Need Help Building a Rig

[Kazuki]

Hey guys. So I recently decided to upgrade my graphics card. I bought this little puppy:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127435

I also bought a cheap 500W power supply which I thought should barely do the job temporarily. Let me give you a small bit of background on my PC. It's a Sony Vaio, model VGC-RA840G. I bought it from Best Buy back in 2005 when I was a total nub. As it turns out, Sony are a bunch of OEM wh***s. Pretty much everything that's part of this PC is custom-made so that if something fails, they can charge you 10x the price. And when I say pretty much everything, I'm only slightly exaggerating. Even the heatsink seems to be OEM; it's connected to a fan located away from the CPU via what look like brass tubes.

Anyway, the point is that I have about $350 - $400 that I can spend upgrading / rebuilding my current machine, and I was hoping I could get some pointers from those of you who know much more than I do at the moment.

Here are my current specs:

• Motherboard: Micro-ATX LGA775 Socket
• CPU: Intel Pentium D 2.8GHz w/ OEM Heatsink
• HDD: Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM
• RAM: 3GB DDR2
• GFX Card: ATI Radeon X300 128MB VRAM
• DVD-RW ROM, CD-ROM, 5-in-1 card reader
• 370W power supply

Here is what will be making the jump to the new case:

• Motherboard: Micro-ATX LGA775 Socket
• HDD: Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM
• RAM: 3GB DDR2
• DVD-RW ROM, CD-ROM, 5-in-1 card reader (possibly)

And here is what I plan on purchasing:

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz w/ Virtualization
• GFX Card: ATI Radeon HD4850 1GB 256-bit DDR3 (ALREADY PURCHASED)
• Antec 200 Case & PSU combo

So basically, my question to you guys is if you see any faults with this setup and if you think it will serve me well for at least a couple of years.

Edit: That 500W power supply that I purchased shot sparks and smoke rings about 3 seconds after I completed the circuit with a paperclip to test if it was working. Get what you paid for, I guess. Also, I can disassemble my case and take photos of the way the motherboard is set up, if that would help you guys at all.

[Blacksheepboy]

It's a good thing you tested it ^.^

I'm not so much a techy, but the setup sounds fine to me. I personally need to upgrade to at least a dual core processor..

That GFX card will obviously do you justice. I snagged an ATI Radeon HD4350 for about 60 bucks a while back, and it's swell.

[Espadon]

3gb RAM looks a bit on the short side nowadays; I'd go for at least 4gb, but maybe that's just because I like even numbers. Also I think DDR3 RAM shouldn't be too much more expensive than DDR2, might want to give it a look.

[Kazuki]

Well, I'm still running XP, and I'm probably going to continue running XP for at least another year, which is why I'm staying at 3GB. Also, I want to avoid buying another motherboard, and mine was built for DDR2. DDR3 would bottleneck, wouldn't it?

Would running a mid-grade rig on DDR2 RAM cause issues?

Edit: Surprisingly, 4GB of DDR3 240-pin SDRAM costs about as much as 4GB of DDR2 240-pin SDRAM, which is surprising because I thought DDR2 was much cheaper than DDR3. Regardless, that's $110 that I want to avoid spending if possible.

[Veritas]

DDR3 wouldn't work at all.

That PSU has wayyyy more wattage than you need. Check benchmarks and whatever Corsair PSU will cover that wattage. The 550VX is probably about what you want.

Meh on the case. I'd take a look at what Cooler Master has to offer.

e: I'd also go with a E8400. Lower wattage and higher clock speed, which will matter more in games than 4 cores.

[Kazuki]

Are you sure on the PSU, Veritas? The HD4850 alone requires 450W.

But other than that, I was looking at the E8400 earlier and I was really contemplating that over the quad core, but I thought it might perform more weakly. If what you say is true, then I'll definitely go for the E8400.

