I need a new processor and motherboard

**Garbarsardar** · September 29, 2007, 01:49 AM

Hi all,

my motherboard just died so I think it's time to change my AMD to Core Duo.

Four questions:

I am in Taiwan, so an E6850 is affordable for me. Is it really worth the price difference with the E6600?
I intend to keep my 2X7800GTX(2x256). Is that ok? Or should I start looking for graphics card too?(8800GTS comes to mind...)
Which motherboard (SLI I guess)would you suggest given the previous questions?
I have 2G memory from my old PC (512+512+1); do I need more?

Mind you, I never play something more demanding than M2TW (although I prefer RTW) and apart from that the desktop is used only for word and some picture processing (Photoshop CS3)

**spartan_phalanx** · September 29, 2007, 02:15 AM

What's your budget? Also what's the speed of your old memory? What size monitor are you using? What's the size of your current power supply?

Just throwing this out there until further info...

E6750
8800GTS
EVGA 680i SLI
2 GB's DDR2 800 RAM (really cheap right now)

**Garbarsardar** · September 29, 2007, 02:25 AM

Originally Posted by spartan_phalanx

What's your budget? Also what's the speed of your old memory? What size monitor are you using? What's the size of your current power supply?

Just throwing this out there until further info...

E6750
8800GTS
EVGA 680i SLI
2 GB's DDR2 800 RAM (really cheap right now)

I have this monitor (Resolution: 1280 x 1024 Native), my memory is DDR400 (2G)

I have no idea about my power supply...(my old PC is at the shop right now-eviscerated)

My budget is around 900USD but remember Taiwan is cheaper than US...

**spartan_phalanx** · September 29, 2007, 02:40 AM

With that budget you could get...

E6850 or Q6600
EVGA 8800GTS 320MB
EVGA 680i SLI - A1 version
2x1GB DDR2 800 (PC6400) memory - Crucial Ballistix

That should come in @ ~$900 USD, but if you can get some of those components cheaper you might be able to pick up a better power supply if need be (very likely). That system would be great for over-clocking as well (if your into it).

Note: I'm partial to EVGA simply because of their great customer service, lifetime warranties and the fact that I own 3 of their high end products that all work superbly without issue.

**Garbarsardar** · September 29, 2007, 02:45 AM

Originally Posted by spartan_phalanx

With that budget you could get...

E6850 or Q6600
EVGA 8800GTS 320MB
EVGA 680i SLI - A1 version
2x1GB DDR2 800 (PC6400) memory - Crucial Ballistix

That should come in @ ~$900 USD, but if you can get some of those components cheaper you might be able to pick up a better power supply if need be (very likely). That system would be great for over-clocking as well (if your into it).

Thank you very much. I will probably do just what you said; about overcklocking, I simply used the NVIDIA performance tweaks; my needs are really minimal in that sense and I simply want a system with relative stability and some degree of future proofing...

Edit: in Taiwan I found this motherboard:http://evga.com/products/moreinfo.as...8-AR&family=20
(AR) I cannot seem to find the A1...

**OTZ** · September 29, 2007, 06:44 AM

If you can find a P5 based motherboard, I'd go for that. They perform a little bit better, can take higher speed memory, and are overall better for the new line up of intel processors.

You can probably live with the two 7800GTX's as well - at least for a while anyway.

If not, I'd consider the ATI 2900 Pro over the 8800 GTS.

Does your budget include what you would make selling your RAM and video cards?

**Freddie** · September 29, 2007, 08:46 AM

The 7800 GTX's in SLI should last you another year at least Garb so don't worry about that and the E6850 are a safe bet. For a motherboard I would look at buying a Asus p35, this will mean new DDR3 memory (I'm sure if DDR2 is compatible or not).

Don’t worry about DX10 graphics card for the moment, Microsoft are launching Vista SP1 soon which includes an update for DirectX 10 to DirecX10.1 which is going to render current DX10 cards obsolete.

**Garbarsardar** · September 29, 2007, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by OTZ

If you can find a P5 based motherboard, I'd go for that. They perform a little bit better, can take higher speed memory, and are overall better for the new line up of intel processors.

You can probably live with the two 7800GTX's as well - at least for a while anyway.

If not, I'd consider the ATI 2900 Pro over the 8800 GTS.

Does your budget include what you would make selling your RAM and video cards?

I heard the urban legend that Intel communicates better with NvIDIA...is there any truth in this?

I found this P5 http://shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=i...AC0G-A15402576
It is in Chinese but you and Freddie will probably understand from the specs...

Originally Posted by Freddie

The 7800 GTX's in SLI should last you another year at least Garb so don't worry about that and the E6850 are a safe bet. For a motherboard I would look at buying a Asus p35, this will mean new DDR3 memory (I'm sure if DDR2 is compatible or not).

Don’t worry about DX10 graphics card for the moment, Microsoft are launching Vista SP1 soon which includes an update for DirectX 10 to DirecX10.1 which is going to render current DX10 cards obsolete.

Freddie, I found a p35 DDR2 (http://shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=i...AC0G-A15402576 or http://shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=i...AJ01-A14124909)
DD3 at the moment is very expensive and if I decide to keep the twin 7800GTX I would probably like to spend the money (saved from not buying the 8800) to a second hard drive...

Thanks very much guys...

**magpie** · September 29, 2007, 10:13 AM

Hi Garbarsadar,You could look at the Asus P5N32-E SLI PLUS mobo.They are good performers and duel/quad core friendly + a good bios and support.Not to costly.regards magpie.

**Garbarsardar** · September 29, 2007, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by magpie

Hi Garbarsadar,You could look at the Asus P5N32-E SLI PLUS mobo.They are good performers and duel/quad core friendly + a good bios and support.Not to costly.regards magpie.

I found this:http://shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=i...AJ01-A15351759

It is 2/3 of the P5N35 price. Looks nice.
Thanks

**magpie** · September 29, 2007, 10:24 AM

Hi your welcome,It has some excellent feature likes Intel.Also it has a desktop overclocker programme and Temp gauge which can come in handy.magpie.

**Garbarsardar** · October 02, 2007, 02:20 AM

Unfortunately I did not find this motherboard (it is discontinued in Taiwan). I finally bought this , the E6850 and the 8800GTS (320) since the 7800GTX (one of them had a problem too)has also been discontinued in Taiwan.

Thanks for all the help.