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Budget Quad Core by ipab on 09-15-2008 at 06:43 AM

So, I'm helping a friend of mine build a PC and essentially he has the case, hdd, fans etc.

All that is necessary is the Mobo & Proc.

We are trying to keep the cost around $500 for the pair.

Any suggestions?

I came up with this:

http://www.a-power.com/product-2890

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=30295&...Q&manufacture=ASUS

Just a note that my friend is going to do a LOT of video encoding (avi to dvd), the other thing is that is installing XP 64bit edition a good idea?

P.S. I live in Vancouver, Canada. So a place close to me would be nice. The two places that are good for you guys to browse are www.ncix.com & www.a-power.com.

RE: Budget Quad COre by Spunky on 09-15-2008 at 08:38 AM

I've been looking at these for a while now:

Processor

Motherboard

RE: Budget Quad COre by segosa on 09-15-2008 at 09:48 AM

The Q6600 is the best "bang for your buck" budget quad-core processor available these days, and if he wants something good for cheap, then it's his best bet.

RE: Budget Quad COre by andrewdodd13 on 09-15-2008 at 10:07 AM

The Core 2 Q6600 is by far and away the best Quad Core on the price performance market at this current time, but is in general not quite as fast as the AMD Phenom 9600... which I think it a bit more expensive (and the Phenoms which aren't xx50's are buggy).

For that price you may actually wish to look at the E8[4/5]00 instead. These are the 45nm Penryn cores which are supposedly slightly faster than the Q6600, and they overclock a lot better.

As for xp64, I used it for a while, saw no real benefit, and went back to xp32. Everything worked really, but there was some stuff that didn't fully - iTunes and my printer drivers.

RE: Budget Quad COre by prashker on 09-15-2008 at 11:02 AM

Your motherboard is on sale.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=30295&...=ASUS&promoid=1074

Also

Purchase an Asus P5Q with any Intel Q9650, Q9550, Q9400, Q8200, E8600, or E7300 and qualify for a $20 Mail-In Rebate.

Not sure if you save money with a better Quad CPU, but just wanted to let you know :p

RE: Budget Quad COre by ipab on 09-15-2008 at 04:50 PM

Thanks for all the help :). I am going with the Q6600 and the Asus P5Q mobo.

What I'm wondering is, what about ram. I probably won't be over clocking it, and I'm not too sure what is the max it can use with it. Anyone have that info?

RE: Budget Quad Core by andrewdodd13 on 09-15-2008 at 05:32 PM

Four slots, 4GB maximum per slot, so 16GB total.

It's DDR2 so I would recommend 1066MHz. Unbuffered Non-ECC, in case you're curious.

Double check the manual - you can download it from Asus's website.

RE: Budget Quad Core by Jesus on 09-15-2008 at 06:07 PM

quote:
Originally posted by andrewdodd13
Double check the manual - you can download it from Asus's website.
Be sure to do this, as Asus mainboards tend to be very picky about what RAM they do and do not accept. My previous board was an Asus and it would only accept a few brands of memory modules (which I found out the hard way :( )
RE: RE: Budget Quad Core by TheSteve on 09-18-2008 at 12:53 AM

quote:
Originally posted by andrewdodd13
Four slots, 4GB maximum per slot, so 16GB total.
Of course if you want to use more than 4GB, you'll need to be using Windows x64 (XP or Vista).
RE: Budget Quad Core by vaccination on 09-18-2008 at 07:17 AM

quote:
Originally posted by TheSteve
quote:
Originally posted by andrewdodd13
Four slots, 4GB maximum per slot, so 16GB total.
Of course if you want to use more than 4GB, you'll need to be using Windows x64 (XP or Vista).
more than 3GB*
RE: Budget Quad Core by Jesus on 09-18-2008 at 10:58 AM

quote:
Originally posted by vaccination
more than 3GB*
It depends on the rest of your system. I've seen numbers of up to 3,5GB on XP32
RE: Budget Quad Core by Jarrod on 09-18-2008 at 11:25 AM

quote:
Originally posted by vaccination
quote:
Originally posted by TheSteve
quote:
Originally posted by andrewdodd13
Four slots, 4GB maximum per slot, so 16GB total.
Of course if you want to use more than 4GB, you'll need to be using Windows x64 (XP or Vista).
more than 3GB*
u can run xp x86 on 4 gig:P

RE: Budget Quad Core by prashker on 09-18-2008 at 11:46 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Jarrod
quote:
Originally posted by vaccination
quote:
Originally posted by TheSteve
quote:
Originally posted by andrewdodd13
Four slots, 4GB maximum per slot, so 16GB total.
Of course if you want to use more than 4GB, you'll need to be using Windows x64 (XP or Vista).
more than 3GB*
u can run xp x86 on 4 gig:P
You can on Vista also :p (I am doing on my laptop)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension#Windows