Revamping my XPS 700 into custom PC

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ceh21

New Member
Hey everyone, I just have a few questions. I am building my own custom computer using a few parts from my Dell XPS 700 system. Keep in mind that I am building this system strictly for gaming on 1920x1200 resolution.

What I would still like to use from this XPS 700 is:

1.) 750 watt power supply
2.) my EVGA 9800 GTX+ card that I bought about a year ago
3.) my CD-ROM and DVD/RW drives
4.) X-fi Soundblaster sound card
5.) my 4 160gb hard drives I have set up in raid 0 (roughly 720gb total)

Now, from my understanding, that leaves me with needing a new case, motherboard, ram, processor, and OS.

My main focus here is upgrading out of my Pentium D processor, my motherboard which just supports ddr2 ram and PCI-E 1.0, all of which are severely bottlenecking my current graphics card. I want to get the most bang for my buck out of what I buy, and have been looking at multiple solutions. I have checked out AMD motherboard w/ Phenom II and also an Intel motherboard with i7 920. I plan on keeping my current 9800 GTX+ card for awhile, which is nvidia, and then possibly upgrading later to a Radeon card. From my understanding, using my nvidia card on the AMD motherboard will work fine. It is only with crossfire/SLI where motherboard's come into play for multiple gpu setups. Either way I have yet to decide on AMD/Phenom combo or the intel/i7, the AMD setup seems to be the cheaper of the two for similar performance.

So, what would you guys recommend?
 
AMD may seem to have the same performance, but depending on the processors your deciding between (AMD/Intel) Intel usually beats out AMD on similar spec systems. you probably realize that higher clocks don't always mean better performance.

do u have a specific budget??
 
If I don't have to replace any of the things I listed from my XPS 700 that I wanted to keep, I would say around 600 dollars for the processor, ram, case, and board. OS excluded.
 
 
i haven't quite figured out what that is trying to say. I took it as "it supports all DDR3 speeds" but i'll see if i can find out what that means for you...

as for the quad core, if you want to front the extra money for it by all means, go right ahead. but before you do what will it mainly be used for?
 
Ok, it looks like it just means that it can support overclocked memory at speeds of 2600 MHz and above.

Can anyone else help out with this??
 
Yea i have no idea either, a confirmation would be nice... also I plan on using the system primarily for gaming, but wouldn't mind adding the extra 40 dollars or so in order to "futureproof" my rig a little more for nextgen games that are more capable of using the full power of a quadcore
 
Mojo, I don't mean to offend, but those builds are awful. These would be much better for the price:

AMD:

CPU- Phenom II x4 955- $160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

MOBO- Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5- $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128441

Case- NZXT Beta EVO- $50 ($20 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146059
+fan- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103024

RAM- G-Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600- $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277



Intel:

CPU- Core i5 750- $195
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

MOBO- Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD4- $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128404

Case- NZXT Beta EVO- $50 ($20 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146059
+fan- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103024

RAM- G-Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600- $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215


Keep in mind, an Intel P55 build will only be able to do X8/X8 crossfire, while the AMD can do full X16/X16. Also, you can't xfire on an SLI/Nvidia motherboard.
 
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no problem at all. i probably tried too hard to stay on budget. and those do look like better builds. sorry ,ceh21, for a bad suggestion. but don't worry, Drenlin has saved you. :)
 
Its ok. I just seem to have one more concern. If I go with the AMD build that Drenlin linked:

AMD:

CPU- Phenom II x4 955- $160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103808

MOBO- Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5- $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128441


will I be able to use my SINGLE 9800 GTX+ with the setup.. and later if I want to crossfire I will most likely pick up two newer Radeon cards... AMD seems to be the mots price efficient build from what I have seen, but I want to use my 9800 GTX+ for as long as I can until I have to upgrade. I feel that upgrading from Pentium D, Pci express 1.0 and DDR2 ram to quad core Phenom II, pci-express 2.0, and ddr1600 ram will give me much more performance out of my 9800 gtx+ that I am currently seeing and I will be able to hang on to it for much longer, then move up to one or two nicer radeon cards when the time comes and run them in Xfire
 
ok, you should be able to crossfire, because the board supports 2 PIE x16 2.0. so, yes, crossfire is a go. make sure your power supply can handle it though. Right Drenlin? he can crossfire?
 
