On Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:41:42 +0000, ShadowTek wrote:
It's time for a new build, and I'd like to keep costs under $400 or
$500. I've made a few selections from NewEgg, and I'll be glad to hear
any comments or suggestions anyone has.
I'll start off by listing what I currently have:
Motherboard: MS-7093 (v1.X) M-ATX Mainboard
It's a micro-ATX socket 939 with DDR1.
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+ @ 2200MHz RAM: 3 GBs, DDR1,
dual-channel
GPU: GeForce 9600 GT, PCI-E
I'll rob the GPU, hard drives and optical drives from this old rig, so
all I need to get is a case, motherboard, CPU, RAM, and power supply.
Here's what I'm thinking about getting from NewEgg. All the choices
where made while trying to balance cost vs performance, while trying to
aim for as much future upgradability as possbile.
Case: ENERMAX Uber Chakra ECA5001B Black Aluminum / Steel Trim
w/250mm
Intake/Exhaust LED Monster Fan ATX Full Tower Case w/Front I/O 1
eSATA,4 USB2.0, Audio I/O - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811124121
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45C-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel
Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128364
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz 2MB L2 Cache
LGA
775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116093
RAM: WINTEC AMPX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2
6400)
Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400C5-4096K - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820161183
Power Supply: OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V
SLI
Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341019
I like that the motherboard can handle a large variety of CPUs, *and*
the fact that it can handle 4 GBs of DDR3 as well. That should give me a
few options down the road when prices drop.
All of this adds up to about $530, but I'll have about $95 in mail-in
rebates.
If anybody can suggest better choices without driving up the price, I'd
be glad to hear it.
Also, I'll be using this with Linux operating systems, so I'd like to
steer clear of any known driver conflicts, etc..
Spend a little more on the CPU and get an E8400. It has a 6M cache vs a
2M cache on the 6500. I have my E8400 overclocked to 4GHz using a
Thermalright Ultra 120 heatsink (not avail from Newegg, I got it from
another website). Also get DDR2 1000 RAM, it will make overclocking
easier. The Gigabyte motherboard has a limited number of clock
multipliers for the RAM so when you up the FSB you end up overlocking the
RAM even if you set it down to the lowest RAM multiplier. If you use DDR2
1000 this won't be a problem, and the price of DDR2 1000 is barely more
than DDR2 800 these days.