I have decided to build a new machine and immediately thought about getting advice from the OSNN members. The new machine is for my wife who is a gamer - though not to the level of most gamers (Sims2 & World of Warcraft).
I have decided to not be cutting edge on much of anything other than the memory speed. For example, the E6850 CPU is about $94 more than the E6750 for less than 400MHz increase in speed.
My parts list is made up of:
Intel E6750 Core2 Duo CPU
Asus P5B Plus mobo (P965 chipset) (about $140)
Kingston HyperX 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
2 Maxtor SATA/II 300Gb drives (RAID 0)
Antec Nine Hundred case
Antec NEO HE 500 PSU
SATA DVD burner (possibly a Samsung)
ATI X1650 XT (256Mb DDR3)
Linksys 802.11G Wireless NIC
internal floppy drive (to install the RAID drivers)
and possibly a Zalman CPU cooler (the new one with the heat pipes)
XP Pro SP2
I like the P5B Plus mobo because it supports 6 SATA drives (internal connectors) and 1 external (though I don't have plans at this time on using the external connector).
My main questions regard the mobo and the memory. Anyone have experience with this board? I've read reviews (dated in July) that the board would not boot until the BIOS was flashed and that you should have a non-Core 2 Duo processor available to upgrade the BIOS with. Unfortunately, I don't have a spare processor lying around. :cry:
Also, I need advice on the memory. I've read that Kingston may cost more but is more reliable. I also read that the mobo only recognizes 3Gb unless you play around in the BIOS (though the reviews, by purchasers on the Newegg site, didn't state what settings were tweaked). Is this because of a mobo limitation or is 3Gb all that XP Pro will recognize?
Also, I checked the QVL (Qualified Vendor List) in the mobo manual for recommended memory vendors and model numbers. The Kingston HyperX that I've settled on (2 - 2Gb sticks) isn't on the list. The manual also says to check the Asus web site for an updated QVL, but I haven't been able to find the QVL on their site.
I also checked out the Asus P5K (P35 chipset) and read that the reviewers (again on the Newegg site) said that they could only get the RAID to work if they connected one of the internal drives to the external SATA connector. Any thoughts on this?
I would like to stick with an Asus mobo because I've always had good luck with them. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I am willing to spend around $200 for a mobo, if it is warranted. I do not want one with onboard video, am not concerned about the onboard sound (my wife uses headphones or a 2 speaker w/sub-woofer system) and don't plan on using dual video cards.
I get to inherit her 2.8 GHz Pentium D system which will replace my P4 1.8GHz machine (my choice - she plays games and I don't). (Just trying to fend off the comments about my being a wussie:lick:.)
Thanks!
I have decided to not be cutting edge on much of anything other than the memory speed. For example, the E6850 CPU is about $94 more than the E6750 for less than 400MHz increase in speed.
My parts list is made up of:
Intel E6750 Core2 Duo CPU
Asus P5B Plus mobo (P965 chipset) (about $140)
Kingston HyperX 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
2 Maxtor SATA/II 300Gb drives (RAID 0)
Antec Nine Hundred case
Antec NEO HE 500 PSU
SATA DVD burner (possibly a Samsung)
ATI X1650 XT (256Mb DDR3)
Linksys 802.11G Wireless NIC
internal floppy drive (to install the RAID drivers)
and possibly a Zalman CPU cooler (the new one with the heat pipes)
XP Pro SP2
I like the P5B Plus mobo because it supports 6 SATA drives (internal connectors) and 1 external (though I don't have plans at this time on using the external connector).
My main questions regard the mobo and the memory. Anyone have experience with this board? I've read reviews (dated in July) that the board would not boot until the BIOS was flashed and that you should have a non-Core 2 Duo processor available to upgrade the BIOS with. Unfortunately, I don't have a spare processor lying around. :cry:
Also, I need advice on the memory. I've read that Kingston may cost more but is more reliable. I also read that the mobo only recognizes 3Gb unless you play around in the BIOS (though the reviews, by purchasers on the Newegg site, didn't state what settings were tweaked). Is this because of a mobo limitation or is 3Gb all that XP Pro will recognize?
Also, I checked the QVL (Qualified Vendor List) in the mobo manual for recommended memory vendors and model numbers. The Kingston HyperX that I've settled on (2 - 2Gb sticks) isn't on the list. The manual also says to check the Asus web site for an updated QVL, but I haven't been able to find the QVL on their site.
I also checked out the Asus P5K (P35 chipset) and read that the reviewers (again on the Newegg site) said that they could only get the RAID to work if they connected one of the internal drives to the external SATA connector. Any thoughts on this?
I would like to stick with an Asus mobo because I've always had good luck with them. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I am willing to spend around $200 for a mobo, if it is warranted. I do not want one with onboard video, am not concerned about the onboard sound (my wife uses headphones or a 2 speaker w/sub-woofer system) and don't plan on using dual video cards.
I get to inherit her 2.8 GHz Pentium D system which will replace my P4 1.8GHz machine (my choice - she plays games and I don't). (Just trying to fend off the comments about my being a wussie:lick:.)
Thanks!