Need your wisdom on Future system.

[fliptrip]

Hello to everyone, just like to say, this is an amazing place with massive amounts of extremely helpful information.

I need some help on a choosing a new system, like many others i've been out of the loop since i built the system below (what a change!) have been reading up over the last week to get myself up to speed.

Anywho, Currently running a XP 2600+ with Volcano 11 (haha those were the days), some Gigabyte board, 1GB generic ram, old pixelview 5900XT 128mb. 2x80gb Seagate IDE, 120gb Seagate IDE, 2x160gb Seagate Sata.
Replacing one of the 80's and the 120 with a 320gb Seagate sata.
And from what i remember a ThermalTake 400 - 440 watt power supply,
All in a Antec SOHO Tower case.

As you can see this system is outdated but its done me well over the past 3 or 4 years.
I am on a budget, but not sure what that is yet! have'nt got heaps of cash to throw around.

This is what I'm considering:

NZ$200 AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+, dual core, socket AM2, 2.8GHz OEM
NZ$120 Asustek M2N, nForce 430 1394 support
NZ$120 2x$60 1GB DDR2-800 PC6400 SDRAM Generic Value Ram (what PC should i get, confused on what it actually means)

And seeing as how the board doesn't have VGA I'm going to have to buy a new G-Card aswell! For this i was considering a -
NZ$150 GeForce 7600 GT 256MB, 128bit PCI-Express - Point of view brand i think, not sure what the quality is of Point of view, any idea?
What are your thoughts on graphic card choices? Have looked at the new 8x series but unsure how the lower models compare with the later models of the 7 series.

Intended use? Graphic work and playing some games here and there, not a hard core gamer but thats mainly because my current system has forced me out of the loop with the current games. Probably won't have the money to do another similar upgrade for another 2 years or so as thats when i'll finally finish uni.

I'm over the idea of overclocking with a million fans running full tit and deafening me all day, gone are those days. So the cpu will probably be left stock and keep the stock HS & fan that it comes with depending on how well they do the job at stock clocks.

The other thing I need advice on is should i stick with generic ram or go for a brand name, such as Kingston?

Thank you all for reading and hopefully posting your advice.

Cheers

P.s heres the site which offers the best prices of items here in NZ http://www.pricespy.co.nz - kinda like the USAs new egg without the reviews.

 

[GeistKrieger]

I would go for the 6000+ if you can squeeze it in, but its not a large differance in speed. The graphics card you got picked out has 128bit memory which is somewhat slower then 256bit, so I would aim for something with at least 256bit, and its not too hard to find a graphics card around the same price. Such as this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143070

Also as for the RAM, I use patriot ram at the moment because of the good reviews rather then the popularity of brand name. In my opinion go
for what has good reviews, and has good latency's.

 

[fliptrip]

cheers for the advice, the 6000 chip is only about $40 dearer but like you said, i figured the small increase in speed wasn't really worth even the 40 bucks.

as for the G-card, i read about 128bit vs 256bit, but the cheapest 7900GS is $230 and thats for an INNO3D, PALIT & ALBATRON brand, which i am unsure of the quality, the cheapest branded 7900GS is the Asustek 7900GS 256MB PCI-E DVI-I Graphic Card for $250, which is probably abit out of my budget but then again now that you've mentioned it i will probably just bite the bullet!

 

[Thund3rball]

Looks good. I agree with the GFX card, go for a 7900GS
I am running Kingston value ram which works well enough for now (2x1GB 667 DDR2). I am sure some Corsair Dominators would be killer but at the time they were very expensive. I do a lot of Photoshop, Illy, InDesign, Dreamweaver etc... as well as FPS games almost everyday, and I don't have any complaints.

 

[Kuroimaho]

The 5600+ will OC over 3G as well the difference won't mean much when both those Cpus reach end of usability.

Try to find a used 7900Gt there were plenty over here was around the price of a new 7600gt. The added zalman cooler was a cherry on the pie.

 

[GeistKrieger]

I don't see any 7900gs at around 230$, I see most are around 150$, check my link again.

 

[fliptrip]

Thund3rball, i do alot of ps, illy indesign etc so a very relevant post, cheers.

I've never bought a used gfx card, unsure of quality etc, whether the person before me has oc'ed etc, so that has always put me off. But i think i'll grab that asus 7900GS due to your advice.

What about the mobo, adequate? whats the future compatibility of this/AM2 boards in general, i've heard talk of new AM2+ chips?

I can get 2x Kingston ValueRAM 1GB DDR2-800 Module CL5 for $200? unsure of what the difference in suffix is of 800 comapred with 667 etc.

