computer hardware advice?

[Mr. dB]

I'm looking to assemble a new system sometime this month. I'll be carrying forward some components from my current system:

Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, DVD/CDRW drive, maybe sound card.

I'll need:

Case, power supply, motherboard, processor, heat sink, RAM, video card, primary HDD.

I have a sealed 300G hard drive that I bought in February but never used, but it's IDE, not SATA, so I'll probably use it as a secondary drive for data storage and get a smaller high-performance SATA drive for the operating system and primary apps.

I figure I'll go with the Core 2 Duo processor. The Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.40 GHz looks like the sweet spot for price vs. performance right now, and I would mate that with a motherboard using the Intel P35 chipset, such as the Asus 5K LGA775 or Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP LGA775. Both of those use DDR2 RAM. Think 2G RAM would be enough, or should I start with 4G? I'll be running XP Pro for now, no upgrade to Vista until at least SP1, if then. But I'd like to be "Vista Ready"...

Video is where I'm really confused. The array of different video cards is vast, and I have no idea what's what anymore. The motherboards on my shortlist using the P35 chipset use PCI Express video slots. I don't do any gaming, but I'd like to be capable of at least some acceptable game performance, some reasonable 3D. And I want to be ready for all the nifty 3D UI enhancements in Vista should I ever choose to "upgrade" the OS. Think something around the level of the ATI Radeon 1300GT would be enough for that? Any opinions on ATI vs Nvidia chipsets?

Cooling -- do "retail boxed" Intel processors still come with a heat sink and fan, or are we now forced to scrounge these items up separately?

The present system is an Intel P4/2.0G on an Asus P4B/266 motherboard, 2x 512M Crucial DDR RAM, ancient WD 20G HDD, Plextor PX-760A DVD/CDRW drive, Samsung 204B 20" monitor, Matrox G550 video card, cheap Creative sound card, assembled in January or February 2002. It still performs adequately, but it's five years old and has some issues that I don't want to bother to try to troubleshoot or throw any money at. After five years it's overdue for replacement.

 

[jh1]

Intel Retail setups still come with Heat Sink and Fan, but they are generally pretty loud - they are built to cool, not to be quiet.

ATI / Nvidia is just another tech battle - they both have advantages over the other until next week when the other one ups them. I've been doing Nvidia for along time, so I stick with them.

2GB ram will be enough based on how it sounds like you use a computer.

 

[puddlemonkey]

I have an ATI now, had Nvidia in the past, I wouldn't lose any sleep over picking between the two.

 

[puddlemonkey]

My biggest concern was the monitor, I can't tell you how many I had to return cause they just sucked ass! Think about it, its pretty much what you stare at the entire time, why cut corners on that? Here is what I'm using now, its far above and beyond all the others I purchased and returned.

http://www.necdisplay.com/Products/Product/?product=437c10b5-a864-4f76-a011-5113f6157940

Biggest noticeable difference is the 1600:1 contrast ration, all the 500:1 and 700:1 monitors I was using before were blurry as fuck.

 

[Mr. dB]

I'll be re-using my present monitor, a 20" Samsung.

 

[Dial_tone]

I think the Intel sinks are quieter than aftermarket now. I'd stick with it unless you're going to overclock.

I lean toward Nvidia for the open source driver support but you won't go wrong with either until you get into the SLI gaming configurations.

eVGA GeForce 7900GS - about $150.

 

[Smurfy]

I'm looking to assemble a new system sometime this month. I'll be carrying forward some components from my current system:

Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, DVD/CDRW drive, maybe sound card.

I'll need:

Case, power supply, motherboard, processor, heat sink, RAM, video card, primary HDD.

I have a sealed 300G hard drive that I bought in February but never used, but it's IDE, not SATA, so I'll probably use it as a secondary drive for data storage and get a smaller high-performance SATA drive for the operating system and primary apps.

I figure I'll go with the Core 2 Duo processor. The Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.40 GHz looks like the sweet spot for price vs. performance right now, and I would mate that with a motherboard using the Intel P35 chipset, such as the Asus 5K LGA775 or Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP LGA775. Both of those use DDR2 RAM. Think 2G RAM would be enough, or should I start with 4G? I'll be running XP Pro for now, no upgrade to Vista until at least SP1, if then. But I'd like to be "Vista Ready"...

Video is where I'm really confused. The array of different video cards is vast, and I have no idea what's what anymore. The motherboards on my shortlist using the P35 chipset use PCI Express video slots. I don't do any gaming, but I'd like to be capable of at least some acceptable game performance, some reasonable 3D. And I want to be ready for all the nifty 3D UI enhancements in Vista should I ever choose to "upgrade" the OS. Think something around the level of the ATI Radeon 1300GT would be enough for that? Any opinions on ATI vs Nvidia chipsets?

Cooling -- do "retail boxed" Intel processors still come with a heat sink and fan, or are we now forced to scrounge these items up separately?

The present system is an Intel P4/2.0G on an Asus P4B/266 motherboard, 2x 512M Crucial DDR RAM, ancient WD 20G HDD, Plextor PX-760A DVD/CDRW drive, Samsung 204B 20" monitor, Matrox G550 video card, cheap Creative sound card, assembled in January or February 2002. It still performs adequately, but it's five years old and has some issues that I don't want to bother to try to troubleshoot or throw any money at. After five years it's overdue for replacement.

you should email lummy and ask

 

[Mr. dB]

you should email lummy and ask

I posted at that other place, won't he see it there?

 

[Smurfy]

I posted at that other place, won't he see it there?

he's an irregular poster but i'll alert him

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

newegg.com is a good place to go for most all your computing needs. Or pricewatch.com for extreme bargain hunters.