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Opinions on some new Hardware
Hey, back with more questions about some hardware.
So I've decided to replace most parts in my computer with the following:
Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128439&cm_re=Gigabyte_GA-880GM-_-13-128-439-_-Product
Video Card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102909&cm_re=6870-_-14-102-909-_-Product
My question is, will these pieces of hardware work together? If that seems like a stupid/obvious question, thats because it is 
I'm clueless when it comes to hardware. Also, if there is perhaps an alternative to what I've picked out that would be a wiser choice, please tell me ^^.
I'm going to be keeping my processor which is a Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 2.66GHz. (Assuming it would also work with what I picked xD!)
And also, I have a 500 Watt PSU at the moment, would that be able to support this build or would I have to purchase a new one as well?
Comments
The Motherboard you chose will not work with your cpu. Your cpu is Intel. The motherboard is for AMD.
I would recommend this board instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130271
The memory and video card is fine.
Thanks for the response, and also for keeping the alternative within the originals price range
I appreciate the help, looks like a great board. Any other opinions are more than welcomed!
Last I checked the Q 8400 was a socket 775 CPU, Neither board mentioned will work.
Is there any special need to replace the board you have now? What speed Ram do you have now, and how much, (DDR? and how many sticks, and how big are each stick, 512, 1 gig etc etc)?
Have you Verified that your power supply has the right connection for that card?
if you need to replace the board and RAM then going to ddr3 makes sense
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128414
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231274
If your using XP and have 2 gigs of matched DDR 2 already yet still need to change your board for some reason
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128357 this board only has room for two sticks of RAM so you should have 2 - 1 gig sticks, or 2 - 512, 2 - 2 gig etc
If your low on RAM, which I use 2 gigs or more with XP and 4 gigs with xp or 7, then you might as well either keep your board (if it supports the GPU you want) and just up the RAM, orif it doesnt support the graphics card you want, change both board and RAM in that case go to DDR 3, as RAM is pretty cheap now.
If your considering overclocking you processor, of course a different board option would be needed, as the FSB on your proc is 1333 and to OC it you'll need a board with a higher FSB, and then really make sure your cooling and Power Supply, are up to the task. The first board I mention allows some room for you to overclock, the second does not.
Of course I have to mention that the 775 socket is old now, and that while the GPU your choosing is a good one, you may want to upgrade processor motherboard and RAM at some point in the future, so, saving on those items now, will give you money toward the future. get the card now, then in a few months get a modern processor, motherboard, ram.
There are less expensive options then the ones I listed. Just pay attention to the specs. Your FSB is 1333, your socket is LGA 775 what ever boad you get it will have to support these as well as your GPU
Kentho's head is definitely in the right place, but he still has missed the mark a litle.
That motherboard he linked you is LGA1156, which your CPU requires an LGA775 slot.
If you will only ever use a single video card, which I'd recommend with that CPU given it's slight aging, then I'd recommend this board or something like it :http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130252
That board will still allow you to use the DDR3 ram you wanted.
If you really want to go crossfire, then I'm afraid your options are limited. Newegg's only motherboard with your CPU socket that doesn't use an Nvidia chipset and has 2x PCIE 16x slots is this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157164
Edit: the above user's Gigabite motherboard will also work fine. That and the MSI board I linked are both the same price (forgetting MIBs) with the same feature set.
Yep and MSI are some fine boards I have read.
Say Im going to go out on a limb right now, so forgive my assumptions. Having read some of you other posts, I am guessing you have a 4850 with 3 gigs of ram, and have gotten hands on a Q8300.
Im guessing you have XP, but even if you have vista, you RAM isn't all that low. Again Im assuming, you have matched RAM probably a 1 gig stick and a 512 stick on one channel and the same thing on the other channel. This works fine for XP and Vista as well.
Consider going with a 6850 or the 6870, and leaving the rest as is, for now. Some good things are about to happen in CPU's and Motherboards. New architectures etc, In just a month or so.
Prices will be nice, it looks like, for passable performance, and certainly a big upgrade for you. Also at that point a mobo and CPU that will last you a while.
