Re: A good cheap system?

On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:30:43 -0400, IP Daley wrote:

> I've built maybe 10 systems but the last one was a few yrs ago so I'm
> completely out of touch. I mostly used AMD an overclocked them. Fond of
> Abit mobos. I usually shop at Newegg.
>
> So, what's a good basic non-gaming system for the money? I'll be using
> Win7 (don't include in price). I just bought a new Acer 23" 9:16 black
> monitor for $170 so I'd like a case to match. Say we aim for $230 to
> keep the total at $400. I have a new IDE DVD burner so I'll put that in
> it (I assume most mobos still have a port). I have good speakers, mouse
> and KB. I have some IDE HDDs. Is it worth reusing them?
>
> Thanks
>
> IP Daley

If you want cheap stick with Core2 instead of Core i7. The i7
motherboards and processors are more expensive than the Core2. The last
system I built used a Gigabyte motherboard and an E8400 which I
overclocked to 4GHz using a Thermaright Extreme Ultra 120. I used 8G of
OCZ Gold DDR2-800 DIMMs, if I were doing it over I would have bought
DDR2-1000 DIMMs or faster. The Gigabyte motherboard doesn't give you a
lot of choices for DIMM speed. The DIMM speed is overclocked by the same
ratio as the CPU which forced me to run my DIMMs at 1GHz rather than
their rated speed. I got lucky with the OCZs and the system is stable but
if I had known about the limitations in the Gigabyte BIOS I would have
picked faster RAM.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128358

Somewhere on teh intarwebs General Schvantzkoph wrote:
> On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:30:43 -0400, IP Daley wrote:
>
>> I've built maybe 10 systems but the last one was a few yrs ago so I'm
>> completely out of touch. I mostly used AMD an overclocked them. Fond
>> of Abit mobos. I usually shop at Newegg.
>>
>> So, what's a good basic non-gaming system for the money? I'll be
>> using Win7 (don't include in price). I just bought a new Acer 23"
>> 9:16 black monitor for $170 so I'd like a case to match. Say we aim
>> for $230 to keep the total at $400. I have a new IDE DVD burner so
>> I'll put that in it (I assume most mobos still have a port). I have
>> good speakers, mouse and KB. I have some IDE HDDs. Is it worth
>> reusing them?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> IP Daley
>
> If you want cheap stick with Core2 instead of Core i7. The i7
> motherboards and processors are more expensive than the Core2. The
> last system I built used a Gigabyte motherboard and an E8400 which I
> overclocked to 4GHz using a Thermaright Extreme Ultra 120. I used 8G
> of OCZ Gold DDR2-800 DIMMs, if I were doing it over I would have
> bought DDR2-1000 DIMMs or faster. The Gigabyte motherboard doesn't
> give you a lot of choices for DIMM speed. The DIMM speed is
> overclocked by the same ratio as the CPU which forced me to run my
> DIMMs at 1GHz rather than their rated speed. I got lucky with the
> OCZs and the system is stable but if I had known about the
> limitations in the Gigabyte BIOS I would have picked faster RAM.
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128358

Whereas I would have used the cheaper RAM but put the extra money towards a
better motherboard, with better BIOS options, such as FSB / RAM
dividers/multipliers or even seperate busses.
--
Shaun.

"Build a man a fire, and he`ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and
he`ll be warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchett, Jingo.

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:18:42 +1200, ~misfit~ wrote:

> Somewhere on teh intarwebs General Schvantzkoph wrote:
>> On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:30:43 -0400, IP Daley wrote:
>>
>>> I've built maybe 10 systems but the last one was a few yrs ago so I'm
>>> completely out of touch. I mostly used AMD an overclocked them. Fond
>>> of Abit mobos. I usually shop at Newegg.
>>>
>>> So, what's a good basic non-gaming system for the money? I'll be using
>>> Win7 (don't include in price). I just bought a new Acer 23" 9:16 black
>>> monitor for $170 so I'd like a case to match. Say we aim for $230 to
>>> keep the total at $400. I have a new IDE DVD burner so I'll put that
>>> in it (I assume most mobos still have a port). I have good speakers,
>>> mouse and KB. I have some IDE HDDs. Is it worth reusing them?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> IP Daley
>>
>> If you want cheap stick with Core2 instead of Core i7. The i7
>> motherboards and processors are more expensive than the Core2. The last
>> system I built used a Gigabyte motherboard and an E8400 which I
>> overclocked to 4GHz using a Thermaright Extreme Ultra 120. I used 8G of
>> OCZ Gold DDR2-800 DIMMs, if I were doing it over I would have bought
>> DDR2-1000 DIMMs or faster. The Gigabyte motherboard doesn't give you a
>> lot of choices for DIMM speed. The DIMM speed is overclocked by the
>> same ratio as the CPU which forced me to run my DIMMs at 1GHz rather
>> than their rated speed. I got lucky with the OCZs and the system is
>> stable but if I had known about the limitations in the Gigabyte BIOS I
>> would have picked faster RAM.
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128358
>
> Whereas I would have used the cheaper RAM but put the extra money
> towards a better motherboard, with better BIOS options, such as FSB /
> RAM dividers/multipliers or even seperate busses.

