new mother board and pcu

D

debrito

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Name
Paul
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new motherboard and cpu for photo editing and small level gaming ?
i have currantly
vista 32bit
4 gig mem of only 3 have been told are working !
2 sata hard drives
usb2 external hard drives
cpu amd athlon 64 bit x2 4400+ 2.3gh
does anyone have any ideas on any motherboard bundles ashoulgd go for or not go for
 
If you want power, get an i7 bundle. You will probably need a bigger power supply and may need a new graphics card. I would also start with a new hard disk as this is the bottleneck on the computer so you want it as fast as possible.

With a 32bit OS you are limited to 3hb of useable RAM, On a 64bit OS you can go much higher.
 
Budget?

I'd wait a month or two for the Sandy Bridge mobos (I have an i7-2600k which is as fast as lightning!)... Intel found a bug with the SATA controller in the chipset so are now having to replace many thousands of boards with a cut 2 controller...

Give it a month or two and go for:

i5/i7-2xxx processor, 8G RAM, Win7 64 plus SSD system disk if you can afford it. Not sure what your graphics is, but I'm running a 9500GT passive card which is fine for image editing and seemingly video editing too.
 
neil_g said:
thats not a "bad" spec.. as above only 3gb will be "working" as you have 32bit vista.

what are you struggling with?

oh and whats your budget for upgrades?
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yes specs not that bad, but if i want to up grade i need to go windows 7 64 bit and im going to need 4 gig min (so they say) and board will not take anymore ram running cs3 its really slow to open up and freezes now and again thanks for reply
 
arad85 said:
Budget?

I'd wait a month or two for the Sandy Bridge mobos (I have an i7-2600k which is as fast as lightning!)... Intel found a bug with the SATA controller in the chipset so are now having to replace many thousands of boards with a cut 2 controller...

Give it a month or two and go for:

i5/i7-2xxx processor, 8G RAM, Win7 64 plus SSD system disk if you can afford it. Not sure what your graphics is, but I'm running a 9500GT passive card which is fine for image editing and seemingly video editing too.
Click to expand...

great thats helpfull i will wait i like the idea of 8 g ram budjest about £500 i want to try and build my own this time
 
Dale_d3100 said:
If you want power, get an i7 bundle. You will probably need a bigger power supply and may need a new graphics card. I would also start with a new hard disk as this is the bottleneck on the computer so you want it as fast as possible.

With a 32bit OS you are limited to 3hb of useable RAM, On a 64bit OS you can go much higher.
Click to expand...

great stuff thanks i will read up on those i7 thanks for you help
 
debrito said:
yes specs not that bad, but if i want to up grade i need to go windows 7 64 bit and im going to need 4 gig min (so they say) and board will not take anymore ram running cs3 its really slow to open up and freezes now and again thanks for reply
Click to expand...

you dont "need" 4gb for 64 bit, windows 7 needs 2gb min for 64 bit.

but 500 quid will get you an i7, board and memory. and maybe power supply if you need it. as andy said, whats your current graphics card?

but if your current system is freezing it may suggest a maintenance issue.
 
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If what you want to do is editing and light gaming you don't need an i7 processor, you can go much cheaper and still get a big performance boost by sticking with AMD for example. If you're upgrading your mobo you may need new ram as well, though you don't say what type you have currently but it may not be compatible.
 
neil_g said:
you dont "need" 4gb for 64 bit, windows 7 needs 2gb min for 64 bit.
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If you're editing raw images, you need 4G at least IMHO.
 
i7 7 and 8 series use paired memory (but DDR3 not DDR2)

i7 9 series uses triple channel memory, so you get 3, 6, 9 or 12Gb

I've got a slightly earlier version of this bundle...

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/motherboardbundles/Novatech/MBB-9504G3.html

With the i7 920 processor. I was able to overclock to a very stable 4Ghz with HT turned on just by adding a better cooler and a case with good airflow.

That rig will fly on Windows 7. I've got an i7 860 as my office PC, but the i7 920 is slightly faster in normal use and is great at encoding.

If you get an i7 or i5, get a good hard disk, something like the Samsung F2 or my fave the WD Caviar Black. Don't get a raptor as they are overpriced and overated. You can also get SSDs, but I would only do the operating system and your main programs on here if you are getting a small one (they are a lot more expensive).

I went for 2 640Gb Caviar Blacks on my setup as they are among the fastest physical drives (not much slower than the raptors).
 
I'd advise the second gen i7, rather than first (i.e. 2xxx rather than 7xx/8xx/9xx). You'll find them cheaper and faster clock for clock. Easy to overclock if you go that route (I'm stable at 4.3G here on aircooled heatsink - it was the first number I tried and it worked, so I stuck with it).

+1 on decent disk (Samsungs are good, but don't get anything xxxGreen as they will be slower and spin downm if not being used. As to SSD, I use 30G on mine and there's only 2 real choices at the moment OCZ Vertex or Crucial C300. Get a decent power supply too...

Blazingly fast at PS though - everything is almost instantaneous (and I edit 5Dmk2 RAW files)
 
Agree with Steep.

If you don't mind having older technology have a look at an AMD dual core cpu. An AMD555 BE is less than £70. A similar amount would buy a motherboard and perhaps £40 or £50 for 4 Gig of reasonable memory.

Dave
 
thanks for advise guys! but you have blown my mind into next week
lol
i live very close to ccl computers and was thinking of going online and lookning at there bundles they seem to have a good rep

its intersting what you say about hard drives cos i was just going to get a cheap one!!!
you have all been a great help and i will now try and go thought all your comments and get a bundle to suit my budget:thumbs:
 
I would also look carefully at the case you are bolting it all into.
Pcs are in the main air cooled from fans, some run hotter than others and excess heat will slow the CPU.

My own personal experience with amd is great bang for your buck, but it runs hot and needed extra fans to keep it all cool so increased machine noise.

Just another angle to consider :)
 
ptholt said:
My own personal experience with amd is great bang for your buck, but it runs hot and needed extra fans to keep it all cool so increased machine noise.
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And doesn't tend to be as fast clock for clock (before you flame, I have an AMD server and Intel main PC, so horses for courses...)
 
indeed. while there are AMD processors that will do what people want, they have been lagging behind Intel for some time now (and again before the flaming starts i used to run AMD in all of my systems until the core2 intel series was released).
 
neil_g said:
and again before the flaming starts i used to run AMD in all of my systems until the core2 intel series was released
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Me too...... :)
 
AMD had its day from the dawn of the Athlon 1700s and faster until the Pentium Dual cores arrived.

Then intel increased its lead with the Core 2 Duos and hasn't looked back since.

AMD may come back one day, who knows.

The only AMD I have left is my AMD Duron 800 which has been playing our on hold music for the last 5 years.
 
thanks for all your help guys you really got me thinking
i settled on

amd phenom x6 1090t 3.2
ddr 3 ram 4gig
gigabyyte board 880gaud3h
ocz power bo
just nornam case
ati card hd5570
1tbit hard drive
windows 7
and dell 22inch amazing ips monitor
and i love and i put it together myself
i happy as a pig in ******:thumbs:
thanks again
 
I am justabout to order a load of components for my new system

3.4GHz Quad Phenom CPU
8GIG mem
Radeon 5450 1GB DDR3
2x 1TB & 1 x 500GB Sata Drives
Asus AM3 motherboard
2x Dell u2311h monitors

Already have:
a good Antec Case
480W Antec Tru Power PSU
optical drives etc...
 
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