Krynn72
The Freeman
- Joined
- May 16, 2004
- Messages
- 26,095
- Reaction score
- 926
Well, this past weekend my power supply crapped out, and it seems to have taken the motherboard with it. I really really need a new PC because I just entered into the finals department in my school, and I need to be working 8 hours a day on my projects. Having a borked PC makes that difficult.
With an early x-mas present, plus some, my parents are giving me about $500 (USD, in case the dollar symbol doesnt show). I was planning to do a complete build sometime after x-mas, but this messed up all my plans. I need a computer now, which means I cant wait for all the Nvidia GTs to get in stock, so that knocks me back to the GTS series. I was also planning on getting a quad core processor, but I dont know if ill be able to now.
What I am thinking now is that I should go all out and get the Quad core, with a good mobo, then seriously skimp out on the ram and video card. Problem there is that once my projects (High resolution 3D models and textures) start getting more complicated, ill need a good PC with lots of RAM.
Newegg seems to be down at the moment, so I cant show you what I was looking at, and I cant do much planning without seeing the specs on everything, so I have a few questions.
Firstly, I MAY be able to salvage my ram, and possibly even my video card. If my video card isnt messed up, then thats a huge help, since its decent enough (7800GT 256mb). But if I can save my RAM, would I even be able to use it in a newer motherboard? Its 2 years old now, just 2gigs of regular old DDR PC3200. I dont know if newer boards can use older ram. How much of a bottle neck would this make though? Gaming isnt terribly important, since I have lots of work and no time to play now, but I need a stable, and fast computer for rendering and working with high poly models.
Another worry I have is my PSU. I just bought a 500 watt PSU from bestbuy to replace the busted one (to no avail), so would that be enough power to cover a quad core processor and everything else? What about when I eventually upgrade to dual graphics cards?
Im kind of typing off the thoughts as they enter my head, so just as a recap to make sure i didnt miss anything:
My psu died, and took something else with it. Not sure what, but hopefully only the motherboard and not anything else. If thats the case, then I can keep a bunch of my old stuff (optical drives, hard disks, old ass RAM, case, and my 7800gt video card). I need to stretch 500 bucks to get me something decent, upgradeable, and very preferably a quad core cpu. I need to know if my old ram could hold me over until the upgrade, or if the new mobo will require new ram also.
I need help, and lots of it to stretch this money as best I can, so what are your opinions and thoughts? I may not respond quickly, since im mooching off my roomate's computer right now, but ill answer whatever questions you have asap. I'll also know if I can salvage my video card and ram tomorrow hopefully, and ill update with that info.
Thanks
With an early x-mas present, plus some, my parents are giving me about $500 (USD, in case the dollar symbol doesnt show). I was planning to do a complete build sometime after x-mas, but this messed up all my plans. I need a computer now, which means I cant wait for all the Nvidia GTs to get in stock, so that knocks me back to the GTS series. I was also planning on getting a quad core processor, but I dont know if ill be able to now.
What I am thinking now is that I should go all out and get the Quad core, with a good mobo, then seriously skimp out on the ram and video card. Problem there is that once my projects (High resolution 3D models and textures) start getting more complicated, ill need a good PC with lots of RAM.
Newegg seems to be down at the moment, so I cant show you what I was looking at, and I cant do much planning without seeing the specs on everything, so I have a few questions.
Firstly, I MAY be able to salvage my ram, and possibly even my video card. If my video card isnt messed up, then thats a huge help, since its decent enough (7800GT 256mb). But if I can save my RAM, would I even be able to use it in a newer motherboard? Its 2 years old now, just 2gigs of regular old DDR PC3200. I dont know if newer boards can use older ram. How much of a bottle neck would this make though? Gaming isnt terribly important, since I have lots of work and no time to play now, but I need a stable, and fast computer for rendering and working with high poly models.
Another worry I have is my PSU. I just bought a 500 watt PSU from bestbuy to replace the busted one (to no avail), so would that be enough power to cover a quad core processor and everything else? What about when I eventually upgrade to dual graphics cards?
Im kind of typing off the thoughts as they enter my head, so just as a recap to make sure i didnt miss anything:
My psu died, and took something else with it. Not sure what, but hopefully only the motherboard and not anything else. If thats the case, then I can keep a bunch of my old stuff (optical drives, hard disks, old ass RAM, case, and my 7800gt video card). I need to stretch 500 bucks to get me something decent, upgradeable, and very preferably a quad core cpu. I need to know if my old ram could hold me over until the upgrade, or if the new mobo will require new ram also.
I need help, and lots of it to stretch this money as best I can, so what are your opinions and thoughts? I may not respond quickly, since im mooching off my roomate's computer right now, but ill answer whatever questions you have asap. I'll also know if I can salvage my video card and ram tomorrow hopefully, and ill update with that info.
Thanks
