Sweet Jesus all the chipsets!

[tnf]

As I am piecing this thing together I want something that will give me the option, if I ever want it, to upgrade to something like perhaps dual video cards, over 4 gb of ram for 64 bit OSs, best ram, etc.

With so many chipsets out there, I'm at a loss for which ones to go with.

Help me here with some recommendations for building this thing.

First -
I need 4 components at the moment - motherboard, RAM, video card, and HDD. I've got a monitor, full ATX case (only a 400W PS though, so that should be upgraded I'd say). Looking for around $1000 in price.

Questions -

1) On the RAM side of things, some boards are DDR2 800, some are DDR2 1200, others support DDR3. Should I only be looking at ones that support DDR3?

2) Chipset - How can there be so many now? What really differentiates one from another and which ones should be avoided and which ones should I look for?

3) Brands - I've always used abit or asus motheboards and have had zero problems with either. Any less known, less expensive, but equally reliable brands you'd recommend?

4) Processor - Quad core or dual core?


Any thoughts, suggestions, etc., are appreciated.

[+JuggerNaut+]

so, ignore your other thread?

[tnf]

If it upsets you that I put these 4 specific questions about things in a new thread then sure. Sometimes you get more responses in a new thread than one people are no longer reading. At least that has been my experience in my years here.

[+JuggerNaut+]

er....yeah, clearly upset. i'm just saying if you've changed your mind and want to build, say that in the other thread so people stop giving replies.

[creep]

I've fallen pretty out of touch with current hardware, but usually when I'm looking for an upgrade I check out reviews at http://www.hardocp.com
They'll have a rundown of the important chipsets all laid out in comparison for you. May take a couple of hours of reading a few reviews to get a feel for chipset/motherboard combos that will suit you, but in the end it's well worth it to feel you're making an informed purchase.
Read the reviews fully, as they'll contain small bits of info you might otherwise miss, like power recommendations for certain setups, how a board performs with different memory, etc.

[tnf]

Well I did some reading, research and went with the nForce 780i chipset that supports 3 way SLI even though I won't be using it. I did make it a point to go with PCI express 2.0.

I'm going with this board -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813188024

[Tsakali]

the only solid recommendation I can make on lesser known brands is on the video card (ZOTAC):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814500006
I just got one for myself and I have newly found respect!

oce'd by factory to the chipset's limits and is solid and quiet

I don't even want to mention that it's a great buy for the cost because it will imply that I am compromising...not true at all this thing is a beast in spite of the low price.

[tnf]

Well, here is what I ended up going with (figured out the differences between all the chipsets after some research and a lot of reading at Tomshardware.)

Here is the setup:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131299

Went with a cheaper board so more $$ could go to a video card.

Video card:
Asus ATI Radeon 4870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121258

With the $30 rebate, that card is a pretty good deal.

Core 2 duo wolfdale 3.0ghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115037

4gb of ocz reaper ram (DDR2 1066)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227289

Arctic cooling processor fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835186134

Vista home premium 32 bit



I want to stick with XP.

Case
NZXT apollo blue
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811146026


Whole rig was 1049 with the PS. Didn't buy an HDD.

[creep]

Which PSU did you get? And why did you list out everything except PSU? It's important, too, damnit!

[+JuggerNaut+]

i like that board.

[tnf]

Which PSU did you get? And why did you list out everything except PSU? It's important, too, damnit!

I went with a 600W PSU because I don't plan on going with Crossfire (Dual 4870s) at the moment. If I go that route, I'll go up to a bigger PS.

Here is what I got (not too much $$, but well reviewed on newegg.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817182062

[tnf]

i like that board.

Yea, I do too, especially for the price. The more I read about the nForce chipsets, the more I leaned towards something that supported crossfire instead of SLI just due to bang for your buck.

[+JuggerNaut+]

i've always been an nvidia user but ati's bringing it on: http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd ... formance/1

[+JuggerNaut+]

that's so pretty

[tnf]

Last ATI card I used was a radeon 8500 128mb, it was great for the time.

[tnf]

Well checking MS's site it said XP can handle a limit of 4gb of physical ram and you can hack around how much is used for kernel vs how much is used for apps.
If that's the case, I'll be sticking with XP and sending Vista back.

[tnf]

BTW - review of that motherboard here:
http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/index. ... &Itemid=31

It benchmarked well and gets good marks as far as price for performance goes.

[Captain]

Well checking MS's site it said XP can handle a limit of 4gb of physical ram and you can hack around how much is used for kernel vs how much is used for apps.
If that's the case, I'll be sticking with XP and sending Vista back.

After taking into account the memory from your video card and all of the other devices on the computer, you might see as little as only 2.75GB of RAM being used. It's a waste IMO. Grab a 64-bit OS and make full use of your 4GB.

[AmIdYfReAk]

MAzduh, you're board is the only one that i've heard of/googled that had that issue, when i'm running a 32-bit os, i use 3.25Gig's of my ram, out of 4..

[tnf]

Well checking MS's site it said XP can handle a limit of 4gb of physical ram and you can hack around how much is used for kernel vs how much is used for apps.
If that's the case, I'll be sticking with XP and sending Vista back.

After taking into account the memory from your video card and all of the other devices on the computer, you might see as little as only 2.75GB of RAM being used. It's a waste IMO. Grab a 64-bit OS and make full use of your 4GB.

I saw quite a bit of complaining about driver issues with the 64 bit OS (64 bit vista at least), and how many programs today really take advantage of it?

[AmIdYfReAk]

Honestly, those are gone... i ran XP 64-bit on my old AMD 64 Box, and there was some serious driver issues to the point where i couldnt get half of the hardware running..

i was running Vista 64-bit on my main box for a few months ( the mobo Dieing took care of that though ) And honestly, i had ZERO problems Getting drivers and etc for it, they are all readily available to download.

the only things that you may have a issue with are non Mainstream hardware that say you bought from a Chinese peddler in a back ally.

AS for what takes advantige of it, there are quite a few games sporting 64-bit support ( Source, Crytek, UT, ETC ) for starters, and the other ones are basically CAD and Video app's that Crunch some hardcore numbers..

but beyond that, You wont even notice that it's 64-bit, everything 32-bit will run Nativity and seamlessly.

[Scourge]

You can order the 64 bit version of your Vista OS here.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1 ... fault.mspx

The only thing you have to pay is s&h and a little fee, which for me ran a total of about $10.

[Captain]

I saw quite a bit of complaining about driver issues with the 64 bit OS (64 bit vista at least)

Haven't had any driver errors so far. Any programs that previously couldn't run on x64 (Rivatuner for example) already have 64-bit compatible versions.

[tnf]

I'm planning on sending Vista back anyhow and sticking with XP. I might get Vista 64 at a later date.