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  • System upgrade time...some questions

    In a couple of weeks I'll have some cash handy so I figured I'd upgrade my system a bit...

    I've currently got a 2.53 GHz Northwood P4, 768MB DDR266, ASUS P4B533 (i845E) and an 80GB Western Digital SE (8MB cache), with an AGP ASUS GeForce 6600GT.

    I want to get a 3.2 GHz Pentium 640 (Prescott, 64bit, 2MB cache, HT, FSB 800, LGA775), an ASUS P5P800, 2x512MB DDR400 and a 300 (or 400) GB, 16MB buffer SATA harddisk.

    First of all, the mobo seems very interesting: my Audigy died a couple of weeks ago and the P5P800 has a very unique 20$ upgrade option: http://www.soundblaster.com/mbupgrade/

    I'm still a bit unclear on what it does, but by the looks of it it offers (probably software) SB Live! level music/surround effects, with the VERY nice added bonus of EAX Advanced HD for games...these are basically the things I miss the most with my onboard C-Media at the moment.

    This motherboard does not support NCQ or dual-core CPUs, but I think it wouldn't be much of a problem, it seems that the 2MB cache & HT are pretty useful for multitasking even with a single core. It also supports CPUs up to 3.8GHz, so I think I'd be pretty safe even after Vista shows up.

    What do you guys think?

    schmosef, I seem to remember that you were considering getting the same mobo at some point, did you ever get it? There's precious few user reviews (and no full reviews) of it online


    Also, about the hard-disk brand, I'd like to rule out Hitachi (unless their QA has gone way up since the IBM days) and Maxtor (had nothing but problems with them on several systems), which would leave Western Digital and Seagate, with comparable offerings...would it make any difference to get a SATA-II compatible model?

    Thanks in advance for any input
    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

  • #2
    Any particular reason to go the intel route?.. a nice athlon64 system should run faster, cooler and cheaper
    We have enough youth - What we need is a fountain of smart!


    i7-920, 6GB DDR3-1600, HD4870X2, Dell 27" LCD

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    • #3
      I don't like VIA, nForce for Athlon64 is PCI-Express only AFAIK, the Athlon64 3200+ is only 20$ cheaper than the above-mentioned CPU while the 3500+ is 20$ more expensive, they don't offer any multitasking-enhancing technology unless I go dual-core...


      edit: oh yeah, and one other question: ultimately, is it worth the cash for the enhancements I'll be getting? Actually, the main thing I need is a new, big hard-disk, which I really want to be SATA, which means a new motherboard.
      All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

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      • #4
        The upgrade isn't worth the money imo, but it all depends what you want todo with your PC. And then I would still consider going the AMD route atm.

        It seems you only want more diskspace ever thought of buying a sata pci controller? Or an external harddisk?
        Main: Dual Xeon LV2.4Ghz@3.1Ghz | 3X21" | NVidia 6800 | 2Gb DDR | SCSI
        Second: Dual PIII 1GHz | 21" Monitor | G200MMS + Quadro 2 Pro | 512MB ECC SDRAM | SCSI
        Third: Apple G4 450Mhz | 21" Monitor | Radeon 8500 | 1,5Gb SDRAM | SCSI

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        • #5
          unless you are going strictly gaming, I still don't think think AMD is a good route unless its dualcore, which is still quite expensive to go AMD (but well worth it).

          The higher speed dualcore AMDs are their first cpu to come out that has impressed me - ever (although I haven't been around all that long )

          Saw a review that had a SATA WD and a SATA2 Seagate - believe the WD won I'll try and find the article again

          edit: my bad, seems the Seagate was a little better, either way they are still just harddrives, the performance difference they will make is minimal as compared to the other components (unless you go 74gb Raptor!!)

