Best Socket T Motherboard?

[jcarle]

Power supplies adjust themselves to the equipment connected to them. That's why they're called automatic switching power supplies. The wattage rating of a power supply is it's peak power output possible.

To get a better idea of what kind of wattage you need, you can use this Wattage Calculator to get some aproximate numbers based on real world power ratings of common components.

My suggestion if you're going to be buying these parts over a period of time of more then a month is to buy them in order of least likely to change to more likely to change. What do I mean by change? Well change in price, change in product revision, change in availability and change in new items of the same type.

For example, a 400W power supply is likely to be the same price, quality, availability, revision and technology in a year from now then today. The power supply you buy today at 400W may very well likely be the exact same power supply at the exact same price in a year. Nothing changes very much in power supplies. The same with cases. However, the ASUS P5WD2 Premium you buy today at Revision 1.00 may be up to Revision 1.02 in 3 months from now. The same with optical drives. Say you want a specific optical drive that burns DVD-R at 8x, the same optical drive but one generation later may be available in 4 months from now that will burn the same DVD-R up to 12x or 16x.

Here is my suggestion in which order to buy components for a computer when the components are bought over a period of time that exceed a month. The following is in order from least likely to change to most likely to change along as to why I think their position is where it is. The first item to buy is listed first, at the top.

1. Keyboard & Mouse - Nothing new for keyboards and mice ever since optical mice and wireless technology. Price is steady.
   
2. Case - The ATX standard is not likely to disappear anytime soon. Price is steady.
   
3. Power Supply - Current market power supplies will be good for at least a few years before new requirements come around for them. Price is steady.
   
4. Monitor - Price keeps dropping, but not very fast.
   
5. Video Card - Price drops, but not too fast. New technology, but not at breathneck speeds.
   
6. Hard Drives - Hard drives are always getting cheaper and bigger.
   
7. Processor - Processors are not being developed in as fast a pace as they used to, but price is always dropping steadily.
   
8. Optical Drives - Optical drives are constantly improving, new versions of the same drive come out frequently nowadays.
   
9. Memory - Memory has a history for being one of the fastest price droppers when it's a new type or a new speed.
   
10. Motherboard - Motherboards always go through revisions. The higher the revision, the less likely you are to have problems with the board.
    

Edited August 2, 2005 by jcarle

[jcarle]

By the way, thought I'd show you the next power supply I'm buying for the media server I want to build in my living room. It's the Antec Phantom 500. It's so beautiful and so quiet.

[ringfinger]

Yeah, I suppose I should wait on the motherboard... its just so sweet I want it now! And as far as the processor, Iw as planning on waiting a little bit and maybe by the time I'm ready to buy for a little more than I was going to pay for the 3.4 and I can get the 3.6. That PSU is sweet, 500W, WOW!

As far as the revision on the MB, I'm not seeing any versions on the ASUS website, maybe I'm just blind or not looking hard enough. How will I know when it has been updated. And also, all the reviews I've read said it comes with the WiFI-TV card, but on the site it says "Optional" or "extra" ... I guess it doesnt come with?

BTW, that wattage calculator is great! Thanks!

[jcarle]

If you look at the CPU Support page at Asus.com, you'll see if a new motherboard revision is needed for a new processor that comes out. However, most of the time motherboard revisions are released without anyone really knowing about it. The only way to know what the current motherboard revision is for a particular board is to call or e-mail Asus directly.

[ringfinger]

Alright, now I just need to decide on which case to get... so many options!?! Thanks again.

[jcarle]

"A man's case is always up to his style and no one can pick that for him."

[Technoguy]

heh jcarle well i do recommend a use of 500W power supply if ur mobo has a PCI-Ex slot and u r tryin 2 run games like doom3,etc...what ya think?

[jcarle]

Even an overclocked ATI X850 doesn't run 100W of power. The only reason you'd ever need 500W of power is for a combined load of a lot of components. No single component should justify a 500W power supply, but the combined total of the quantity of hardware (and the type) should dictate the power supply needed. I can build a P4 based machine on a 250W power supply, if I use everything on board (including video) and have a single hard drive and a single optical drive.

