my current pc is fine, and has worked splendidly since 2005/06 without a hitch, it's decently fast and reliable i want to build a new desktop, but since my current one has been so good i'm kinda partial to it and thought of buying a new but same MoBo (ECS RC410-M / Alhena-GL6) with a pentium d 945 or 960 dual core processor, and maxing out the RAM @ 2gb and adding a 1gb ATI graphics card, and all SATA storage and optical, new simple sleek case. the only problem is that i'm not sure if this is what i want to do since 2gb of RAM is all this MoBo can handle. i'd like something that can handle 4gb of RAM but that can use the same processors, whether my celeron d, or the new pentium d 945 / 960 dual core (socket 775). also want one that is micro ATX form in size. and that won't break the bank. don't really want to spend much more than 100 on the MoBo. i don't really game or anything on my desktop (got the PS3 for that). mostly all i do is surf and word processing, but i'm thinking it's time to build before this one gives out--which i'm not really expecting to happen, but one never really knows... any suggestions or ideas????
Why would you want Pentium D , to me that's a bad choice. Better off building on a cheap Sandy Bridge, will be less power consumption and loads more performance.
Older hardware is always more expensive that the newer one, so why waste money on a LG775 MoBo when it would probably cost you more than a new SandyBridge unit, not to mention that in 8 to 12 months down the line you may need to add more RAM and wont be able to (also RAM will be priced higher)
what does this mean? no support intel virtualization technology??? is the e6600 at least 3.0ghz per core, cause if not, i won't consider it at all...
okay thanks. vhd are for virtual pc though right? and vpc sucks compared to vmware. of course that's personal opinion. i can still virtualize through software though even without the e6600 though right? i really wanted to piece together my own, but since i come across these bundles i'm think that must be the way to go since it's a board, ram, and processor/fan. i might continue to look around though. i prefer intel cpus though, i'm not a fan at all of AMD, and i've not ever used a machine that runs AMD that i've liked. regardless what's in them they've never seemed to be that fast at all... and 3.0ghz is the lowest i'm willing to run (without overclocking) because anything lower is just a waste of time in my opinion. what is this "sandybridge" board you others were talking about????
Also you might look at cpubenchmark.net. Your 3.2 G Celeron d ranks 986th on the list of CPUs. If you get an i3-2100 Sandy Bridge cpu (newer Intel type CPU) that is ranked at 155th. Good way to get a rough idea of how fast a cpu you are buying. Take a look at the barebones kits at Tigerdirect.com. They have i3-2100 kits for 200.00 to 300.00. The kits are pretty much complete machines you put together yourself. Might even be better than ebay deals.
thanks for info. yeah i know my current celeron isn't the greatest, but it's faster than p4's from the same era, and many others. still it's way outdated, that's why i'm looking to build.
I think you have a pretty good idea to go with a kit - it does save some money. It is hard to keep up - AMD is supposed to introduce "Bulldozer" cpus during the last quarter of 2011 and Intel is introducing "Sandy Bridge E" cpus in November. Might be some good deals around black friday this year. Good luck shopping!