PSD99 needs to upgrade

[psd99]

I am thinking this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145748


right now

 

[Abarbarian]

http://www.motherboards.org/

Have a look here for some info.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Well at the moment the OS is installed on the 250GB IDE but I already have another 250GB SATA drive that I pulled out of another machine.

Then I have got 1 X 120gb and 1 X 160GB drive in current machine. I reckon if I could get that new board from ebay working on my computer number 2 I could put all the IDE drives in that machine. Yes I will ditch the idea having IDE drives in my new build good idead.

The decision is to find the right board now
the links I have provided all have a price range of around £110 it is about making the decision now. Is esata worth it?

So if I've understood this correctly you have a total of 530Gb all on IDE drives in your current machine?

If you ditch those, use the 250Gb SATA drive you've mentioned and then purchase either an extra 250Gb or 320Gb SATA drive you'll have around the same storage. 250Gb drive is around £30.00; 320Gb drive is around £35.00 - sorted.

e-sata is merely an external socket for connecting external devices that have e-sata facility, most commonly external disk drives. it's a faster form of data transfer than USB2 but unless you're going to be using any external e-sata devices on a regular basis, is probably not a factor worth considering within your requirements and budget.

The board you've linked to doesn't have onboard wifi, I thought that was one of your requirements?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Following system costs £470.00 inc postage which is £20.00 over your budget but meets all your requirements.

You could save money by getting a slower CPU; using the Intel stock CPU cooler instead of the Zalman cooler I've listed; get a 250Gb hard disk instead of a 320Gb and save a fiver.

The system has the following:

Two cores at 2.66Ghz stock
1066 memory
1333 fsb
6 sata ports
2 external sata ports
Onboard wifi
A quiet modular PSU
A silent graphics card

Here's a link to the motherboard details

 

[floppybootstomp]

And for about the same price, here's a different option:

Quad core Q6600; 2.4Ghz; 1066fsb

If it were me I would probably go for the Q6600

 

[psd99]

So if I've understood this correctly you have a total of 530Gb all on IDE drives in your current machine?

If you ditch those, use the 250Gb SATA drive you've mentioned and then purchase either an extra 250Gb or 320Gb SATA drive you'll have around the same storage. 250Gb drive is around £30.00; 320Gb drive is around £35.00 - sorted.

e-sata is merely an external socket for connecting external devices that have e-sata facility, most commonly external disk drives. it's a faster form of data transfer than USB2 but unless you're going to be using any external e-sata devices on a regular basis, is probably not a factor worth considering within your requirements and budget.

The board you've linked to doesn't have onboard wifi, I thought that was one of your requirements?

Yes sir it is around 530 GB. Ditching the IDE is definetly going to happen.

Well on board wi fi would be good
BUT if the board has TWO PCI slots then I can use it for.

1. Wireless Netgear Card I currently got
2. PCI TV Card.

The question is if I were to get totally seperate sound card then without a free PCI slot how could I put that board?


I was thinking of getting a decent sound card in the long run ALTHOUGH I wonder if there is a point. All I need is coaxial and this board has that inbuilt.

 

[floppybootstomp]

You're really not paying attention are you?

The board I've listed has onboard wifi; onboard 8 channel sound and three pci slots.

So let's assume you wanted to add a different LAN card, sound card and TV card, that board has room for all three.

And yes it is worth paying for a decent sound card though good ones are not cheap.

I've given it my best shot, somebody else can have a go now...

 

[psd99]

Following system costs £470.00 inc postage which is £20.00 over your budget but meets all your requirements.

You could save money by getting a slower CPU; using the Intel stock CPU cooler instead of the Zalman cooler I've listed; get a 250Gb hard disk instead of a 320Gb and save a fiver.

The system has the following:

Two cores at 2.66Ghz stock
1066 memory
1333 fsb
6 sata ports
2 external sata ports
Onboard wifi
A quiet modular PSU
A silent graphics card

Here's a link to the motherboard details

wonderful thanks for taking the time to get that together. I think that looks great so far.
Perfect combination I was considering that exact CPU as well. Good price imo.


I don't need another hard drive right now so I could take that of the equation out plus the delivery and that comes out to just over £400 which if I searched around I could probably get it bang on around £400.


The only and I mean only snag would be that PSU that board is Crossfire from what I have read is an ATI thing and that PSU is SLI compliant which is Nvidia. I don't think I will ever be using either but still?