 

[fliptrip]

sorry Geist, I'm in New Zealand, check here for our NZ equivalent of newegg.com

 

[mortimer]

Why not save a *lot* of cash and go for a Biostar 7025 (or 7050), AMD 3600+ Brisbane, 2GB OCZ plats and a new PS. I got the Seasonic S12 430. $280 delivered for the lot a week ago.

Results for a system I put together this morning:

 

[fliptrip]

Whats wrong with my psu?
As for the 3600, i'm not too sure about what you are suggesting, i think you mean for me to overclock it to get it up to speeds comparable with the 5600, but like i said, i don't really want to go down the overclocking path, as i'd then have to buy a better heatsink n fan etc.

 

[malvindo]

Hello to everyone, just like to say, this is an amazing place with massive amounts of extremely helpful information.

I need some help on a choosing a new system, like many others i've been out of the loop since i built the system below (what a change!) have been reading up over the last week to get myself up to speed.

Anywho, Currently running a XP 2600+ with Volcano 11 (haha those were the days), some Gigabyte board, 1GB generic ram, old pixelview 5900XT 128mb. 2x80gb Seagate IDE, 120gb Seagate IDE, 2x160gb Seagate Sata.
Replacing one of the 80's and the 120 with a 320gb Seagate sata.
And from what i remember a ThermalTake 400 - 440 watt power supply,
All in a Antec SOHO Tower case.

As you can see this system is outdated but its done me well over the past 3 or 4 years.
I am on a budget, but not sure what that is yet! have'nt got heaps of cash to throw around.

This is what I'm considering:

NZ$200 AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+, dual core, socket AM2, 2.8GHz OEM
NZ$120 Asustek M2N, nForce 430 1394 support
NZ$120 2x$60 1GB DDR2-800 PC6400 SDRAM Generic Value Ram (what PC should i get, confused on what it actually means)

And seeing as how the board doesn't have VGA I'm going to have to buy a new G-Card aswell! For this i was considering a -
NZ$150 GeForce 7600 GT 256MB, 128bit PCI-Express - Point of view brand i think, not sure what the quality is of Point of view, any idea?
What are your thoughts on graphic card choices? Have looked at the new 8x series but unsure how the lower models compare with the later models of the 7 series.

Intended use? Graphic work and playing some games here and there, not a hard core gamer but thats mainly because my current system has forced me out of the loop with the current games. Probably won't have the money to do another similar upgrade for another 2 years or so as thats when i'll finally finish uni.

I'm over the idea of overclocking with a million fans running full tit and deafening me all day, gone are those days. So the cpu will probably be left stock and keep the stock HS & fan that it comes with depending on how well they do the job at stock clocks.

The other thing I need advice on is should i stick with generic ram or go for a brand name, such as Kingston?

Thank you all for reading and hopefully posting your advice.

Cheers

P.s heres the site which offers the best prices of items here in NZ http://www.pricespy.co.nz - kinda like the USAs new egg without the reviews.

if u want build new system, u can try intel 4300 or brisbane 3600 x2
both very value system, but intel of course more expensive

if i were u, i would buy
Brisbane 3600 or 4000( dunno rite or not, it was 2.1gz brisbane, but not remember the PR rating )
then overclock it, u should get 2.5ghz-2.7ghz at least
ask Alabama Cajun , he got lot of Brisbane experience

any mobo, but some ppl got good experienc with Biostar T series
i prefer DFI or Abit, the maybe some day try Biostar since so many good review on them

try ur luck with value ram with Micron D9 chip, they overclock well
just ask the shop to see the ram 1st

the GFX any of 7900GS, 1900 or 1950 then 8800GTS
suit ur need on GFX

 

[malvindo]

Whats wrong with my psu?
As for the 3600, i'm not too sure about what you are suggesting, i think you mean for me to overclock it to get it up to speeds comparable with the 5600, but like i said, i don't really want to go down the overclocking path, as i'd then have to buy a better heatsink n fan etc.

u see what mortimer post?
he push that far with 1.3v?
with not add the vcore, that very2x cool n not consider as overclock
at least very2x light overclock
ask mortimer abt the temp, i don't think that temp would high

yup, forget abt PSU, maybe u need change ur PSU,
urs is TR2 Thermal take? don't think got very high amp on 12v rail,
newer PSU, got very2x good amp on their 12v

 

[fliptrip]

malvindo - i find you very hard to understand, especially with all those emoticons.

anyway, i think you missed the part about i can't be bothered with the hassles of overclocking. the DFI & Abit boards are too expensive i feel considering what i need, but thank you for the advice, now get rid of those emoticons.

