What's new
  • Please do not post any links until you have 3 posts as they will automatically be rejected to prevent SPAM. Many words are also blocked due to being used in SPAM Messages. Thanks!

A bit of an upgrade - just looking for a second opinion.

Andy

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 15, 2008
Messages
653
Location
Taichung / Toronto
Well ... I've got a bit of upgrading to do for my Dad over Easter weekend. I don't get home all that often and his current PC (which consists of my old parts) is starting to give him some troubles. He's currently using an old ASRock board with an E6400. The board was sent back on RMA, and I was assured it was fixed. I had some issues with it, and without getting long winded about it, it's time for it to die a fiery death.

So, I've basically got a weekend to purchase and build him a new 775 rig. Any parts need to come from Tiger Direct (his preference, as it's convenient for him). I've been browsing their site, and came to the conclusion that he would be best off with a Gigabyte board. I need something I know will be reliable, as I live a two day drive away. His PC is primarily used for email, office, and some light graphic work. Nothing of which is too intensive, but he does manage a lot of data, as well as network share tons of media throughout his house.

Here's what I came up with;

Gigabyte EP45-UD3L
Intel E6400 (Salvaged)
Corsair XMS DDR2, 2Gb (Salvaged)
Asus EAH4670 (Salvaged)
Corsair VX550W

So, basically I'll be purchasing the Gigabyte board, and Corsair PSU. All the reviews on the board seem to be pretty good, and I've chosen this model on purpose due to the lack of features, as they will go unused anyways. Same goes for the PSU. It seems that my choices when it comes to Tiger Direct are rather limited, but I think it is time that we swap from a crappy unknown PSU that came with his $20 case. 550W is more than enough power for the above build, and the reviews seem favourable, as is the price.

If this were me I would be purchasing from NCIX, simply because of the better choice in parts, but I don't have that option this time around. I guess I'm just looking for a second opinion on my parts choices, and whether this build as a whole will satisfy his needs.

:thumb:
 

Dwayne

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 17, 2008
Messages
1,720
Location
Courtenay, BC
I agree, good solid parts. The PSU is so important, people should never skimp on that one part, maybe more than any other part except maybe the Motherboard.
 

enaberif

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
11,412
Location
Calgahree, AB
I agree, good solid parts. The PSU is so important, people should never skimp on that one part, maybe more than any other part except maybe the Motherboard.

PSU IS the most important part, then mobo, cpu, gpu then memory.
 

bojangles

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2008
Messages
2,670
Location
London, ON
All of those parts are awesome.

Why not swap for a new case while you're at it? Like the Centurion 590 from Cooler Master?
 

Andy

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 15, 2008
Messages
653
Location
Taichung / Toronto
Awesome, and I totally agree when it comes to PSU's, my Silverstone has been perfect. If there were room in the budget for a case I would be all over it, as I have the 590 and love it.
 

Realityshift

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
2,486
Location
Fort McMurray, AB
Does TD pricematch? I have never known TD to have low prices vs anyone else I follow so I tend to stay well away from them, that and they have some really odd ball stuff in their inventory. But if they price match you should price canada them down as far as you can.

+1 to the corsair though those are awesome power supplies. Any reason your going with the P45 chipset? Since there doesnt seem to be much overclocking going on or cross fire and based off what you say the user is going to be doing with his PC you could easily save money here.

Biostar G31M7TE Intel G31 Socket 775 Motherboard - Intel G31 Express, Socket 775, MicroATX, Audio, Video, PCI Express, LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

MSI G31M3-L V2 Motherboard - Intel G31, Scket 775, MicroATX, Audio, Video, PCI Express, 10100 LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

ASUS P5KPL-AM SE Motherboard - Intel G31, Socket 775, µATX, Audio, Video, PCI Express, 10100 LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

The G31 chipset is a bit bare but seems to have the options you need and their still a great chipset..

Gigabyte EP43-UD3L Motherboard - Intel P43, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, Gigabit LAN, SPDIF, USB 2.0 GA-EP43-UD3L in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

P43 will save a bit of money..

You are pretty limited with TD thats for sure and their prices are well above other online distributors but Any of the boards above will serve well, it just depends on what you need to put in them. Since your only running 2gb of ram, no crossfire, no apparent magor overclocks then you could go with this board

Biostar TG31-A7 Motherboard - Intel G31 + ICH7, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Since you say he puts through alot of network activity throughout his house then the Gigabit lan would be nice if his network supports it. Its an ATX form factor which is nice as well and has a decent amount of PCI and PCI-Es. Just sudjestions of course you guys can go with what ever you like, I just dont see a need to go with a P45 chipset with an older cpu, the G31/P35 chipsets where built around that CPU your using.
 

Realityshift

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
2,486
Location
Fort McMurray, AB
WOOOOAHHH hold the phone dude, $117 for that VX550 are you serious??? Drop that seriously and go with the BFG 550w

BFG GS-550 ATX Power Supply - 550W, SATA-Ready BFGR550WGSPSU in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

They have been proving themselves very well in testing and will work perfectly with this build and allow you the budget for a new case.... Anything over $100 for a 550w PSU is WAY over priced, I paid that for my TX750.

Ultra LS500 Lifetime Series 500W Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, PCI-Express in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Would also work, your not going to be putting anywhere near the max rated power onto these psus anyhow, but the Ultra has a lifetime warranty which is kind of nice and both the ultra and BFG are great PSUs for very very good prices.
 

Andy

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 15, 2008
Messages
653
Location
Taichung / Toronto
I totally agree when it comes to Tiger Direct. Their prices suck, and so does their available inventory. However I chose the P45 chipset, simply because I'm familiar with it, and I do plan to overclock the E6400. It was a great chip while I had it, and I fully expect it to hold a stable 3Ghz clock with low volts on the Gigabyte board (As I had no issue doing so while I had it on a crappy ASRock board, and I'll be using the same cooler).

I'll read up on the BFG, but I don't think I could let myself trust their in house Ultra brand regardless of warranty.

As for Gigabit LAN, that is a good idea, as I hadn't considered it, but considering his network is already a hodgepodge of equipment, improperly wired at best I highly doubt it supports it. If I had time I would be ripping everything apart and re running cables, and centralizing his media drives to one server.

Thanks for all the other options though, looks like I have some more reading to do.
 

Realityshift

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
2,486
Location
Fort McMurray, AB
The G31 chipset is still very decent for overclocking, it managed to get E5200s up to 4.2ghz which is a feat in itself so I would write it off, I just feel the P45 for this build is a bit much. As for Ultra I dunno if I would go with them for alot of higher end builds just because they had one bad stint a while back with some of their x3 PSUs, but there are a couple of people on this forum that swear by them, I believe soultribal uses them exclusively. For the build your planning corsair is overkill, youd be better served going with a lower end 550w which is already overkill for the build and spending the rest on a cool case or something.
 

Latest posts

Top