What is the point of crossfire or SLI?
Would 2 monitors be needed?

 

[psd99]

NICE you named that image file psd! Brilliant

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ah, ok, I replied too quick

Using two graphics card in either crossfire or sli is not much improvement for a lot of extra cash. You have said you won't be playing any games that are hardware intensive so why are you even considering two graphics cards?

You're better off with a single high end card than twin grafix.

And take a look, the pci-e slot runs at x 16 for a single card or 8 x each slot for two cards so pretty pointless eh?

When Corsair say their PSU is 'sli compliant' it's just a sales pitch it just means it has enough connectors and can supply enough current, it's also 'Crossfire compliant' as well which means bugger-all actually.

If you shop around for better prices, consider postage costs, it usually all works out much of a muchness when you add on several postage costs against just one if you buy from seperate suppliers.

Wouldn't hurt to take a look at E-Buyer and Aria for the same items though. That is if they stock those parts.

And no, of course you don't need two monitors

 

[psd99]

Bingo thanks!!!

I'll have a look during work time tomorrow right now I am thinking of making an apple pie.
Starving right now almost dinner time.

Price hunt/matching starts tomorrow I will probably put the order(s) through beginning of next week.
Ebuyer are good because they do free delivery. No rush for me at the moment providing we have no power outages!!

 

[floppybootstomp]

E-Buyer also use City Link so beware.

I ordered a DVI female to female adapter two weeks ago that e-buyer promised would be here last Thursday.

I find out today (from e-buyer) that it's sitting in a 'holding cage' at City Link's local depot which is about a half hour drive away from me

I'm driving that way tomorrow to do some work so it's worked out ok, fortunately.

Did City Link leave a calling card? Nope.

E-Buyer are good, City Link are crap, puts me off using E-Buyer.

There's one supplier, can't remember who now, gives you a choice of four delivery companies, inc Royal mail. Now that's a good idea

Good luck with the upgrade anyhow, let us know how you get on.

 

[psd99]

You're really not paying attention are you?

The board I've listed has onboard wifi; onboard 8 channel sound and three pci slots.

So let's assume you wanted to add a different LAN card, sound card and TV card, that board has room for all three.

And yes it is worth paying for a decent sound card though good ones are not cheap.

I've given it my best shot, somebody else can have a go now...

I didn't see this but three PCI slots is great. All I wonder about right now looking at that is the NOISE.
It has got two ethernet ports with inbuilt wireless really super.

I wonder if there are any annoying fans on that board that generate some noise. Some boards are totally fanless (without CPU fan) and I am just trying to work out if this board falls into that category.

 

[psd99]

cheers mate

Well ebuyer so far so good with me.

Last time I got something from ebuyer I opted for 5 day free delivery and it came THE NEXT DAY! I couldn't believe it!!!

 

[floppybootstomp]

If you enlarge the image of the motherboard from the link I supplied it looks very much to me as if the board has no fans. My Asus board doesn't have any fans, it uses passive cooling.

This from the motherboard blurb (I think Q-Fan is software):

ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution
- ASUS AI Gear 2
- ASUS AI Nap
- ASUS 8-Phase Power Design
- ASUS Fanless Design: Pure Copper Heat-pipe solution
- ASUS Fanless Design: Stack Cool 2
- ASUS Q-Fan

 

[psd99]

nice what about the chipset?

is that P35 future proof?

 

[psd99]

Well the link I gave earlier from ebuyer:


http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145748

It has got a better chipset and


Then there is this one at overclockers:



Here is the overclockers link: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

it has got @ Wifi-N Intel whatever that may mean!?

Well I think it is a better board of course without wifi though but with:

this thing could support a MASSIVE 16GB
with DDR3 support
only 2 PCI slots

Probably more future proof.


What do you all reckon?

 

[psd99]

gosh those gigabyte boards look so attractive
but they are a little more expensive than Asus.

I like the way gigabyte use all these nice colours on the board.

 

[floppybootstomp]

X48 is current best chipset.

No chipset is totally future proof.

You're never going to use 16Gb RAM.

The board I suggested meets all your requirements, is a fair price and is a quality make and you gave indications you liked it.

That's it, I've made my contribution, if you want to spin this thing out, hope somebody else comes along.

Good luck

 

[psd99]

tough decision thanks for the input

I think I will go with 4 out of 6 items you posted.

Two items in question seem the motherboard and the memory (4gb vs 2gb)