Some facts about a new build or upgrade
Maybe
you are plugging away at your brand new build list and can’t decide
whether to go with Intel core i7 or not. Or you are going to put some
new stuffs in your 4 year old machine and wanna make it a little bit
faster and just can’t decide which upgrade will be your best bet. No, I
am not going to tell you what to do. Actually, I can tell you a good
place to go, Eggxpert..com, and there are the best Eggs and they are
doing their best to walk you through out. What I am trying to do is to
tell you some facts about the build or upgrade, and hopefully some of
them will be useful.
1. Do I have to go with Intel core i7?
No.
You don’t have to go with intel core i7 especially the money is the
issue. IMHO, if you don’t wanna spend more than $1200, a top end AMD
rig will be better which is great value for your bucks. But if you just
plan a build which could last you a couple of years and don’t wanna
upgrade in a period of time, I have to say, yes maybe even though your
budget is $1000 or more, to fork out a little bit more bucks to grab an
Intel core i7 rig will be a better choice. But to go with an AMD rig is
also a nice choice. Even with the top AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE and AM3
motherboard with DDR3 slots, the total cost should be within control
and great value for your dollars.
2. DDR2 or DDR3
You
have to use DDR3 RAM if you with Intel core i7 rig. And if you choose
the motherboard which only has the DDR3 slots, then there is no
alternative for you. But for most of the rig, especially the LGA 775
motherboard with Intel C2D or C2Q processors, DDR3 really does not make
sense. For AMD rig, even with its AM3 socket, the new processor can
both support DDR2 and DDR3 RAM. Again, you can choose a motherboard
with both DDR2 and DDR3 slots then upgrade to DDR3 while it is dirty
cheap. So far, DDR2 RAM is still enjoying the price/performance ratio.
So there is really no reason to go with DDR3 unless you have to.
3, DDR2 533, DDR2 667, DDR2 800, DDR2 1066, DDR2 1300+
Probably
all the motherboards like since P45 support all these memory standards
so you can put in any DDR2 RAM but just to make sure that you will have
to adjust BIOS to make sure the RAM faster than DDR2 800 will run as
advertised in the species or it will default it as DDR2 800. if you
have an old motherboard can only supports DDR2 533 or DDR2 667, you can
also put some other sticks in but it will down clock to DDR2 533 or
667. So there is really no need to put some faster RAM. Moreover, you
can’t even notice the difference between DDR2 800 and DDR2 1066 in
daily use unless you OC a lot.
4. AMD or Intel, Nvidia or ATI
If
you are a fanboy, or a loyal customer, to choose the one you like. Or
the brands do not matter, just to grab the ones which are great bang
for bucks.
5, Upgrade to a brand new build
For
some old school rig, there is little headroom to upgrade. Like some old
Pentium 4 rig, the motherboard won’t support the latest 45nm CPU, it is
better to get a brand new CPU+Motherboard and then some faster RAM,
then it seems that you will swap everything out, then a brand new rig
will make much sense.