This is will be my first build and to be honest i dont know what the hell im doin in terms of choosing components, assembly, or setting up the "bios"?! and installing XP and i am requiring your help!
My current system is a laptop and here are the specs:
Its a travelmate 8204wlmi -
Intel core duo t2500 2.0 GHZ 667mhz fsb
Ati mobility radeon x1600 512mb hypermemory (256mb of dedicated gddr3 vram)
2gb ddr2
What i will be using it for:
I am an architecture student so i will be doing a lot of photoshop, illustrator, indesign, sketchup and cad packages. I will be doing some rendering on these models using ray-trace. Most likely all open at the same time and multitasking.
I game every so often but not interested at running the latest games or highest quality and resolution but i do have a 24 inch monitor which i use as a second monitor to my laptop.
My aim for this PC is for it to last 2-3 years for the nehalem chips to settle in and become mainstream. Bearing in mind that photoshop cs4 may come out with the feature of using the graphics card to make it quicker.
Like all people on their first build, the sheer amount of components availible makes it a very daunting task. I for one have been trying to decide upon parts for a computer for a number of years but opted for a laptop just to put it off.
So my first task is to decide upon key components to spend my hard earned cash and thats where you guys come in
After reading extensively other peoples builds i have come up with a few suggestions and a few black holes.
Processor: Intel Quad Q6600 - Seems good bang for buck and can easily overclock.
Mobo: - ???
- IP45 is newer but is not fully tested on the masses?
- IP35 is older but the IP45 doesnt cost all that more...
Memory:
- at least 4GB (is it true xp only supports 3gb, i read somewhere that the lost gig is actually used by windows for other purposes)
- 800mhz or 1066mhz - confused me as some boards are 1066 but people get 800mhz memory? and then theres the "timings", the "multipliers" etc. Dont have clue about this one.
Graphics Card: Planning on getting a cheap one like the ati hd3850 or 3870 until photoshop cs4 comes out. Unless someone can argue otherwise... dont know if the gpu is used in rendering 3d models though.
Hard Drive The western digital caviar and the spinpoint f1 seems to be frequently recommended
CPU cooler Recommendations? Again too much choice!
DVD Burner Not really fussed about this one dont watch/write too many dvds tbh.
Is there anything else i have missed out besides the case and psu? ill figure them out another time as they seem less important.
Thanks for the help!
My current system is a laptop and here are the specs:
Its a travelmate 8204wlmi -
Intel core duo t2500 2.0 GHZ 667mhz fsb
Ati mobility radeon x1600 512mb hypermemory (256mb of dedicated gddr3 vram)
2gb ddr2
What i will be using it for:
I am an architecture student so i will be doing a lot of photoshop, illustrator, indesign, sketchup and cad packages. I will be doing some rendering on these models using ray-trace. Most likely all open at the same time and multitasking.
I game every so often but not interested at running the latest games or highest quality and resolution but i do have a 24 inch monitor which i use as a second monitor to my laptop.
My aim for this PC is for it to last 2-3 years for the nehalem chips to settle in and become mainstream. Bearing in mind that photoshop cs4 may come out with the feature of using the graphics card to make it quicker.
Like all people on their first build, the sheer amount of components availible makes it a very daunting task. I for one have been trying to decide upon parts for a computer for a number of years but opted for a laptop just to put it off.
So my first task is to decide upon key components to spend my hard earned cash and thats where you guys come in
After reading extensively other peoples builds i have come up with a few suggestions and a few black holes.
Processor: Intel Quad Q6600 - Seems good bang for buck and can easily overclock.
Mobo: - ???
- IP45 is newer but is not fully tested on the masses?
- IP35 is older but the IP45 doesnt cost all that more...
Memory:
- at least 4GB (is it true xp only supports 3gb, i read somewhere that the lost gig is actually used by windows for other purposes)
- 800mhz or 1066mhz - confused me as some boards are 1066 but people get 800mhz memory? and then theres the "timings", the "multipliers" etc. Dont have clue about this one.
Graphics Card: Planning on getting a cheap one like the ati hd3850 or 3870 until photoshop cs4 comes out. Unless someone can argue otherwise... dont know if the gpu is used in rendering 3d models though.
Hard Drive The western digital caviar and the spinpoint f1 seems to be frequently recommended
CPU cooler Recommendations? Again too much choice!
DVD Burner Not really fussed about this one dont watch/write too many dvds tbh.
Is there anything else i have missed out besides the case and psu? ill figure them out another time as they seem less important.
Thanks for the help!