Upgrading my rig

O

Obelizk

n00b
Joined
Sep 14, 2007
Messages
14
Right now I have a Pentium 4 2.66 gghz, 1 gig of sd ddr ram, Radeon X1600, and I just ran out of space on my harddrive which was about 120 gigabytes.

I'm looking to upgrade to a pentium q6600 2.4 with g0 stepping, 2 sata harddrives for raid, and possibly a new cooling system. I would overclock the processor when I get it, but I have no clue how, and I read some of that huge post on how to do it and it seemed a little overwhelming.

I have a vantec Tornado for cooling, and I have a fan controller that keeps it pretty quiet, but I'm thinking if I get all this new stuff - the new processor and motherboard, I might need to buy a new heatsink to go with it.

What motherboards do you guys recommend? I'm going to be using the upgraded computer for gaming and music production. Also, will any more fans be needed? aka will the vantec tornado be able to handle the heat without me having to turn it up all the way? If i turn it up all the way, it is hella loud and useless for sound recording with mics.

I was looking at the abit IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard, but I just noticed it doesn't have SLI... not that I really know what SLI does.... I just keep reading it's important for gaming pcs. Someone please help.

Oh and my budget is probably around 500 - 600 dollars. That should be enough?
 
I am also building a new rig around the Q-6600. After looking into mobo's and some help from the knowledgeable folks at HF, I have decided on a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 rev 2. 169.99 at newegg. I am a photographer and at this point don't game. Your needs may be different, but you may want to give this a look. Shld be a nice rig. Good luck. :)
 
Well first of all, it would help if you told use what exact parts you need for that $600 budget. That should determine whether or not that $600 is enough.

Also, if you're planning on reusing a PSU, please list what PSU it is.
 
Oh okay. The PSU is a 420 watt thermaltake. The parts that need replacing are the processor, the motherboard, the hard drive, and i'll probably tap-replace the video card at CompUSA. The things I am unsure about are...

the motherboard - will the GA-P35-DS4 rev 2 work good for gaming and/or do I need an SLI mobo? What are your recommendations?

the cooling - will the Vantec tornado work without me having to crank it up all the way, thus making it very, very loud? or should I buy a different fan? I just don't want the system to be running really hot and/or really loud. What are your recommendations?

The hard drives I think I can figure out for myself. I'll probably end up going with 2 320 gigabyte 7200 rpm SATA raid'd drives.

and with the budget of $500-600, will I be able to work this out?
 
Yes, please list everything you plan on re-using in detail. For starters, you'll need to replace that PSU. What case do you have? Do you want to replace it?

What size monitor do you have or plan to get? SLI is only needed for high resolution 3D rendering. So, if you have or plan on getting a 1920x1080 LCD or higher, and want to game on it at native resolution, then keep SLI as an option. Otherwise, theres no need for it. A single GTX is still fine for a 1920x1080 (or 1920x1200) LCD screen, and more cost effective than an 8800GTS SLI setup. SLI as an upgrade path isn't worth it unless, again, a large LCD is in the future plans. There should always be a better single card solution, and you could sell your old card to help offset the cost.

If you need an SLI board, go with the eVGA NF68-A1 680i SLI board.

If you don't need SLI, go with a P35 board instead. Check these ones out:
$130 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35
$124 - abit IP35 LGA 775 Intel P35 ($25 MIR)
$135 - Asus P5K LGA 775 Intel P35 Express
$155 - Asus P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35
$170 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35
$180 - abit IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ($20 MIR)

You'll need new RAM, too. Go with either of these kits:
$75 - G.Skill 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ
$175 - G.Skill 4GB(2x2GB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ

If you plan on OC'ing, you'll need a good CPU HSF. These chips are really easy to OC. We can help you, don't worry.
$35 - Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja Plus Rev.B CPU HSF
$45 - Tuniq Tower 120 CPU HSF
$46 - Thermalright Ultima 90 CPU HS + FBA09A12M - Z ($3)
$55 - Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU HS + Scythe S-Flex Fan SFF21E ($15)

For a Q6600, IP35 vanilla , 2GB DDR2-800, 2x 320gb 'cudas ... you'll need a bit more than $600, especially since you need to replace that PSU.
 
Thank you so much. Very much appreciated. :):) I'll look into these options now and try to figure out which way to go.
 
You only need SLI if A) if no single card avaliable can provide the performance you need and B) if you're gaming at anything higher than 1900 x 1200. In any case SLI is a waste IMO since by the time most people get around to buying a second card, there'll be much faster card out on the market for not that much more. SO unless you have a 24" + size monitor, SLI is not needed.

I also recommend getting a new PSU because Thermaltake don't make good power supplies other than their Toughpower line. I'd be wary of using that 420W Thermaltake with your new system.

