Takaharu

I'm thinking of upgrading my fiancé's system as she often uses it for animation work (primarily Adobe After Effects CS5 and a little bit of Photoshop).
I was going to use my last motherboard (P6X58D-E) and get 12GB RAM and an i7 920 but I don't really have £300 to spare at the mo. £200 is a possibility.
Trouble is, the PC will need a new power supply (down £60 already) and I'd like to move away from 775.

Current specs:
Core 2 Quad Q6600
2x 1GB DDR2 800MHz Crucial Ballistix (4-4-4-12)
Gigabyte GA-G31MF-S2
I think an 8500GT currently installed. I've got a GTS250 for it but that needs a new PSU
350W generic PSU

I could probably crank up the budget to £300, depending on if the ASUS board sells, plus whatever I can get for the current components (if they're going to be sold - they might move to another PC).

So, it'll need to have a decent quantity of RAM (min 8GB), really don't care if it's AMD or Intel and undoubtedly quad-core.
I'd price one up myself but I don't know what'd work best for Premier, other than craploads of RAM.

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blibbax

The Q6600 is still worth something for your budget, and a decent PSU could just be a £45 Corsair. No need to go OTT, especially as the GTS250 seems a little overkill for a media PC.

However, as the Q6600 is still so decent, I'd have thought that you could save quite a bit and make a very noticeable difference by just moving up to 8GB of RAM on that system.

Things like a PSU are a decent long term investment whatever you do with the rest of the system, but personally I'd wait until the gap between what you can buy and what she has now is a little bigger :P

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Takaharu

Blibbax - while that is a very valid point in regards to the memory upgrade (one I have already taken into consideration), the motherboard has some weird compatibility with RAM. If anyone can clarify whether that's possible on that motherboard and whether that would be the best course of action.
Can you tell me where you found the £45 Corsair? Best value I found was a £50 Thermaltake modular 550W.

The Q6600 is a nice level for what she needs but if the motherboard can't handle 8GB then I wouldn't bother with a socket 775, I'd just re-haul the whole thing.

As for the graphics card, I got it mixed up; the GTS 250 is actually for the gaming PC she has (which is currently a 2600XT). It wouldn't be overkill as she plays mid-range games but for now she's content with playing on her DS and laptop.

I'm sorely tempted to bite the bullet and go for an ebay i7 (~£150), 3x4GB DDR3 1600MHz for £140 and a PSU. That would be on the credit card that I just paid off

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blibbax

**B Grade** Corsair CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) []

I'm pretty sure that their B-grade means ex-display, but you could always phone them and check.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to buy a new CPU or Mobo on that socket, but if you do discover that the motherboard can't take more RAM, I'd just not upgrade - it's not worth it, unless money is coming easily to you.

EDIT: http://ee.giga-byte.com/products/mb/...-g31mf-s2.html

Looks like they limited it to 4GB, perhaps to differentiate it from G33 models.

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synthesis204

Would AMD be a possibility? Could possibly get a nice mobo/midline CPU and then upgrade the CPU down the road as funds become available.

Takaharu

synthesis - read the last 2 sentences of the first post :P

How does the Phenom II 620 compare with the Q6600? I could swap her components with the one in my gaming PC. The down side is that it only has two slots for memory so 8GB will be the limit.
Oh and blibbax - I checked out the price of a new Corsair 430W compared to the B-grade and it's less than 15p more. If I put one of those in her gaming PC would it handle a GTS 250? (AMD X2 6000, 2GB DDR2, one HDD)

To recap...

Her main PC
CPU: Q6600
RAM: 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800MHz (4-4-4-12)
GFX: 8600GT (I found the invoice)
PSU: 400W generic

My gaming PC
CPU: Phenom II X4 620
RAM: 2x1GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1333MHz (7-7-7-20)
M/B: ASUS M4A78LT-M LE
PSU: OCZ Stealth XStram 600W
GFX: OCZ GTX280 OC2

Her gaming PC
CPU: AMD x2 6000
RAM: Generic 2x1GB DDR2 800MHz
PSU: Generic 350W (I think)
GFX: 2600XT (pending GTS 250)

So yeah, I can swap components about if need be. Her gaming PC will need a PSU upgrade to allow for the 250 and I'm keeping the PSU and graphics for my gaming PC but other than that they can be swapped around and added to however.