          Last edited by Mehen; 13 December 2005, 14:47.
          Q9450 + TRUE, G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2, GTX 560, ASUS X48, 1TB WD Black, Windows 7 64-bit, LG M2762D-PM 27" + 17" LG 1752TX, Corsair HX620, Antec P182, Logitech G5 (Blue)
          Laptop: MSI Wind - Black

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          • #6
            not related but check this out

            Q9450 + TRUE, G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2, GTX 560, ASUS X48, 1TB WD Black, Windows 7 64-bit, LG M2762D-PM 27" + 17" LG 1752TX, Corsair HX620, Antec P182, Logitech G5 (Blue)
            Laptop: MSI Wind - Black

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            • #7
              If you don't care at all what type of HD though, you could always do this



              1TB for $280
              Q9450 + TRUE, G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2, GTX 560, ASUS X48, 1TB WD Black, Windows 7 64-bit, LG M2762D-PM 27" + 17" LG 1752TX, Corsair HX620, Antec P182, Logitech G5 (Blue)
              Laptop: MSI Wind - Black

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              • #8
                Originally posted by |Mehen|
                ...(although I haven't been around all that long )...
                I've been around for a while, and I've been prefering AMD recently versus Intel. The nForce, SiS, and ULi chipsets have been rock solid and feature filled for years. I have a Gigabyte nForce 4 Ultra mobo and haven't had a single issue with it. I've been putting AMD CPU's in every computer I've built for the past 2-3 years, which is about 6-7 PCs, and all of them have been rock solid performers.

                The only application that Intel still consistently outpaces AMD with is A/V editing, and AMD is quickly catching up. So if you are doing A/V editing, then by all means go Intel. Otherwise you will be better off with an AMD/nForce solution, IMO.


                As for the Inquirer article ... I would certainly hope a CPU running 5 GHz CPU would run at least the same speed as a 3 GHz CPU

                Anyway, I do have a dualcore AMD, and it is a sweet sweet CPU. My wife can leave all her crap open in her profile, and I can leave the virus scanner and anti-spyware scanner on and still game and very good frame rates. And with people starting to build their apps more true multi-threaded, it's becoming a better investment every day.

                One last note ... just because a drive supports 3 GB/s or 300 MB/s transfer rates doesn't make a drive faster. SATA-IO rev. 2.0 and 2.5 add more features that require additional bandwidth on the SATA bus, but the HDDs themselves are still limited to the spindle speed (i.e. 7200 or 10000 RPM). If you look at any 7200 RPM SATA HDD you will notice that the the sustained transfer rates are very similar, despite double the bandwidth. Once again, limitation of the spindle speed. Until solid state HDDs become practicle, we will always be limited by spindle speed.

                So why do we need 3.o Gb/s for SATA Rev 2.0/2.5? Two words: Drive Multiplier, baby! This nifty feature allows you to control 5 HDDs off a single cable. Example: you build a HTPC, or low-end server. Real estate inside the case is very limited. Throw in an eSATA card (external SATA) and run a single e- or xSATA cable from your computer to an eSATA enclosure with 5-bays and 5 HDDs. eSATA (which is part of the rev 2.0 and 2.5 specs) allows you to control each HDD individually off that single cable, or create a RAID.

                Now the average max. throughput of a single 7200 RPM drive is roughly 65 MB/s (some more, some less). 5 drives would generate 325 MB/s of througput at max. burst speeds. At 3.0 Gb/s you have 375 MB/s of bandwidth, meaning that even 5 x 10k RPM HDDs wouldn't ever really saturate a single SATA rev.2 channel.

                Pretty nifty, eh?

                Jammrock
                “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
                –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by lecter
                  I don't like VIA, nForce for Athlon64 is PCI-Express only AFAIK, the Athlon64 3200+ is only 20$ cheaper than the above-mentioned CPU while the 3500+ is 20$ more expensive, they don't offer any multitasking-enhancing technology unless I go dual-core...
                  May I suggest a Asrock 939-Dual sata2? One of the cheapest socket 939 motherboards on the market, very well built and rock solid ULI chipset with native AGP and PCIe, SATA-I supported natively and a SATA II controller on-board. 20-pin power connector, so you can use older PSU´s, but a 24-pin cable also does it as it has proper clearance around the connector.

                  I bought this motherboard plus a venice 3200+ and it´s running happily @ 2500Mhz. It allowed me to keep my "outdated" AGP X800pro.

                  As I see it now, AMD has all for it. Cheap and fast chips that run cool and efficiently. Intel really has to put their act together. I buy the best price/performance CPU available, but my last Intel system was a all-mighty Celeron 300a@450Mhz .

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                  • #10
                    Thanks for the input, guys

                    Keifront, you hit it right on the mark, I was also thinking if it's worthwhile or not, considering that the CPU, RAM, PSU, mobo, sound upgrade and HDD will run me about 650$.

                    I don't like PCI HDD controllers, they're annoying to work with when installing Windows, take up time with their own BIOS when booting, etc.

