Need a new MB & probably CPU I'm a lot out of date, suggestions please

[Trapper]

Need a new MB & probably CPU I'm a lot out of date, suggestions please

I will soon be in a position to replace my MB and XP with a new MB, possibly a CPU and Windows 7. I will have around £200 for the MB & CPU (As long as eBay does its job)

At present I have an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium MB (Does not support W7) with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 2.20 Gigahertz CPU Socket 939 which seems to be obsolete now.

All powered by a Hyper PSU, ATX, 580 True Watts. With 2 x 12v O/P.

There are so many MB's out there it is a mine field of specs, 90% of which is a mystery to me.
I am looking for a MB that can go to 8GB+ of DDR DIMM memory, has two SLI PCI Express Graphic slots and 3 or more PCI slots, sound, modem etc. My present MB also has PCIEX_1 and a PCIEX4_1. I also need as many USB sockets as possible.
I am using Pri and Sec IDE connectors and have floppy and CD connected to the board as well. I have not used raid (Cos I don't really understand it!)

Can anyone suggest a MB & CPU that is better than the above? I have seen bundles advertised but I don't know what I'm looking for, yet.

My budget is around £200 but could go above this if really necessary to get a good combo.

Thanks for any pointers!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

First decide on Intel or AMD for the CPU. Either works fine, but Intel has an edge now at most price points.

I know nothing about AMD anyway.

You likely will need a new motherboard, a new CPU, and new RAM (DDR 3).

200 pounds is about $330 US.

Roughly, in US prices: 50 for 8 GB RAM; 140 for decent motherboard (Intel, Asus, or Gigabyte); and $140 for an Intel Socket 1155 CPU.

Here is a list of socket 1155 motherboards with 2 PCI Express slots and 3 PCI slots

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Motherboards, Intel Motherboards, LGA 1155, Core i7 / i5 / i3 (LGA1155), 2, 3

The Asus P8P67 at $150 would probably be fine for your situation.

Allot US $50 for 8 GB RAM and then blow all remaining budget on the strongest Intel socket 1155 (Sandy Bridge) processor you can afford.

Here is a list of them:

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, CPUs / Processors, Processors - Desktops, Intel, LGA 1155, Sandy Bridge

Looks like your budget would support something in the range of i5-2100 to i5-2300.

You can always move more money toward the CPU and away from the motherboard as necessary---or go with 4 GB of RAM to start with. That would save $20 or $25 that you could put toward a stronger CPU--where the money is best spent, in my opinion. An i5-2500 is very strong.

 

[chessdragon136]

@ignatzatsonic A suggestion, please dont convert £ to $ and then spec on prices you get in America for a system.. Prices there are usually a lot cheaper than here in the UK..

For instance, Newegg i5 2500K converts to £140 ish.. Here you couldn't get that for less than £165 (give or take) and £25 is what, $40?? So your spec is well off

£200 would not get you any Intel i series stuff here, not with those motherboard requirements.. the cheapest I series proc (low end 1155 i3) is £95 ish

Ebuyer Socket 1155 Range

As a recommendation, it may be cheaper to spec a new hard drive and cd drive and possibly remove the floppy (unless it is used of course) than it is to find a motherboard with those requirements (as sadly now its seen as old, so harder to find, so usually more expensive) I may be completely wrong on this though!

 

[Trapper]

Thanks for the info and the link, I have looked at the Ebuyer site who have the ASUS P8768-V code 267772 @ £148.23 and the Intelcore i5 2500 3.3Ghz 1155 6MB @ £165.68. These two items cost £313.91, a bit too much over budget I also need to get W7 and if I can a new MS Office either 2007 or 2010.

Okay, perhaps I need to approach this from a different angle, usage and needs. If you only need to go shopping you don't need a Ferrari (No matter how much you'd like one!

My MB does not support XP so upgrading that is a must. My AMD processor still works fine but is now pretty much obsolete so that should be upgraded. I have 4gb DDR DIMM memory which is fairly recent (an attempt to improve my PC which made no noticeable difference).

I use this PC mostly for data, email, Word processing and spreadsheets. I like to run more than one program at a time, often Microsoft Media Player playing in the background. I can have Firefox open with a range of tabs open plus Outlook. Occasional use of Paint Shop Pro but very little.

I also play a few games (Not online) like Crysis, Doom or Half life or similar.

