Your Opinions Please

[vman1949]

Hi:
I am new to HC's and have done a lot of reading on these forums. I would like to get out of last century with a new build. I currently have an XP1600. My main focus for new computer is creating DVD's from stills and camcorder videos and regular day computing. Down the road I would like to get into OC'ing. I am looking at

Lian Li Case Newegg.ca - LIAN LI Lancool PC-K7B Black Aluminum/ SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

Gigabyte MB NCIX.com - Buy Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P ATX AM3 DDR3 AMD770 PCI-E16 4PCI-E1 2PCI SATA GBLAN Motherboard - GA-MA770T-UD3P In Canada.

AMD Processor NCIX.com - Buy AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Dual Core Processor Socket AM3 3.1GHZ 7MB Cache 80W Retail Box - HDZ550WFGIBOX In Canada.

4 GB NCIX.com - Buy G.SKILL F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM Ripjaws PC3-10666 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL8-8-8-21 Core I5 Memory Kit - F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM In Canada.

PSU NCIX.com - Buy Corsair TX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan - CMPSU-650TX In Canada.
NCIX.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT 55NM 600MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ 256BIT GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card - 512-P3-N973-TR In Canada.

Video NCIX.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GT 55NM 600MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ 256BIT GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card - 512-P3-N973-TR In Canada.

I already have a monitor and 2 640 GB WDD harddrives. I was wondering if the motherboard will power all the fans in the Lian case. Also, should I be looking at a 790 series of motherboard. I will do price matching when placing order.

Thanks in advance.

Budget is around $700

[Prof. Dr. Silver]

What processor would you like to have? Are you planning to overclock it? What heatsink would you like to use?

Do you play a lot of games? You might want a better videocard....

Also check the motherboard to see if there are enough fan headers.

[Perineum]

You linked the motherboard twice, once under motherboard and again under the CPU.

I'm not entirely sure, but for a lot of video things you can get much goodness out of a Nvidia video card using CUDA now. Also, for some video applications I'm sure a quad core would make sense.

[upcoast604]

I'd look at x3 720BE, x4 940BE and x4 955BE if u'r trying to move to the future. The x4 940 doesn't support ddr3 though but x3 720 and x4 955 support both ddr2 /ddr 3. To save money you could step down to the 770 ddr2 mobo. Maybe look into a GTS250 vid card or 4850. Also all the BE (black edition) cpus are easy overclockers with unlocked multis.

[snoosebum]

Theres quad potential in that 550 you posted, no guarentees of course. That motherboard you've chosen should unlock them if its possible. I think those are fairly solid choices.

[snoosebum]

One thing may help you out. You can get similar ram but in DDR3-1600 flavour for a few bucks less.

Newegg.ca - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Desktop Memory

You can probably get more performance than that 9800 for $112 for the same price.
say this 9800GTX Newegg.ca - PNY VCG98GTXPXPB GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

or possibly a 4850?

[KeepSix]

I do video. Well, I did video. I'd highly recommend a quad core and as much RAM as you can afford. The video card is crucial too. Leave room to upgrade if you can't afford it now.

[kingnubian]

I have an X2 550 in my 2nd workstation & it's working nicely as a quad at 3.82Ghz. You millage may vary though.

As for the video card I'd skip the 9800GT and go for this (HD4850) as it out performs it & is lower priced.
NCIX.com - Buy Powercolor Radeon HD PCs 4850 625MHZ 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E VGA DVI-I HDMI Video Card - AX4850 512MD3-PH In Canada.

[Lu_D4Cr155]

X2 550 black unlock you have a higher chance these days cause amd started locking 2 cores on the quads and made them 550be's 6gbs ram at least 1tb hdd you mite as well go for the his-5770-1gbddr5 $195 good card atm untill nvidia make something that blows it out of the water and also extra cooling for your ram and gpu it will be worth it and the upgrades will last you for a long time

[Lu_D4Cr155]

You should spend a bit extra and get the 790xt-ud4p it's a better board