It's the top rated P45 motherboard, there isn't a better board available.
The price of 1066 RAM and 800 RAM is trivial, looking at Newegg the
difference between OCZ 800 and 1066 is $3.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs General Schvantzkoph wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:18:42 +1200, ~misfit~ wrote:
>
>> Somewhere on teh intarwebs General Schvantzkoph wrote:
>>> On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:30:43 -0400, IP Daley wrote:
>>>
>>>> I've built maybe 10 systems but the last one was a few yrs ago so
>>>> I'm completely out of touch. I mostly used AMD an overclocked
>>>> them. Fond of Abit mobos. I usually shop at Newegg.
>>>>
>>>> So, what's a good basic non-gaming system for the money? I'll be
>>>> using Win7 (don't include in price). I just bought a new Acer 23"
>>>> 9:16 black monitor for $170 so I'd like a case to match. Say we
>>>> aim for $230 to keep the total at $400. I have a new IDE DVD
>>>> burner so I'll put that in it (I assume most mobos still have a
>>>> port). I have good speakers, mouse and KB. I have some IDE HDDs.
>>>> Is it worth reusing them?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> IP Daley
>>>
>>> If you want cheap stick with Core2 instead of Core i7. The i7
>>> motherboards and processors are more expensive than the Core2. The
>>> last system I built used a Gigabyte motherboard and an E8400 which I
>>> overclocked to 4GHz using a Thermaright Extreme Ultra 120. I used
>>> 8G of OCZ Gold DDR2-800 DIMMs, if I were doing it over I would have
>>> bought DDR2-1000 DIMMs or faster. The Gigabyte motherboard doesn't
>>> give you a lot of choices for DIMM speed. The DIMM speed is
>>> overclocked by the same ratio as the CPU which forced me to run my
>>> DIMMs at 1GHz rather than their rated speed. I got lucky with the
>>> OCZs and the system is stable but if I had known about the
>>> limitations in the Gigabyte BIOS I would have picked faster RAM.
>>>
>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128358
>>
>> Whereas I would have used the cheaper RAM but put the extra money
>> towards a better motherboard, with better BIOS options, such as FSB /
>> RAM dividers/multipliers or even seperate busses.
>
> It's the top rated P45 motherboard, there isn't a better board
> available.

Odd then that it doesn't have more options for RAM speed.

Heh. Maybe it's the best Gigabyte board, what about ASUS?

> The price of 1066 RAM and 800 RAM is trivial, looking at
> Newegg the difference between OCZ 800 and 1066 is $3.

Obvious the near-parity in RAM prices that you see hasn't reached New
Zealand yet. Here there's still quite a price jump going from DDR2-800 to
DDR2-1066 or better.

Ok, just double-checked as it's been a while since I had reason to price
components (still happy with my C2D in the P35 board). There's only a 10%
price jump to go from OCZ DDR2-800 to OCZ DDR2-1066.

So... Scratch my reply. :-/ Except maybe the bit about finding a board with
more flexible RAM speed options in BIOS.
--
Shaun.

"Build a man a fire, and he`ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and
he`ll be warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchett, Jingo.

"General Schvantzkoph wrote:

< ... >
> I used 8G of OCZ Gold DDR2-800 DIMMs, if I were doing it over I would have
> bought DDR2-1000 DIMMs or faster. The Gigabyte motherboard doesn't give
> you a lot of choices for DIMM speed. The DIMM speed is overclocked by the
> same ratio as the CPU which forced me to run my DIMMs at 1GHz rather than
> their rated speed. I got lucky with the OCZs and the system is stable but if I
> had known about the limitations in the Gigabyte BIOS I would have picked
> faster RAM.
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128358

You do know about the Gigabyte secret hidden advanced menu made
available by pressing <Ctrl> + F1, right? Actually, one of the existing menus
changes, it might be the M.I.T.

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:07:26 -0700, Fishface wrote:

> "General Schvantzkoph wrote:
>
> < ... >
>> I used 8G of OCZ Gold DDR2-800 DIMMs, if I were doing it over I would
>> have bought DDR2-1000 DIMMs or faster. The Gigabyte motherboard doesn't
>> give you a lot of choices for DIMM speed. The DIMM speed is overclocked
>> by the same ratio as the CPU which forced me to run my DIMMs at 1GHz
>> rather than their rated speed. I got lucky with the OCZs and the system
>> is stable but if I had known about the limitations in the Gigabyte BIOS
>> I would have picked faster RAM.
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128358
>
> You do know about the Gigabyte secret hidden advanced menu made
> available by pressing <Ctrl> + F1, right? Actually, one of the existing
> menus changes, it might be the M.I.T.

No I didn't know about the secret menu, thanks for the info. However my
advice about buying faster RAM still stands because it gives you more
flexibility and the price difference is so small. That $3 difference I
quoted was for a pair of 2G DIMMs so the total price difference for an 8G
system would be just $6. The place where the secret menu sounds like it
would be useful is if you want 16G of RAM. The fastest 4G DIMMs are only
DDR2 800 and my guess would be that they don't have the timing margins
that the 2G DIMMs have.