Cost cutting.

Fusilero

Fusilero

Fusilero

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18 Dec 2008
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The following is the current spec I've looked up on overclockers and decided to look at (Not ordered yet). It'll be my first time building a PC, so some of the parts may be unnecessary for building a PC so I'm asking whether or not I should change any of the parts to cheaper ones and such, like if the graphics card has a negligable performance difference from another cheaper card (suspected the Radeon HD 4870 X2 might be worth the money over the GTX 260..) or if the PSU is too much for the current build etc. I mean, if there's any blindingly obvious upgrade that would make a large performance difference for around ~£50 more it would be nice to know as well. Not to fussy about the case either, but a friend of mine told be that I would need a case of around this size to fit all the parts. Another thing I've considered is also not buying Vista, and using the Windows 7 Release Candidate on the computer. This would be the first time building a PC from scratch (done a lot of upgrades before) so any advice on that would be helpful as well. :D

On it's uses, I'd like it for gaming on higher end games such as Empire: Total War and Crysis, from the benchmarks I've looked at the current build should be able to do fine running both those games. :)


Processor - Overclockers
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 LGA775 "Kentsfield" 2.66GHz (1066FSB) - OEM + FarCry 2 Bundle
£139.99
Hard Drive - Overclockers
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ)
£40.24
Graphics Card - Overclockers
OcUK Value GeForce GTX 260 "Core 216 55nm" 896MB GDDR3 Dual DVI (PCI-Express) + Mirror's Edge
£139.99
Memory (RAM) - Overclockers
Corsair XMS2 DHX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX)
£39.99
Disc Drive - Overclockers
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
£17.99
Case - Overclockers
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU)
£49.99
Operating System - Overclockers
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939)
£89.99
Power Supply - Overclockers
OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply
£62.99
Motherboard - Overclockers
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3LR Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£105.79

Subtotal: £689.21
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Updated to:
Untitled-1.jpg
 
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In your post youve included your HDD under RAM, so its in twice and no RAM
If youre gaming you could go with a dual core to save money, theres very few games that can use more than 2 cores anyway, an E5200 would save you a nice bit of cash, add in an aftermarket cooler and you can get some extra performance free by OCing.
Also unless you an NVidia fanboi then lok at an ATI 4870, theyre as good as the 260's
Id get this mobo too, its a couple of quid cheaper but supports crossfire so you could add a 2nd 4870 later if you needed to
personally Id spend a few quid more on this coolermaster PSU, its modular which will help with cable management, its also better quality

All in all that would look something like this
775tower638.jpg
 
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Corsair XMS2 DHX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX)

That's the RAM I was looking at, sorry. And about the modular PSU, how does that help?
 
Fusilero said:
And about the modular PSU, how does that help?
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It means you can disconnect a lot of the cables you aren't using. It makes things easier, more tidy and makes sure you don't have lots of unused cables blocking up your space/airflow.

Essentially, it means that half of your electronic octopus isn't taking up case space and being awkward.
 
Second hand cuts cost down - I've yet to find out how reliable it is though (parts on the way!)

I'm building
Antec 300
AMD Phenom II 720BE (one I know clocks to 3.6gHz)
Biostar 790 motherboard (I always forget the model)
8800GT 512mb
4gb 1066mhz RAM
500GB HDD

With a new cooler, PSU and optical drive.

Total cost: £400-450.
Only the graphics card lets the side down (and I'm not playing new games anyway).
 
It doesn't always hold up as well at 1680x1050 - but yeah, I'm well aware that much below crysis it holds up great, pretty happy with it for £55, as long as it works when it gets here :-)

It's primarily for Counter Strike-Source, which it should eat alive; but the only reason that I don't have anything much newer is because I've never had the capability - rather than a lack of interest - so I want it to last me a wee while.

For that price I'm happy enough to replace it if I do decide to play better games. I've got a parent's PC I'll be offloading any parts onto so nothing goes to waste :=D
 
Op

Don't get the Samsung DVD Rewriter. LG, Sony/NEC or LiteOn are much better options.

I bought a batch of 4 Samsung DVD Rewriters from OcUK and they had a tendency to eject disks while they were still spinning (even with the latest FW)... Had to RMA them all... Total fail :mad:

I would stick with the Nvidia 260 card you picked out. (1) It's a very good deal (2) Nvidia driver support is better for newer cards e.g. Nvidia Driver Support for Ambient Occlusion
It will allow HD gaming (1920x1200) for all but the most demanding games (newer titles).
I may be becoming rather biased as I like to dual-boot with Ubuntu and the Linux proprietary GPU drivers ATI "excrete" are a total FAIL. :D

Maybe consider a better Arctic Cooling aftermarket CPU cooler:
Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler
That was the LGA775 winner in a the most recent Custom PC mag. CPU cooler bustup!!
If you go for a dual-core Core 2 CPU then you can downsize to: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler by Arctic Cooling.

