• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

New here :) Need some advice!!!!

DarkMatter

New Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
1,714 (0.28/day)
Processor Intel C2Q Q6600 @ Stock (for now)
Motherboard Asus P5Q-E
Cooling Proc: Scythe Mine, Graphics: Zalman VF900 Cu
Memory 4 GB (2x2GB) DDR2 Corsair Dominator 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s) GigaByte 8800GT Stock Clocks: 700Mhz Core, 1700 Shader, 1940 Memory
Storage 74 GB WD Raptor 10000rpm, 2x250 GB Seagate Raid 0
Display(s) HP p1130, 21" Trinitron
Case Antec p180
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi PLatinum
Power Supply 700W FSP Group 85% Efficiency
Software Windows XP
- Why go with a Quad? Because if he really does 3dsmax rendering it will save him A LOT of rendering time. My recomendations are not based on what mlee49 has called generic photoshop. Because he mentioned Maya along with 3dsmax and PS, I think he is more serious on editing than some generic photoshoping. The loss in gaming performance is nowhere near what you loose in 3Dmax with a dual core. If you want a bit more gaming performance you can always overclock, quads will go to 3.5 Ghz easily, duals to 4 Ghz so pretty much all the clock advantage is gone. Anyways I did some overclocking tests and CPU overclocking has very little impact on gaming performance (Crysis, COD4, UT3, Bioshock) and performance on stock was enough anyway..

-Why go with the Q6600? First of all why not? And secondly price/performance: the next cheaper Quad, the Q9300 was like $70-$80 more last time I checked and it performs marginally better. I myself wouldn't pay more for the same and I would never recommend it neither. Next one is Q9450 at $300, a prohibitive price considering the Q6600 is for $170. With those prices you could buy the Q6600 now, save up the rest and when/if the Q6600 is not enough in one year time, buy the Q9650 for the difference.

@Binge

I don't have any special preference for any brand but when he specifically mentioned Crysis and bang for the buck is his goal, the only way to go is Nvidia. Now if you don't care about Crysis things can change, but not neccesarily as those OCed GTX260's with 216SPs will eat any Ati card alive in a 22" monitor...
 

ChromeDome

New Member
Joined
May 31, 2008
Messages
670 (0.12/day)
System Name Super Budget Gamer Thing lol
Processor AMD 5600+ Windsor @3.0ghz
Motherboard ASUS M3N78-VM AM2/AM2+ Micro ATX
Cooling Thermaltake TR2-R1 Ultra Silence CPU heatsink+fan / 3 exhaust case fans
Memory 3 Gigs Kingston DDR2@800mhz
Video Card(s) PNY 8800GT 512mb OC'd 710/1740/950 - 178.24
Storage 2X 320 gig Seagate Barracuda's @7200rpm - SATA
Display(s) 22in Dell LCD 1680X1050 / 21.6in AOC LCD / Hauppauge TV Tuner
Case Antec Three Hundred
Audio Device(s) Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Power Supply Antec Earthwatts EA500D 500w
Software Vista, bby <3
Benchmark Scores yay it works! =]
i still think for his purposes he should just get the $500 q6600 Dell :p

after all thats what he was here doing anyway. until he was convinced to build his own. you can still drop w/e proc you want in there later. he can run it stock for a year until the warranty is up and then upgrade it. its easy. or he can upgrade right away. after all its cheap so who cares about the warranty you can fix it yourself anyway

so if no overclocking is involved thats a simple order right there. a quad core unit will be in his house and ready to go

all this discussion makes my head hurt

"get a quad"

"no get a dual"

"no wait get a quadruple"

just get the $500 Dell and throw a power supply in and get it over with :( :p
 
Last edited:

