Help me with my new PC build

[feo]

Sup guys

Seeing as I've had my current PC (below) for over 3 year now, it's starting to age and become all slow and sh|t so I'm looking to upgrade to a beefier system that'll let me run Vista x64 without hassles.

Now the thing is I'm out of the loop when it comes to hardware like motherboards, CPUs and RAM, in fact the last time I researched hardware was when I bought my current PC 3 years ago.

So, can you guys advise me on what to buy? I'm basically looking for a new CPU, motherboard and RAM and probably a new (--> SILENT <--) PSU.

I don't have a fixed budget but lower is better.

So, let's hear some suggestions.

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum
Kingston 1GB DDR400 RAM
GeForce 6800GT

 

[The_Techie]

How long would you like it to last? And what do you plan on using the PC for?

 

[Zulash]

For a pricing reference you can use http://www.jump.co.za/

Basically lists all the places you can buy an Item which you search for and their prices. Very handy website... yet I still somehow end up buying my stuff from friends of friends of friends... lol

 

[feo]

I want it to last as long as possible..let's say 1.5 years minimum.

I'll be using it for every day stuff like browsing, email, photoshop, the usual.

One thing I can tell you is that I want it to start up fast (i.e. get into Windows fast, I'm sick of waiting for all XP's sh|t to load once I'm in Windows).

Also, I wanna be able to have multiple apps (firefox with lots of tabs, photoshop, foobar and excel sheets) open at once and not have it slow down to a crawl.

If you can recommend something that can do that I'll be a happy chappy.

 

[feo]

For a pricing reference you can use http://www.jump.co.za/

Basically lists all the places you can buy an Item which you search for and their prices. Very handy website... yet I still somehow end up buying my stuff from friends of friends of friends... lol

I know of jump but if you read my OP, you'll see that I wouldn't know what to search for.

I need you okes to recommend hardware so that I can decide what I want based on what you tell me.

Also, I'm a bit of an AMD fanboi so ya..keep that in mind

 

[The_Techie]

I want it to last as long as possible..let's say 1.5 years minimum.

I'll be using it for every day stuff like browsing, email, photoshop, the usual.

One thing I can tell you is that I want it to start up fast (i.e. get into Windows fast, I'm sick of waiting for all XP's sh|t to load once I'm in Windows).

Also, I wanna be able to have multiple apps (firefox with lots of tabs, photoshop, foobar and excel sheets) open at once and not have it slow down to a crawl.

If you can recommend something that can do that I'll be a happy chappy.

Something that I quickly threw together from PCInternational's website (excluding VAT):

[P5K] - ASUS Intel P35 LGA775, 1333FSB, 4xDual DDR2 1066, 2x PCI-x16, 1xPCI-x1, 3xPCI, 1xATA133, 4xSATAII, Gbe Lan, 8ch-Sound, Max 12xUSB, 2xIEEE1394, ATX R1,099
Core 2 Duo E8200 2.6Ghz (1333FSB 6MB) R1,530
2 x 1GB DDRII-800 (Kingston - KVR800D2N5/1G) R215 x 2
OR
2 x 2GB DDRII-800 (Kingston - KVR800D2N5/2G) R559 x 2

They don't list the PSUs, though.

I think this is round-about what you should be looking at, maybe even something a little slower

EDIT: I'm not sure if the P5K boards support 45nm CPUs, though.

 

[d0b33]

If you want a Silent PSU then I recommend the Zalman Silent PSU's, I got the 460W and I cant here the thing, it runs cool too, I love it and the cables are sleeved already so no messy cables, they are not that expensive just under a R1000.

 

[feo]

Something that I quickly threw together from PCInternational's website (excluding VAT):

[P5K] - ASUS Intel P35 LGA775, 1333FSB, 4xDual DDR2 1066, 2x PCI-x16, 1xPCI-x1, 3xPCI, 1xATA133, 4xSATAII, Gbe Lan, 8ch-Sound, Max 12xUSB, 2xIEEE1394, ATX R1,099
Core 2 Duo E8200 2.6Ghz (1333FSB 6MB) R1,530
2 x 1GB DDRII-800 (Kingston - KVR800D2N5/1G) R215 x 2
OR
2 x 2GB DDRII-800 (Kingston - KVR800D2N5/2G) R559 x 2

They don't list the PSUs, though.

