What CPU/Motherboard Combo Best Suits Me?

Hello 4ll,

I'm ecstatic to be building my first desktop since c2005 but catching up on 5 years of being out of the tech loop isn't easy. I'd really appreciate a helping hand on what processor will suit my requirements. Here's what I'll be running:

• Office 2007
• Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Suite
• Some first person shooters eg Counter Strike

Firefox, Thunderbird, Bittorrent and Skype are normally running in the back although I would probably turn them off for CS4.

Money is a big issue for me and the max I can spend will be a grand including a large monitor and all-in-one printer.

So, I guess my question is this:

All else remaining equal (RAM, graphics card etc), what is the minimum CPU/motherboard combo you would recommend for blisteringly fast firefox, fast Office 2007 and comfortable use of the entire CS4 suite?

Once I figure that out I can start to balance my budget against what I need. Same Q for both intel and AMD so I can continue comparing the two myself (Yes, I go AMD if it can guarantee my safety )

dazftw

You would probably only need a quad core chip or if your feeling adventurous you could go for the new i7. Ram Just get 4GB DDR2? Unless your running 64bit OS you could get more ! Graphics card I dont have a clue.. the last time I knew about graphics cards was around the 8800GTX time :rolleyes:

You could probably get a 24" monitor and ive a canon printer/copier/scanner if your interested going cheap.. The things basically new!

Th4nks dazftw,

Yeah, it looks like its the Quad core for me. The i7 is of course, more attractive but I think I'd have to sacrafice too much on other components for it.

As for AMD, it seems that intel has the edge at the moment regarding high performance systems concentrated on multi-tasking?

I doubt I will be going for 64 bit OS although I'm not sure why.

So, my new question is:

What motherboard will get the best out of a Quad core processor without being unneccessarily expensive?

___________________________________________________________
The Canon Pixma MP210 fits my requirements. I'll have a look at yours again when I have the rest of the system in order.

jonny72

Deleted User wrote: »

Th4nks dazftw,

Yeah, it looks like its the Quad core for me. The i7 is of course, more attractive but I think I'd have to sacrafice too much on other components for it.

As for AMD, it seems that intel has the edge at the moment regarding high performance systems concentrated on multi-tasking?

I doubt I will be going for 64 bit OS although I'm not sure why.

So, my new question is:

What motherboard will get the best out of a Quad core processor without being unneccessarily expensive?

___________________________________________________________
The Canon Pixma MP210 fits my requirements. I'll have a look at yours again when I have the rest of the system in order.

Minimum costs - prices from hardwareversand.de

i7 --- chip: 230e, mb: 160e, 6 gig ram: 90e - total 480e
intel Q9550 --- chip: 185e, mb: 75e, 4 gig ram: 40e - total 300e
AMD 955BE --- chip: 160e, mb: 65e, 4 gig ram: 40e - total 275e

The i7 is fastest in general, but close to the other 2 in gaming

The Q9550 and AMD 955BE are about equal, some say the AMD is ever so slightly better for gaming, but the Q9550 draws less power and runs cooler.

Wait a month perhaps until i5 comes out and hopefully it should be a good bit cheaper than i7.

The ram for AMD/Q9550 is 6400 in these prices and the boards are 780G and P43, fine if you don't want to overclock etc. With the AMD you have the choice to go up to an AM3 board with better ram, whereas with the Q9550, its a great chip but that line is finished now basically.

I would wait for i5 to come out or just go for a good solid budget i7 build.

requiem1

realistically the two most important things for you are your gpu and memory so the better the gpu and more memory the better for you.

The more I think about upgrading the more it occurs that money can be needlessly spent on high end mobo and cpus when people really notice things like faster loads time and the ability to mulittask.

I'm not saying you don't need the processing power but maybe budget for something like an ssd when considering your build

Wait for i5 and see what its like, and sure by the time it comes out everything else will be cheaper:p

Effluo

The only intensive program that i can see from his list is cs4.

And the core i7's can reduce rendering times in that by nearly half...
Ram is also important for it but i didn't realise the gpu affects it much?!! does it?

Thanks everyone for your help. In the end I went with:




ASUS P5Q-E, P45, Socket-775


(€ 115.50 from komplett.ie)
+
Intel Core™ 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz Socket

LGA775, 1333MHz, 12MB, BOXED w/fan


(€ 209 from komplett.ie)

A few factors I decided upon:
The Processor:

• I wasn't far off being able to afford an i7 but had to fit budget.
• Wasn't prepared to wait for the i5 as there will always be a better system in the pipe line.
• Went with komplett.ie over hardwareversand.de for a slightly higher price but I prefer the service.
• Went for intel over AMD as, it seems to me, the intel quad core provides better real-time performance then the Phenom in a multi-tasking environment (that argument will go on forever).
• The 12 MB cache on the intel q9550 edged out any idea of saving money with a dell build.

The Motherboard

• Just looking at the picture compared to the budget line motherboard told me it was a far higher quality build.
• Comes recommended for easy overclocing eg
• Prefered the motherboard (1600 Mhz) to have a higher max bus speed then the cpu (1333 Mhz) to enable full performance.
• 16 GB max Ram is a bonus.
• The e means I can get SATA speed when I access my parents external HDD.

I'd love to hear your comments but please try to frontload any harsh criticisms with some positive perspective.