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blibbax

Yeah, 400W is way more than enough for that PC. I run a very similar setup on a worse PSU.

Also - what's the rig in your specs for if the Phenom rig is for gaming?

Check this out:

Benchmarks Desktop CPU Charts 2010

In the photoshop benchmark, the Q6600 is up there with the lowest Phenom x6.

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Takaharu

I thought with a 250 a 450W PSU was recommended?

My PC is for whatever the hell I want - SQL, VB.net, virtual machines (hence the RAM), gaming (now to pretty much any level), music, films, etc, etc.
The gaming PC is dedicated to playing games round a friend's house - I don't keep it at home. We play games ranging from Warcraft 3, Call of Duty: United Offense up to Frontlines: Fuel of War and Unreal Tournament 3. The hard part is getting 5 copies of each game that everyone is interested in playing.

Bit of a bugger that the 620 isn't as high on the After Effects list as the Q6600 but an extra amount of RAM should cover that.
I'll keep my options open anyway, just in case.

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blibbax

Are you sure you're running out of RAM with 4GB atm?

And yeah, when they reccomend a PSU wattage for Nvidia cards, they assume the worst - an inefficient system with a mediocre PSU. You have one hard drive, a not particularly thirsty CPU, and a Corsair PSU (were you to buy it).

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Takaharu

2GB RAM, not 4 and the RAM is for After Effects, which is very thirsty. Several hours can roll by to test a video, re-rendering it each time.
Should've made it clear like the other two specs listings: 2x1GB. I've amended that post now.

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blibbax

Surely you could get 4 in the existing board with minimal expense?

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Takaharu

The bullet has been crunched and it has broken all of my teeth; I won an auction on ebay for a cheap i7 (processor only). Damn human temptations. I'll wait for my credit card to drop to zero before I order the RAM and PSU.
Ah well, it'll be a nice birthday present and I can get her a gift from the 99p store for V-day.

I'm a sucker for a good deal, even if it is in the hundreds (hence the graphics cards). Unfortunately for me, my pay sucks so I'll spend the next few months paying it off

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blibbax

:O

Keep us posted!

Like I said before, you should get a decent price for any of the CPUs that it might be replacing (I presume the Q6600), which will help to ressurect your credit card :P

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Takaharu

Oh yes, the Q6600 will be sold if I have anything to do with it .
It'll be the first time I've used a Corsair PSU so it should be interesting...

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synthesis204

Eh. I had a rant written on the uses of AM3, but good job 1156 or 1366? If it's the latter, I'd highly recommend the ASUS Sabertooth or P6X58D-E/Deluxe.

And I think you'll enjoy the corsair psu. I'm sure OldB will be in here shortly to tell you how wonderful they are

blibbax

I believe (possibly wrongly) that Takahuru has a 1366 board lying around.

I wanna see ur rant on the uses of AM3 :P

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synthesis204

Already deleted it I'm afraid D: but in terms of upgradability, AMD offers more -- their boards last far longer (in terms of releases) than intels (bye bye 1366/1156...nice seeing you).

And in that case, all the more power to him. Of course, we shall be demanding pix once his credit card stops crying

blibbax

Of course.

I agree that AMD would appear to be the consumer's friend at the moment. And, if my system exploded into a cloud of smoke tomorrow, I'd definitley replace it with an AM3 based system.

Cast your eyes back a short while though. When I bought this CPU - in doing so deciding to stick with LGA775 for a while longer - things looked very different. The socket, which had originally held P4 based chips, now held the almighty Core 2. What's more, the next generation of 45nm CPUs and DDR3 memory could slot right in. Quad core CPUs were even supported by ancient chipsets, like the late VIA based motherboard I was using back then. Meanwhile, socket 939 users seemed cruelly abandoned.

Furthermore, I notice the distinct lack of any AMD hardware in your system :P

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synthesis204

Have used AMD graphics cards before, never had an issue, but never have with nVidia, either. And I just really prefer nVidia (EVGA/Sparkle have been very good to me).

Never had an AMD computer, but have built them with no issues They are much more the bang for buck option, but I spoil myself (see: my processor...). And curse intel and their release of the 990X.

