Been a while, upgrades?? AMD vs Intel

J

jdc753

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Nov 21, 2007
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Well its been at least 2.5 years since I built my last system and lately I have been wanting to upgrade and then a week ago a PSU blew and I don't know how but seems my case is junk (PC won't boot or nothing in the case but when ALL components are swapped to another case it boots fine.) So between those I am starting to look harder and harder at upgrade, however for the past 7+ years of all my builds I have been a diehard AMD/Nvidia fan. However with AMD and ATI being teamed up I feel like trying them again if I go for an AMD build, but then after reading what I could on this forum for the past 4 hours I may be tempted to build an Intel machine (which I have never done) and stick with Nvidia. After my last build with a junky Aspire case and $40 ASRock mobo I would like to get something a little better.

Here are the two builds I have so far, any tips/suggestions/revisions would be greatly appreciated.

Build 1​

Case: Cooler Master Cosmos 1000
CPU: AMD Phenom 9950BE
Mobo: MSI K9A2 Platinum 790FX
GPU: VisionTek Radeon HD4870 512MB
RAM: OCZ Reaper DDR2 1066 2GB (2x 1GB sticks)
PSU: Corsair 750W

Build 2​

Case: Cooler Master Cosmos 1000
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (read lots and lots about this chip on here)
Mobo: Asus P5K-E P35
GPU: XFX GTX260 896MB
RAM: OCZ Flex XLc DDR2 1200 2gb (2x 1gb sticks)
PSU: Corsair 750W

The 2 builds are within $2 of each other from newegg, its more than I would like to spend and I certainly wouldn't mind cutting out some fat but I am hoping to get components that will work a bit better that my last build. I was hoping to get away without buying a PSU but I don't think my el cheapo 450w is going to cut it, also I will need one for the Intel build anyways as my old one doesn't have a 8pin CPU plug. Sadly looking at the prices of Ram and hard drives I would be almost tempted to spend this entire budget on just Ram and hard drives lol.

I have yet to ever bother OCing anything and will most likely stick to stock cooling at least for a while until I maybe get the inkling to try my hand at OCing. I have a Hanns G 22" LCD as well as my old 17" lcd hooked to my current computer and primarily use the computer for the basic net surfing but also gaming with WoW and various others.


Thanks in advance for the thoughts and suggestions.
 
Intel hands down. Though drop the DDR2 1200 RAM. Intel C2D systems do not see a benefit from faster RAM. Any cheap set of DDR2 800 RAM is all that you need for a C2D system. So I recommend this set:
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $80

Though if you're fine with just 2GB of RAM, I recommend this set:
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $45

Ditch the P35 motherboard. The P45, the P35's replacement is out, and has PCI-E 2.0 which might be useful in the future. Some motherboard recommendations:
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L Intel P43 Motherboard - $95
MSI P45 Neo3-FR Intel P45 Motherboard - $120
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R Intel P45 Motherboard - $135
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 Motherboard - $150
DFI Lanparty DK X38-T2R Intel X38 Motherboard - $180
Asus P5E Deluxe Intel X48 Motherboard - $220
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 Intel X48 Motherboard - $225

Just to help you out: All of these motherboards have PCI-E 2.0 which may be useful for future GPU upgrades. If you don't need RAID, more than 6 SATA ports and only need semi-decent overclocking, check out the DS3L. If you need 8 SATA ports, RAID, 4 PCI slots, and legacy ports, then get the Neo3-Fr. If you don't need more than 6 SATA ports but want RAID, firewire, a second PCI-E x16 port, a second gigabit port, support for 16GB of RAM, optional eSATA, x8/x8 Crossfire, and high overclocks, then get the DS3R. If you like the DS3R but need 8 SATA ports, want an onboard pre-installed fast booting Linux setup, only need support for 8GB of RAM and don't need a second gigabit port, get the Asus P5Q Pro. If you want Crossfire with full x16/x16 bandwidth, get the Lanparty DK X38. If you have cash to burn and don't give a damn about getting the most value for your money, get the Asus or Gigabyte X48 motherboards. Do note that the Asus website can be slow sometimes.
 
In addition to Danny Bui's recommendations, the VisionTek HD4850 would play most games (save Crysis) well on your 22" monitor. Its performance is comparable to the GTX 260 yet it costs over $100 less. VisionTek is also the only AMD/ATI-based company that offers a limited lifetime warranty on its cards.

The Corsair PSU models released today have the 8-pin PSU plug as well as the new 8-pin PCI-E connectors. If the TX750 is too much for you (and neither Provantage nor Buy.com offers you enough of a savings on it), consider either the VX550 or TX650 instead.
 
Thanks for the quick replies and good suggestions guys. Looks like I will be building a Intel rig, tis a sad day for me lol as I have been running AMD rigs for years and years so far. Also jumping to ATI from nvidia after years and years.

How about this build taking into account your suggestions

Case: Cooler Master Cosmos 1000
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Mobo: DFI Lanparty DK X38
GPU: VisionTek Radeon HD4850
RAM: OCZ Reaper DDR2 800 4gb (2x 2GB sticks) I think I can handle sending in a mail in rebate
PSU: Corsair 750W

Hopefully shortly down the road upgrade to a crossfire setup and maybe some cooling for some overclocking.
 
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