Building new computer

[Tribulatifather]

Okay... I am going to buy a PC Chips M985G Intel Socket 775 microATX Motherboard, and it supports both DDR memory and DDR2 memory

Number of Slots
2 184-Pin
2 240-Pin

Number of Pins
184-Pin
240-Pin

Maximum Memory Supported
2GB

Memory Supported
400MHz DDR2
533MHz DDR2
DDR333 (PC2700)
DDR400 (PC3200)

(as labled at: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...Tab=2&NoMapp=0

Is it OK to mix DDR and DDR2 memory... Because in my computer now, I have two 256 MB DDR (PC3200) sticks of memory at 400 MHz each... Or do you think that I should just stick with buying two new sticks of memory, instead of buying one new stick of DDR2 and taking one of my old sticks....

[Tribulatifather]

Oh, yeah, sorry for the double post, but, Can I also add a DDR3 gfx card with this motherboard that supports DDR and DDR2... Or do I have to get a motherboard that supports DDR3 memory?

[A.Son]

I think your Mobo can run 1 kind of DDR or DDR2 only it do not suport for both of them running at time .
Mobo Support PCI-E 16x so if you can get a VGA use ram DD3 like 6600GT is better .

[Rikky]

the ram on the vid card and the system ram are not related at all,its best to stick with one kind of memory for compatibility,when mixing different brands,speeds and sizes anything can happen

[Wyatt_Earp]

Also, I'd stay far away from PC Chips motherboards. I'd stick with a name brand like Asus, Abit, MSI, or Gigabyte.

[theefool]

Originally Posted by Wyatt_Earp

Also, I'd stay far away from PC Chips motherboards. I'd stick with a name brand like Asus, Abit, MSI, or Gigabyte.

I also agree, though, personally, I'm not fond of MSI. But that is just me!

[askantik]

I have an MSI board that works great... I really don't like Asus all that much.

I think you'll find someone who likes and doesn't like everything... But I will agree that PC Chips is kinda "you get what you pay for."

And don't mix DDR and DDR2. They made some old mobos that supported both SDRAM and DDR, but you couldn't use both at the same time without a system error.

A 6600GT isn't a bad card, like he pointed out. Also, if you want to do games, I believe the general consensus (and my humble opinion) is that AMD is better than Intel (for games, anyway).

Just some things to look into, everyone's got their favorites! :D

Originally Posted by theefool

I also agree, though, personally, I'm not fond of MSI. But that is just me!

[ASUS]

[QUOTE= I really don't like Asus all that much.
[QUOTE]

Oh really!
I dont much like you either ""

Asus makes "some" of the Best MOBO's on the market, 3yr warranty too.

[ASUS]

Originally Posted by Wyatt_Earp

Also, I'd stay far away from PC Chips motherboards. I'd stick with a name brand like Asus, Abit, MSI, or Gigabyte.

Excellant Advice!

I wouldnt take a PC Chips or ECS mobo if they were free.( Bottom of the Barrel stuff)
Ya get what ya pay for & sometimes less!

Last I read there is little performance differance between DDR 184pin & DDR2 240 pin.
No mixing, ya got 184pin DDR use it or add too it.
Check this out:
http://compreviews.about.com/gi/dyna...DDR2/index.htm

[FinalJason823]

Asus makes pretty good motherboards unless you have to RMA them. Then it's a pain in the butt. Their nVidia based stuff is so superior to their Via based stuff that it's pathetic. However, let me say if your looking for a video card, OMG does ASUS kick butt. As far as motherboards though, DFI is by far the motherboard I've had the very least trouble with. Esp. if you want to oc at all.

[A.Son]

DFI is good at OC but timmings of ram is verry difficult for stable and you have to update bios for fixing of TCCD ram at 3v16 for high bus...

[Tribulatifather]

Thank you all on your opinions... Ok... So here is goes... This is what I have decided on for building my own computer:

G452-2526 :: Gigabyte 8N SLI Royal NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Dual Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID (3 lbs)

With a CP2-P4-540 C :: Intel Pentium 4 540 3.2Ghz / 1MB Cache / 800 FSB / Socket 775 / HyperThreading / Processor (0.1 lbs)

With a S457-1034 :: Masscool 8W0141B1M3G / Socket 775 / Intel Prescott / Aluminum / CPU Cooling Fan (2 lbs)

With 2 Gigs of (4 sticks total)G28-6022 :: Geil Dual Channel 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory (2 x 512MB) (0.5 lbs)

I am also going to double up on two SLI L456-1016 :: Leadtek GeForce 6600 GT / 128MB DDR3 / PCI Express / VGA / DVI / HDTV Out / Video Card (1 lbs)

And the case I chose is a D15-1042 :: Diablo Black and Silver ATX Mid-Tower Case with Front USB Ports and 400-Watt Power Supply (14 lbs)

With a THD-80H2 :: Hitachi / 80GB / 7200 / 2MB / ATA-100 / EIDE / OEM / Hard Drive (2 lbs)

The total is $1,398.90. Will someone critique and tell me if this would be a good computer to build... You see I bought a Dimension 3000... I am selling that for $731, what I paid for it, with out the flat screen that I bought... I don't mean to say that they are bad computers... But I will never go back to Dell Dimensions ever again...

[Tribulatifather]

The actual price is 1,243.91... Sorry

[Wyatt_Earp]

My only suggestion would be to get a 6800 GT rather than two 6600 GTs. SLI isn't very compatible at the moment. You'll find a lot of games that just won't work, and you'll end up just turning SLI off to play them. Just get one 6800 GT now, and maybe in the future when it becomes more of a standard, buy a second 6800 GT.

P.S. I'll bet you'll have a hard time selling a Dimension 3000 for $731 (without the flat screen) since you can get one new with a 15" flat panel for $549. Your computer is really only worth about $375 without the monitor or $475 with the monitor.

And Dell computers are great if you're looking for a budget system.

[Tribulatifather]

So even if I have a motherboard that supports sli, an nvidia northbridge, and two card that are sli and I have that little connector... sli can still be bad...wow... I have another question: If the motherboard that I buy can support 64-bit technology, but I don't get a dual core processor and isn't 64-bit....can I still install windows 64-bit?

[Wyatt_Earp]

No, you can't run Windows x64 without a 64-bit capable processor. And this brings up another thing. 64-bit really doesn't help much right now. It's best to go with a 64-bit processor and Windows XP 32-bit. Windows x64 doesn't provide much of an increase in performance in most applications. Also, not all hardware is compatible yet. Drivers for WinXP won't work for Windows x64. I'd say wait on that just like SLI.

[Tribulatifather]

Okay... Thank you for your help, agian...