Update to M2TW...

[edyzmedieval]

I want an update for my decent-to-powerful computer, but I have many questions before i buy something. And it's related to RAM.

Current specs:

Intel Pentium IV 3.0 GHZ with HT
512MB DDR2 RAM
250GB HDD
ATI Radeon X700 256MB PCI Express 16x
DVD-RW
ASUS 17"

Everything nice and clear so far. Also, it has a big potential for upgrading, such as 4 slots for RAM sticks and L2 cache 2MB.
My upgrade is this: 4x512MB DDR2 RAM sticks & a new 512MB video card.
Enough cash to spend on, got the cash ready.

I found 2 Corsair packs with 2x512MB DDR2 RAM in them, at about 150 euros per pack. They are PC6400. Problem is, I checked with CPU-Z and my current RAM stick is PC4300. If I replace the PC4300 with the PC6400, will it have any effect?

Second, I found a nice video card, 512MB at about 650 euros(kinda expensive...). It's a GeCube ATI Radeon X1900XTX. Is it worth the money for my computer power?

Thanks.

[Lemur]

I would think long and hard before buying a computer based around a Pentium IV, especially seeing as there are two CPU architectures on the market that are much faster and more energy-efficient. A mid-to-low-end AMD64 or Core2Duo will leave you with a much clearer upgrade path.

I would avoid the XTX, since the XT is the same card at a slightly lower clock and half the price. And since you can overclock the XT from the control panel. Oh, but if you go with one of those two cards, set aside twenty bucks to replace the cooler with something quiet. I've had nothing but joy from my Accelero X2.

[doc_bean]

Don't buy that card at that price. A GeForce 7950 GT or an X1900XT should go around 300€, almost as good, less than half the cost.

If you want to spend that much on a videocard, you might consider getting an 8800 ? It's priced at 629€ in my local computer store.

Seriously, look for a cheaper store, I thought everything was supposed to be cheaper in eastern Europe !

[edyzmedieval]

Don't buy that card at that price. A GeForce 7950 GT or an X1900XT should go around 300€, almost as good, less than half the cost.

If you want to spend that much on a videocard, you might consider getting an 8800 ? It's priced at 629€ in my local computer store.

Seriously, look for a cheaper store, I thought everything was supposed to be cheaper in eastern Europe !

Hehe. I found a 7900GTX at 500 euros, which is basically twice the power and less expensive. Weird.
If I wanted to buy a new proc, I would buy a Conroe. But it's too expensive. 800-900 euros.

Can my Intel Pentium IV support a 7900GTX with 2GB RAM?
I ordered Corsair PC6400 4x512 DDR2 sticks.

[Beirut]

Curious why you would buy 4x512 RAM. 2x1024 uses less slots and leaves more room to grow.

Also, and one of our smarter-than-me members may tell me if I'm right, but isn't a single strip of 1024 at least a wee bit faster than 2x512?

[DukeofSerbia]

How prices are so high in Romania... I can't believe...

Radeon X1900XT is strong enough. Best is HIS model with IceQ3 cooling system.

[edyzmedieval]

Curious why you would buy 4x512 RAM. 2x1024 uses less slots and leaves more room to grow.

Also, and one of our smarter-than-me members may tell me if I'm right, but isn't a single strip of 1024 at least a wee bit faster than 2x512?

Never knew it was faster really.

I can cancel my order anytime, but I didn't find any Corsair 1GB sticks. How good is Kingston?

[Beirut]

Never knew it was faster really.

I can cancel my order anytime, but I didn't find any Corsair 1GB sticks. How good is Kingston?

I'm not sure it's faster, but I would think it is faster. One stick of 1024 megs of intergrated RAM must be a bit quicker than two sticks of 512 that have to work together.

Kinston RAM is just fine. Works for me anyway.

*An interesting RAM article at tomshardware.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/...u_really_need/

[edyzmedieval]

The thing is, I bought PC6400 Corsairs. My ASUS P5GD2-X might not support.
True or false?

[Beirut]

Does this help?

http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair...or_search.html

[edyzmedieval]

Excellent link.

Long live Beirut!!

[Geezer57]

Here in the US, the x1950XT 256mb cards have become available at very reasonable prices. One example here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102067

These can be easily overclocked to x1950XTX speeds, the only thing they lack is the extra RAM. How high a resolution does your current monitor support?

By all means, consider an aftermarket cooler for your GPU.

On the other topic, some motherboards don't allow as low a latency with four memory sticks installed, compared to just two. You're usually better off opting for 2x1gig sticks rather than 4x512meg sticks. Some models of motherboard have newer BIOS revisions that eliminate this issue, others do not.

[edyzmedieval]

So I will soon order the PC5400 since 1GB kits are not available.
Also, I have to persuade my dad for the following upgrades, and I'm very close anyhow. Components:

ASUS nVidia 7900GTX 512MB
Intel Dual Core E6700 2.67GHZ, 4MB L2 cache
MSI 975X Platinum Motherboard LGA775 socket(will support everything I buy... ) - fresh on the market

Any thoughts about these?

[Geezer57]

Unless you're going to go all the way up to the x6800 Extreme Edition (which is unlocked), I'd spend less money on the processor (i.e., downgrade to an e6600 or e6400, saving approx. $200 or $300) and more on the graphics card or cards. This is a gaming rig, right?

[edyzmedieval]

Unless you're going to go all the way up to the x6800 Extreme Edition (which is unlocked), I'd spend less money on the processor (i.e., downgrade to an e6600 or e6400, saving approx. $200 or $300) and more on the graphics card or cards. This is a gaming rig, right?

