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  1. #1
    Old Merits
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    Power supply, directx 10 and some questions about upgrading.

    Heya, i got a couple of questions since i want to upgrade my pc, what i probably will get is something like this:

    Intel E8400 or 8500 (E7400 is a lot cheaper here, is that a big difference between this and E8000+?)

    MB P4 INTEL BOXDG31PR SOCKET 775 or Msi G31m3-l V2 Core 2 Quad Intel G31 (Which one is better both are same price here?)

    DIMM 2GB DDR 2 800 CORSAIR (here is one of my questions about directx 10, i want to keep using windows XP because some programs i use are a pain to configure on Vista, but probably will upgrade to Windows 7 in the future, is there a way to run directx 10 with good performance on XP (i know can be emulated or something but is it good?) or i should just install Vista?), also should i get 4 GB or 2 GB is good enough atm if i stay on XP?

    PCI EXP. 1GB SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON HD4850 GDDR3

    ok about power supply for this:

    Thermaltake TR2 500 Watts W0093 + PFC

    or

    Thermaltake 430w W0070ru 20/24pines is cheapest of these brand i can find here, is this good enough for this build?, well forgot to add my pc will have 2 or 3 HDD, 1 DVD installed.

    or

    Agiler AGI-PS800-P4 this other one says is 800W and costs same price than the 430w from thermaltake, is this a shitty one or is good?

    I don't live in USA so these are options i have here atm for my budget, thx in advance for any help^^.

  2. #2
    Relic Weapons
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    Hmmm. E8400 Is definately a very good choice as it's easily overclockable to 3.5Ghz with simple HSF and 4Ghz+ with more elaborate cooling (TEC/WC/Phase change) although that would be way out of your budget.

    Whilst I don't know much about either of the motherboards you listed, I have chosen the Biostar TPower I45 as the motherboard for my new PC (also E8400 based). This board is an amazing overclocker and damn cheap to boot.

    As for the GFX card, I'm not really that up to date on which are the best. But the ATI Radeon HD 4770 is another viable alternative for roughly the same price which uses GDDR5 memory instead of the GDDR3 that the 4850 uses.

    The powersupply really depends on how much you're willing to spend, I wouldn't go for either of the ones listed.

    For a PC on the cheap the OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W gets very good reviews and is only £53 (186,570 VEB). It's also modular which makes keeping cables neat and tidy that much easier.

    For a little bit more (£107~/376,661 VEB) You can get the 'Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W' which, quite frankly, is a beast of a PSU for the price, extremely stable, quiet, efficient and other cool features such as post-shutdown cooling. This one definately gets my thumbs up.

    Also 2GB should be more than enough if you're running XP.

  3. #3
    Sea Torques
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    High-jacking this thread with another PSU question.

    I need to send in my laptop for repair, and I have an old computer with a nice HDD, sound card, monitor, mouse, keyboard collecting dust in a corner. I'd like to upgrade it, but the problem is that the 350W PSU isn't removable from the chassi, and chassis seem to cost a fortune over here. Is there any way I could get away with using that PSU with modern components? Not looking for a power build, I'd just like a quiet and reasonably priced CPU and GPU that could run the latest games well at 720p. One DVD drive and one HDD only. Yay, possibly, or nay?

  4. #4
    Pandemonium
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    For both of you, don't underestimate the need for a good power supply. The wattage isn't as important as the quality, because computer components are incredibly sensitive to changes in voltage. If you want to protect your investment, get a quality power supply. Coolermaster, Thermaltake, Antec, etc all are decent brands to choose from. Don't cheap out.

  5. #5
    Cerberus
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    If your budget is really tight then I would definitely scale back the CPU and scale up on the power supply. The E6300 is a good option as well, it's the same speed as the E7400 and only 1mb less cache, and a lot cheaper.

    Thermaltake's high-end PSUs are good but I'd stay away from the cheap ones. This is generally true for all but a handful of brands too. The Thermaltake W0070ru is actually a 350W device that has been relabeled as 430W and the W0093 is actually a 450W relabeled as 500W. (source) Agiler I have never heard of but I wouldn't bother even looking at a supposed 800W unit being sold for the same price as 400W units.

    If Corsair power supplies are available in your country that is what I would recommend. Otherwise just spend more for a premium model from one of the well known brands.

  6. #6
    Old Merits
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    Cool, thx a lot for the tips, wow i had no idea about thermaltake fake values Oo, there is a Corsair Serie 520hx Atx on sale here, twice expensive as the W0093.

    About biostar MB i had one and it crashed after 6 months, then got a MSI and has worked wonderful for last 2 years, there are some biostar on sell here, but not that model, there are gigabyte and foxconn MB on sale too, also did i get unlucky with that biostar ?

    The 4770 looks nice too, but noone sell it here atm , also i read about Directx 10 on XP and looks like a waste, so i probably will just stay on XP with directx9.

    About memory i know XP more than 2 GB won't make a big difference, but i would like to take advantage of dual channel, and dont feel like buying 2 dimm of 1 gb each, so probably will go with 4 GB (just self answered that question lol).

  7. #7
    Corwens a slot
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cephius View Post
    For both of you, don't underestimate the need for a good power supply. The wattage isn't as important as the quality, because computer components are incredibly sensitive to changes in voltage. If you want to protect your investment, get a quality power supply. Coolermaster, Thermaltake, Antec, etc all are decent brands to choose from. Don't cheap out.
    Don't forget Corsair PSU's voted best in 2008~ on Newegg (apparently)

  8. #8
    Pandemonium
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    Quote Originally Posted by Minions View Post
    Don't forget Corsair PSU's voted best in 2008~ on Newegg (apparently)
    Yes, Corsair is a quality brand as well.

  9. #9
    Cake Mix
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    My Corsair 520W 520HX is real quality. Comes in great packaging, the cables are nice and easily maneuverable, and it just feels nice all around. Using it for my current build. Modular ftw.

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