                    Jammrock, thanks for the SATA II info, it is a nifty feature, but I doubt I'll end up using it, so SATA 1.0 should prove enough at the moment.

                    |Mehen|, I'd wish they had 250GB drives here at those prices, but there's none under 100$ here at the moment.

                    Nuno, the thing is, while I completely agree that Asrock are very good boards for their price, I want a nice, fully-featured ASUS motherboard, I'm very partial to them


                    Sooo, basically everyone here is saying I should go AMD...thing is, I bought my new video card just a little while ago, so I really would like an AGP system and have never been into hybrids (like the ULI Nuno mentioned).

                    Do you really think an Intel jump from 2.53 to 3.2 (Prescott's longer execution pipeline, but 4x the cache, HT and FSB800) isn't worth it? Because I could just get something like the ASUS P4P800-VM, which would give me the SATA connections I need and dual-channel DDR without having to change the CPU.



                    I mostly use my PC for occasional video editing and gaming, and pretty heavy daily multi-tasking.
                    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

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                    • #11
                      I think the AMD asrock dual would be the way to go, the perfomance is top notch for both AGP and PCI-ex which is prety impressive.

                      But anyways, can you just upgrade you processor to something faster..(and buy another HDD)

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Marshmallowman
                        I think the AMD asrock dual would be the way to go, the perfomance is top notch for both AGP and PCI-ex which is prety impressive.

                        But anyways, can you just upgrade you processor to something faster..(and buy another HDD)
                        the ASrock is a good way to go if you want to keep your existing AGP card, but have the option for PCIe x16 later. all reviews I've seen say the ASrock is rock solid, too.
                        “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
                        –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          asrock is kind of a daughter company of asus no?
                          Q9450 + TRUE, G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2, GTX 560, ASUS X48, 1TB WD Black, Windows 7 64-bit, LG M2762D-PM 27" + 17" LG 1752TX, Corsair HX620, Antec P182, Logitech G5 (Blue)
                          Laptop: MSI Wind - Black

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                          • #14
                            I too say that the ASRock board is the way to go, if you really want to keep your AGP card.
                            RC Agent
                            AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz, MSI 785GT-E63, 6 GB(2x1GB, 2x2GG) DDR2 800 Corsair XMS2, Asus EAH4850 TOP
                            AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz, ASRock A790GXH/128M BIOS 1.7, 4 GB(2x2GB) DDR2 800 Corsair XMS2, Gigabyte HD 6850 1GB DDR5
                            AMD Phenom II X6 1045T 2.7GHz, Asus M5A99FX Pro R2.0 BIOS 2501 , 8GB(2x4GB) DDR3 1866 CL9 Crucial BallisticX(BLT4G3D1869DT1TX0) , Sapphire HD7870 2GB GDDR5 OC, Seasonic 850w powers supply

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by lecter
                              Thanks for the input, guys
                              Keifront, you hit it right on the mark, I was also thinking if it's worthwhile or not, considering that the CPU, RAM, PSU, mobo, sound upgrade and HDD will run me about 650$.
                              Originally posted by lecter
                              Thanks for the input, guys
                              Do you really think an Intel jump from 2.53 to 3.2 (Prescott's longer execution pipeline, but 4x the cache, HT and FSB800) isn't worth it? Because I could just get something like the ASUS P4P800-VM, which would give me the SATA connections I need and dual-channel DDR without having to change the CPU.

                              I mostly use my PC for occasional video editing and gaming, and pretty heavy daily multi-tasking.
                              A promise sata controller will cost you about 50$ the ASUS P4P800-VM about 70$ so the mobo could be a better choice it will give you a little speed boost and sata.

                              The jump from 2.53 to 3.2Ghz (HT and 800fsb) will be noticable (mainly because you seem to do a lot of multitasking and some occasional video editing and gaming) but is it really worth the 650$? Like others mentioned the asrock mobo could be a good interim solution.
                              Main: Dual Xeon LV2.4Ghz@3.1Ghz | 3X21" | NVidia 6800 | 2Gb DDR | SCSI
                              Second: Dual PIII 1GHz | 21" Monitor | G200MMS + Quadro 2 Pro | 512MB ECC SDRAM | SCSI
                              Third: Apple G4 450Mhz | 21" Monitor | Radeon 8500 | 1,5Gb SDRAM | SCSI

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