Anyway consider it. Also consider going to windows 7 if you havent yet.
All guessing on my part, please forgive my assumptions, only friendly advice.
There's probably no sense in replacing the motherboard and keeping the old processor unless your old motherboard has died. The main reason to replace the motherboard is so that you can get a newer processor. Your processor is fast enough that I don't see a dire need to replace it, but if you do want to replace it, I'd wait for Sandy Bridge to launch in about two weeks, and then get a P67/LGA 1155 motherboard with a Core i5 2400 or better processor.
The video card can be replaced independent of other parts unless your current motherboard is AGP and not PCI Express, which is fairly unlikely. There's no real need to wait on replacing a video card.
What power supply do you have? A nominal wattage doesn't mean much. There are very nice 500 W power supplies that could readily handle whatever upgrades you might want, and there are cheap junk "500 W" power supplies for which I'd advise against turning the computer on again until the power supply has been replaced. Give the exact brand name and model. If you have to open up the case and read the label, then do.
Man there is so much to consider when looking to upgrade, I'm gonna have to invest some time into learning all of it xD.
My apologies for being so vague on the other parts of the system, I didn't think they mattered (showcasing my lack of knowledge even further xD). But yes I'm currently on 3 GB of RAM, Windows 7, and a Radeon HD 4850, with this PSU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817101047&cm_re=atx_500w_power_supply-_-17-101-047-_-Product
And this is my motherboard.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131288&cm_re=p5kpl-cm-_-13-131-288-_-Product
The reason I wanted to replace my motherboard was because I wasn't sure if it would be able to support the RAM/Video card that I was looking to get.
Thanks to the information in the previous posts, I hope I'm correct in assuming that my motherboard would not support the RAM that I am looking to purchase, as it is DDR3 and my motherboard only supports DDR2.
So I'm guessing it would be in my best interest to wait a little while before replacing anything but my video card due to all the new motherboards releasing? Would I get a substantial increase in performance with the 6870?
Again, thanks for all the help, I think I actually learned a thing or two when it comes to replacing hardware
A "500 watt" power supply for $25 without any special discounts from a brand I've never heard of, not even 80 PLUS certified, and rated at only 28 A on the +12 V rail so that the 500 W rating is surely fake and some nonsense about "peak load"? By my reckoning, that's five reasons to replace the power supply immediately, while you're deliberating what to do for other upgrades. I might be able to find more than that if I looked. And I'd advise against playing games on that computer until you've replaced the power supply.
I'd probably try this if you're unwilling to do rebates:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093
Or one of these if you're willing to do rebates:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
Those are listed roughly in decreasing order of quality, but they're all good enough, and the last one has more wattage, depending on how big of an upgrade you think you'll go for.
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Your motherboard has a PCI Express x16 slot, so any modern video card will fit it. Some higher end video cards would be constrained somewhat by it not being PCI Express 2.0, but the PCI Express standard is backward compatible and you get half the bandwidth. A Radeon HD 4850 is still a decent enough video card, so I don't see some dire need to replace it.
Do you have Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit? If it's 32-bit, then it won't recognize more than 3 GB of system memory anyway, so you'd have to replace the OS to add more memory. If it's 64-bit, then you could add more memory. You can buy a 2 GB module and replace the 1 GB module entirely. That would bring you up to 4 GB with balanced memory channels, which would be fine.
My recommendation for you would be to replace the power supply immediately. If you've got a 64-bit OS, then bring it up to 4 GB of system memory as described in the previous paragraph, which will cost about $30. Apart from that keep what you've got until either AMD or Nvidia launches good video cards on a 28 nm process in either Summer or Fall of 2011. At that time, you could replace the system entirely and get something really nice.
Unless, of course, you've got a bigger budget than I think you do and running into problems where particular games aren't performing very well.
Actually, on second thought, if the power supplies listed above are appropriate if you decide to upgrade your processor and video card in the near future. If you decide to hold off, then I'd probably just get this power supply and call it good enough:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033
That's got ample power for your current system. There will likely be a better deal on some higher wattage power supplies when it is time to replace the system.