How to save money

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ray4389

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 2, 2005
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I'm thinking about going socket 939 to save money. Not only will I not need DDR2 memory, but the parts are cheaper too.

Now I wonder--ATI or Nvidia? I want something in the around $200 range. I have a EVGA 6800 currently, but it's AGP and I need it to be PCI-e x16
 
200 won't cut it for a cpu, mobo, gfx combo, so what exactly are you hoping to buy for your $200?
 
You'll have problems with that 20-24pin connector and any DFI board.
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1027898514&postcount=5
REMEMBER NATIVE 24-PIN ATX CONNECTOR & 480W's OR MORE!
Click to expand...

$180 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz
$165 - eVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB
$56 - ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Socket T (LGA 775) VIA PT880 PRO
$58 - WD Caviar WD1600JS 160GB 7200RPM SATA300 8MB Cache
==========
$460 + tax and shipping (after rebates)

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2813
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2814

A core2duo setup for only $5 more!!! :p Ok, so its actually $25 more than the A64 build. That mobo offers mild overclocking (300Mhz fsb... so 7*300 = 2.1Ghz with an E6300).

I'd suggest waiting until you could afford a nicer conroe system instead of the one I suggested or the 3700+. You'll need about $260 more (2gb dd2-800, $210 and Foxconn mobo, $100). By then, you could probably get an 8x00GTS/GTX card, or maybe the 7900GS will be even cheaper. Anyhow, good luck with whatever you decide. Oh, and your truepower will be fine powering up a conroe build.
 
I have an Antec 430 watt Trupower. Your saying I will need a better PSU?

I can probably swing that.

If I went Core 2 I would need new ram. I have pc3200 DDR. I would need DDR2
 
That Core 2 board (ASRock Dual VSTA) runs with regular DDR1 memory as well as DDR2 slots for "upgrading" in the future. Also has PCIe and AGP. For $55, it fits your needs well and gives you the C2D CPU.
 
ray4389 said:
I have an Antec 430 watt Trupower. Your saying I will need a better PSU?

I can probably swing that.

If I went Core 2 I would need new ram. I have pc3200 DDR. I would need DDR2
Click to expand...
You will need a better PSU if you go with the AMD build (using a DFI board). If you go with the Intel build, you won't need a new PSU.

If you went with a Core2Duo AND the Asrock 775Dual-VSTA, you will NOT need DDR2 ram.
 
On the reviews of the mobo, people complained about bad stability in some cases. Now is that just that they got bad mobos....some people do I guess, or are they jsut not that great of mobos.
 
Are there and other mobos better for say $25 dollars more? I still need it to support DDR1. I don't really want it to support AGP though, but it might just have to.
 
The ASRock board is the only board I've seen that supports DDR1 memory.
 
ECS has some. They are like around 40 dollars. I don't know if they are any good though.
 
The Ultra-D board is for the MAX OC'er...and that's about it. I have it and I OC, and I hate it...I guess I"m not a "MAX" OC'er...O well


AsRock boards ROCK!!!
 
I've always been told stick with Asus, Epox, DFI, Gigabyte, Intel, Evga, Abit, etc for mobos.

Asrock is reliable? I just don't want a glitchy board or DOA one. The quality control typically sucks with others from what I know of.
 
I've used several ASRock boards without any issue. I'm not going to say every one of them is great, but for the price/performance it isn't too bad. I've heard conflicting things about it being a shootoff of Asus. Some say it is, and some say it isn't. If it is, it's a budget Asus brand.
 
Also, some ASRock boards are only 20-pin ATX connectors. Not sure why this is, but it might be true of that board also. You might get away without the adapter. I just used a 20-pin ATX connector on a 24-pin DS3 motherboard and it works and OC's fine :D.
 
kirbyrj said:
I've used several ASRock boards without any issue. I'm not going to say every one of them is great, but for the price/performance it isn't too bad. I've heard conflicting things about it being a shootoff of Asus. Some say it is, and some say it isn't. If it is, it's a budget Asus brand.
Click to expand...

"ASRock is a division of ASUS. They are both part of ASUStek. This is a link to their quarterly sales reports and you can see that there is an "Others" column with a * and then below those it says, "*Others: Asuspower Corporation, Asrock Inc. and Asusalpha Computer Inc. ""

EDIT**Btw I researched it--just now.
 
ray4389 said:
"ASRock is a division of ASUS. They are both part of ASUStek. This is a link to their quarterly sales reports and you can see that there is an "Others" column with a * and then below those it says, "*Others: Asuspower Corporation, Asrock Inc. and Asusalpha Computer Inc. ""

EDIT**Btw I researched it--just now.
Click to expand...

Nice...never had an official answer one way or the other.
 
Yes, Asrock is Asus' budget brand. While they do use cheaper parts, MonarchComputer techs say their (Asrock's) QC is pretty good, because they have very few returns on Asrock boards. Asrock boards just don't have some of the bells and whistles of the Asus boards (8-phase power, etc). If you're looking for a good budget board for Core2Duo that supports DDR1, the Asrock 775Dual-VSTA is it.
 
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