[Airescape]

Well, the system I'm building as I've posted about in some of the other sections, which is mainly following Carbons Guide, is going to include an 8800GT, 2gb ddr2 ram, antec 500w power supply, antec 900 case, and the e8400 core 2 duo.

I'm contemplating between mother boards. Currently, the recommended choice is the GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard.

However, I'm still deciding if I'm going to use the DDR3. I know I won't now, but in the future if it will be logical purchase. So I need some talking through this process. Should I get this mobo, or should I find another? And if so, please link me to a good one that you would recommend for the system I'm building.

Am I able to get more features (whatever they may be) or higher quality, without the DDR-3 support for the same price of $160 or less?

If you do support the decision to go ahead and get the EP35C, would you recommend I get the

GA-P35C-DS3R from ClubIT for $146, or the "upgraded" EP35C for $160?

Also, since I'm in the right section, please recommend DDR2 ram for this system. I need 2gb, they can be 2x1gb sticks. I want DDR2-800, I don't understand the whole timings thing and I don't plan to overclock so take that into consideration.

Thanks for the help!

[link590o]

right now, on newegg, the best RAM to buy right now for the price and performance is a set of 2x 1gig sticks of ddr2 800 G Skill RAM. about 47 dollars last i checked. i've bought these and i have to say, they're quite nice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231098

and if i were you, i would stick with newegg. you can be pretty sure that you're getting quality merchandise from them. the extra money you're throwing into it won't be wasted. quite frankly, that motherboard would suit you very well. and stay with DDR3.

getting ddr3 support will make your motherboard more future proof. very soon the standard will move from ddr2 to ddr3. and when it does, you'll be wishing you had support for it. if i were you, i'd keep it and make your computer ready so that it won't need to have an upgraded motherboard only a few years down the road. with ddr3 you won't have to touch it for a while.

as it stands, the p35 chipset is a very good set. and the rest of it is solidly built. you'll have a very similar setup to mine when it's built :)

[Airescape]

Originally Posted by link590o

right now, on newegg, the best RAM to buy right now for the price and performance is a set of 2x 1gig sticks of ddr2 800 G Skill RAM. about 47 dollars last i checked. i've bought these and i have to say, they're quite nice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231098

and if i were you, i would stick with newegg. you can be pretty sure that you're getting quality merchandise from them. the extra money you're throwing into it won't be wasted. quite frankly, that motherboard would suit you very well. and stay with DDR3.

getting ddr3 support will make your motherboard more future proof. very soon the standard will move from ddr2 to ddr3. and when it does, you'll be wishing you had support for it. if i were you, i'd keep it and make your computer ready so that it won't need to have an upgraded motherboard only a few years down the road. with ddr3 you won't have to touch it for a while.

as it stands, the p35 chipset is a very good set. and the rest of it is solidly built. you'll have a very similar setup to mine when it's built :)

Thank you for the insight and help. I appreciate it.

[Carbon]

Summed it up perfectly, link. If I didn't think DDR3 was going to hit soon I wouldn't have recommended a board with it, but I do know now that $500 for 2gb of RAM is ludicrous. As I noted in my post, we are on the cusp of a new generation of hardware, something most people ignore and relegate to consoles only. CPUs are going 45nm and GPUs are going 65nm, and we have another DDR standard on our hands. So buying anything other than the above is silly, because you're buying last year's hardware.

Hope the build goes well. Post if you have any more questions.

[link590o]

even if it wasn't mainstream yet, i'd still get it just so i'd be as ready for the future as possible. i wish i had the money for a such a nice board. i couldn't afford a much better p35 chipset than the one i have. it's the neo combo. it's got a decent front side bus, and it has room for both ddr2 800 and 1066 modules. but it doesn't allow ddr3 unfortunately. i can see myself having to upgrade the board a few years down the road.

it's the only way to build computers really and have them last for years and years and years. plan ahead for the big shifts that will no doubt occur and be one step ahead. i would've gotten the board airescape is looking at had i the money and the patience. though the money is turning out to be the bigger problem than my patience. i currently have $22 to my name :(...i'm the definition of a poor college student.

[Carbon]

Usually the money saved by spending more for a future-compatible system greatly offsets that of going budget. I'm still going strong with a 8800GTS, E6400 system. It doesn't play nicely with Crysis, and World in Conflict needs to be "medium", but it's still excellent by today's standards - and I bought it last year for $1600 and put it together myself.

At that time, I didn't know SATA from a rolling doughnut, so building a computer was a Big Deal, I knew nothing about hardware except for capacities of RAM. Through a bunch of NewEgg reviews and some research, I eventually figured it out.

But had I skimped like my gut told me to do: 8600GT there, lower-watt PSU here, cheaper motherboard, I would have had $500 more to spend to get it to run what I wanted. That's why I'm so aggressive about telling new members not to invest money in their old hardware, not to try to "upgrade" their Pentium 4 systems, because it just isn't worth it. Even if you get something like a 8800GT that works in any PCI slot, or DDR2 RAM, you're still paying more now than you would when you're about to buy the new rig.

[link590o]

that honestly depends on the approach you take to computer building. i save a ton of money by not purchasing a lot of parts because i already have a bunch of working ones that i can salvage.

mainly peripherals. and i skimped on buying a video card for now because it saved me enough money to put together a very nice system. the rig i built cost me 600 dollars.

specs:
g skill 2x 1 gig ddr2 800
MSI p35 neo combo chipset
Intel Core 2 duo E6750 2.66 ghz
160 gig western digital sata hard drive
cooler master case, 3x 120mm fans
antec earthwatts 500 watt psu
asus 16x dvd-cd rw combo drive

and the rest is salvaged. radeon PCI 9250 128mb gpu, dell keyboard, 13" flat screen monitor, laser mouse, creative sound system, and i'm running win xp pro sp2.

not buying all the salvaged material saved me a ton of cash and allowed me to purchase all the other stuff for unbelievably cheap. and it works quite well. i'm saving for an 8800gt 512mb at the moment.

so it all depends on the approach. i bought a decent system that will last me for a good 4 years no doubt and will not need many upgrades. given it could've been better, but money was tight and whatnot. and it's relatively future-proof considering what it has. the money isn't wasted if you pick and choose your parts well and know what to look for.

as you no doubt can tell, i built this rig myself. but i did a LOT of research before hand. i joined a tech forum, snooped around learning about parts, what was new, what was good, and what wasn't, and how to put it together and make it work. i spent 6 months doing nothing but research and saving up. i made DAMN sure it would work straight out of the boxes. and it did. it couldn't have gone more smoothly.