I need CPU advice. The last computer I put together is about 3-4 years old and there seems to have been an explosion of new technology since then.

I want to put together a new computer primarily for music and still photo editing. I would also like it to be compatible with Vista. I don't need or want to overclock the CPU. Apart from that I run ordinary stuff like MS Office and Quicken. Games are not a priority.

Would there be any benefit to me in dual-core technology? What about PCI Express graphics?

I don't care if I use AMD or Intel. Any suggestions from you knowledgeable people about a CPU, motherboard, graphics card combo?

Thanks

Multi-core is where processing optimization is heading as we know it and staying on that path is a step in the right direction. If you are looking for a mid-low end multimedia & digital editing system, your money is better spent on an AMD setup especially on something like the A64 3700+.

However, if you see yourself possibly loading Vista onto on that multimedia rig within the next 18 months, you probably show go for a mid-high end system and a Core 2 Duo like the E6600 would be my recommendation.

For the video card, both nVIDIA and ATI offer cards that do step up to the plate regardless of what you will primarily use the system for. But something from ATI is what I'd recommend more for digital editing.

I know there is more components to a well built system than the above, but we'll worry about that when we get to that bridge ;-)

Sabertooth,

Thank you. The Newegg price for the Core 2 Duo looks like its within my budget (BTW, there are some very positive reviews for the E6600 written by users on Newegg).

I'm currently using an ATI card - it's a good card - I'll take your advice and go that direction.

Well, I guess I'll go see what boards I can put that CPU into.

MSI P965 Platinum

Nice! Seven 3Gb/s SATA's on RAID ought to handle it!

However, I don't see any customer reviews for the 'MSI P965 Platinum'. Is this a new board?

Newegg customer reviews for its sister board, the 'MSI 975X Platinum', are mixed. It sounds like a number of users are having BIOS and other problems.

The reason for not finding a Newegg review (as of yet) is most likely due to two things - the board being fairly new and most importantly because majority of the Newegg Conroe purchases are from crazed overclockers who aren't really interested in any other feature a board has to offer other than its overclock prowess with a Core 2 Duo CPU.

Since you are not interested in overclocking, there are other Conroe boards within your budget parameters that I'm fits the bill. Things you should be on the look in your 775 board should include, ease of Core 2 Duo support (no BIOS update), chipset (NB: Intel P965 Express & SB: Intel ICH8R) and other interface features you like to have on the board, and very crucial - the manufacturer.

Fortunately you can now get all this without having to buy the most expensive Conroe board on the market.

My train of thought is always overlapping my keyboard processing..........LOL

**there are other Conroe boards within your budget parameters that I'm sure fits the bill. Things you should be on the look out for in your 775 board should include**

Hi Sabertooth,

I went to the MSI website. I didn't see any BIOS or driver updates for the P965 Platinum board (there were quite a few updates for the 975 board).

I found the following to be interesting under the P965's memory specs :

"Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR2 voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better system stability."

Some of the complaints about the 975 board involved memory not working properly. It might be that those users were not adjusting their BIOS memory settings for their particular brand of memory - just accepting the BIOS defaults.

The P965 Platinum runs Intel ICH8R as SB but I couldn't any reference to the Northbridge or 'Intel P965 Express' on the MSI site.

I think the MSI P965 Platinum might be a winner.

Thanks for the explanation and don't worry if your "train of thought is always overlapping" your "keyboard processing", I understood exactly what you meant.

"Some of the complaints about the 975 board involved memory not working properly. It might be that those users were not adjusting their BIOS memory settings for their particular brand of memory - just accepting the BIOS defaults."

You couldn't have been more correct, and it is fairly safe to make an across-the-board (pun unintended) assumption that a lot of the not so positive Newegg reviews do stem from folks not tweaking their memory settings based on the applicable motherboard, when setting up their systems.

And you need not worry about MSI not being emphatic enough about the P965 Platinum being an Intel® P965 Express (Northbridge) chipset based motherboard because we both know that it is.

I'm on unfamilier ground again. The MSI website states that 'main memory' for the P965 Platinum, "Supports 4 unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM" but appears to give as an example of acceptable memory Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 PC6400 which operates at 2.0V.

Crucial, on its website, lists as 'compatible' several sticks of memory running at 2.2V.

Do I assume that the BIOS of the P965 Platinum allows adjustment not just for memory timing but also for memory voltage? This is new to me.

Kingston has DDR2 800 at 1.8V. If BIOS adjustment for voltage is possible would I still be better to stick to the 1.8V or does it matter?

At this time, most if not all DDR2 boards out there default to 1.8V, so MSI's disclaimer is pretty much a standard protocol.

When using those DDR2 modules, folks that intend to overclock will want DDR2 sticks that are rated for higher voltage headroom, in order to manipulate the RAM timings to the fullest without sacrificing stability or risking a damage to the modules.

For instance if I have a stick designated as 5-5-5-15 at DDR2-800 (2.0V), It would best for me to bump the memory voltage to 2.0V to run the stick at its rated 5-5-5 @ 800. However had the stick been rated at 1.8V and refuses to boot at 2.0V, using the default 1.8V, it would probably be easier to just run such a module as 5-5-5 at 667 or say 5-6-5 or 5-6-6 at 800 for it to boot.

Bottomline in your case - it doesn't really matter, you don't even need DDR2-800 if you are not going to overclock, but there is no disadvantage to having it, so long as you aren't paying too much for it, just in case you decide to overclock.

Sabertooth,

Since I don't intend to overclock I'll use the 667 memory. Crucial has 1GB kits (512MBx2) @ $144 for 533 and $152 for 667 (That's not enough difference in price for me to worry about - and Newegg has Kingston 667 for $60 a stick). That leaves me room for another GB of memory later if I find I need or want it.

Thanks.

PC2-5300 DDR2 (667MHz)

PC2-5400 DDR2 (667MHz)

All the best!

Thank you!