I WILL be able to Crossfire with new radeon cards, but will I be able to run my single nvidia 9800 gtx+ with the AMD mobo/cpu until I decide to upgrade? I am not sure if there are any complications with using an nvidia based card on a AMD motherboard, other than SLI is intel only and Crossfire is AMD?
 
ceh21 said:
I WILL be able to Crossfire with new radeon cards, but will I be able to run my single nvidia 9800 gtx+ with the AMD mobo/cpu until I decide to upgrade? I am not sure if there are any complications with using an nvidia based card on a AMD motherboard, other than SLI is intel only and Crossfire is AMD?
Click to expand...

If that is the stock dell power supply, just toss it away, its not going to support a crossfire setup as dell uses really cheap components in their systems.

As far as nvidia cards on an AMD motherboard, single card you can run any pci express graphics processing unit on any pci express motherboard, the chipset only comes into play when discussing multiple gpu solutions.

For $600, this is what i would do:

Mobo+CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.395937

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146061
or
http://cmstore.coolermaster-usa.com/product_info.php?products_id=157
or
http://cmstore.coolermaster-usa.com/product_info.php?products_id=107

PSU:
http://www.svc.com/s75q-b.html
 
Thanks for the input bomber, that seems to be similar to what Drenlin linked as well. Do you think that the Phenom II x4 955 (quad core at 3.2ghz) would benefit me a little more than a 6-core at 2.8ghz for gaming? I am not sure how it would impact my performance, the quad Phenom is cheaper. Also, how important is it that my motherboard will do x16/x16 instead of x8/x8 when crossfiring?

As far as a power supply goes, I will most likely use my current Dell one alongside the 9800 GTX+ and move up to a much better one as you recommended whenever I decide to crossfire the Radeons. I have a question. When considering power supplies, I notice that many say "SLI-ready" or Crossfire-ready... does this mean that I will have enough connectors to hook up even the higher end cards that require 2 connections to the power source instead of one? I know my 9800gtx takes 2.
 
Whoa...oops. I was staying in a $500 budget, not $600. As usual, Bomber's build is better than mine for sure. I didn't realize they'd dropped the blue Ripjaws to $110 as well.

The 6-core will definitely be better. IIRC, they're fairly close to the i7 920 in performance.
 
ceh21 said:
Thanks for the input bomber, that seems to be similar to what Drenlin linked as well. Do you think that the Phenom II x4 955 (quad core at 3.2ghz) would benefit me a little more than a 6-core at 2.8ghz for gaming? I am not sure how it would impact my performance, the quad Phenom is cheaper. Also, how important is it that my motherboard will do x16/x16 instead of x8/x8 when crossfiring?

As far as a power supply goes, I will most likely use my current Dell one alongside the 9800 GTX+ and move up to a much better one as you recommended whenever I decide to crossfire the Radeons. I have a question. When considering power supplies, I notice that many say "SLI-ready" or Crossfire-ready... does this mean that I will have enough connectors to hook up even the higher end cards that require 2 connections to the power source instead of one? I know my 9800gtx takes 2.
Click to expand...

SLI-Ready or Crossfire-ready are generally just marketing tactics. But something like that pcp&c silencer has four pcie connectors.

And again, the PSU is the heart of a system, if that dell unit fails, you could be in a world of trouble by having it damage your hdd, gpu, motherboard, etc. Not a place you want to take a chance skimping on.
 
Ok sounds good. So by 4 pcie connectors that means with sli/crossfire I have 2 available to plug into each card (if the 2 cards that i am crossfiring require 2 connectors each)? 2 pcie connectors would mean I have only 2 available for each?

Oh, and I was also wanting to ask, if I did choose to stick with the dell PSU for awhile, would I have trouble mounting it in an ATX form factor case? I am unfamiliar with how PSU's operate, do they have to be ATX too in order to fit or what?
 
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ceh21 said:
Ok sounds good. So by 4 pcie connectors that means with sli/crossfire I have 2 available to plug into each card (if the 2 cards that i am crossfiring require 2 connectors each)? 2 pcie connectors would mean I have only 2 available for each?

Oh, and I was also wanting to ask, if I did choose to stick with the dell PSU for awhile, would I have trouble mounting it in an ATX form factor case? I am unfamiliar with how PSU's operate, do they have to be ATX too in order to fit or what?
Click to expand...

That dell power supply is probably ATX form factor.
 
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