Opinions on rebuilding a PC now/soon?

[Wombat]

Cool. I'm looking at the Gigabyte DS4. Trying to find out what makes it so different from the DS3 boards that have similar specs.

[Helevitia]

I'd definitely go Gigabyte over Abit. Of course, I'm an Asus guy, but that's for another thread

Xtremesystems has the best forums for this kind of info in my opinion. Check out this thread all about the Gigabyte boards you are looking at:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=142340

[Helevitia]

btw, I'm not positive but I think the DS4 is DDR3 only???

[Wombat]

Thanks, Dave. That thread is pretty handy.

I've figured out a little of the Gigabyte naming convention. GA-P35 is DDR2, P35T is DDR3, and P35C has both. Now I just need to decide between the many DS3 flavors and DS4. I don't know that I need 2 16x PCIe slots, so maybe that's all I need to know.

[Helevitia]

Sometimes when you use a 16x PCIe, it covers up a 1x PCIe slot. You probably don't have any 1x cards yet, but something to keep in mind. I will actually have two 1x PCIe cards in the next month! I'm using a TV tuner cards right now taking up one and when Asus releases their PCIe Xonar D2X, that will take up the other slot. You are gonna love that quad core CPU, it overclocks so well. In fact, it's so easy, it's scary! I'm betting you can hit 3.2GHz without changing anything.

What heatsink/fan do you plan to get? I recommend the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme. It cools as good as most water setups. No joke!

[Helevitia]

Hmmm, Soundblaster X-Fi Xtremegamer edition for $51 shipped...

will have to sleep on that one.

Did you ever buy this? If not, I'd recommend not to especially if you are going to run Vista.

Alternatives are Auzentech Prelude and Asus Xonar D2X(not yet available to buy). The ladder is a PCIe card. It'll let you play all EAX 2.0 and under games in Vista without any need for other software. It just works in hardware. It'll also let you bypass any DRM on music. It also supports DDL and DTS.

[Wombat]

Yeah, I did end up buying it. It didn't really seem to help things, but I haven't tried the latest games, either.

One thing that surprised me was the lack of inputs for CD player sound, as well as losing the FireWire my Audigy had.

I'm just flipping between the DS3P and DS4 motherboards right now, trying to decide which one is better.

[Wombat]

Well, I did it.

I ordered a Gigabyte P35-DS3L rev 2.0, a Q6600 (G0 stepping), and 2x1GB Ballistix-1066. Should all be here in time to build it over the weekend (and I got the Orange Box on Black Friday for $25).

Now, anybody have that thread about transferring Windows installs handy?

Thanks for all the input, folks. I ordered a retail CPU. I'm going to start with the stock HS and see how I do. It seems like the good heatsinks are $60 these days, and I'd rather put that money towards a new video card.

[Helevitia]

Nice system Congrats!

Can't help you with the Windows transfer. Don't you want the feel of a brand new install on brand spankin' new hardware?

[Wombat]

Yeah, but I also don't feel like reinstalling all of my apps right now. It might not be that bad, though. I'll have to think about it.

[Mehen]

I usually reinstall windows every 6-12 months even if I don't have new hardware, just to keep things "fresh." And its good to weed out the apps I don't use anymore.

[Wombat]

Did the reinstall.

Wow, this thing is a BEAST.

[Helevitia]

cool. Expect a 25% performance improvement from XP SP3 as well

[Wombat]

Definitely going to have to replace the video card. Hopefully the 8800 GT prices will come down after Christmas.

[Helevitia]

That is definitely limiting you at this point. I think it was July that I finally went from an X800XT PE to the 8800GTS I have now.