DarkMatter

New Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Messages
1,714 (0.28/day)
Processor Intel C2Q Q6600 @ Stock (for now)
Motherboard Asus P5Q-E
Cooling Proc: Scythe Mine, Graphics: Zalman VF900 Cu
Memory 4 GB (2x2GB) DDR2 Corsair Dominator 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15
Video Card(s) GigaByte 8800GT Stock Clocks: 700Mhz Core, 1700 Shader, 1940 Memory
Storage 74 GB WD Raptor 10000rpm, 2x250 GB Seagate Raid 0
Display(s) HP p1130, 21" Trinitron
Case Antec p180
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi PLatinum
Power Supply 700W FSP Group 85% Efficiency
Software Windows XP
For his purposes the Dell Inspiron is a joke. He first needs a good graphics card and you need a better power supply. Add $500. Even worse, probably any high-end card is big enough that it won't enter in that case. Even if it does the air flow in that case is probably null, so any OC is a big NO and even without it with a high-end card inside such a case, components would start to die faster than people in Terminator. So you end up with a $1000 worth of hardware encapsulated in a shitty case, with no OC capabilities, not only because of the cooling, but also the cheap ram, mobo etc, waiting the day any of the components die. And because you upgraded it you have probably no warranty for anything, something that you would always have by buying them yourself.

You can build a much better PC for the same money with a lot more future proofing.
 

ChromeDome

New Member
Joined
May 31, 2008
Messages
670 (0.12/day)
System Name Super Budget Gamer Thing lol
Processor AMD 5600+ Windsor @3.0ghz
Motherboard ASUS M3N78-VM AM2/AM2+ Micro ATX
Cooling Thermaltake TR2-R1 Ultra Silence CPU heatsink+fan / 3 exhaust case fans
Memory 3 Gigs Kingston DDR2@800mhz
Video Card(s) PNY 8800GT 512mb OC'd 710/1740/950 - 178.24
Storage 2X 320 gig Seagate Barracuda's @7200rpm - SATA
Display(s) 22in Dell LCD 1680X1050 / 21.6in AOC LCD / Hauppauge TV Tuner
Case Antec Three Hundred
Audio Device(s) Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Power Supply Antec Earthwatts EA500D 500w
Software Vista, bby <3
Benchmark Scores yay it works! =]
yeah i'm just half joking there, anyway

i'm grouchy this morning :banghead:

i did make a couple of cool upgrades to my 'puter over the weekend, 'tho. so thats something nice to think about :)
 

Gary_Coleman

New Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
17 (0.00/day)
ok, the good thing about the socket 775 is that i can always upgrade, my last (and first) build was done with a socket 939 which was obsolete soon after. So i threw my money away on that build so this one, even if i get the duel core, I can always upgrade. I wont be dong any serious editing for probably another year or so and alot can change by then in the world of processors so im going to play it day by day. If I need more I can always get it :) So i think im going to go with the duel and stay with the GTX260 superclocked, its not that far behind the 280 and beats it in some games/resolution on performance. Now, the only thing im up in the air about is the mobo, i dont know what is a good/bad one so i am going by your words and personal experience.
 
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Messages
1,317 (0.22/day)
Location
New Zealand
Processor AMD Phenom II 555BE unlocked X4 @3.8GHz
Motherboard GA-78LMT-S2P
Cooling Thermaltake Blue Orb + open case in cold room = low temps lol
Memory 8Gb DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) GTX580
Storage 64GB SSD Super Talent
Display(s) 22" Chimei, 17" Philips
Case POS!
Power Supply Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800W
ok, the good thing about the socket 775 is that i can always upgrade, my last (and first) build was done with a socket 939 which was obsolete soon after. So i threw my money away on that build so this one, even if i get the duel core, I can always upgrade. I wont be dong any serious editing for probably another year or so and alot can change by then in the world of processors so im going to play it day by day. If I need more I can always get it :) So i think im going to go with the duel and stay with the GTX260 superclocked, its not that far behind the 280 and beats it in some games/resolution on performance. Now, the only thing im up in the air about is the mobo, i dont know what is a good/bad one so i am going by your words and personal experience.