I note that the MB suggested P8768-V does not list IDE HD connectors, my main HD is a SATA WD Caviar Green 500gb split into two drives, I was going to keep one as XP and the other as W7. I guess I could ditch my older drives if this type is now also obsolete, if I have to! My floppy can go as I can copy any content onto a USB stick.

With the above in mind what would you suggest, for, say around £250 for CPU and MB?

 

[chessdragon136]

OK thats all useful to know..

First of all, You will not get a Windows 7 license or Office License in your budget.
Windows 7 Home Premium OEM (One time install) is £70 on ebuyer.. think thats about right. If you are a student you can usually get student deals which save about 80%

Student discounts, deals & offers for premium software in UK

As for your usage, for £250, you could get a low end i3 at around £100, a gigabyte motherboard for £75 and 4GB of RAM for around £20..

Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz Socket 1155 3MB L3 Cache.. | Ebuyer.com
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 Socket 1155 8 Channel Audio.. | Ebuyer.com
Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz HyperX Blu Memory.. | Ebuyer.com

I don't believe you have mentioned your Graphics cards at all.. The Gigabyte motherboard supports ATI Crossfire but not Nvidia SLI..
Also, any peripheral cards? Again, Motherboard has only 2 PCI slots...

So basically, you may change the mobo, and once you have one that settles your needs, then see what money you have left over and maybe pick a higher i3 processor

All this is Socket 1155 -> NOT to be confused with 1156!!!

I must also admit, I haven't used AMD systems in a long time, you may get a cheaper result there but I wouldn't know what to recommend.. Maybe someone else does??? Sorry

 

[Trapper]

Thanks Chessdragon 136.

I have an ATI Radeon HD5570 graphics card, bit basic but does the job on my present set up so that would suit the Gigabyte MB at least as a 'get you up and going'.

I am using a Creative Audigy II sound card and an old fax modem card so that should be okay with the 2 PCI slots. anything else would have to go USB. If the onboard sound is fair this could be a useful inclusion instead of the Audigy.

I'm racking my brain to see if there is a relation in education I could use to obtain the Software4students system! Got to be one somewhere...... but most are in the 'very senior' category.

eBay is doing quite well, much better than I expected, so I may be able to stretch the budget, keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[jc836]

As a custom system builder-I can safely say that the current AMD processor is fine for most applications/users. You need to find a motherboard that supports AM2, AM2+, AM3 processors for starters-IF-this is your desired direction. The advice of others about a full upgraqde is not bad either.
For me-I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit with an AMD Athlon 64 X@ 3800+ on a Biostar K8M800 MB with no issues other than the fact that it only supports 2 gB of RAM and has but 2 SATA ports in addition to the IDE. Check very carefully that any motherboard you are considering actually has reasonably current drivers for Windows 7 (32 and 64).
Typically the power supply should be replaced for peace of mind and an upgrade to at least 500 watts continuous. GREEN is good too. Video is onboard or you can elect to use a plug-in card. For office work internal is fine/gaming, its up to you.

Again-the CPU you have is not obsolete. Make sure to replace the cooler/heatsink and all fans too. Maybe slow by some standards and purposes. Memory for Windows 7 should ideally be at 4GB, but I am satisfied with 2 for my purposes. Make sure the motherboard is the correct size for your case-or better still get a new one and enjoy the refreshing change in looks

 

[sgage]

Thanks Chessdragon 136.

I have an ATI Radeon HD5570 graphics card, bit basic but does the job on my present set up so that would suit the Gigabyte MB at least as a 'get you up and going'.

I am using a Creative Audigy II sound card and an old fax modem card so that should be okay with the 2 PCI slots. anything else would have to go USB. If the onboard sound is fair this could be a useful inclusion instead of the Audigy.

I'm racking my brain to see if there is a relation in education I could use to obtain the Software4students system! Got to be one somewhere...... but most are in the 'very senior' category.

eBay is doing quite well, much better than I expected, so I may be able to stretch the budget, keeping my fingers crossed.

Pretty much all you need to get the student discount is a .edu email address. Fantastic deals! I got Windows 7 for $30 and Office 2007 Ultimate for $60..., all fair and square.

 

[Nigsy]

Have a look here:

Xenon AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.00GHz Bundle - Quad Core []

That's £150 - Only 4gb, but you could easily add another 4gb if needed.

 

[Trapper]

Thank you for your guidance and help, after my hobby cupboard clear out eBay is going much better than I expected. I am now intending to get a better MB and CPU, I reckon budget for these is now around £350+ and I will still have enough for W7 and hopefully Office 2007 or 10.