 

[Thund3rball]

If you were going to overclock I would agree with the 3600 Brisbane otherwise stick with the 5600, plus you get 2MB Cache. I have used the Biostar TForce board before. Great MB with the 3600+ and an excellent price. Might be worth looking at in NZ? You could use the saved $$ towards the 7900GS.

I don't think TT PSUs are regarded as solid, reliable performers around here. I don't know much about TT PSU's though? I had an OEM PSU and bought a Corsair shortly after just to be safe. Didn't want it to kill my rig one day. Sparkle also makes very quiet & reliable PSUs for a very good price. Here it is on NewEgg ($43 US).

 

[fliptrip]

the thermaltake will have to suffice for now i think, unless i come across something with it that won't go well with the new setup. I've never had a problem with it since my antec blew up over 2 years ago.

Couldn't find any sparkle PSUs located here in N.Z anyway, neither could i find any Biostar boards, so i guess that's a sign to stick with the 5600 and the Asus M2N.

Found no 2nd hand 5900 GS cards here in NZ either. slack all round to be honest. but it will keep my mind at ease to buy brand new anyway.

Am a little unsure about the different models of the M2N board. Theres M2N, M2N-E ones with NForce 430, ones with NFORCE GEFORCE 6100, nForce4 570 Ultra? Unsure which one i actually need.

 

[ochungry]

Go for ATI 2600XT. it's better card and cheaper.
Go w/ nf 570 motherboard (Biostar is a good motherboard)
upgrade the power supply to 550 or more w/ dual 12v rail (22amp per rails). believe me, you wont regret it.
Patriot DDR2 pc6400 4-4-4-12 is a great memory and I think you can get rebate.

 

[Kuroimaho]

if u want build new system, u can try intel 4300 or brisbane 3600 x2
both very value system, but intel of course more expensive

Or get an E21XX OC 3G+ and enjoy a beast.

 

[AlabamaCajun]

I would go with one of the newer ATX or MATX N520 boards that have newer chipsets (Biostar, ECS or Asus all have solid boards). With the onboard video, you can always use it in a pinch if your main video drops out but disable it when you are using a add on card and it won't effect performance. Most support Raid arrays and 1394 port(s).
5600 is the best performance and power balance and optimal cost.
For ram GSkill, OCZ, PQI and Wintec all make great RAM.

 

[Thund3rball]

Am a little unsure about the different models of the M2N board. Theres M2N, M2N-E ones with NForce 430, ones with NFORCE GEFORCE 6100, nForce4 570 Ultra? Unsure which one i actually need.

Wow NZ is pricey unless your annual salary is twice as much for the same job here

M2N-E
USA/CAN ~$100
NZ ~$200

7900GS
USA/CAN ~$150
NZ ~ $230

M2N-E
My 1st choice cause it's what I use. Solid board, 'newer' 570 chipset, no SLI (you don't need it anyway), onboard audio/video/lan.

Going by price and what I am familiar with this is my 2nd choice.
Microstar K9N Neo-F Socket AM2 nVidia nForce 550 ATX
$128

For GFX if you can't afford the 7900GS w/256bit, than either 7600GT or 8600GT would be my next choice. Either will be good for graphic design work. Are you running XP or Vista?

 

[fliptrip]

Haha @ Thund3rball, that is the reason i keep stressing that i am in fact in NZ not the states- alot of people seem to overlook that when suggesting stuff etc, when it in fact it plays a huge part in determining what to buy. I don't think our salaries would be twice as much, in fact definitely not. The NZ$ is up to something like US$0.8, highest its ever been but hasn't caused our computer imports to be any cheaper.. yet.

It seems like i should certainly get an Nforce 550 or 570 board rather than the 430. The microstar board you suggested, Is this the same one? same specs etc? as its only 135, but unsure of the quality of MSI boards?

Have already decided on the Asus 7900GS.

So basically it comes down to which mobo to get, want to get this sorted and ordered today so i can have it for the weekend. New Samsung syncmaster 226BW arrives in an hour.

Will most likely be using XP, but may give vista a try, if i like it a switch could be in order, but i really don't see the point in vista for my needs except to eat up alot of system resources for the same thing that xp offers for less.

ALSO - In regards to RAM, what is the difference in DDR2-667 PC5300, DDR2-800 PC6400 & DDR2-533 PC4200?
AND would my DDR pc3200 (200mhz) ram work in the DDR2 Mobo?

cheers again, your advice has all been very helpful. Keep it up.