Extreme gaming rig.

I want a powerful processor + a powerful graphics card that can run M2TW maxxed out and possibly UT2007 on high settings...

I hope I can take a E6800 Extreme Edition... A E6600 is cheaper with 250 euros(350 dollars) than a E6700. So, I'll prolly be taking the E6600.

As for the mobo, is it good enough?

[AussieGiant]

Hi edyzmedieval,

Just make sure you DO NOT buy a 7950GX2 at the moment.

I am having problems with performance right now.

Stick with anything else but this card.

[doc_bean]

I think the motherboard might have problems running Linux (the 965 types do) but i don't think that will concern you.

[edyzmedieval]

I'm not that geeky about software creating and editing, so I won't use Linux. Although I love chats about programming languages...

[Beirut]

Hi edyzmedieval,

Just make sure you DO NOT buy a 7950GX2 at the moment.

I am having problems with performance right now.

Stick with anything else but this card.

That's a very high-end card. What problems are you having?

[Geezer57]

Extreme gaming rig.
<STUFF DELETED>
As for the mobo, is it good enough?

The 975x has been the top choice for the Core 2 Duo, but doesn't support SLI (only CrossFire) for NVidia graphics cards. Lately the NForce 680i chipset has been released, so there's another option for gaming fans. One such motherboard can be viewed here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188009

The MSI board you listed is considered fairly solid and stable, but a bit "quirky" when overclocking. Most enthusiasts seem to prefer the equivalent ASUS offerings, but all that is rapidly changing as new chipsets are appearing.

[Husar]

There should be some way cheaper NForce 6 series chips coming soon though, I don't think everyone needs a >200$ board.

[edyzmedieval]

So, I received the funds to make me a serious upgrade.
Here's my final list.

ASUS P5NSLI nForce 570 SLI Intel Edition
INTEL CORE2 DUO E6600
2xCorsair DDR2 PC5400 2x512MB (couldn't find 1GB sticks... I found one, but I don't know how reliable it is)
ASUS EN7900GTX 512MB

Any comments?

[Gawain of Orkeny]

OK I found this site where you can configure your own pc. I have between 800 and 1000 dollars to spend. Can anyone configure what I need here? Id like to use an intel e6400.

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/c...r.aspx?mid=119

Also are these prices good?

[Proletariat]

IIRC, Gawain, that's the site Lemur swears by, and I think somehow related (the websites and configurators are near identical) to cyberpower.com, where I bought my last gaming computer. It's held up nicely and I've had no real complaints, but the customer service has been fairly useless.

Anyways, do you need a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc for your setup, or just the comp itself?

[Lemur]

I wouldn't swear by it, but I bought my last rig from them. It came in one piece, with a decent wiring job, and most of the parts were where they should be. Admittedly, the sound card came in a plastic bag, and I needed to install it myself, but that's not really a big complaint.

I know two other people who bought PCs from ibuypower, and none of them had any complaints either. Your mileage may vary. Can't beat 'em for price, and they carry some nice parts.

[edit]

Gawain, I put together a nice gaming rig for $984 on the site -- see if this link works. If not, I'll post the specs in text form.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Anyways, do you need a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc for your setup, or just the comp itself?

Just the pc

Im thinking of going with this one for 1129

Upgrades are the e6400

Dolby surround card

and Intel pro network card


Is it worth 50 bucks for the 500 watt power supply?

Gamer EX
Intel&#174; Core 2 Duo E6400 CPU
ASUS P5N-SLI 16x PCI-E Mother Board
1024 MB DDR2-800 Memory
SATA-II 250GB 7200 RPM HDD
16X DL DVD&#177;R/&#177;RW
16X DVD-ROM
2x 512MB GeForce 7300GT PCI-E Video Card [SLI enabled]
7.1 Channel Surround Sound
600 Watts Subwoofer Speaker
Windows XP Media Center 2005
Nzxt Apollo Gaming Tower


LINK

Special Features:
[FREE !!] Quiet & Cool Liquid CPU Cooling System
[FREE !!] 802.11g Wireless Card

[Lemur]

Is it worth 50 bucks for the 500 watt power supply?

Yes. It's not a good idea to skimp on the power supply. 500 watts is considered minimum wage by people who know a lot more than I do.

Also, most games are GPU-limited, rather than CPU-limited, so it's better to cut corners on the CPU and make sure that you've got a kickin' video card. Any Core2Duo is gonna make you happy.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

so it's better to cut corners on the CPU and make sure that you've got a kickin' video card.

Whats the deal on the one(2?) that comes with this?

2x 512MB GeForce 7300GT PCI-E Video Card [SLI enabled]

[Lemur]

Whats the deal on the one(2?) that comes with this?

2x 512MB GeForce 7300GT PCI-E Video Card [SLI enabled]

I know next to nothing about the 7300 chipset, but my understanding is that, say, $300 of SLI cards is less fun than $300 of a good single video card. In other words, the best case for SLI is either at the uber-high-end, or as an upgrade path.

Looking at the configuration page you linked, I would change the video card to either the 7900GT or the 1900XT. Either of those should be very, very pleasant options, and easier to work with than an SLI rig. (Someone with dual expertise can correct me, but I believe a game must have a special profile to work with two cards ...)

Did the link I supplied work? Just curious ...

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

2x 512MB GeForce 7300GT PCI-E Video Card [SLI enabled]

This is a really bad idea. The 7300 is not a good card, and sticking two of them in an SLI set-up isn't going to change that.

Spend 60 dollars more and get the 7950GT instead.