LF Mobo and Processor combo

K

kenprescott21

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
248
Hey guys,

Looking for a overlockable mobo and processor that will support raid 0. Not looking to spend much so the cheeper the better. A beefy air cooling system is best for me. Im scared of the water. Also what ram would be best.

I feel like a douche asking for this, but Ive browsed online and Im just not sure. Will be playing WoW, CS:Source and hopefully some newer games. Adobe PS CS:3, Illustrator and Dreamweaver also.

I feel like I should stick to dual core as the quads are pretty expensive. I just need the 3 items as the others will be provided seperatly.
 
What's your budget on this? So.. you need CPU, Mobo and Ram? What about the other components? You will be reusing the other parts?
 
$245 - COMBO: E8400 + P5Q Pro
$45 - G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-1000 F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ
==========
$290 + tax and shipping

How much is your budget for a CPU HSF? If you have a bit more to spend, get these:
$32 - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
$9 - XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 LGA775 Bolt-Thru-Kit)

kenprescott21 said:
... Thinking about getting:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...?EdpNo=4179081&csid=_22&body=MAIN#detailspecs

With a 4gig ram purchase should be good?
Click to expand...

An AMD chip can't OC as far as an Intel, and clock for clock, the intel is still faster. An E7200 would outperform that 5400+, and once you OC both chips, the E7200 will leave the 5400+ in the dust.

$120 - Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Wolfdale 2.66GHz LGA 775
$110 - Msi P45 Neo3-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 ($25 MIR)
$45 - G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
$32 - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
$9 - XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 LGA775 Bolt-Thru-Kit)
=========
$316 + tax and shipping - $25 MIR
 
Blah, don' get this man. Sounds cheap but, soo slow compared to an Intel Core 2 build. The parts that enginurd just listed above is far superior in performance over this Athlon Build.
 
I love the pq5 pro mobo, what can we do for a cheeper processor that can overclock fairly well?
 
What do you mean, better?

What other features (besides RAID) do you want on the motherboard?
 
Raid, 4g+ memory, PCI E 16, overclocking ability for a low end processor. Thats about it.

I want to buy a good motherboard, with a cheep processor that I can overclock to get good performance on air until I can afford going from a core 2 duo to quad, with the mobo should support both.
 
At NewEgg, the E2180 is the cheapest processsor you could overclock, but you would have better results with the slightly more expensive E5200.

If you're going to cheap out on the processor now, when, might I ask, were you going to upgrade it? And why not spend the money to get a decent (dual or quad core) processor right now?
 
I just lost my second job so I managed to save some cash, Luckily Im good at what I do so when I get another job 1-2 weeks, then get paid ill upgrade the processor say a month max
 
Go with HardwareGuru's build, but substitute the E5200 for the E7300. (The E5200 will have a better resale value than the E2180, but YMMV on what you would get for it.)
 
What about two harddrives? Storage isnt an issue since I have 4x 16g flash drives. My old man wants to know what two 150gig harddrives would be the best for my raid setup. 150 isnt the minimum or max but im hoping to get around 300g total.
 
... And you want all of this for under $300? It may be cheaper for you to just go with one 320GB hard drive.

Also, which RAID configuration are you using?
 
tiraides said:
... And you want all of this for under $300? It may be cheaper for you to just go with one 320GB hard drive.

Also, which RAID configuration are you using?
Click to expand...


No, mobo processor and ram for under 300, harddrive and vid card are seperate from these items.

Raid 0 for speed, thats the correct raid for that right?

Just need two harddrives for raid that are fast, no raptors or ss drives.
 
kenprescott21 said:
No, mobo processor and ram for under 300, harddrive and vid card are seperate from these items.

Raid 0 for speed, thats the correct raid for that right?

Just need two harddrives for raid that are fast, no raptors or ss drives.
Click to expand...

Yes RAID0 for pure speed. As for what hard drives to get for a RAID setup, these are the best bang for the buck hard drives out now:
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $70

The WD6400AAKS performs on par with, if not beating, the older gen Raptors. Hell it's almost as fast as current gen Raptors.
 
Are you using RAID 0 right now? I have mixed feelings with that configuration, but those are irrelevant for this subject.

Currently, the fast (non-Raptor, non-SSD) hard drives use drive platters of at least 320GB each. Some of those we've been recommending are the Western Digital WD3200AAKS and WD6400AAKS (and their 32MB Caviar Black siblings) and the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 320GB and 640GB hard drives. Out of principle, I would recommend choosing one of those drives -- the WD6400AAKS is known to be able to compete with the last-gen 150GB Raptor X in benchmarks.

At NewEgg, buying one 160GB hard drive costs between $40-$45 before shipping charges. Meanwhile, you could get the WD6400AAKS for $70 with free shipping.

I guess what I'm asking is... do you really need a RAID 0 configuration?
 
Do I really need it? Well does it perform as well as I think it does or am I thinking newb again?

Sorry man, back in the day when I was all up to date with computer hardware anything raptor as far as harddrives go was the best/fastest around. So please enlighten me as best you can.
 
kenprescott21 said:
Do I really need it? Well does it perform as well as I think it does or am I thinking newb again?
Click to expand...

RAID0 will just cut down your loading times by a few seconds. In other words, it will probably won't perform as well as you think it will.
 
