New Mainboard

segasega

I am currently running a Gigabyte GA-K8NMF9 mainboard with a AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400 and 4 Gigs of Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2 DDR-DIMM Ram (http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=302138). Was wondering if anyone could recommend a mainboard that will take this ram but is Socket 775?

Looking for something thats obviously PCI-EX16, can take the 4gigs of Ram and maybe has 2 ATA connections? And doesn't matter if its ATX or M-ATX. Round the €200 or under mark.

Cheers

Anti

asrock dual sata, thats the only board that will accept ddr3200. But expect a big hit, and i dont think many places stock it any more. You might be better off to sell your 4gb of ram and buy 2gb of ddr2.

The above board matches all your needs, and is the only one available.

segasega

Was thinking the ram would be trouble! Just thinking of starting a new system build but thinking of switching over to socket 775 to run a Intel Core 2 Quad or Intel Core 2 Duo. Might just start the system from scratch.

Out of the Komplett Kits which do you think is the best value for money?
http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10297

Is is it worth just picking out my own parts as those kits don't usually come with great Ram.

vir7ual

You can get boards to run with your ram but they wont support core duo or quad core processors.

The slowest ram that a board with core duo support will take is PC4200 Ram and some dont go below pc5300 ram

Anti

vir7ual wrote:

You can get boards to run with your ram but they wont support core duo or quad core processors.

The slowest ram that a board with core duo support will take is PC4200 Ram and some dont go below pc5300 ram

He was asking what s775 boards supported his ram, and i think you hit the nail on the head. Its time for a full upgrade.

OP, the best value for money is the cheapest one. IT will be a huge increase from what you have now. 2gb will be plenty, if you have a 32bit OS. If you have a 64bit os go with the 499€ kit. The best thing about these kits is that all components are going to work together. Granted you have a pci-e gx card and a 400-500w psu then this will be a cheap upgrade for you, that will deliver maximum performance. Bang for buck so to speak. But remember, if you currently have ide hdd's and 1/2 ide dvd drives then you are a bit stuck.

You have two options, get a ide pci card, or keep your ide dvd drives, and get some new sata hdd's.

Let us know how you get on op, ir if you need any more information.

*edit*

to clarify, most new motherboards only have 1 ide chan, and it is not advised to mix a hdd and a optical drive on the same chan.

segasega

Cheers for all the help Anti, I think I might go with one of the kits. I think I'll get myself a sata drive to run my OS off and for the time use my PCI IDE Controller to run the other Hard Drives off, but upgrade them to Sata as time passes. Might invest in a new PSU aswell maybe one of these http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=327672 as I want to get the noise levels down a bit too and have heard nothing but good things about these or might go for a seasonic. Thanks again.

vir7ual

Excellant PSU and very very stable at full load on all components, have nothing bad whatsoever to say about this psu.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=338523

The board in the above kit has 2X ATA connectors, might keep you going for a while. The Corsair PSU would have no trouble what so ever with the above kit.

segasega

Thanks for your help, that kit looks good. This begs the question yet again, which is better the duo or the quad? I have read a few things round here but it seems obviously to me that a four core processor should ultimately be better? I use my computer for video editing (Sony Vegas) and then just general usage like internet,watching movies and listening to music. I do play games but not that often but would like to be able to play the latest games even at medium settings. Also the ram that comes with these kits, is it any good? Or am I better just selling it off when I get it and forking out a bit more for some other ram? 2G is grand but I really wouldn't mind pushing to 4G just to future proof it a bit as I am make the jump up to Vista with this build (not 100% sure yet though).

Since its now October and the xmas shopping money might have to start being saved it would seem unlikely I will buy this new build in one big sweep. So I think I'll buy the kit first then maybe the case and PSU together. Was thinking of going for a Antec Nine Hundred case as its a nice plain case with plenty of bays for me to stick a good few Hard drives in and the usd/firewire/audio connections being on the top will help lots due to were my computer sits under my desk. Also its not too pricey.

segasega

Going through my usual mind changing every half hour when buying a new system.

Well now Im thinking is it worth upping to DDR3 to help future proof the machine a bit?
Its still super expensive but I was also told that a DRR3 board should take DDR2, so run that until DDR3 goes down in price a bit?

vir7ual

All depends on the use your computer is going to be used for. If you dont play that many games a nice dual core would suit. If you want to future proof it (thats hard with the way technology changes) a quad core would be fine.

2 gigs or 4 gigs - Also depends on what the computer is being used for. If you go with 4 gigs YOU WILL NEED A 64Bit OS. be it vista or xp.

DDR3 and DDR2 - Dont know anything about DDR3 so cant help you with that. I'm sure if you put in high end DDR2 Ram, by the time you upgrade DDR4 or something will be out.

As i said future proofing something where competition is at its highest to get to the front of the market is a hard task to do.

A nice quad core, some decent ram (4gigs), a 640mb graphics card (i dont play too many games), 64bit os, nice case and decent psu. that would be my choice, i do alot of multitasking so thats the reason for the quad core.

segasega

vir7ual wrote:

All depends on the use your computer is going to be used for. If you dont play that many games a nice dual core would suit. If you want to future proof it (thats hard with the way technology changes) a quad core would be fine.

2 gigs or 4 gigs - Also depends on what the computer is being used for. If you go with 4 gigs YOU WILL NEED A 64Bit OS. be it vista or xp.

DDR3 and DDR2 - Dont know anything about DDR3 so cant help you with that. I'm sure if you put in high end DDR2 Ram, by the time you upgrade DDR4 or something will be out.

As i said future proofing something where competition is at its highest to get to the front of the market is a hard task to do.

A nice quad core, some decent ram (4gigs), a 640mb graphics card (i dont play too many games), 64bit os, nice case and decent psu. that would be my choice, i do alot of multitasking so thats the reason for the quad core.

Well thinking I'll go with a quad core and go for the 4Gigs of ram and maybe run a 64bit version of xp/vista. Going to go for the Corsair Powersupply 620W and a Antec Nine Hundred case. Will try get maybe 1T or more in there too in way of sata hard drives, probably some Samsung SpinPoints. Will go with a motherboard the supports DRR2 and DRR3 so if I want in the future I can upgrade a little. I do a lot of multitasking myself and when I made the jump from a single core to my duel core it was a sweet performance boost, so upping to quad should be just as sweet. Never really too sure bout graphics cards, but when it comes to choosing i'll do some research.

Thanks.

vir7ual

if you're not into the whole game playing, a nice card in and around the 300-400euro mark would suit just fine. I'm running dual monitors on 2 512mb (7600's i think they are) and they can run it no problem, then again i dont play games. but if you want the option to play a game then go for something half decent.

segasega

I am going to start buying parts for my new build over the next few months. I am going to wait till January to get the main parts motherboard/ram/processor/graphics card cause I'll have my xmas bonus to spend and buying them last seems like a good idea as they may get cheaper and new new models etc. will come out over the next few months.

So what parts can I buy now?

Well I'm pretty sure I want a Antec 900 case, so going to order that soon and maybe pick up some extra/replacement fans for that.

What about a power supply? Ws going to get a Corsair Powersupply 620W one but is there anything new/fancy in this range coming out over the next few months?

I think I'll pick up the hard drives now as they are cheap enough at the moment, might pick up 2 sata 500G drives now and then pick something for my OS when it gets closer to build time.

I see pioneer have brought out a blu-ray drive for £150 sterling so things might be looking good in that department if I hold out for a while.

Any comments or ideas?

Cheers!