Need to get some new hardware
 

Alright, so I need to get some new components for a machine primarily used for light gaming (ie. at this time nothing more advanced than WarCraft III), browsing and P2P stuff.

What I need is: Motherboard, Processor, RAM and perhaps a new Powersupply.

To be used together with a Antec Nine Hundred Case and a Asus v9570 (Geforce FX 5700) graphics card.

After doing some looking around myself, here's what I came up with:

ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA LGA 775 VIA PT880 Ultra ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM ECC Fully Buffered DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Server Memory

From what I can tell (though I'm hardly an expert) these components should work alright together and should serve the intended purpose of the computer well enough. Though I'm a little worried about the upgradeability of the motherboard - it having a max RAM capacity of only 2 GB DDR2. Ideally I'd like a board with similar specs (and with an AGP slot), but with a higher RAM capacity.

I'm also unsure of what kind of Powersupply I'd need.

What do you think, guys?

If sticking with AGP, your choices are few.

This is a fairly decent build, considering your limitations. It allows you to get DDR2 RAM, a 775Socket Core2Duo, and allows you to use your AGP card, with ability to upgrade to a PCIExpress card. It's not by any means an amazing build, but it should fit your purposes nicely. The low voltage RAM should help with compatibility, and the PT880 chipset was good for its time. You might want to consider a slightly faster Core2Duo (maybe a 6400, but at least a e4400 for $5 more).

Other than that, I say green light.

Any reason for AGP instead of PCI-E? I'm pretty sure you can get low-end PCI-E cards for as cheap as any AGP card and I'm sure if you had to upgrade it wouldn't be more than $30-40 for a new one. It might also give you a little more support for driver upgrades and that sort of stuff in the future.

It's simply because I already have the card and I don't really need anything better for this computer - I guess I didn't make that clear. It's good to hear that the board has a PCI-E slot though, I hadn't noticed.

Just as a matter of interest, about how much RAM do the high-end games of today require?

High end now or high end future?

2 GB is a good safe bet...for now.

I understand your dilemma. I had the same issue with not having the cash to dish out for a PCIEx card when I needed to upgrade my computer. I bought a board very similar to this one, bought the Core2Duo and RAM, and then after some months upgraded my video card. Then after a few more months, I upgraded my motherboard and BAM, I had a great new computer that was built gradually over time with only wasting $50 on the motherboard.

It's a good idea if you are on a limited budget.

If you have the cash though, it would be MUCH better for you to buy a good $100 mobo, with a $150 PCIEx card, 2GB DDR2 RAM for $100, and an e4400 for $140. More costly it's true, but well worth it. The total on that would be $500, where as your build would be $360.

BTW, I noticed you're getting server RAM (ECC enabled), but I doubt that is necessary unless you are serving ALOT of data to ALOT of people. You could cut back to standard RAM. Buying ECC RAM is for insuring consistency, and I guarantee you that buying a better mobo and standard RAM would be a better investment than buying the AsRock and ECC RAM.

Hmm, that sounds interesting. Though, the only reason I would need a better graphics card - in the foreseeable future - than the one I've got is StarCraft II. I had originally intended to hold out until that was released.

So that might make buying a low-end PCIe card right now sort of a waste, no? Then again I've been out of the loop on PC games for so long that I have no idea what to expect of that game, system requirement wise.

Oh, really? I just choose them because of the "PC5300" (whatever that means). It's one of the two types of DDR2 that the motherboard can handle.

It sounds like I can do without this ECC business though, so if you can give me some recommendations that would be great :)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145015

Better than Kingston, in my opinion. ECC is basically corporate server-class RAM and is twice as expensive.

For some reason, those sticks are just as expensive as the Kingson's over here. I can even get the PC6400 version of the Corsair's for the same price as the 5400's. Though, if I'm to get either of these Corsair's I'd have to get another motherboard and a PCIe card. Which should be alright.