Thinking of buying a new PC piecemeal kinda deal

poster · 01-28-2007, 09:42 PM

How does this sound and how much should I expect to pay?:

Motherboard: ASUS P5B Deluxe Core 2 Duo/P965/A&GbE/ATX w/ WiFi
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz 2MB LGA775
Hard Drive: 250 GB SATAII (SA3G)
Memory: 1 GB DDRII 667/800 240PIN
Case with 400 Watt Power Supply

I already have the monitor, the video card (Radeon 9000 128MB), and the DVD and CD drives.

**3ncryptabl3_lick** · 02-03-2007, 12:04 PM

It's likely you'll need to buy a new video card since that new mobo doesnt have agp. Also, watch out which kind of ram you get, it may not be compatible and if it's too high-end, you wont even get it to post. Check the Asus site for more info and do more research.

Andy06 · 02-05-2007, 07:09 AM

I'm not quite sure if a 400W PSU will be a good PSU to use... maybe try bumping it up to a 450 watt.

**3ncryptabl3_lick** · 02-05-2007, 07:32 AM

Yeah good point. I missed that.

I would suggest 600, 450 isn't going to cut that. With multiple PCI slots you can go with multiple cards too. And the extra ram slots, assuming you're going to up to xp pro 64, you can take advantge of the 8gig availability. 1 gig is really the absolute minimum nowadays. 3 gig and you'll be okay for xp pro 32.

ScriptMan · 02-10-2007, 04:23 PM

Once you identify all the parts pricegrabber dot com is your buddy.

I think you want at least 2 gb ram. Most of the dual core MB require 2 sticks for dual channel memory operation.

Fedex brings my new parts kit on Monday.

littleFella · 02-11-2007, 12:10 AM

400 Watt PS is plenty for the specs above.
I run two dual cores (2.66GHz), RAID 5 SCSI, 2 ethernet cards (plus two built in on the mobo), fax modem, 2GB of RAM, DVD Burner, 2 backup drives. The machine runs 24/7, serves a few dozen Exchange clients, MS SQL server and some file sharing. The PS in it is rated at 380 Watts.

Peak power use in more than the last two years was 278 Watts and it happened during a pretty severe stress simulation when all 4 cores ran at mostly 100% for about 4 hours. Average daily power use is around 230 Watts.

The xxD processors actually use less power (by about 40%) than the ones I have. While I'd say a redundant PS would be a good idea, a single 600 Watt PS is not necessary at all, not for the machine described in the original post.

**3ncryptabl3_lick** · 02-11-2007, 12:14 AM

What would 600 be used for then?

**3ncryptabl3_lick** · 02-11-2007, 11:01 AM

I would still say go for 600.

Why not be prepared to have all the power you need for what the board can handle? OC, dual channel, massive sata drives, multiple optical drives, dual cards.. All that ram. Who knows how many fans. Maybe even replace the stock cpu fan... I don't think a 450 is gona cut it unless they are happy with the bare minimum.

For a coupla extra bucks, get a 600 or 700 and be ready for the next few years of upgrades.