[jamess71]

Ok it's time to upgrade my home pc. I built it about 4 yrs ago. I'm not a gamer so the latest and greatest is not needed. I'm not partial to Intel or AMD. I won't overclock. I just want a stable, easy to set up motherboard and cpu for about $200. Thanks for any suggestions.

Thanks nicolas. Please reply to thread in computer forum see link in next post.

James

 

[Nicolas2305]

You shouldn't have posted the same question in two sections. You'll have splitted answers.

People should post in the same thread.

Link to the other thread

 

[Nedman]

If you could go the extra $10, this is the combination I went for a few months ago.
GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R + E2180

The reason I picked these two was the upgrade path, the motherboard will take DDR3. But I only put 2g DDR2 800 [cheap but still pretty good]. Lots of SATA connectors and will take the better cpu's [but much more expensive].
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors

 

[srozzman]

Do you have ddr or ddr2 ram currently?

 

[megawzrd]

I have been on the same outlook and I was pretty much set on getting another p35 gigabyte board but then I heard about a DPC latency problem:

AnandTech - Gigabyte Boards and DPC Latency

Now I am not sure. I might just wait for their P45 boards to drop in price a bit. I do like gigabytes "ultra durable" line/feature. The p35-ds3 I got for my mom is working out alright.

 

[Snicewicz]

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ CPU Memory Bundle - Black Edition, OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 x 1024MB) at TigerDirect.com

Thats not too bad of a deal and you get the Ram ontop of it all

 

[hockeyb213]

not regarding any other posts on this thread intel is very reliable and usually a step ahead of AMD in their tech. and power but then again you don't need anything special so amd would work too. Again imo

 

[jamess71]

I will be getting new ram too. First i'm going to decide on the mobo cpu combo. After being out of the pc loop for a few years I'm surprised at the lead Intel has taken. Currently the pc is a 1.8G athlon so I'm excited for some quick encoding with EAC and dbporweramp. Thanks for the replies. Keep em coming.

James

 

[jamess71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snicewicz /img/forum/go_quote.gif AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ CPU Memory Bundle - Black Edition, OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 x 1024MB) at TigerDirect.com Thats not too bad of a deal and you get the Ram ontop of it all

Tiger seems to have some great combo/ barebone system deals. Great lead Snicewicz.

 

[roastpuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snicewicz /img/forum/go_quote.gif AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ CPU Memory Bundle - Black Edition, OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 x 1024MB) at TigerDirect.com Thats not too bad of a deal and you get the Ram ontop of it all

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamess71 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Tiger seems to have some great combo/ barebone system deals. Great lead Snicewicz.

That's the same set-up I went with (plus a Gigabyte Nforce 550 board for cheap) when I re-built the gaming rig.

Plus a 8800GT, of course. They're so cheap now!

EDIT: And I meant to say it's a very good budget combo with gobs of performance.

 

[MusicallySilent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nedman /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you could go the extra $10, this is the combination I went for a few months ago. GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R + E2180 The reason I picked these two was the upgrade path, the motherboard will take DDR3. But I only put 2g DDR2 800 [cheap but still pretty good]. Lots of SATA connectors and will take the better cpu's [but much more expensive]. Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors

That is a pretty good setup you could save a little money with this
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

I was looking at this motherboard and that processor when I contemplated my own desktop.

Then you could upgrade the processor a little bit or probably throw some ram in too.

90+70=160 so 40bucks for ram or Processor improvement

Newegg.com - Mail In Rebate, 4GB (2 x 2GB), 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM, Desktop Memory, Memory, Computer Hardware
Some after market options if you are fine with rebates that cost about 80 bucks (40 over budget for 4gb (2gbx2) for ram)

Likewise 1gbx2 for 2gb options around 40 bucks without rebate, some have rebates too
Newegg.com - 2GB (2 x 1GB), 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM, Desktop Memory, Memory, Computer Hardware

 

[Elluzion]

Motherboard. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L or DS3R

CPU. E2200 or anything in that price range...

 

[jamess71]

Thanks again guys. I've decided to go Intel. I'm thinking either 6550 or 7200. Now it's just a FSB thing/ More research.......

Later
James

 

[bonkon]

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L and E7200 well under $200, very stable and highly clockable if your rig starts to slow down in a few years.. I would put an extra $40 or so for an E8200/8400, beyond that the point of diminishing return is passed.

The gigabyte is a save bet but a mobo depends on your needs, integrated graphics or wifi? HD audio, PCI Express 2.0 interface etc...