The only reason I took a look at the case is because it's Antec's "economy" version of the higher-grade cases. Based on the reviews, it's every bit as good as the 300, just less flashy. Is there something you think is wrong with it or do Antec generally make low-quality products?

Thanks for the advice.

[Veritas]

The HD4850 alone requires 450W.

I'm 99% certain what you saw there was a full system under load, not the power draw from the card.

I have the Antec 900 and it's a good case, so it's not that they make bad products. The 200's airflow just doesn't make sense to me and CM makes some of the best cases.

[Kazuki]

Alright, well, I repicked my cart based on your suggestions and here is what is currently in there:

• Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5
• PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz Dual-Core 6MB L2 Cache

The 550VX that you recommended was out of stock, so I tried to find something similar and the reviews on that one seem pretty good. Also, apparently the airflow is really good in the Centurion case. And the grand total is now $50 less. =D

Edit: Is it possible for my motherboard to be too old to run some of the components on here? Specifically the video card? It's a Micro-ATX board manufactured in 2004, and because of that I assume that it's not PCIE2.0.

[jrgp]

Afaik, the pci-e's are backwards compatible, but you get mo where near the full value of the newer card.

[Kazuki]

Well, from what I've read, the difference in performance is only about 5%, which is barely noticeable.

PCI-E 1.1 has a bandwidth limit of 250MB/s per lane (16 lanes) and PCI-E 2.0 has a limit of 500MB/s per lane. Apparently, even a 4870x2 can barely reach the bandwidth limit of 4GB/s of PCI-E 1.1.

[HeavyMetal.Penguin91]

Um... did you consider that the power supply shot sparks and smoke rings because you sort circuited it with a paper clip? You had a s**tload of power doing no work, so all the energy was released into the wires and fuses. In the future you probably shouldn't try checking your PSU's like that unless you like PC fireworks and take the term 'disposable income' very literally.

[croat1gamer]

If you are going to change your os, go for Win 7.
If your operative system isnt a 64 bit, 3 gigs are enough, as it will recognize 4gigst at most, including the vram of the graphics card (its and you said it has 1gb) so you didnt do anything.
But i think you know that.

[a-4-year-old]

So if I were to buy a dual core and just swap it out, given that I do it properly and its the correct socket.  BIOS/XP would recognise it without me doing anything special right?

[jrgp]

So if I were to buy a dual core and just swap it out, given that I do it properly and its the correct socket.  BIOS/XP would recognise it without me doing anything special right?

I don't think windows needs any special drivers for dealing with the actual processors themselves; if anything just the cool n' quiet type stuff.

[Fireman]

So if I were to buy a dual core and just swap it out, given that I do it properly and its the correct socket.  BIOS/XP would recognise it without me doing anything special right?

Yes it should.

Alright, well, I repicked my cart based on your suggestions and here is what is currently in there:

• Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5
• PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz Dual-Core 6MB L2 Cache

The 550VX that you recommended was out of stock, so I tried to find something similar and the reviews on that one seem pretty good. Also, apparently the airflow is really good in the Centurion case. And the grand total is now $50 less. =D

Edit: Is it possible for my motherboard to be too old to run some of the components on here? Specifically the video card? It's a Micro-ATX board manufactured in 2004, and because of that I assume that it's not PCIE2.0.

Can it accept DDR2 or whatever RAM you wanted to get? It should be able to, as long as it's a 775 socket mobo. Do you have the model # of it or specs or anything?

I'd swap that CM case for a Antec 300, but they're both good cases. The CPU and PSU are fine.

[Kazuki]

I'm not buying any RAM right now. I have 3GB of RAM currently installed on my mobo. Sometime in the future, maybe about 6 months from now, I may upgrade the motherboard and RAM, but right now, I'll stick with 3GB DDR2 and probably Windows XP. Maybe Windows 7.

I was initially going to get the Antec 200 because I heard it was the cheap version of the Antec 300. Veritas said the case seemed to have poor airflow and I kinda like the look of the CM case.