ceez Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 ok now you guys are just having fun at the expense of my poor p4.....it put up a good fight for soon to be past 4 years RIP soon! if i am going to upgrade i might as well go for the core 2 duo instead of one of the e22xx dual coreshow about mobos, what are good ones nowadays? asus, giga, msi, evga<-never heard of that one?!?!thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoffeeFiend Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 if i am going to upgrade i might as well go for the core 2 duo instead of one of the e22xx dual coresThe e22xx also use core 2 duo cores (Allendale in this case). It's essentially one, just not marketed as such. Same thing for the E5200, it's a Core 2 Duo in all but its name. But no point in saving $10 by picking the E2220 over the E5200. The extra $10 brings you 0.1GHz extra (all of 100MHz -- not that it really makes any difference), but it has double the L2 cache.how about mobos, what are good ones nowadays? asus, giga, msi, evga<-never heard of that one?!?!Lots of people love Asus boards but I'm more of a Gigabyte guy myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zxian Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 The P4 can serve other purposes if you don't want to get rid of it, but playing HD content is a fairly intense task (hence why you need the upgrade).All of my Intel systems are built on ASUS boards (P5B Deluxe, P5K Premium, Maximus Formula), and I've got an AMD based media center using a Gigabyte board. Your best bet is to read the reviews on a site like NewEgg to find out real world experiences from users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluberti Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Speaking of real-world, I'm running Vista Ultimate SP1 x64 on a Q9550 Core2Quad on an Asus P5Q Deluxe with 8GB RAM, an ATI Radeon 3650 (silent HIS), and some 320GB HDDs as an HTPC and MCE box and it chews through everything I throw at it. And, to boot, it's just as fast in about every benchmark as an i7 920 (except for memory-bound apps, where the i7 will perform far better due to the on-die controller).Drop the following into a nice case with a decent PSU and a BR drive, and it should run very well under XP or Vista:Asus P5Q Deluxe - $190:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131297Intel Core2Quad Q9550 - $320:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115041G.Skill 8GB Kit (4GB x 2) - $110:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231151HIS ATI Radeon 3650 512MB DDR3 (silent) - $110:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814161220WD Caviar WD3200AAKS 320GB HDD - $55 (x4 = $220):http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136074Total, $950USD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacesurfer Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 (edited) Real world experience tells me to avoid ASUS.... they are probably good boards but just because mine died after 3 years, I am partial to ASUS now. I had heating problems in that one.My new Gigabyte runs very cool. I'd vote for Gigabyte.Q9550 Core2QuadThat's a nice processor. A bit more than cheapest Core i7 but a system with Core i7 will cost you more than with this quad core. Edited December 17, 2008 by spacesurfer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceez Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 crahak, thanks for that detailed post. who would of thought that trying to install a br player would end up being so freaking expensive. I think i at least should be fine with my 512 pci card....again, cant tell until it's tested, but again, that card is supposed to do HD. and what wattage psu? 500-600-700?in regards to assu, funny, my coworker told me last week that his board had crapped out on him, today when i asked him about asus he's like no way, that's the board i was using. it also lasted him about 3 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoffeeFiend Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 (edited) With a new CPU, just about any old vid card will do (yours will definitely work).PSU? You don't need anything near that. Even a 350W unit (of decent quality) would be plenty. But DON'T buy a generic/no-name PSU. You don't have to spend like $100 either (on some kind of fancy brand name and modular design and everything). I just bought a pair of Seasonic SS-350ET PSUs for very similar rigs actually, 350W, 80Plus (about 82% avg), Active PFC and all, plenty of power where it matters (324W for both 12V rails combined, etc), good set of cables, etc. For $30 each (edit: was on black friday; it's currently $50 at newegg though, but still... doesn't have to be expensive not to suck) Edited December 17, 2008 by crahak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceez Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 crahak whats your input on any of these mobo combos from newegg:http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombo...e=10&page=1thanks for the helpceez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoffeeFiend Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 You're only saving like $15 or so looking at that list. I'd sooner pick the exact motherboard and CPU I want instead. And it just might end up being cheaper (or cost a little more but be a lot better).You should be able to get a good P45-based motherboard, a Intel E5200 CPU, 4GB of quality fast DDR2 and a good PSU for under $300. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluberti Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Q9550 Core2QuadThat's a nice processor. A bit more than cheapest Core i7 but a system with Core i7 will cost you more than with this quad core.True, and the 920 i7 benches about the same as the 9550, which is a bonus . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitroshift Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Lots of people love Asus boards but I'm more of a Gigabyte guy myself.I've been using Gigabyte boards for the past 3 years or so, and none has crapped on me yet. Had 2 Asus boards last year, out of which one is sitting somewhere in the shed, waiting for the spring clean-up to get recycled... You do the math. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_A Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 (edited) G.Skill 8GB Kit (4GB x 2) - $110:[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231151]http://www.newegg.com/ProductNever mind the P4, in the UK that's being cruel. 8Gb kits are almost unobtainable. The nearest possible is 4 x 2Gb for the equivalent of $200 plus shippingReal world experience tells me to avoid ASUS.... they are probably good boards but just because mine died after 3 years, I am partial to ASUS now. I had heating problems in that one.My new Gigabyte runs very cool. I'd vote for Gigabyte.So that would be something like a GA-EP45-DS3R. That's if you can decide between -45- -45C- or -45T-, then -DS -3 -3R -3L or- 3P. Then repeat all those numbers for a GA-EP45-UD3R etc etc etc.Why so many variations? Comparing them all is an exercise in futility, at the Gigabyte website. Assumig that I, too, go with Gigabyte, what's the criteria to use to decide between them?. Edited December 19, 2008 by James_A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puntoMX Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Why so many variations? Comparing them all is an exercise in futility, at the Gigabyte website. Assumig that I, too, go with Gigabyte, what's the criteria to use to decide between them?Well, you can split it up easily, just take the DDR2 and DDR3 boards and put them in their proper group. Anything lower than an i7 based mobo has no need for DDR3 so you can leave that part out.The Ultra Durable 3 boards from Gigabyte is where I would look at, so the GA-EP45-UD3P, GA-EP45-UD3R and GA-EP45-UD3 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacesurfer Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 I'd go with GA-EP45-UD3P. Check out the review here: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2335930,00.asp.But I'm sure the UD3R and UD3 are just as good with some features missing that are in UD3P, that's all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceez Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 I actually ended up going with this barebones kits from tigerdirect. I think you cant beat the pricehttp://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...52&CatId=31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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