Vista Workstation - Please check

[KingLouie3]

Hi guys,

I'm going to recycle my Pentium D820 and Asus P5PM-VM motherboard into a NAS server. I now need to build a Vista workstation and to play Command & Conquer 3. I need some help with the following choices.

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 / E6300
Cooler - Arctic Freezer Pro
RAM - 1Gb (2X512Mb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400
Motherboard - Asus P5B-E Plus i965
GPU - 256MB XFX 7900GS PCI-E (x16), Mem 1320 MHz, GPU 450 MHz, 20 Pipes, Dual DVI/HDTV
PSU - Corsair HX520 (already have)
HDD - 74GB Raptor (OS), 250GB Maxtor (storage) - (already have)
DVD-RW - Pioneer DVR112DBK (already have)
CDROM - Plextor 712 (already have)
Sound - Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music

The OS will be either 32bit or 64 bit Vista Ultimate.

Will be ordering the bits and pieces from Mr Scan.

Any help or advice will be appreciated.

Cheers!!!

[Flewis]

Definitely get 2GB of RAM, or one 1GB stick so u can upgrade ASAP. Vista needs one gig but will run better with 2. Go for the 4300 or get faster ram as to reach 3GHz on a 6300 you will need to get to 855MHz on the RAM but to get to 3GHz on the 4300 you only need 667MHz RAM.

Personally i would go for an ATI 1900 series card as they are generally a bit quicker.

[KingLouie3]

thanks Flewis for your points on memory selection. As for the ATI card, I'm going to stick with nvidia only because of linux.

cheers mate!

[DecomposingStar]

Would work well with the e4300 OR the e6300, but i would personally choose the 6300, simply because i don't know much about the 4300.

Kingston Value 1gb would be good, you can pick it up for ~£60-70 and leaves room for upgrading. But the P5B have 4 ram slots (doesn't it?) So even if you did occupy 2 with 512mb memory, you can still slam in another 2x1GB sticks quite easily, and by the time you want to upgrade, 2gb sticks will probably be more affordable.

I'd also choose an ATI card, but thats just me... Maybe go for a lower budget card for now if you want to upgrade to DX10 one day. An X1800 should tide you over (or nVidia equivilant)

[chuckskull]

Get 32bit vista especially if you're sticking with 1gig ram. 64bit uses more. You can pick up 2gig of RAM for £115 now, check out the bargains forum, sacrifice the X-fi if you have to, as the RAM will make much more difference.

[dave87]

Take the e4300 if you are overclocking, you'll get further on lower spec RAM.

Ditch the X-Fi for the min, and spend the money on RAM, unless you've already got the Raptor, get a 400gb Seagate or something

How much is the 7900? If its not a lot more go for a base spec 8800gts - will do you more good in C&C3

Hope this helps,

Dave

[KingLouie3]

Thanks lads for your help on choosing the parts for my new workstation.

I'm going for the Sapphire x1950pro graphics card, its more or less the same price as a 7900GS card. I looked at the 8800GTS card but its out of my reach for the time being.

I need some advice on the memory modules which I'm going to purchase from overclockers today, as they are doing special offers this week.

What do you think about the following memory modules??

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 800MHz RAM Speed, CAS 4-4-4-12 Timings, 1.9-2.1v £123.36

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 £113.96

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz DDR2 800MHz RAM Speed, CAS 4-4-4-12 Timings, 1.9-2.3v £114.99

Cheers!!

[chuckskull]

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz DDR2 800MHz RAM Speed, CAS 4-4-4-12 Timings, 1.9-2.3v £114.99

That looks like a bargain to me. nice tight timings and one of the cheapest.

[KingLouie3]

Cheers ChuckSkull, I have ordered the Geil memory from Overclockers.

Hit a brick wall as the Sapphire x1950pro at Scan have sold out. Is it wise to get a £20 graphics card and wait for the 8800GTS cards to drop in price???

Cheers!!

[chuckskull]

I'd just get an nvidia card, like a 7900GS, if you can stretch to it http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/125107 is a bargain.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7980 review.

[dave87]

You might be wise waiting actually, ATi's next gen is round the corner, as is the new revisions of the 8800.

The other option is the 8600 when it comes out, massive performance around the £100-150 from what I have heard

[KingLouie3]

Dave, you are right. I'm going to wait for a few weeks and see what is available.

Dave, ChuckSkull thanks for all your advise.

Have a good weekend!!