Planning an upgrade...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris Berinato
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Chris Berinato

I'm planning to build a new PC soon, and would like a few suggestions.

I'm going to base it on the Intel Core2 Duo e6750. I've found the
Intel chips perform better on applications, and the price/performance
break is at that chip. *If* I do anything with it, it will be
applications (think Adobe Photoshop/After Effects/Premiere). I know
many of the parts I am considering are not quite video-production
ready, but I will upgrade those LATER if the time comes.

So, C2D e6750
2Gig RAM
sATA 160G drive (no brand yet - to me it doesn't really matter)
All my optical drives and USB devices will move over

My BIGGEST question is the motherboard. It seems there are a million
of
them, so I could really use help narrowing this one down.
GOTTA HAVE:
RAID on board (in case I do video)
Upgradeable to Intel's Core2 Quad and/or Penryn chips (the 45nm ones)
able to take at least 8Gig ram
1 UDMA interface for those old opticals
Vista friendly! (although it will almost certainly start with XP Pro)

NICE TO HAVE
SLI or Crossfire, although that gets me into my next question

I DO NOT plan to overclock.

ABSOLUTE TOPS for the motherboard is $150, I'd PREFER to keep it at
$100
or less, but I don't know if that is possible.

My other question is the video card. I thought nVidia was the leader,
but people seem to be talking up ATI. I only want to spend around $50
on the card, so GeForce 8500 seems to fit the bill. If there is a
convincing argument for ATI in the same price range, I'd listen.
Either way, it MUST do HD.

I also have questions about the power supply. I see some are "dual-
core certified." Does that really matter, or should I just find
something with enough wattage?

Thanks in advance!

Chris
 
Chris Berinato said:
I'm planning to build a new PC soon, and would like a few suggestions.

I'm going to base it on the Intel Core2 Duo e6750. I've found the
Intel chips perform better on applications, and the price/performance
break is at that chip. *If* I do anything with it, it will be
applications (think Adobe Photoshop/After Effects/Premiere). I know
many of the parts I am considering are not quite video-production
ready, but I will upgrade those LATER if the time comes.

So, C2D e6750
2Gig RAM
sATA 160G drive (no brand yet - to me it doesn't really matter)
All my optical drives and USB devices will move over

My BIGGEST question is the motherboard. It seems there are a million
of
them, so I could really use help narrowing this one down.
GOTTA HAVE:
RAID on board (in case I do video)
Upgradeable to Intel's Core2 Quad and/or Penryn chips (the 45nm ones)
able to take at least 8Gig ram
1 UDMA interface for those old opticals
Vista friendly! (although it will almost certainly start with XP Pro)
Click to expand...

All that is easy, around the hundred dollar range (or so)
NICE TO HAVE
SLI or Crossfire, although that gets me into my next question
Click to expand...

Now you are over $150 easily, closing in on $200 range. Killer is
bandwidth. You will find several SLI or crossfire around $150, but watch
the second slot. If you want X16 on both, you are going to totally blow
your budget for the mainboard. My suggestion is forget about SLI or
crossfire, or up your budget for the mainboard. There is no sense spending
a lot of extra money on a half-assed solution which you aren't even sure you
want.

I DO NOT plan to overclock.
Click to expand...

Well you have at least half a brain. What are you doing here, exactly? :)
Most of the posters here are avid overclockers and swear that it's OK
(suggested even) to do so. Glad to see at least one poster knows better.
ABSOLUTE TOPS for the motherboard is $150, I'd PREFER to keep it at
$100
or less, but I don't know if that is possible.
Click to expand...

Not possible. You can get close to $100, unless you insist on two X16
graphics slots. Then you are over $150.
My other question is the video card. I thought nVidia was the leader,
but people seem to be talking up ATI.
Click to expand...

What idiots are doing that? Only thing I've heard about ATI recently is
that you MUST install .net software to use it. No thanks. Stick with
nvidia.

I only want to spend around $50
on the card, so GeForce 8500 seems to fit the bill. If there is a
convincing argument for ATI in the same price range, I'd listen.
Either way, it MUST do HD.
Click to expand...

No, I'd second that 8500. Go with your gut.

I also have questions about the power supply. I see some are "dual-
core certified." Does that really matter, or should I just find
something with enough wattage?
Click to expand...

Well you don't need dual-core certified. You DO need a good name brand,
however. Look at Seasonic or Enermax to start with. In the HIGHLY UNLIKELY
event you don't find something you like there, come back here for some more
suggestions. Oh, and figure (roughly) on spending as much on the power
supply as you do on the mainboard. -Dave
 
Dave said:
Well you don't need dual-core certified. You DO need a good name brand,
however. Look at Seasonic or Enermax to start with. In the HIGHLY
UNLIKELY event you don't find something you like there, come back here
for some more suggestions. Oh, and figure (roughly) on spending as much
on the power supply as you do on the mainboard. -Dave
Click to expand...

If you are using a Core2 Duo and something like an 8500 video card,
that doesn't draw a lot of power at all.

If you want a power estimate, and suggestions for a power supply,
then post the shopping list of other components you've decided
on.

There is a big difference in power, between one 8500, and two 8800GTX,
so your final decisions on the hardware in the box, will make a
difference to the power supply selection. For some of the new
systems, you could get by with a 350W supply for a minimal system.
This is partly to do with the Core2 Duo being a 65W TDP part.

While there are web sites that will give power estimates, I can
explain where my numbers come from. The web sites generally
don't. The last site with a good user interface, was
Takaman, but they've shut down their site.

Paul
 
All that is easy, around the hundred dollar range (or so)


Now you are over $150 easily, closing in on $200 range. Killer is
bandwidth. You will find several SLI or crossfire around $150, but watch
the second slot. If you want X16 on both, you are going to totally blow
your budget for the mainboard. My suggestion is forget about SLI or
crossfire, or up your budget for the mainboard. There is no sense spending
a lot of extra money on a half-assed solution which you aren't even sure you
want.
Click to expand...

OK, lets say I go with a single 16x slot (my understanding is one GOOD
graphics card is better than two mediocre ones). Do you have any
specific brands or boards in mind?

THANKS

Chris
 
Thanks for doin this post. It has really helped me with some problems
I had.
 
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