For PSU replacements, I recommend any of these:
XCLIO Stablepower 500W PSU - $70
Corsair VX450 450W PSU - $76
Corsair VX550 550W PSU - $91
Corsair HX520 520W PSU - $100
Ultra X-Pro 600W PSU - $120
Corsair HX620 620W PSU - $147
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad -$180

So it looks like you may need to up your budget quite a bit. Also, like enginurd said, please list out all the parts that you're going to reuse. Also, what size monitor do you have?
 
Oh my monitor is like 15 inches, regular monitor, not LCD. I'll probably be looking to get an LCD in the near future, but I'm pretty sure it will be less than 24 inches. Adding everything up...

Motherboard $130-160 range with MIR's
Cooling $55
PSU-around $100
q6600 g0 from clubIT $265 or $280
Hard drives ??
$550 - 595 without shipping and without hard drives
shipping all together would be maybe $30, so it's looking pretty good. I'd be willing to up my budget for this to get some quality hard drives. Do you guys know of any good deals anywhere for the 320gigabyte SATA's?
 
music production means spend the bucks on the audio, keep the X1600. The X1600 is a perfectly apt card to handle all of todays games at comprimized settings, so long as its pci-e.

I would much prefer to replace the PSUs as it sounds like you own a TR2 which are neutoriously bad (Channel well built?) units. Get a real 400W PSU.

Also, while the quality of onboard audio continues to impress me, if you want full EAX support and full 24bit decoding you might want to look into an audio card. I know little about them since I've never really had to make a build that revolves spacifically around sound (and by conincidence, I manage to build comps that later turn out to have "the best onboard sound around... Managed a whole lot of soundstorm units :) )

And dont confuse yourself, its a really really minor issue but you can get caught up in the retardation of Intels nomenclature unless I fix it for you.

The new chips from Intel have very little relation to the pentium (4, D, and/or Extreme) series. The pentium Series is done. It has been replaced by the Core series. We've already managed our way through one and are now on the Core 2 line up. The Q6600 is the Core 2 Quad Q6600. Again, no relation to pentium.

To clairify however, the "Pentium Dual Core" (note: NOT the Pentium D) is infact a severly crippled lower end Core 2 Chip, code named "Allendale".

Quite frankly, knowing the code named nomenclature is probibly alot easier then decypering Intels numbering scheme. "its a smithfield @ 2.0GHz with half the L2" seems to me to be alot easier to under stand then "A Pentium D 805"

anyways, back on track. The above builds look good, and again, todays HD onboard audio is excellent, but if your a real audio buff your going to want to do some research into the pros and cons of a sound card.

also I'm chiming in for a 500 gig hard drive. You can find em for less then $120 these days :eek:

edit: I think H has a tendancy to go a little bit overboard, especially since this PCs intended purpose has no relation to gaming (which, lets be honest, is the driving force behind almost all innovation in computers --I dont care how complicated your spread sheet is you can do it on a P3 with 512mb ram!)

So heres your build as I see it, if you really want the quad core:
Of course the Q6600 itself - $285
Western Digital 500Gig cavalier - $109
- Western Digital is one of the biggest names in Hard Drives and I doubt you'll find anyone who has any major complaints with their hard drives.
2 gigs, DDR2 800, can be found for cheap these days.
Silverstone 500W Element -$82
- Jonny (www.jonnyguru.com) gave this thing a 10/10 for performance and a 10/10 for value. non-modular but, hey, at that price? comon!
 
MrWizard6600 said:
I would much prefer to replace the PSUs as it sounds like you own a TR2 which are neutoriously bad (Channel well built?) units. Get a real 400W PSU.

edit: I think H has a tendancy to go a little bit overboard... --I dont care how complicated your spread sheet is you can do it on a P3 with 512mb ram!)
Click to expand...

The TR2 is actually made by COMPUCASE ENTERPRISE. The CHANNELWELL TECH units are actually the Toughpower series -- the only Thermaltake PSUs worth buying.

Actually, spreadsheets could get rather large and complicated, especially if you have a ton of formulas. A P3 with 512MB of RAM would choke on any real accountant's massive spreadsheets. However, I agree, no accountants come here asking for a system build, lol. So, for the most part, yes, most people's spreadsheets will be fine off of a P3 w/ 512MB of ram. Overboard? This is [H]ardforum!
 
Obelizk said:
This PC actually will be for gaming as well. Is it still overboard? lol
Click to expand...

then your probibly going to want to look at replacing that card with something a little more ballsey. The x1600 is a decent card. It will run every game out there, but the newer ones at severly comprimised settings.
 
If you get a 22" or smaller, it would be a good idea to get an 8800GTS, at least. Check out the reviews for the cards you're willing to spend money on, and see how well they do at the resolution/settings you like to play wichever games at.

www.gpureview.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top