Core2 with 865G Chipset Mutant Build

[sam101p5]

Good confirmation --- will reuse ATI for a few more years

 

[JD]

But it's only for office work. I doubt onboard would suck up that much. If you were trying to game with onboard graphics, then there's an issue.

If your going with your original idea, I don't know if I'd bother getting a Core 2 Duo. Those boards only support 800FSB, and are quite old so it may not even boot up with a C2D.

The Gigabyte board definitely does not support any dual core CPU. As seen here: GIGABYTE - Support - Motherboard - CPU Support List

The ASRock sounds like it would work though assuming you got PCB Version R2.00 and BIOS P2.80:

- LGA 775 for Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme* / Core™ 2 Duo* / Pentium® XE / Pentium® D / Pentium® 4 / Celeron® D, supporting Quad Core Kentsfield processors
- FSB 1066** MHz for external graphics (by overclocking)
- FSB 800/533 MHz for internal graphics
- Supports Hyper-Threading Technology
- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
- Supports EM64T CPU

*Only supported with PCB version R2.00 or higher, and BIOS P2.80 or higher.
**FSB1066-CPU is supported by overclocking only when you adopt an external VGA card and DDR400 CL2.5 memory modules.

I still think your better off buying something that use DDR2 and has true, proper support for C2D. It's a whole $50 more about to get it all new, as that's how much 1GB DDR2 RAM costs. This way it makes future upgrades really easy, such as dropping in another 1GB of RAM since DDR2 is so cheap these days (DDR is not). I guess it depends how much money you have...

 

[b1lk1]

With DDR3 knocking on our doors and the fact that DDR2 prices are certain to start climbing soon since all the major manufacturers have slowed down DDR2 production, it isn't necessarily the best upgrade path. By the time he actually needs 2GB, which 90% of the world doesn't, it might be just as crazy priced as DDR is now. I still say do the planned upgrade and run the rest. Once that stuff starts to crap out, then it's time for a full system upgrade.

 

[sam101p5]

Yeah.. it's pretty hard to keep up. I've gotten the computer bug before and spent too much.

I just want to stretch that initial $1700 another 3 years for my dad.

 

[sam101p5]

Ended up ordering the following from Direct Canada... taking advice from the whole discussion

e2160
Asrock Conroe 1333-667
2 gigs Corsair PC2-5300 - adding extra gig gave free shipping
Little InWin case with 350 Watt PSU

$330 shipped to Ontario (no PST and we'll get the GST back --- can hardly complain about that!)

Thanks very much guys for all the input.. It really helped a lot. I think this computer will run strong for a number of years and the value will be there too.

 

[Gamashinoch]

Pentium D's are based off P4's. I'd shy away from that. If you want longevity i'd still go for the core2 you were eyeing up.

 

[Gamashinoch]

With DDR3 knocking on our doors and the fact that DDR2 prices are certain to start climbing soon since all the major manufacturers have slowed down DDR2 production, it isn't necessarily the best upgrade path. By the time he actually needs 2GB, which 90% of the world doesn't, it might be just as crazy priced as DDR is now. I still say do the planned upgrade and run the rest. Once that stuff starts to crap out, then it's time for a full system upgrade.

dunno where you're gettin' your RAM prices at. It's a low-end build so he can get away with "value" based RAM. 1gb of Corsair DDr2 667 is only $75.