Hi all, long time no post;
My rig needs upgrading and i'm looking at going for the Q9450 cpu when it's released in a month or so. As for mobo's i've been looking at the Asus P5N-D nForce 750i. Memory wise 4 gig is an absolute minimum. DDR2 or DDR3 for Quad core? I've been out of the hardware side for a few years and what a nightmare catching up with it all :headache:
Right, my primary usage is CS3 postprocessing, CaptureNX, Lightroom. I rip cd's to Mp3 all the time and DivX a few dvd's now and then. I don't game as much but i'm partial to BF2 Half life 2, CS.
Overclocking a little would be nice but not essential as stability is paramount. My current rig is 4 years old ish and i hope to keep the new rig for a similar time. I'm wondering what will be compatible with the new system. Currently the parts i'm sure will work are
SB Xfi Xtreme Gamer PCI
Pci 108 Netgear Card
Nvidia 7800 GTX PCIe
2 Sata II Hd's
Zalman CNP9500 Copper cooler
Antec p180 Case
Antec 600 watt PSU 24 pin atx
By far the biggest headache was trawling through mobo reviews, in the end i gave up and just considered the Asus P5N-d as my current Asus A8n Sli Nforce 4 has been superb in the reliability stakes. I'm open for mobo recommendations though so fire away. Sli doesn't interest me now but maybe down the line.. Not sure wether to keep the 7800Gtx or go for a dedicated CS3 GFX card? Does such a thing exist? if so i bet they're expensive.
As for OS's i'm presuming only Vista Ultimate supports 4 cores? and how much memory will Vista support? 4 gig Or 8 gig would great. I've seen some mobo's stating 8 Gig support but past experience hasn't proved so.
I'll be processing NEF's From a D300 and the current Athlon 4000 chugs a bit On a side note, whilst looking at mobo's i came across that HUGE Scythe cooler! have you guys seen the size of that thing!!! Jesus, i'm surprised that fits ANY case
Budget wise i want to keep below £500 if possible.
Lots of Questions there So any feedback very much appreciated.
EDIT Scrap the sli, so mobo recommendations essential.