Hardware Confusion

Hello, I am building a new a computer and i have ran into many problems concerning hardware. I obviously do not know very much on configurations so i will sum the problem i am having up in short.

This is my current configuration; I purchased this pc from vilocity micro over 5 years ago and my micro processor fan has started to give me problems so i figured i wanted to upgrade my set up first starting with my cpu 4200 dual core. The next one up is a 4800 dual 939 pin but I realize that is only a 2.4. I I figured i would need more to stay more modern so i looked at a 5800 dual core but it is a am2 and thats where i realize i need to simply build a new system:

Asus A8n Sli Deluxe
7900 gt (x2) Sli
Amd Athlon Dual Core processor 4200 2.2
2.5 mushkin ram
Power Supply: 550 watt

Now here is my main concentration on my new setup:

Motherboard : ??? I have no idea what to get
Cpu: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5800+ 3.0
Gpu: GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit
Ram: Mushkin Enhanced Redline 4GB
Liquid Cool: I figure i need this to keep things cool, but i do not know anything about Liquid Cooling
Power Supply: Not worth looking into until i know what motherboard i have

I prefer sata raid and at least 2 pci slots. But this is where i am lost, I do not know what to get to complete this configuration. I am not looking for anything really great or special, just a step up from what i have so it will be in the high end performance once again like years before.

 

Hello and welcome to major geeks!

If you are looking for high performance then you can do a lot better than what you have chosen there.

One question to ask before we can help further: what is your budget for this build?

 

Hi, Thanks for the welcome . Oh yes, i forgot the budget. I would start at what i can get for no more then $1200 dollars.

 

Sorry i didnt get more specific, for a motherboard i think sli would be cool to have but not to use right away so i can upgrade that later as games continue to evolve. so pretty much anything goes. Ram is ram, i like getting those tested ram that get put in combos backs. So, a combo pack with a nice cpu would suffice as well. I want to make it quick but i only, on average use up 27 - 30 processes, unlike vista which has over 70! CRAZY! Well this is my computer for both games and multimedia.

Another error too, not $1200, I meant $120 but that was a double typo for $320 for everything except the gpu. I cant believe i typed that lol. Amd is the nuggets but i am unfamiliar with newer products. I use sata raid for my harddrives for storage so i will post a question at the bottom of query pertaining this. I really enjoyed using the 7900gtos, they could run alot of newer games in low quality even with my small cpu lol. What do you think of the Evga 9800gtx. Thats like a remake of the 8800gts aint it? I want to stick with my XPsp2 cd and then i will later update sp2 ---> 2p3 after i assemble my new creation.

So i guess we can start with the motherboard.


My curiosity for you:

Does sata raid2 have different connection thing at the end of the cord compared to sata raid regular?

How would 4 7900gtos do in quad sli lol?

 

If you want a mid-range to high-end computer you are probably going to need around $800-1000 these days, so I would keep saving up if I were you. For $320 you may as well buy pre-built from a chain store.

BTW, 7900GTOS will not support quad-SLI. And SLI is more of a pain than a benefit.

 

Snakeface- just did a little looking on Newegg.com. I think for $500-$600 you can put together a nice system IF you are re-using case/PSU/hard drives/DVD drive/monitor from your old one.

$150-$225 will get you a good motherboard and a AMD quad-core CPU.
Memory is expensive right now. Figure $100 for 2Gig, $200 for 4Gb.

$100 gets you a decent mid-range vid card, $200 gets you a better one.

In reply to a question you asked no you don't need different SATA cables for raid.

Sam

 

Alright, for the sake of argument lets pretend i have 1,000,000 dollars then gentlemen. I am not really here to discuss the prices of this hardware i completely aware of how much everything is, just mainly that i do not want to put as much as i have to in to it ( not meaning a cheap pc nor a giant monster rig ). If it costs me 1000 dollars then so be it. The motherboard right now is my main focus. So yea i have to save up but i do not know what i have to save up for. You can help me answer that question you nerds.

Im Just moving hard and cd drives to that pc and plus a sound card.

So with that said lets get strait to business: I like this board:

http://us.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&prod_no=1912
i am determined to get this board

Based off the information that i have already provided. What would you recommend me do to addon on to this board:

Liquid Cooling -
Graphics Card -
Ram -
Power Supply -

This is the computer case i will be getting as well since i pretty much have to build a new pc anyway as it seems:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1&cm_re=Antec_900_case-_-11-129-021-_-Product

I don't like prebuilt, its funnier to put your own computer together. and no quad core, i dont want to build a pc that will be a power whore and put my electricity bill up, so no quad core. That question about quad sli was just out of curiosity not something i wanted to do.

 

I don't think asking for help and then calling people "nerds" will get good results round here.

 

Oh no no no, my mistake Collins, I meant " you geeks " not nerds but even that is not nice either. That was pretty rude of me to say that. but i didnt mean it like offensively. i didnt come here to start problems with anybody. As you can tell i am a flawed individual in my communication. :major My apologies.

 

Okay, no problem.

Purely because of the motherboard you have chosen I will recommend a nVidia GTX 260 at least as a graphics card, and an i5 750 processor. As for RAM I would go for any reputable brand such as Corsair, Kingston etc.

I would only recommend liquid cooling if you are planning to engage in substantial overclocking of the system.

The power supply will be one of the most crucial components you purchase. If you purchase a low quality no-name brand PSU you are much more likely to:
1. get poor quality power which may affect system stability if you overclock.
2. Take out anything connected to it if it blows.
as compared to a reputable brand PSU.

The following text on PSUs has kindly been provided for reproduction here by Digerati:

 

That 80 sticker is quite nifty. I guess i will skip liquid cooling for a while then. I enjoyed that read on psus on their limitations and their facts. Speaking of limitations, does winxp have a limit for ram? Ive heard from somebody or a website that, 4gb is enough for xp and to exceed that, It will not make a difference other then waste system resources. Is that true?

My Wattage

Recommended Wattage: 592 watts for capacitor 30%
20-30% for 24

Here is the new configuration .

Motherboard:
MSI P55-GD55 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
Cpu:
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core
Ram:
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Video Card:
EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI
Psu:
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro 700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI
Case:
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX
Hard Drive:
X2 Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM

My current harddrives I want to add to the belly of the beast:
+my old hds WDC WD1600AAJS 160gb & Western Digital WD3000JS 300gb = all with 7200rpm sata3.0gb/s 8m cache

All from newegg.com - $952 --taxman-> $1030.06