Help picking CPU & Video card.

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Buck_nekid

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Sep 8, 2008
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Hello, I need some advice. I was given, yes for free this motherboard: ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo, and 4 gig of this ram:Kingston HyperX.
I need help picking a CPU and video card. I am leaning towards a Q9400, since this is a 775 motherboard I don't want to spend tons of money until I jump to the next platform. I was looking at this video card:VaporX 5750 but it is probably more than I need. Are these good choices? I thought about going to a Q9550 but not sure if the money is worth it. I know this won't be top shelf by a long shot but for free I want to put it to good use. Oh I am also going to buy a X25 80gig for a system drive just for all the wonderful things I hear but that's not included in this price.

Thanks for any steering in the right direction.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Just browsing the web, light video enconding/DVD burning, very light gaming.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$600, yes
3) Where do you live?
WV
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, video card.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Case, optical drive, hard drives (1 500 gig SATA, 1 2 TB SATA) Display (23" lcd) I have a Antec BP550 Plus 550W power supply. Antec BP550
6) Will you be overclocking?
Maybe, not sure if I need to.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I have this 23" LCD ASUS ASUS VH236H
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next two months
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
No RAID or firewire. This board has crossfire.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Going to buy Win Se7en 32 bit most likely, using XP now.
 
I would honestly say you could just get like an e8400 and call it a day. If you aren't doing much encoding then a quad would be a waste, and the Q9*** is a lot of money to drop on a now old platform.
Honestly if you have $600 to spend on a cpu and GPU I would just sell the P5Q and the ram and then build a new setup with that money.
 
e8400 is not worth the money as you get a x2 550 and motherboard. which will performance just as well as e8400 in games.
 
Unless you're buying the CPUs used, there's no point in buying an Intel socket 775 CPU at current prices. They simply have a piss-poor price to performance ratio.

Also that quality of that PSU is unknown. I've yet to see a proper review of it showing that PSU is actually capable of 550W of power safely and reliably.

You're better off with the following setup:
$160 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 CPU
$80 - Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H AM2+ AMD 785G Motherboard
$110 - XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
---
Total: $400 plus tax and shipping.

Reuse that DDR2 RAM.
 
Just browsing other forums the Antec BP-550 SEEMS to be alright.No reviews other than owners.Antec usually puts out good ps's.50 bucks for a Corsair is hard to beat
 
Danny Bui said:
Also that quality of that PSU is unknown. I've yet to see a proper review of it showing that PSU is actually capable of 550W of power safely and reliably.
Click to expand...

That BP550 is made by Delta, the same company which makes all of the current EarthWatts series PSUs. However, the BP550 is based on one of Delta's lesser or older platforms, without active PFC, and is rated at only 70 percent efficiency. There are better choices, especially at its average street price.
 
lt_shiro said:
e8400 is not worth the money as you get a x2 550 and motherboard. which will performance just as well as e8400 in games.
Click to expand...

I only suggested that because he said he was given a 775 motherboard. I'm with you and Danny about selling and building a new setup.
 
Thanks for all the responses. This gives me something to think about. Never considered selling these pieces and starting over. Not sure if I will do that or just continue 'waiting' seems computers is a serious "just wait" game because something is always right around the corner. As far as building a new rig. Would you go i7 now or wait until the next series is out. Even though I know I don't need that kind of power. If I would go i7 (or the next) I would only keep the optical and hard drives. Being at the bleeding edge isn't a priority to me, just would like to stay kinda non-obsolete. I bought that power supply a while back. Back when specs only was what I looked at, I should know better.
 
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