Need your help in picking a decent mobo and cpu bundle...

[bsodmike]

Here's the list:

http://www.cybermind.com.sg/images/s...-diy-page2.gif

I'll be picking one of those core 2 duos of course. I'm looking for something fairly CPU fast for 3D CAD work (ProEngineer), coding etc and gaming as well. 3GHz E8400 maybe?

What would be your best pick say from the Gigabyte mainboard, or is there something better that is well stable and offers great Windows XP (SP3) and Ubuntu support?

Would like top of the line specs, eSata, SATAII and PCI-E x16.

Please also recommend a good GFX, RAM and PSU combo from the following list:

http://www.cybermind.com.sg/images/stories/pricelists/cyber-pricelist-diy-page1.gif

I am personally partial towards ATi and Crucial mostly. Thanks a lot for your help! Prices are in Singapore $, £100 = SGD238.- / 1SGD = £0.42

Cheers
Mike.

[TAKTAK]

What's you budget bud?

Any aversion to i7?

818 cpu + mobo Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R + 920
269 mem tri chan, 6GB
369 gfx MSI4870 1GB
149 psu HX520

1605

[bsodmike]

What's you budget bud?

Any aversion to i7?

Somewhere around SGD 800 - 1000. Naw, this is not doing to be my main system, for that I have my Mac Pro

It will be installed in the lab downstairs with my 24" Dell.

[scaryjim]

Why a core 2 Duo? The AMD Phenom II X3's are much more flexible and just as capable in a mid-range gaming PC. The price for the X3 720 there is very good given the current exchange rate (more than £20 less than in the UK) and offers much better value than the more expensive E8400. If you're doing a lot of 3D work there's a very good chance your software will be heavily mutlithreaded and will benefit more from the extra core than high clock speeds. I'd probably couple it with the Biostar TA790GX-128M - some people on these forums have been able to unlock their Phenom II X3 to a quad-core using this (or similar) motherboards.

I'd need to check whether that's a DDR2 or DDR3 motherboard before recommending memory. As far as GPU goes you should check whether your 3D CAD software can utilise GPGPU - it may be able to offload rendering onto a suitable graphics card. I'll leave someone with more knowledge than me to recommend a power supply

[TAKTAK]

$457 p5q + e8400
$83 4GB 6400 ddr2
$369 gfx MSI4870 1GB
$149 psu HX520

$1058


$457 p5q + e8400
$83 4GB 6400 ddr2
$235 gfx MSI4850
$149 psu HX520

$924

[Infinite]

Sup Mike

$511 E8400 + Asus P5Q-E
$83 4GB Corsair
$149 520HX Corsair
$239 4850

[bsodmike]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Whats the diff between P5Q and P5Q-E?

Maybe a Corsair TX750 or TX850 PSU instead?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If any of the software you are using is multithreaded I would be looking a triple or quad core processor TBH.

The Phenom II X3 720 is excellent value for money.

Check these reviews out:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16382

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ph...be-review-am3/

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpu...710-am3-cpus/1

[aidanjt]

If you're looking at using Ubuntu, you'd best stick with nvidia, ati really aren't there yet on the F/OSS driver front, and their propitiatory drivers are still a mess.

[TAKTAK]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Whats the diff between P5Q and P5Q-E?

Maybe a Corsair TX750 or TX850 PSU instead?

The P5Q-e has a better PWM and NB cooling setup and better board layout, AFAIK, it is the same board, just laid out better

as for the PSU, unless they are cheaper then there is no need, you won't use 350w, never mind 750w
So there is plenty of headroom in the 520

also, as aidanjt says, if you're planning on using *buntu, go for a GTX260 (great card )

[bsodmike]

If you're looking at using Ubuntu, you'd best stick with nvidia, ati really aren't there yet on the F/OSS driver front, and their propitiatory drivers are still a mess.

Ah yes, Nvidia do some decent drivers. Any recommendations then? Something around the SGD250-300 mark would suffice, pref MSI...

[TAKTAK]

Ah yes, Nvidia do some decent drivers. Any recommendations then? Something around the SGD250-300 mark would suffice, pref MSI...

$339 MSI GTX260

there is really many choices but it is cheaper than a 4870, and vary similar in performance

or there's the GTX250's, but i don't know much about their performance so i couldn't really recommend it

[scaryjim]

The GTS250 is a rebadged 9800GTX+ with better cooling and power-management, so it performs somewhere around (perhaps slightly above) the 4850: Hexus GTS250 (1GB) review - the GTS250 512MB will perform the same as the 9800GTX+ 512MB in that review (the 1GB version performs ever-so-slightly better )

[bsodmike]

Think I'll go for this then...

S$511 Intel C2D E8400 + Asus P5Q-E Mainboard
S$83 Twin2X-6400 DDR2 CORSAIR@5-5-5-12 [2pcs KIT] [4GB=2x2GB]
S$275 MSI Geforce GTX250 512MB (PCI-e x16)
S$149 CORSAIR VX550 (550W) ATX PSU

S$1018

[TAKTAK]

Think I'll go for this then...

S$511 Intel C2D E8400 + Asus P5Q-E Mainboard
S$83 Twin2X-6400 DDR2 CORSAIR@5-5-5-12 [2pcs KIT] [4GB=2x2GB]
S$275 MSI Geforce GTX250 512MB (PCI-e x16)
S$149 CORSAIR VX550 (550W) ATX PSU

S$1018

The HX is modular for the same price

30w's is neither here or there

plus the HX520 is seasonic engineered, the VX550 is CWT engineered

[bsodmike]

The HX is modular for the same price

30w's is neither here or there

plus the HX520 is seasonic engineered, the VX550 is CWT engineered

haha, ahh bless you. That's great Also threw in a 500GB Seagate HDD; don't really need loads of space (for now). I've got well close to 4TB+ here with the Mac Pro.