Help for new MB/CPU setup (1 Viewer)

[tonyscha]

My current setup has died, I believe the motherboard has died, I didnt try a new power supply . I think the bios or northbridge is messed up. So I am pricing out what i need to upgrade. My current setup is

AMD 4200+, 1 Gig of DDR Memory, 7900GS Nvidia Video card. I plan on using the video card for the next setup, unless I dont have too, or can find a cheaper lower powered one.


My requirements are lower power ( less heat/fans) and reasonably priced.

I dont care about intel/amd...

Should i go dual core? Also how about onboard video processing? I want to be able to play 1080p videos, and maybe blu-ray disc in the future.

If I am missing any key features let me know.

 

[Bagal]

I've just upgraded my server and bought the following:

Pentium Dual Core e5200
MSI G45M Digital
4gig memory

this was combined with the existing bits I had:
2x Nova-T PCI DVB-T cards
Antec Neo 550w PSU
6 Hard Drives (set to power down when idle)

Using Windows 7 RC, in idle I'm getting power usage of around 65w, load is between 90-100w
Overall I'm very happy with the power usage and performance of the system, especially as my old P4 server was drawing 130w at idle!
In fact, by my rough estimates in a year to 18months I'll have recouped the cost of the upgrade in power savings alone

 

[ryan20021982]

I would go with

AMD mobo with nvidia 8200 like this
Newegg.com - ECS BLACK SERIES GF8200A (V1.0) AM2+/AM3 NVIDIA GeForce 8200 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

and a AMD 4850e
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

And some new faster ram
Newegg.com - SUPER TALENT 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model T800UX2GC5 - Desktop Memory

Grand Total: $165.97

that will play 1080p just fine and blurays and you can always up it to 4 gig later if you wanted

 

[Spragleknas]

As the 4850e does is not a HT3 CPU, you might regret getting the above (due to limited HD deinterlacing).

If you prefer IGP, I'd go for a Intel E5200 + a nVidia 9300/9400 based mobo.

All my machines have been AMD, but I think that currently Intel/nVidia is a much better choice.

 

[Bagal]

I would have gone for a 9400 as well if I could have found one that matched my requirements, based on this tom's hardware article it is better and more efficient than the G45.

When I was looking to upgrade there wasn't a whole lot of difference between AMD and Intel, I chose Intel simply because I already have Intel based machines and hence I can swap components between them as I upgrade in the future.

 

[winterescape]

As the 4850e does is not a HT3 CPU, you might regret getting the above (due to limited HD deinterlacing).

If you prefer IGP, I'd go for a Intel E5200 + a nVidia 9300/9400 based mobo.

All my machines have been AMD, but I think that currently Intel/nVidia is a much better choice.

Not sure about Intel but on the subject of the 4850 I will second this, I did go with the 4850 and ended up ditching it and getting the 7750 to support HW decode with the nvidia 8300

and on the nvidia side I am not at all happy with the Nvidia drivers, I still can't get audio over HDMI or most important the picture to come back when the PC resumes from hibernate or if the TV is powered off and back on. (Black screen of death)
I am going back and forth with Nvidia customer support but no luck yet...

 

[tonyscha]

Thanks for the responces... It will give a base to reseach off of.

 

[Spragleknas]

IIRC it is a PITA getting Intel IGP to work w/DXVA in some cases.