I am considering going Intel

M

Marcie

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Oct 21, 2007
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I have built two pc's and both times I went AMD. I am now considering on going Intel.

This is what I am looking at getting :

XFX MB-N680-ISH LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
Crucial Technology
Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Windows Vista OS.

I already have:
Antec Neo HE 550 wt PSU
ATI Raidon x1900xtx 512 MB graphics card
Creative Xfi sound card
Maxtor DiamondMax 250 GB 7200 RPM ATA 133 hard drive
Lightscribe CD
Memorex DVD

would appreciate some feedback. Thanks.
 
- What's your budget?
- What are you planning to do with this new rig?
- Are you planning to overclock?
- What size monitor do you have?
 
monitor is Samsung 22 in LCD

Well, I am really trying to spend as little as I can but hopefully less than $800.

I don't know anything about overclocking ...never tried it.

Gaming......what else. I play BF2, 2142, counterstrike source, teamfortress 2, looking at Call of Duty 4, Crysis and Soldier of Fortune 3 (and have the COD4 and Crysis demos)
 
I wouldn't bother with the E6850. It's not worth it over the E6750 since for a $100 more, all you get is 333Mhz more with the E6850. Too much for too little. Also, the E6750 and E6850 OC about the same as well. So the E6750 would be the better choice.

Also, unless you need Dual NICs, SLI (only useful for 1900 x 1200+ gaming), or firewire, I say get the GA-P35-DS3R or if you want to reuse that IDE hard drive as your main drive, the P6N SLI-Fi mobo instead. But we can help you better if you told us what you're looking for in a mobo. Like # of SATA ports, firewire, overclocking, etc.

And here's what I'd build according to your statement of "really trying to spend as little as I can":
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 CPU - $189
MSI P6N SLI-FI nForce 650i Motherboard - $109
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $66
Windows Vista Home Premium OEM - $105
---
Total: $469 Plus tax and shipping
 
I should have specified....that I want to improve my rig and I can't justify getting a new
graphics card yet. Mine isn't that old and they are very expensive.

I went cheap on the mobo last time and spent around $66.00 on an ASRock PCI express 1000mhz fsb
I bought twin sticks of Corsair DDR 500 (2x1GB)
and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2.2GHz processor

prior to that I switched from Nvidia geforce 6800GT card to an ATI x1900xtx 512 MB

and everytime I noticed a great improvement. But I know I am inching my way rather than
making a great leap.

I still want something I can build on for improvement and a quality product.

Does this make sense?
 
Well, anything based on the P35 chipset is guaranteed to be compatible with Intel's new Intel Wolfdale and Yorkfield CPUs. So you still have some upgrade room if you go with the P35 chipset. Though there is a slight problem for you since most P35 chipset based motherboards only have one IDE port and it's generally recommended not to have the hard drive and CD drive on the same cable due to one operation at a time

Meaning it could be a slight problem when you're installing the OS since it's reading from the CD/DVD while writing to the hard drive at the same time. Though I could be wrong about that.

Here's where the Nvidia 650i/680i chipset comes in. Mobos based on the 650i/680i chipsets do come with two IDE ports so you can still use your IDE hard drive. And supposedly the Nvidia chipsets will support the new Intel CPUs. But, the 650i/680i chipset tends to run a bit hotter than the P35 based motherboards.

So here are your options:
- Go with the P35 motherboard with confirmed support for the new Intel CPUs that has one IDE port so you need to buy a new SATA hard drive.
- Go with the 650i motherboard with supposed support for the new Intel CPUs that has two IDE ports but will run a bit hotter so good air-flow and cooling is extremely important
 
thanks for your recommendation.

with the vista oem I thought you were limited on re installing on new pc

am I wrong?
 
Yes, you can only install it on one PC only and you cannot transfer it to another PC.
 
Wondered if your recommendation would change based on new information?

I have been working overtime and now have a whopping $1200 to spend on

improving my rig.
 
Marcie said:
Wondered if your recommendation would change based on new information?

I have been working overtime and now have a whopping $1200 to spend on improving my rig.
Click to expand...

Yes, Danny's recommendation would change greatly. It would include a Q6600 G0, an 8800GT, and a SATA HDD... at the very least. ;)

Here's my recommendation...

$280 - Q6600 G0
$250 - 8800GT
$118 - Abit IP35 ($25 MIR)
$105 - Vista 32bit Home Premium OEM
$80 - 320GB SATA300
$66 - 2GB DDR2-800
========
$900 - $25 MIR

Oh, look, you have room for a new PSU, too... Check out the Corsair 520W.
 
Marcie said:
But I already have an Antec 550 watt PSU.
Click to expand...

True, but the Corsair one is of better quality than the Antec one, despite both of them being made by Seasonic. You don't really need a new PSU, I was just sayin you could afford one if you wanted a new one.
 
ah I see. thanks.

And I am wondering why the 32 bit vista and not the 64 bit?
 
haha.....glad I asked then.

And, of course another question.

I have never used a sata drive before so how does it differ from the IDE ATA?

Also:

which CPU fan do you recommend? I usually don't go with whatever comes with ...it

is usually of inferior quality and I do wanna take care of the CPU temp.
 
Marcie said:
Wondered if your recommendation would change based on new information?
Click to expand...

What Enginurd said earlier :) Of course my recommendations would change based on new info. That would be the most logical and reasonable thing to do. Though some may call it flip-flopping...

Anyway an SATA hard drive would be faster than an IDE hard drive. Another advantage of an SATA drive over an IDE drive is cable management. It's thinner and easier to hide/route inside a case, thereby allowing for cleaner case.

As for HSF, I recommend these:
Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja HSF - $36
Tuniq Tower 120 HSF - $45
Thermalright Ultima-90 HSF - $46 & Panaflo FBA09A12M 92mm Fan - $3
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme HSF - $55 & Scythe S-Flex SFF21E 120MM Case Fan - $14
 
So the main difference between IDE and SATA, as far as configuration goes, is that there are no more master/slave settings. Each SATA drive is on its own controller.

If you're worried about weight, the Ultima90 is as good as the Tuniq, yet lighter and smaller. The Ninja is better for low airflow cases, and if you're using it with a quadcore, I recommend picking up a Thermalright LGA775 Bolt-Thru kit. The Tuniq used to be the best, then Thermalright came out with the Ultra120 eXtreme. So, thats the best air cooler unless you want to spend even more cash for the IFX14, lol.
 
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