I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, but I personally find RAID 0 unnecessary for most users' needs. In addition to the cost of an additional hard drive, you also run the risk of losing all of your data should one of your drives go down. When the Raptor was still uncontested (during its first and second generations), RAID 0 was a worthwhile consideration, as two or three low-capacity drives would cost less than one Raptor HDD. But with many of today's hard drives being able to compete with the last-gen Raptors -- though the VelociRaptor is the fastest single SATA HDD around -- and with the recent price drops on hard drives over the last year or two, RAID 0 has lost some of its luster.

The actual performance level varies, but the hard drives that have been released recently perform better/run faster than hard drives made and released over two years ago. Take a look at this thread of various HD Tune scores. Though they aren't faster (in most cases) than a RAID 0 array, today's hard drives (like the WD6400AAKS) are fast enough that you might not notice the difference performance-wise.
 
tiraides said:
I'm not trying to insult your intelligence.
Click to expand...

LOL, don't worry about that my friend, im a newb and I admit it. Im here for info and info only. Everything you guys submit to me I read and research, then check reviews.

So for a single harddrive, whats the best bang for my dads buck?

Also since im a cheep son-of-a... what video card is currently the best value? My girlfriend needs to start spending money on me. o_O
 
Right now, the WD6400AAKS has the best "bang for your buck" at $70 with free shipping (at NewEgg).

Though your dad may not need the large storage capacity, it's hard to beat that deal. (NewEgg normally charges around $8-$10 for the ground shipment of hard drives.)

That said, the cheapest NewEgg "deal" that I found was $50 (with free ground shipping) for a 320GB Hitachi hard drive.
 
kenprescott21 said:
So for a single harddrive, whats the best bang for my dads buck?
Click to expand...

Already answered before you asked:
Danny Bui said:
Yes RAID0 for pure speed. As for what hard drives to get for a RAID setup, these are the best bang for the buck hard drives out now:
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $70

The WD6400AAKS performs on par with, if not beating, the older gen Raptors. Hell it's almost as fast as current gen Raptors.
Click to expand...

kenprescott21 said:
Also since im a cheep son-of-a... what video card is currently the best value? My girlfriend needs to start spending money on me. o_O
Click to expand...

As for best bang for the buck: The HD4850 at $160 is the best bang for the buck video card IMO. The 9800GT at $110 is a close second.
 
tiraides said:
Right now, the WD6400AAKS has the best "bang for your buck" at $70 with free shipping (at NewEgg).

Though your dad may not need the large storage capacity, it's hard to beat that deal. (NewEgg normally charges around $8-$10 for the ground shipment of hard drives.)
Click to expand...

Its not for him, but I'll let him know. Thanks man
 
69.99 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
114.99 - ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
82.99 - Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E5200
79.98 - X2 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail

How does this look?
Just need a 100$ or so video card needs to be dx10 PCIE.

Will this machine perform as well as I hope it does? I mean 8 gigs and a dual core 3.0 (overclocked) should eat photoshop right?
 
As Danny said, the HD4850 or the 9800GT are your best bang for buck choices.

kenprescott21 said:
... I mean 8 gigs and a dual core 3.0 (overclocked) should eat photoshop right?
Click to expand...

If a huge portion of that 8GB is used as a RAMdisk, then yes.
 
Ramdisk is special software right?

Ramdisk shows windows a portion of my ram as a hdd then i set the PS partition to the ramdisk drive right?

Also I have a few usb2.0 16gig flash drives are those quick enough to be used as a scratch?
 
Yes, superspeed.com for more info on their RAMdisk util.

Flash memory is fast for reading, but slow for writing. If those are fast enough, you could use them for ReadyBoost if you're using Vista. ;)
 
Should i get the cheep vista upgrade cd from microsoft using your .edu e-mail?

I ask because if not I need to find a good linux alternative for now that will work with the hardware i have
 
kenprescott21 said:
Would two of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143101 be any good or should i just get one good card?
Click to expand...

No, just get one video card. Two crappy video cards != one good video card. The 9800GT or HD4850 would smoke two 8600GTS in SLI. Also you would need a Nvidia chipset motherboard in order to use SLI. Considering that you're on a small budget, don't have that huge of a monitor and plan to use two crappy video cards, SLI is not and should not be an option for you.
 
I was reading reviews online and it looks like the 9800 gt is the way to go. Plus with a aftermarket cooling solution and can be oc'd like a beast. Any comments, have any of you oc'd this monster?

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1332&pageID=5266

Wait i just read the 9800 is basically an 8800, should i get a 8800 and oc it, will it perform like the 9800 if i oc it?
 
kenprescott21 said:
Wait i just read the 9800 is basically an 8800, should i get a 8800 and oc it, will it perform like the 9800 if i oc it?
Click to expand...
Just to clarify: the 8800GT IS the 9800GT. The performance between the two cards would be virtually the same. Don't bother with getting the 8800GT now since it's more expensive than the 9800GT.
 
are all 9800's the same or are different brands better? If so ill just get the cheepest 9800 gt an aftermarket cooling solution and oc away
 
eVGA, BFG, and XFX are regarded as the better NVIDIA brands, due to their customer support and lifetime warranty. The various factory OC'd models are typically forgone, since you can save money and OC them yourself.
 
Can someone confirm that the bolt-thru kit works with the Xigmatek? Everyone but Sidewinder is OOS, and it's the last thing I need to order.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top