Hi all,

I am in the process of putting together a new pc. I've been reading up on the forum and the main site and have some of my configuration figured out, but the motherboard is always hard to choose.
I want a system that can run photoshop etc well and can hold it's own when playing some games, but nothing too hardcore.


So far I've picked:

Processor: Intel core 2 duo E7200

Memory: I prefer 1066Mhz probably, want to put 4G or more in (am a photographer/video guy). Not picked yet.

Graphics: Asus 9600GT 512M

HD: I don't really have a preference, can be decided by MB choice, only for the brand (Western Digital)


You can probably read the price range from my components. I don't want to spend top dollar, but am willing to pay a little extra for something that's up to it.

I won't be doing any overclocking.

Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks!

Hello and welcome to the forums mate

I say go for ASUS P5K also why getting DDR2 1066 when u dont want to OC go for DDR2 800
(Even if u wanted to OC, DDR2 800 would have done the trick because the difference isnt much between DDR2 800 and 1066)

Thanks, I had basically no clue.

I'll look into the P5K.

I only chose DDR2 1066 over 800 because it only differs a few bucks (at least at the store I was looking).

One more question: Is the Intel core 2 duo E7200 a good pick or should I rather go for the E6750/6850 for example and spend a little more.

Thanks again!

Photoshope and Video !!!
Go for Q6600 Immeiately
Get also Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme Heat Sink and Scythe S-Flex SFF21F Fan to overclock your CPU to 3.2GHz
800 or 1066 DDR2 not a big difference but get 4GB (2X2GB) and of course 1066 better than 800
Motherboard why to go for P5K which is more than 1 year old ??
It is the most essential part of your PC
You can upgrade processor, ram, graphic card, hard disk any time but not mobo
My advice go for the latest X48 Chipset mobo Asus Rampage Formula
It accepts DDR2 which is not expensive and the latest processors and graphic cards
It also has great potentials for overclocking

1066 isnt always better than 800 because the timings are important too and most DDR2 800 RAMs have 4-4-4-x timings but most 1066 RAMs have 5-5-5-x timings which is an important factor for OC

also i dont recommend X38 or X48 because ASUS P5K is alot cheaper and also supports 1333FSB CPUS, 45nm CPUs and even 1600FSB CPUs http://event.asus.com/mb/fsb1600/index.htm

Also for photoshop i say go for a QuadCore like Q6600

Hello man!
That what said all men about CPU's and memory - all right. I whant to make a few notes. I beg your pardon for my broken english.

Quad - is realy best solution when you have deal with Soft wich use multiProcessor. If soft have not such posibility - You do not need Quad. But there is allways take place posibility that such soft can apear .

You can use two Graphics Cards by SLI. My friend whos trying to make own commercilas was just exiting when do such thing.

But ONE thing I whant to tell you. WINDOWS XP (or Vista) 32bit DO NOT SUPPORT memory more than 3,2 Gb (be cause it 32 bit). I found it in ASUS P5KC (i do not now about p5k - cause i do not have deal with it) manual when trying to understand why PC of my friend do not whant see all memory. I sad it to him - and his buy Win XP 64 - but many usefull soft do not work correctly on thats OS.
And when (if) you use 3 planks DDR 2 (or DDR 3 or DDR - any memory on mama (motherboard)) it do not work like dual. It will work like 3 solo chanel. So if you want use such posibility like dual chanel memory - you must use 2 or 4 planks. But in in ASUS P5KC manual i find recomendation DO NOT USE more than 3 GB memory whan your OS 32b. Of cource thay may said that be cause thay whant save our money and their honour. But may be there is some lag when memorys phisical adresses more than OS can see. May be when you use all 3,2gb and trying to use more system just can't find last adress.

So that is all. I hope it can be usefull infomation

I'm very happy with my ASUS P5N72-T Premium. Right now I have a Q9450 at 3.6. FSB is 1800 and 8 Gigs of corsair memory running at 900 MHz. The ram is PC6400C4 DHX. The ram is running 5-5-5-15-2T and is very stable at these speeds. I am running 2.14 volts to the memory and I am running the corsair dominator cooler on the ram. I had it all the way up to 1850 FSB and 925 on memory and with the EVGA 8800GT's (super clocked versions) in SLI I got into the high 18000's with 3DMark 06. But with SiSoft Sandra the memory through put was actually lower. So I went back down to 3.6 instead of 3.7. I just put my Q6600 into the wife's computer and now everyone is happy. She has the P5Q - Deluxe with 4 Gigs of ram and that is also a very nice board. I am hoping to find what the memory settings are at 900 so maybe I can force the same timings at 925 to get an even better 3DMark 06 score. I would really like to break the 19000 barrier. Maybe once the 9800GTX+ is released I will see that reality. LOL

Good luck with your decision and make sure you get good quality ram . I know Corsairs not the best but I'm very happy with the performance based on the price.

My question to anyone out there how do I find what all the memory timings are when they are set to auto? I really want to see if I can get the same timings to work at 925 and see what kind of numbers I can get. So if anyone knows how to read these let me know. If there is a program that will help with this, I really want to know. Thanks to all who answer.

Photoshop CS3 is really fun with this much ram and CPU speed. Don't know if that will help you make a decision or just confuse you more but I was hoping this would help you. I am also running Vista 64. I just read some preliminary specs on the new Photoshop and it sounds like it will have more 64bit code and then I should really see my system scream. I have a friend who works for Adobe and can't wait to hear when the new release will be out.