last me as long as possible

I totally agree!

anyway, look at this page to compare almost every single video card released from about 1999 or 2000:
http://www.playtool.com/pages/vidtable/table.html
according to it the 8800GT is faster but uses more power than the 9600GT.

 

[patriothntr]

Yes, they both use the same G92 processor, but the 9600 has fewer pipelines activated...after you OC the 9600 it can beat a stock 8800gt...

My only thought was that they are so close in price that getting an 8800 to replace the 9600 would be wasting money...though adding a second 9600gt would def be a great improvement in the future.

 

[Watari]

The wattage really doesn't matter a lot if it's a bad brand. For some brands, the max wattage is what they get right before the whole system capsizes, while for others the maximum wattage is what they get normally. I'd say 300-400W would be good, once again. 650 is outrageous, again. Downgrading will save money and won't change performance at all.

 

[toka]

I was thinking of the best way to save money with this new build.

My current build:

Mainboard : Gigabyte 8IE
Chipset : Intel i845E
Processor : Intel Pentium 4 @ 2200 MHz
Physical Memory : 1024 MB (2 x 512 DDR-SDRAM )
Video Card : Nvidia Corp GeForce 6200
Hard Disk : IC35L120AVV207-1 (124 GB)
Hard Disk : ST380021A (80 GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H42N
CD-Rom Drive : LITE-ON LTR-32125W
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.01.2600 Service Pack 2


What could I keep? My guess is the case, optical drives, hard drives (I think the mobo has some IDE sockets), operating system and temporarily the cpu too.

If I replaced only the motherboard, ram, power supply and graphics card it would end up costing me under £300/$600!

Not sure how easy this is to do.

 

[patriothntr]

Is this a homebuild or a retail. Also, was this bought before 2005 or after (I believe MS changed their EULA around that time, and can affect your ability to use the OS on a new mobo/system.

If the case is an ATX or microATX (dell uses btx) then it can be reused if you get the correctly sized board.

You probably won't be able to reuse the CPU, it is a different socket, and is not compatible.

The optical drives and hard drives could definitely be reused, and depending on the age of the PSU it is possible, but not likely that it could be reused as well.

You can also go for lower end components till you get the money...by buying a mobo with integrated graphics, you can go for a dedicated card later on, and you could buy a e2180 for the time being, and upgrade your CPU later on.

One last thing to consider is selling your old PC whole, and putting the proceeds into your new machine, or even sell the components separately.

 

[Deleted090308]

A 250W PSU will NEVER run that machine - at least not for long. Then, when that PSU says goodnight you will most likely face ruined RAM, video card etc.

The Corsair 650 is a good choice - you won't regret it.

 

[toka]

Is this a homebuild or a retail. Also, was this bought before 2005 or after (I believe MS changed their EULA around that time, and can affect your ability to use the OS on a new mobo/system.

If the case is an ATX or microATX (dell uses btx) then it can be reused if you get the correctly sized board.

You probably won't be able to reuse the CPU, it is a different socket, and is not compatible.

The optical drives and hard drives could definitely be reused, and depending on the age of the PSU it is possible, but not likely that it could be reused as well.

You can also go for lower end components till you get the money...by buying a mobo with integrated graphics, you can go for a dedicated card later on, and you could buy a e2180 for the time being, and upgrade your CPU later on.

One last thing to consider is selling your old PC whole, and putting the proceeds into your new machine, or even sell the components separately.

I bought my PC online, they built it to my specifications. It has been 6/7 years nows so yes it's before 2005.

I'm not sure if my case is an ATX one, I will need to check that.

Good idea about the e2180, I have read that it is 2ghz but can be overclocked to 3ghz. For £40/$80 that seems like a better solution then the £135/$270 q6600 for me at the moment, I can always sell it on ebay at a later time.

I will need to check up on the integrated graphics on the 750i, not sure if it's as good as my current 6200 agp card(I doubt it)

As for the comment on the 650w Corsair: Yes it does seem like a good PSU, I have read only good things about it. I am also considering the slightly cheaper 650w antec one too.

 

[patriothntr]

Well, the 750i doesn't have integrated graphics, so instead of integrated you could go for a cheaper card for the time being...I would try to find one on the site, but the french combined with currency exchange makes it a lil more than I feel like tackling.

You will not be able to use your AGP card in the new mobo...all the new cards are PCI express x16

 

[toka]

I would have thought a half decent mobo like the 750i would have integrated graphics, oh well. I will probably just get the 9600 straight away or a cheap 8800gt if I can find one.

PS. I know that new motherboards don't accept AGP cards, I was just comparing the two.

 

[patriothntr]

Wasn't sure...just wanted to make sure...

Well, the 750i chipset sorta assumes that you are going to be using better graphics than integrated...you usually have to go cheaper to find integrated...that might change in a couple years if nvidia keeps with their hybridpower idea.

 

[Watari]

A 250W PSU will NEVER run that machine - at least not for long. Then, when that PSU says goodnight you will most likely face ruined RAM, video card etc.

The Corsair 650 is a good choice - you won't regret it.

I'm just saying, he can buy a lower wattage, good brand PSU and it could power it for less money.

I run my machine with a 250 and it runs fine and doesn't overheat or anything, and my specs are just a bit worse than his.

 

[toka]

One question. The 750i motherboard lists the acceptable CPUs as:

"Core™2 Quad/Core™2 Extreme/Core™2 Duo/Pentium® Extreme/Pentium® D/Pentium®4"

I do not see Dual Core listed(only Core 2 Duo)? I ask because I have just ordered the very overclockable e2180.

 

[beefers1]

pentium D is dual-core, a step down from core 2 duo.