CPU\Mobo\RAM Reccomendations with upgrade in mind

[nme_uk]

Ok, a friend is in the market for a new system, but has most of the components to hand already in the form of his older system, which we will salvage. What we do need is advice around a good mobo, cpu and ram combo that will allow future upgrades, and not cost over 200 - 250.00 quid.

The machine will be used for everything, he is a product designer, so a bit of photoshop, watching movies, playing some games, and otherwise just general use.

I'm thinking that a mid range P35 chipset mobo is the way forward, with a low - mid range c2d with the option to overclock. The next piece is DDR2 RAM, PC6400. Not sure what I should be looking for here, any specific brand etc?

Couple of questions, is the 975 chipset now retired/retiring? Is the P35 the better chipset at present, until more stable p38 Mobo's come out?

What CPU (intel Core2Duo only) is generally considered best bang for buck, especially with regards to running overclocked?

thanks

[staffsMike]

975 was dead on arival.. useless really.

P35 is the way to go for a decent midrange system at the moment. X38 offer's slightly more future proofing but P35 is a solid overclocking board.

I'd get an Abit IP-35 (£80), 2GB or corsair or geil PC6400. Should be around £40 - £45.

Leave's you 75 - £125 for the CPU depending or where you set the budget.

In that price range you can go from the E4400 - E6750.

Alternative you could get a cheaper CPU, something like the pentium dual cores (E21X0) for around 40 and do a big overclock.

Personally i'd having something like the E4500/E4600 which are fairly decent stock and should give a comfortable overclock to 3.2GHz +

[nme_uk]

thanks Mike - One Q - would any of the Quad cores be within my budget? Any suggestions around a combo on or around that price point?

[nme_uk]

One more point - which I forgot - the existing case is micro ATX so we need a mobo for that form factor - does the abit board come in that size?

thanks

[BUFF]

No, you'll want something based on G33 then like the Asus P5K-VM or a Gigabyte G33M variant.
Gets you integrated gfx too if the old system was AGP & you don't have a PCI-E gfx card.

[Blitzen]

975 was dead on arival.. useless really.

What a poor, ill-informed statement!
I have the Aw9D-MAX and its alot better than the AB9 i bought and within 2 weeks sold on. Its a beast of motherboard and for the price it should be. Why is it still well over a £100 if its ' useless'?'
975X may be older and retired/retiring but its still very good for anything i can throw at it.

Try reading the reviews on it and what people say about them that ACTUALLY use them before making blanket statements like the one you made.

[staffsMike]

Quad core would be just about do able.

£165 for Q6600
£40 for the RAM
£60ish gigabye G33 Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
no idea if this one is any good but would bring you into the highest budget
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

£265ish

[nme_uk]

great stuff - i'm looking at the abit Fatality Mobo - any ideas on whether this will work, or is any good?

Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD ATI Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard


what are people generally using for overclocking with the mATX format?
Thanks for all the help guys - where is the 'thank' button?

[Blitzen]

Also, you can pick up Geil RAM for under £40.
OCZ and Corsaior for around £45

[Agent]

What a poor, ill-informed statement!
I have the Aw9D-MAX and its alot better than the AB9 i bought and within 2 weeks sold on. Its a beast of motherboard and for the price it should be. Why is it still well over a £100 if its ' useless'?'
975X may be older and retired/retiring but its still very good for anything i can throw at it.

Try reading the reviews on it and what people say about them that ACTUALLY use them before making blanket statements like the one you made.

I dont think he was implying that the chipset is useless itself, simply that it was dead before it took off.

975 was only really a stopping gap. There isn't anything wrong with it, just there is newer ones out there now. Plus, there was very very few users who would notice the difference between a 965 and 975 chipset, in the scheme of chipset releases, it was nothing to shout about

You can't compare one motherboard to another and imply that one was better than the other because of the chipset. There are loads of things which affect how "good" a board can be

OP: I wouldn't go for the F-I90HD. Its certainly not one of Abits notable releases
I sent mine back. Too many issues with it, which was a real shame.

[Lucio]

great stuff - i'm looking at the abit Fatality Mobo - any ideas on whether this will work, or is any good?

Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD ATI Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard


what are people generally using for overclocking with the mATX format?
Thanks for all the help guys - where is the 'thank' button?

Helped a friend build a system around that board, it's fairly solid but does have a couple of niggling issues. In my case I couldn't get sound to work when I put XP SP2 on, pretty sure it was because the application was running whilst I upgraded but never got to test that theory.

That said, you at least get some support from aBit via these forums, so it might tip the balance vs say a G33 variant offering from Asus or Gigabyte.

[nme_uk]

OP: I wouldn't go for the F-I90HD. Its certainly not one of Abits notable releases
I sent mine back. Too many issues with it, which was a real shame.

bummer - thats a shame, after an evening of surfing for a decent mATX, this one seems to sound awesome - too good to be true?

Helped a friend build a system around that board, it's fairly solid but does have a couple of niggling issues. In my case I couldn't get sound to work when I put XP SP2 on, pretty sure it was because the application was running whilst I upgraded but never got to test that theory.

That said, you at least get some support from aBit via these forums, so it might tip the balance vs say a G33 variant offering from Asus or Gigabyte.

Definately a good point - to be fair I have no real appreciattion of which vendors excel and which are budget manufacturers - I have at least built a few machines with Abit Mobo's, although that was many moons ago

I guess the search goes on!

[BUFF]

OP: I wouldn't go for the F-I90HD. Its certainly not one of Abits notable releases
I sent mine back. Too many issues with it, which was a real shame.

People who do have them running still reckon that it's about the best HTPC mobo.
I understand that later production is better but the chipset does seem to have a lower fsb ceiling than G33.

[Agent]

People who do have them running still reckon that it's about the best HTPC mobo.
I understand that later production is better but the chipset does seem to have a lower fsb ceiling than G33.

Oh yeah, if you can get it running / on paper it looks great, but its by far the biggest board with issues i've seen Abit release in a long time

[staffsMike]

If you want a more feature packed uATX board then this is the best one

evga 630i

not in stock yet though

There's two lesser version as well.

And blitzen the 975's overclock noticably worse than 965's do/did.. i've seen it with my own eyes.

[BUFF]

abit also has 2 mobos coming based on the nVidia MCP73 chipset, I-N73H & HD.

Yes, 975X doesn't overclock as high in fsb terms but clock for clock it's a faster chipset than 965 or P35.