I think this is round-about what you should be looking at, maybe even something a little slower

EDIT: I'm not sure if the P5K boards support 45nm CPUs, though.

Thanks dude, isn't there any faster RAM out there? Like DDR1066 or something?

 

[feo]

If you want a Silent PSU then I recommend the Zalman Silent PSU's, I got the 460W and I cant here the thing, it runs cool too, I love it and the cables are sleeved already so no messy cables, they are not that expensive just under a R1000.

R1000 for the 460W version?

Seems pretty steep to me but I guess you pay for quality right?

 

[The_Techie]

Thanks dude, isn't there any faster RAM out there? Like DDR1066 or something?

No problem, mate

They have the following: 2GB DDRII-1066 (Kingston- KVR1066D2N7K2/2G) for R782 excluding VAT of course. I just added the DDR2-800 for the cheaper price

 

[feo]

Haha OK cool, any suggestions for an AMD-based mobo/CPU system?

 

[|tera|]

Haha OK cool, any suggestions for an AMD-based mobo/CPU system?

Not to turn this into an AMD vs Intel debate, but the AMD's lack the punch for the price that the new Intel systems offer and I'm not even that clued up with hardware anymore. If your're looking for something responsive, go for Intel, AMD has to pull up some new tricks IMO

 

[The_Techie]

Haha OK cool, any suggestions for an AMD-based mobo/CPU system?

[M2N-SLI-DLX] - ASUS AMD Socket AM2, nForce 570 SLI, 2000MT/s, 4xDual DDRII, 2xPCIx16, 2xPCIx1, 3xPCI, 1xATA133, 6xSATAII(Raid 0,1 0+1,5), Dual Gbe Lan, 8ch-Sound, Max 10xUSB, 2xIEEE1394, ATX R1,095

Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (PIB) 3.2Ghz, 2x1MB L2 Cache Dual Core, HT2000 R1,449

There should be better motherboards, but it's the only AM2 one that PCInternational lists. You can have a look at Prophecy, etc

Not to turn this into an AMD vs Intel debate, but the AMD's lack the punch for the price that the new Intel systems offer and I'm not even that clued up with hardware anymore. If your're looking for something responsive, go for Intel, AMD has to pull up some new tricks IMO

Agreed.

 

[d0b33]

R1000 for the 460W version?

Seems pretty steep to me but I guess you pay for quality right?

LOL yeah I wanted a 120MM fan PSU and the OCZ 600W was out of stock so went with the ZALMAN which is ultra quiet hence the price, my PC only does 120-150W so I'm not really bothered that it's only 460W, besides my Quad will only do about 380W when I upgrade soon.

 

[feo]

Well that had to come eventually.

I just want the system that'll give me the most bang for my buck, if that's Intel then so be it. Was just wondering what the equivalent AMD-based system of what beanie posted would be?

 

[|tera|]

Don't get me wrong Feo, I actually work on our Amd 3000+ many times and I do almost everything on it, I actually bought it also just under 3 years ago and it served me well, but I realized after that purchase that the same speed P4 is more expandable and upgradable, it's actually the office machine. A friend put the P4 chip in a newer mobo and it's running DDR2 533 RAM, it knocks the AMD off its feet

AMD really has to do something exceptional if I'm ever buying a system again

 

[feo]

Oh another question, my current GFX card is an AGP card, please tell me these mobos come with AGP slots, I'm not shelling out on a GFX card as well since I now do all my gaming on my 360.

 

[The_Techie]

Oh another question, my current GFX card is an AGP card, please tell me these mobos come with AGP slots, I'm not shelling out on a GFX card as well since I now do all my gaming on my 360.

Nope, they come with PCI-e slots

 

[d0b33]

Oh another question, my current GFX card is an AGP card, please tell me these mobos come with AGP slots, I'm not shelling out on a GFX card as well since I now do all my gaming on my 360.

You should have started the thread with this info in mind...

 

[feo]

Well I could just use the onboard VGA but the thing is I wanna run Aero when I get Vista so I'm not sure the onboard will handle Aero all that well.

Cheapest PCI-E GFX card that'll run Aero with no problems?