I would recommend a E7300 Core 2 CPU, with a decent cooler (Freezer 7 pro get's a sweet overclock with this CPU) this 45nm CPU will get you 3.5Ghz(+) on air (if you choose to overclock it). Even at stock the E7300 will outclass the Q6700 in most games. :cool:

The Q6700 is good if you do video encoding - otherwise the majority of games are still single/dual threaded - so go with the cheaper dual-core option I would reckon.

Bob
 
Audigex said:
= "We're not implementing DX 10.1, so here's the exact same thing anyway" so far as I can work out
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But ambient occlusion is to add more realistic lighting and softer shadows to games that don't support this feature by default.
I wasn't aware of ATI supporting this feature bolt-on to older games - are they??

My "lay person's" understanding is that the DX10.1 allow a GPU to render more complex scenes with greater efficiencies. However I have yet to see a review that actually sees an overall win with DX10.1 feature support turned on (e.g. greater FPS or more detail at the same FPS). Perhaps you could link us all to one??

But on the other hand in the real world (currently) if you want to run 3D DX9.0 games in Linux or F@H you really need an Nvidia card.

Not that I want to start ATI vs. Nvidia war - I am using an ATI card just now anyway... Their current level of healthy competition is doing us all good!! Think back to the prices at the time of the X29xx series vs. the 88xx series - ouch!! :eek:

Bob
 
Youre talking gibberish, yeah for linux NVidia might have a slight edge, otherwise its just fanboism, he's looking at a mobo that supports crossfire so why the hell you recommending an NVidia card. Also people he was asking how to reduce the costs, there seem to be quite a few recommendations on how to do the opposite
 
95thrifles said:
Youre talking gibberish, yeah for linux NVidia might have a slight edge, otherwise its just fanboism, he's looking at a mobo that supports crossfire so why the hell you recommending an NVidia card. Also people he was asking how to reduce the costs, there seem to be quite a few recommendations on how to do the opposite
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Not forgetting all the games that have that nvidia edge, like Crysis :D Anyone who is not "fighting against the system" (amd, ati and firefox users) will go nvidia as they are faster in more games and have better drivers.
 
Doctor_Zhivago said:
Not forgetting all the games that have that nvidia edge, like Crysis :D Anyone who is not "fighting against the system" (amd, ati and firefox users) will go nvidia as they are faster in more games and have better drivers.
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utter rubbish!!!
they may well have the fastest card, but on a card v card basis ATI match them up, and generally theyre cheaper too, plus theres a lot more support for crossfire than there is for SLI
 
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95thrifles said:
utter rubbish!!!
they may well have the fastest card, but on a card v card basis ATI match them up, and generally theyre cheaper too, plus theres a lot more support for crossfire than there is for SLI
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Utter rubbish? ATI are well known for their driver issues for years now. They need to be cheaper because they run slower and hotter, any savings on the card will come back in a year on the eletric bill.
 
Doctor_Zhivago said:
Utter rubbish? ATI are well known for their driver issues for years now. They need to be cheaper because they run slower and hotter, any savings on the card will come back in a year on the eletric bill.
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Hey

Come on that is fanboii'ism. Everyone knows that ATI is a smaller company with much less resources than Nvidia. Pick one Windows game with good Nvidia support and I'll show you one with good ATI support!! Don't forget that Nvidia will help optimise a number of headline games for Nvidia cards by working in partnership with games developers!! So it's kudos to ATI for closely matching Nvidia performance in these games... :cool:

I was mearly pointing on that Nvidia have big advantage with Folding@Home and Linux support. My bad for going totally OT and starting a flamewar!! :o Lets get this thread back to helping OP and less soap box!!

Bob
 
NVidia dont have better drivers though, yes new games which have been developed in partenrship with NVidia and "How its meant to be played" development are often slightly better for the first week or two of release, but after that ATI optimise their drivers for that game too, Id say ATI have better drivers due to more regular updates, yes not for linux granted. As you say though re the OP, imo ATI is better suited as the board can support crossfire, and when looking at a 4870 vs a 260 theyre pretty much identical performance wise, and even price wise now as NVidia seem to of lowered their prices again, however the support of crossfire over SLI means the ATI card is the better choice, imo
 
A C2Q overclocked can reach 4.0Ghz that's a lot of power. If you downgrade to a Dual Core you would save money but if your looking to keep this system for a year or two I would go for the C2Q. Games may not yet use more than two cores ( or they do but not very well ) but in the games to come they will use 4 cores or more. I am just saying I would go for the C2Q and overclock the hell out it.
 
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