About to pull the trigger...last minute questions

[Fenix793]

OK I'm about to pull the trigger on a little upgrade for my current single core A64 box.

Motherboard
ASUS P5Q LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131295

Would you guys step up to the P5Q-E or P5Q Pro. Both cost more for what appears to be improved cooling and Crossfire support. I'm not really into dual GPUs so I'm not sure if I need the upgrade and this allows me to spend more on RAM.

CPU
E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115052

RAM
??

Main question... should I go for 4GB? I am on XP right now with no real plans to upgrade to Vista for at least a few months probably longer. Should I go for 4GB or save money and stay at 2GB. Leaning towards two but I've read posts suggesting I should go 4GB despite XP limitations. Also what would you guys recommend? I see G.Skill being linked a lot but I'm not sure if I should get 800 or step up to 1000/1066.

Let me know what you guys think. I want to keep the total at or below $300.

 

[DSF]

You're buying a CPU with a high multiplier, which means your RAM doesn't need to be as fast to hit a given overclock. With DDR2-800 you'd make it to 3.8GHz on the CPU before you had to worry about your RAM holding you back. (Now, that's not a guarantee you'll hit 3.8GHz mind you, just that the RAM won't be the limiting factor until you hit 3.8GHz.)

With that in mind, I'd stick to DDR2-800, and I'd get this kit while it's on sale if you're willing to do a mail-in rebate. Mushkin is known for good customer service, and this RAM will run at 1.8V (that's a good thing) despite aggressive timings.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146731

As far as the motherboard you could save yourself even a little bit more money and get a P35-based motherboard if you wanted to. The main update with P45 is PCI-e 2.0 compliance and a second full-speed* PCI-e x16 slot.

* I put an asterisk there because with a P45 board both slots can't be run at PCI-e 2.0 x16 simulaneously. If both are used, they only run at PCI-e 2.0 x8.

Edit: By the way, if this is an update for gaming, a video card upgrade may be just as useful as a CPU change.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

i'm also in the same boat.

going to get a E7200 (*maybe an e8400) on a P45.
I'm going for this mb.
the difference in price between p35 and p45 is negligible, as is the performance difference. but i figure if i'm going to keep this rig awhile, at least i have PCIe 2.0 for upgradability.

not sure if i want to go 2gb or 4gb. leaning towards 4gb since it's not much more expensive.
also will be running XP 32 bit.

 

[Fenix793]

Thanks for the reply DSF. That RAM looks like a pretty good deal I might have to go with 4GB although it looks like I'll only be able to use 3GB of it. When I built my current PC, 1GB was $100 now I'm getting 4 for less so I can't really complain. Any suggestions for P35 board? The P5K comes to mind and it looks like it is a little bit cheaper helps to offset the extra RAM cost.

And yes this is a gaming upgrade. Right now I think I'm CPU limited. I'm running one of the original A64's and I think at this point getting a new video card might not do as much for me as a new dual core CPU and 2GB+ RAM. That said second round of upgrading will come in a week or two and I'll be getting a 4850 and one of the WD 640GB drives to round off the system.


BlahBlah - I was also considering one of the P35/45 Gigabyte boards but I've heard that some of them are having BIOS issues. This may apply more to the P35 board than the P45 but I have heard mostly good things about the Asus boards. Any reason you chose the Gigabyte over the others?

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: Fenix793
BlahBlah - I was also considering one of the P35/45 Gigabyte boards but I've heard that some of them are having BIOS issues. This may apply more to the P35 board than the P45 but I have heard mostly good things about the Asus boards. Any reason you chose the Gigabyte over the others?

I have the Gigabyte P35-DS3L and it's been rock solid stable for me. Surprisingly, the newer EP35 series has been to known to have some issues, or at least it did at the time of release. I haven't followed motherboards too closely, so I don't know whether that's all been worked out or not. There's no particular reason to prefer Gigabyte over ASUS as far as I know. I've had good boards from both companies, and no duds (knock on wood). MSI and DFI are viable choices as well.

 

[Fenix793]

The P35-DS3L was actually my very first choice then I started to think about other boards and now I'm coming back around to the Gigabyte mostly because of the price. You have not had any issues with it? What kind of OC (if any) were you able to manage?

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: Fenix793
Thanks for the reply DSF. That RAM looks like a pretty good deal I might have to go with 4GB although it looks like I'll only be able to use 3GB of it. When I built my current PC, 1GB was $100 now I'm getting 4 for less so I can't really complain. Any suggestions for P35 board? The P5K comes to mind and it looks like it is a little bit cheaper helps to offset the extra RAM cost.

And yes this is a gaming upgrade. Right now I think I'm CPU limited. I'm running one of the original A64's and I think at this point getting a new video card might not do as much for me as a new dual core CPU and 2GB+ RAM. That said second round of upgrading will come in a week or two and I'll be getting a 4850 and one of the WD 640GB drives to round off the system.


BlahBlah - I was also considering one of the P35/45 Gigabyte boards but I've heard that some of them are having BIOS issues. This may apply more to the P35 board than the P45 but I have heard mostly good things about the Asus boards. Any reason you chose the Gigabyte over the others?

price and reputation for solid mb's.
i have not researched any BIOS issues so i don't know if the new p45 boards are affected.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: Fenix793
The P35-DS3L was actually my very first choice then I started to think about other boards and now I'm coming back around to the Gigabyte mostly because of the price. You have not had any issues with it? What kind of OC (if any) were you able to manage?

No issues at all, although I've heard there are occasional issues with OC settings not sticking after a cold boot. It's never happened to me, and I think it's kind of an isolated problem, but it's been reported by a couple people for what it's worth.

As far as my OC, I have an E4500 running @ 2.93GHz @ 1.2125V. I imagine I could go farther, but I don't care to.