Having liked my ASUS A8N-SLI Premium so I am happy to stick with the make and with the link from Nigsy I came across the ASUS P8P67 MB here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-078-OE&groupid=43&catid=2053&subcat=
with 8GB memory for £382.63. I would like to get away from noisy fans if at all possible and according to the user review the supplied fan is quite noisy, is there a quiet fan or can heatsinks be used on this CPU & board? Or an equally specked board that does not use fans at all would be better?
I do not know if the chipset is okay or even if the board is fairly new, as I do not want to buy an older board. Can anyone give me an opinion of this or better for the same money? I am quite happy sourcing from multiple suppliers to keep the costs down.

In the blurb on the OC page as above it states:

Note - Please note that adding in additional memory to the spare slots will require new BIOS settings and the maximum clock speed attainable may be significantly reduced.

What does this mean in plain English 'practical' terms?


Likewise:

Updating the BIOS on the overclocked bundle range will void the warranty on the overclock. If you update the BIOS we will no longer be able to provide support for configuring and maintaining the CPU overclock.

I read this to mean that if I upgrade and use 8gb memory I will require a new bios, but in doing the upgrade they will no longer provide support (or guarantee the MB)?

Keep 4gb no problem use 8gb and warranty is voided????????

Looks a bit suspect to me, but maybe I have the wrong end of the stick again!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I came across the ASUS P8P67 MB here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-078-OE&groupid=43&catid=2053&subcat=
with 8GB memory for £382.63.

I would like to get away from noisy fans if at all possible and according to the user review the supplied fan is quite noisy, is there a quiet fan or can heatsinks be used on this CPU & board? Or an equally specked board that does not use fans at all would be better?

I do not know if the chipset is okay or even if the board is fairly new, as I do not want to buy an older board. Can anyone give me an opinion of this or better for the same money? I am quite happy sourcing from multiple suppliers to keep the costs down.

In the blurb on the OC page as above it states:

Note - Please note that adding in additional memory to the spare slots will require new BIOS settings and the maximum clock speed attainable may be significantly reduced.

What does this mean in plain English 'practical' terms?


Likewise:

Updating the BIOS on the overclocked bundle range will void the warranty on the overclock. If you update the BIOS we will no longer be able to provide support for configuring and maintaining the CPU overclock.

I read this to mean that if I upgrade and use 8gb memory I will require a new bios, but in doing the upgrade they will no longer provide support (or guarantee the MB)?

Keep 4gb no problem use 8gb and warranty is voided????????

It looks to me like that is an already overclocked PC, sold to those who want overclocking but don't want to set it up themselves.

Do you want an overclocked PC?

The first blurb means that if you add more RAM on your own after purchase that may possibly not exactly match the original RAM, it may affect the overclock and require you to fiddle with BIOS settings in an attempt to maintain the overclock.

Overclockers pretty much have to fiddle with the BIOS--that's how it is done.

A simple upgrade from 4 GB to 8 GB should NOT require a new BIOS, but it may require new BIOS settings, depending on the characteristics of the new 4 GB set.

So, the way I read it, upgrading from 4 to 8 does not void the warranty. On the other hand, flashing to a new BIOS does void the warranty.

That's a good motherboard. The P67 chipset is quite new, superseded only by the Z68, which has only minor differences.

The fan and heatsink included with the 2500k is unobtrusive at ordinary work loads. As the work load increases, the nature of the noise changes to a higher pitch. You may or may not find that annoying.

Overclockers tend to ignore noise in their quest for speed, but you can certainly replace the included Intel heatsink and fan with another that cools better if need be. Most overclockers would do that as a matter of course.

 

[Trapper]

Overclocking was not an option I had originally thought of and on reflection have decided not to follow this route, but it was an interesting possibility.

I have no idea why I like this board more than any other, I do not understand much of the specs or what they mean in practical day to day usage, and that does not help me, hence my pestering of you poor guys.

Okay, I like the easy BIOS, the seemingly good spec and I like the colour.

I don't know if I am right but can you use mixed memory with this board? I have 4x1gb sticks of 184 pin DDR2 I think, DIMM which I would rather keep as they are quite new, I can then update later or would I need a new set? There are only 2 PCI slots but could live with that.

Can you connect a CD/RW unit with an older type ribbon cable connector? Or can you get an adapter lead?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If you are referring to the Asus P8P67, it requires DDR 3 RAM and I don't think it has any connectors for the old style ribbon cables. Most motherboards released in the last couple of years are going to require DDR3.