And I have to admit, if I didn't have the budget I had on this system (or less of a budget) I would've went with 1090T/5870, but 980X/460 cost about the same for me and I prefer processing power over graphics.

blibbax

Fair enough. I too would always prioritise a CPU in a build. It's much easier to upgrade the graphics in a few years time than to upgrade the CPU, typically.

Besides, that 990X is the exact same piece of hardware as yours, right? Shouldn't even be higher binned, as it'll still just be the highest binned parts.

I've built two AMD machines. One is my cousin's single core Athlon system, and one is my own K6-2 based messing around / Linux PC (soon to be upgraded to P4 Northwood, hopefully :P). I've never owned AMD graphics though.

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Takaharu

synthesis - yep, I'll be using a P6X58D-E, Geil 1600MHz 3x4GB from Overclockers, the i7 930 from my PC (I won an auction for a 950 - I'm generous but not quite that generous), the 8500GT and the generic PSU that are currently in that PC along with the Windows 7 Pro serial that's currently in use (currently 32-bit but tried & tested with 64-bit).

In regards to AMD, I have built and used AMD systems in the past (currently using one for gaming as previously mentioned). I was even an AMD fanboy for years; I gave in to Intel when Core 2 Duos reigned over Athlon X2. I adored Sapphire cards as well (still do, I just had a good deal for two 260s then had a godlike deal for two 570s). I won't stop recommending people to use AMD components and probably won't do for some time. The only reason I chose Intel for my system and the one that's being built is the pure power. Although AMD is better value-for-money, Intel still hold for the highest end of the scale. I wanted dual x16 slots with the capability of using tri-channel memory and for my other half it's large amounts of RAM and processing power.
If any of my friends want to upgrade their systems away from 775 I'll point them in the direction of AMD.

As for the motherboard, blibbax, I forgot the tape I WILL remember!!!

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synthesis204

Haha. The 8500GT seems so out of place in that rig.

Sapphire seems to be the ATi's EVGA, it seems. And with good reason. And dual 570s? I am green with envy :| My lone 460 seem so inadequate, especially on certain games (damn you COD:BO).

And there isn't that large a difference in performance in a X8 rail and a X16 rail. I think Toms did a review and the difference is less than 10% -- the p6x58d can run 16/16/1 or 16/8/8 -- time to go with that triple 570 SLI, right tak?

blibbax

Generic PSU, 8500GT, Compucase case?

Sounds like a pretty standard i7 build :P

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synthesis204

I dunno. I always think of the 1366-based i7's being more...well rounded :P the 1156 i7's and the i5s (!) to a much bigger degree of the "oh crap I blew most of my budget let's settle for the generic stuff!".

blibbax

You realise I was being sarcastic, right?

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Takaharu

Close, it's a Thermaltake Tsunami. If I didn't get a replacement case 2yrs ago (before the RV02) it wouldn't have been as good as Compucase; it'd be a beige box designed in the times of Socket A processors. That would've been on the bottom of the "to buy" list too. It will, however, still have a beige IDE DVD-ROM drive, along with an LG 22x DVD-RW drive (SATA I think).

Despite the sarcasm, synthesis has a point. People see it as you having either a Core i7 with 6GB RAM, modern motherboard, shiny case and stupidly over-powered graphics (*cough*) or a system with a lesser processor so your older components don't look out of place. I'm building the fourth option - "I didn't have the money in the first place".

Three-way SLI? Who do you think I am, CJ? I'd much rather go for what everyone else interprets as a three-way.

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blibbax

Wow, what with a pair of FFs in another thread, you're really going for the explicit references tonight.

On the subject of cases that look out of place, I refer you to the only reason I have a modern one:

My new 9800GTX+ - Thanks to DH and Zotac (56k warning)

:P

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synthesis204

Hey, sarcasm does not translate well over the interwebs. You know this, dammit.

And hey. Don't bash the Tsunami. That's what my mum's case is for her #E6400...er...maybe you have a point....

Takaharu

I wasn't - I was implying that the case would've been an old beige case if it wasn't for the Tsunami.

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synthesis204

Ah, my mistake. The silver and bluey goodness of the Tsunami can't be underestimated