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System Refresh

S

Slªde

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 8, 2003
Messages
114

Note: I have a year and a half or so old system that I'm not super thrilled with anymore. Couple other factors - my dad could use some pieces to upgrade his system, and I'm sitting on a copy of Windows 7 upgrade. Seems like a good time to dump some pieces his way and start fresh with some new pieces and a clean install (I'll figure out how to make this work w/ the upgrade disc somehow). I would like a noticable improvement (but don't particularly need to spend a ton) over what is going out which will include
Q6600 2.4ghz
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R LGA775 Intel P45
6GB GSkill (2x2 2x1) DDR2 800
maybe Samsung Spinpoint F1 750gb 7200rpm
probably Coolermaster 590 (kind of clunky and unnecessary for me)

1) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
brand new Corsair HX620W laying around
retaining 22" Dell 2209WA monitor, 1680 x 1050
retaining MSI 4850 512mb DDR3
retaining Asus Essence STX soundcard (second PCI-E device)
retaining DVD drive, keyboard, mouse, speakers, headphones, etc.

2) What exact parts do you need? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CASE - Thinking about 'Da Box' (mATX) when it launches. Seems spendy and maybe overkill for me but I would keep it around for a long time. Getting into a smaller form factor like this is preferred (esp. with so little / no sacrifice)
CPU - ? (XP mode capable)
MOBO - ?
RAM - ?
HD - Will buy my first SSD of decent quality like Intel X-25 G2 or one of the better OCZ's. I can probably get by on 80gb (could keep the 750gb around for storage only but that seems like way overkill.. no huge storage needs). Another piece I would plan to keep around forever to justify the cost.

3) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Internet, moderate gaming, misc programs that are usually not terribly intensive. Very frequent overall use.

4) Where do you live?
Oregon. Prefer ordering online.

5) Will you be overclocking?
I can try. Q6600 attempt didn't go so well. Not terribly experienced at it.

6) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
System should be operational in lets say a month. Can bargain hunt along the way.

7) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Stable/Reliable, maybe some overclocking potential, good ethernet rating. No major features come to mind. Will need one 2.0 x16 slot for the video card, and another PCI-E for the sound card (any ho-hum slot should work for this though right?)

8) Budget?
Loose on case and SSD where I'm already leaning in a known direction, so its really a question of CPU, MOBO, and RAM. I usually aim for upper mid or low high (where warranted) value. Whatever makes the most sense given the needs (not too extreme though a snappy system is nice), other components (1680 1050 and 4850 come to mind), upgrade flexibility down the road (could either skimp and upgrade sooner, or buy something nice now and sit on it). Would any AMD setups be a decent upgrade or am I headed into the i5/i7 road (at which point paying so much for the motherboard might just necessitate buying quality stuff now I'd have to sit on?)

Thoughts?
Thanks
 
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TBH, you're not going to notice much difference between your current system and a AMD Phenom II or a Core i5/i7 setup for the usage scenario you're describing if you were to upgrade your current Q6600 system with a SSD as well.
 
Between the two of us we'll need those parts anyway and I'd rather grab them. I could live with anything between a wash and a little overkill, preference learning towards a small upgrade even if I don't feel it in most use. I guess then I just need a value combo of 4GB ram, and a good CPU that I can get with a cheap but decent motherboard. How high can I go while keeping the mobo cost down, still being a nominal upgrade even if I don't always feel it? Phenom 2 about right (can you get a cheap mobo with that to make it a worthwhile drop in place of i5/i7), or something even worse? At what point of dropping down would it be a total wash even if my use was very intensive?
 
$234 - AMD Phenom II X4 945 CPU + G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM Combo
$75 - Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 Motherboard
-----
$309 shipped.

It's a slight upgrade over the Q6600.
 
Thanks, what about for an mATX mobo (w/ 2 PCI-E, regardless of the 2nd slots speed)? Any cheap standouts?
 
Slªde;1034859494 said:
Thanks, what about for an mATX mobo (w/ 2 PCI-E, regardless of the 2nd slots speed)? Any cheap standouts?
Click to expand...

$95 - Asus M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX
 
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