[ringfinger]

LOL jcarle, I completly agree with the case comment.

[ringfinger]

Hey... I have a buddy of mine that works at a computer repair shop that gets shipments in from dell outlets all over the nation. He told me they've got an ATI RADEON X300 SE 128 MB (d p/n: F3988) along with a brand new 19" Samsung Sync Master 910t for only $260. The vid card is used, but I figure it will get me through till I can buy a really nice one. The LCD requires DVI-D input, does the card havd DVI-D? Everything I'm reading about it says only DVI-I...?? What do you think about the LCD though? I figure hell, not that bad for only $260, I used to work there thats why I still get killer deals heh. Is the deal even worth that much? Thanks.

Edited August 2, 2005 by ringfinger

[jcarle]

You're right, that's not a bad price. Though I'm unsure of the quality of the monitor. The video card is nice though.

As for the DVI connection, DVI-D connections will fit on DVI-I connections, but not vice versa. If you look at the connectors here, in this guide, you will see that DVI-D is missing four of the pins that DVI-I has. So if can plug a DVI-D plug in a DVI-I socket, but you cannot plug a DVI-I plug in a DVI-D socket.

Edited August 3, 2005 by jcarle

[ringfinger]

Alright thanks... I think I'll go for it. He said the card is basically free and the 260 is for the LCD and shipping of it. So you think that card can support all the new gen games and all that good stuff? I just want to confirm from him that the card will support the monitor and I'll get it. Thanks as usual!

[ringfinger]

Alright, couple more questions. First of all the difference between the Retail and OEM versions of the 74gb Raptor. Retail: $236, OEM: $186. Are they the exact same drive, just don't come with all the cables and fancy packaging, i see no difference in cache, latency and write/seek times...? I mean the MB comes with cabling, so why pay and extra $50??

Now, as far as the processor... first of all whats the difference between a 550j and 550, or 660j and 660?? What does the "j" mean. And since I'm getting such a deal on the LCD and video card I'm now torn between the 3.6 w/ 1mb cache and 3.4 with 2mb cache w/ 64-bit support. Does the extra 200MHz outweigh the benifits of a 2mb cache??? Or I could always just get the 3.4, 1mb cache with no 64-bit support for over a hundred less than the other 2. Recommendations? Thanks.

[jcarle]

Retail means it will come in a nice box with the company's logo. Some nice little pictures on clean white paper showing you the things not to do with your hard drive, such as running it inside your bathtub. It will come a with a helpful CD that requires you to have you drive running for you to see the tutorial on the CD that tells you how to get said drive running. And all those other wonderful things.

OEM is just the part. No frils, no packaging, just raw part.

I do however suggest that you buy ONE thing retail. That would be the processor. Don't buy an OEM processor, get the retail version because it comes with the official fan for the processor. And honestly, it does the job just fine unless you want to start overclocking.

The difference in MHz is too small, you would be better off with the 2MB of cache for such a small difference in clock speed.

As for the J at the end of the processor, it's wether or not the processor supports the NoExecute function. Basically, NoExecute makes it possible for the operating system to mark areas in memory that are exclusively used for data storage and prevent any program from running out of that part of memory. Hence where all the buffer overflow security issues keep coming from. If you can get a J, I'd recommend it, however don't sacrifice speed just for a J.

[ringfinger]

Thats what I though, I will definatly be getting the OEM 76. I will be getting the retail processor though, like ya said. So now I'm looking at 3.4 P4 650 Prescott however, there is no 650j... It still looks like a great processor though, 64-bit support, 2 MB Cache but it just looks like I'll need to invest in a good fan of some sort to keep it cool as all the reviewers are saying it runs hot.

Also thinking about just going down to the 3.2, p4 640... its over $125 cheaper, same exact features as the 3.4 (2M L2, 64-bit)..... 200MHz really worth an extra $136? I'm kinda doubting it.

Edited August 3, 2005 by ringfinger