Not really. 775 is coming to an end, there won't be any processors coming out which are much better than what are available. I guess if you do want to get a quad for it they will stil sell them for a long time, and there will be plenty of used ones around. So yes and no to that statement.

E8600! Drool... great choice, definitely what I would buy if I had some money right now. That GTX260 seems like a great card too.

Anyway, onto the motherboard. You sort of mentioned you might want to go to 2 GPUs later on, that means SLI with another GTX260 which means you must choose a SLI mobo.

-Or buy any mobo you like and when the time comes ditch the 260 for a X2 card

-Or buy a crossfire mobo now and chuck the 260 later for 2 ATI cards.

Another thing, if you are not planning to add another GPU later then the PSU you have picked is overkill.

I can't offer much personal experience with recent motherboards, sorry, you'll have to rely on those wonderful reviewers at newegg. lol
 
Joined
Jan 5, 2008
Messages
1,449 (0.24/day)
Location
Oakland, CA
System Name Rex
Processor Ryzen 2600
Motherboard GigaByte B450M DS3H
Cooling Wraith
Memory 16 GB Corsair Vengence 3000
Video Card(s) Evga GTX 1660 SC
Storage XPG M.2, Samsung 860 SSD, WD Black 1 TB
Display(s) ASUS VG248
Case Corsair mATX cube. (Alas they don't make it anymore)
Power Supply Corsair HX 600 Watt
Mouse Microsoft
Keyboard Logitech
Software Windows 10 64 ibit
That Gigabyte board is build using their newest tech UD3, which means the PCB itself has double the amount of copper. As far as I know it's the only board that supports DDR2 1333. Don't laugh, speeds up to 1500Mhz have been reached on one of these boards. So if he pairs it with good RAM it should be awesome.

I want to second Katanai's opinion about the Gigabyte board. The Gigabyte "mainstream" boards (P-x5) are very good boards. Good bang for the buck, excellent (and easy) overclocking, and they're so pretty. Combine the board you're looking at, plus the E8600 and you will have one screaming setup.
 
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Messages
1,317 (0.22/day)
Location
New Zealand
Processor AMD Phenom II 555BE unlocked X4 @3.8GHz
Motherboard GA-78LMT-S2P
Cooling Thermaltake Blue Orb + open case in cold room = low temps lol
Memory 8Gb DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) GTX580
Storage 64GB SSD Super Talent
Display(s) 22" Chimei, 17" Philips
Case POS!
Power Supply Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800W
Pretty????? I hope you are kidding. All Gigabyte boards these days are f***ing ugly man, like they just threw a box of crayons at them. Tooooooo many colours!

Great boards though, you should buy one. Just not worth looking at.
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
8,518 (1.43/day)
Location
Kansas City
System Name The Dove Box Rev 3.0
Processor i7 8700k @ 4.7GHz
Motherboard Asus Maximus X APEX
Cooling Custom water loop
Memory 16GB 3600 MHz DDR4
Video Card(s) 2x MSI 780 Ti's in SLI
Storage 500GB Samsung 850 PCIe SSD, 4TB
Display(s) 27" Asus 144Hz
Case Enermax Fulmo GT
Audio Device(s) ON BOARD FTW
Power Supply Corsair 1200W
Keyboard Logitech G510
Software Win 10 64x
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Messages
1,317 (0.22/day)
Location
New Zealand
Processor AMD Phenom II 555BE unlocked X4 @3.8GHz
Motherboard GA-78LMT-S2P
Cooling Thermaltake Blue Orb + open case in cold room = low temps lol
Memory 8Gb DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) GTX580
Storage 64GB SSD Super Talent
Display(s) 22" Chimei, 17" Philips
Case POS!
Power Supply Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800W
hmmm... i've had a look. i take back what i said, I want that mobo. Fantastic features and It doesn't look bad at all. Putting it on my Newegg wish list.
 
Top