New Micro ATX mobo reccomendation

I have a Sony desktop water cooled running a Pentium D 2.8 / SWX 09 / 32 and
wanted to get the groups ideas on replacing the board / chip / memory with
something that will beat the current Vista score of 4.7 for the CPU. Rest
of components run at 5.9. No gaming at all just want to render a whole lot
faster as this thing gets pinned to 100% in Photoworks / Photview.

Current PS is 385 watts. I'll likely run in 32 until SWX 2010 comes out.
Appreciate all ideas

 

If your doing rendering, and your going to spend money on a system, why
not just go balls to the wall?

check out Anna's blog at solidmuse.com.. she's built a Core i7 system
that might just give you a woody.. Especially if your doing rendering..

I can't see the point of dropping money on a system that your going to
be using for one year, just to upgrade again.. Especially when spending
that money really won't solve your problems. I would purchase a good i7
system now, that way you'll be set for a few years to come. (hopefully
longer)


But, if your hellbent on just doing a minor upgrade, the more cores the
better, and the faster the processor the better.. So going with a high
end Quad core (multiple would be best, but since your trying to fit it
in a baby case, it probably isn't going to work) you DO NOT want a
server processor (eg. xeon) , 64bit vista, and maxing out the RAM the
mobo can take would be my suggestion.. might have to upgrade that lil
power supply you have tho..

 

Well its just an OS upgradde after a year or so. Maybe to Windows 7 64. THe
i& sounds great but since its my own money I'll have to pass for the time
being. I was under the impression a 385 watt PS is sufficient. ?? I'll
stick wwith a quad with maybe 8meg and a higher mhz.

 

np, I would have a hard time spending that much on an i7 too..

Tell me this, how much are you willing to spend?

 

I think for a MB, quad chip and maybe 4MB memory it looks like its worth
about $3 - $325 or so. All the other parts in the sytem remain the same
other than a TV card I hope will run in 64 eventually.

 

You might find that the Sony uses a proprietary board layout and PS
connections and you may not be able to easily upgrade the motherboard.

I'd suggest checking out Dell Precision T3400s on the Dell Outlet
center. They have quite a few with Core2 Duo 2.6 GHz processors, 2GB
RAM and an FX 570 graphics card for $539. While not ideal, the C2D
2.66 would easily be twice as fast as what you have now and you can
upgrade to 4GB RAM for next to nothing.

I also see a quad core 2.4 GHz system with dual 80 GB hard drives, 4GB
RAM and the FX570 for $809 and several with dual 320GB drives for just
over $1k. Again, not absolute top performance, but MUCH faster than
what you have and MUCH less expensive than a Core i7 system - and
they're covered by a 3 year warranty.

 

Jim,

I think I'm missing something because I'm not getting the values (>
$200-$300) when I enter the options at Dell... where/what/.. are these
refurbs or,.. do Dells prices change every few hours?

For the $539 system you mention,.. I come up with a total greater than
$700
For the $809 system you mention,.. I come up with a total greater than
$1,100
And.. the last is well over $1,300

Is there a saved pdf on the ones you saw?

I don't get where i7 is that much more,.. anybody can build a core i7
920 for easily under $1,200.00
(and/or add $270 for the 940 and $720 for the 965).

I'll put a pdf to show this... http://zxys.com/misc/newegg_core_i7_zxys.pdf

 

This Sony uses an ASUS MB. All the connectors are standard. But my
limiting factor other than cash is that I have to use a micro ATX board. My
reasoning in sticking with this case is that it is totally silent ( water
cooled ) and the balance of the components are new / relatively new.
Important for a desktop in a real quiet location to be as quiet as it is .

There is a microATX board plus the i7 will run me over $600.

 

then,.. here is maybe a conservative bundle?

http://www.zxys.com/misc/newegg_C2D-E8400_ASUS-P5QL_Corsair-4gig.pdf

...

 

and,.. one which is basic but will get you there for a good upgrade
for cheap..

http://www.zxys.com/misc/Newegg_C2D-E7400_Foxconn-G43MX_GSkill-4gig.pdf

...

 

Many thanks. Any thoughts on a quad core ? Seems AMD is a bit more
economical. I'm thinking quad because in Photoview 360 especially a quad
would go a long way speed things up.

and,.. one which is basic but will get you there for a good upgrade
for cheap..

http://www.zxys.com/misc/Newegg_C2D-E7400_Foxconn-G43MX_GSkill-4gig.pdf

...

 

well,. quickly looking it's not bad...

http://www.zxys.com/misc/Newegg_Phenom9850_Asus-M3A_GSkill-4gig.pdf

...

 

Hey Thanks ! I took a close look at the board nad it looks like I'll have
to go with a Gigabyte. On these Asus boards there is what looks like a
right angle IDE connector off the back and for my case that aint gonna work.
I have to exit the board at 90 degrees.


well,. quickly looking it's not bad...

http://www.zxys.com/misc/Newegg_Phenom9850_Asus-M3A_GSkill-4gig.pdf

...