Spec Advice Cont...

popejpii · 24 Sep 2007 at 17:25

Ok, so it looks like I have decided on the graphics card I'm gonna get.

Now what about the rest. Here is a list of what I am thinking at the moment, I want my system to be quiet and suitable for not just gaming and a little overclocking, but also DVD and MP3 encoding along with image manipulation....

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 NF680i

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core

640MB EVGA 8800GTS (640-P2-E827-AR) with ACS3

2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)

700W Tagan TG700-U35XL Easycon XL Modular

Can everyone tell me what they think please? In particular is the PSU a) over the top (I intend to add another 8800GTS when I have the cash) and b) really noisy (I hate noise when it's not needed).

Teaf · 24 Sep 2007 at 17:28

Change the E6850 either to a Q6600 or a E6750, depending how much you want to spend. The E6850 is pretty poor for it's price, when quads are just as much and something that is nearly as fast is £50 cheaper (E6750). I'd also change the motherboard to a P35 board unless you want it for SLI.

popejpii · 24 Sep 2007 at 17:38

Thanks for the reply, I do want SLI, my wallet just can't handle it yet.

Is there really not much in it between the 750 and 850 then? I was initially thinking of getting a Quad, but came to the conclusion little would really use it yet, am I right in thinking this?

Teaf · 24 Sep 2007 at 17:55

popejpii said:
Thanks for the reply, I do want SLI, my wallet just can't handle it yet.

Is there really not much in it between the 750 and 850 then? I was initially thinking of getting a Quad, but came to the conclusion little would really use it yet, am I right in thinking this?

At the moment it's a bit bleak on the quad-core application/game front, although if you plan to keep the CPU a while I would get the quad, also because of how much you are spending on the CPU. If you really didn't want a quad then I would really recommend saving £50 and getting the E6750 which is exactly the same just a few 100 mhz difference, as you say, there's not much in it... except a large price tag on the E6850. More quad core stuff will appear though over the next 6 months. Crysis will be quad core, also Alan Wake when that comes out and maybe UT3.

popejpii · 24 Sep 2007 at 21:07

That seems pretty sound advice, I suspect to save a few quid I'll go E6750 and then later on when it's more worthwhile upgrade with a decent quad.

Has anyone any advice on the PSU?

Teaf · 24 Sep 2007 at 21:13

popejpii said:
I suspect to save a few quid I'll go E6750 and then later on when it's more worthwhile upgrade with a decent quad.

Just to note on that, there are new 45nm quad's coming out in January 08 (3-4 months), which are going to be excellent and people are expecting the Q9450 to be around the price of a Q6600... so if you wanted too, you could always just get a E2160 for £50, and save your cash for when the quads in January come out and then get one of those, plus there'll be more things utilising quad core cpu's around then.

bliss · 25 Sep 2007 at 02:43

popejpii said:
That seems pretty sound advice, I suspect to save a few quid I'll go E6750 and then later on when it's more worthwhile upgrade with a decent quad.

Has anyone any advice on the PSU?

Corsair HX all the way.

popejpii · 25 Sep 2007 at 13:51

Yeah, I did consider the HX620, they are supposed to be dead quiet, but as I'm planning to go SLI within the year, I was concerned that the SLIzone website doesn't have the HX620 certified for use with two 8800 GTS cards.

That's why I'm thinking the Tagan (I have an old one at the moment and it's silent so I thought I might give them another go).

popejpii · 26 Sep 2007 at 15:20

flibby said:
Just to note on that, there are new 45nm quad's coming out in January 08 (3-4 months), which are going to be excellent and people are expecting the Q9450 to be around the price of a Q6600... so if you wanted too, you could always just get a E2160 for £50, and save your cash for when the quads in January come out and then get one of those, plus there'll be more things utilising quad core cpu's around then.

Hmmm, not a bad idea, question is, will I be happy with the E2160 until then! What, if anything, will it bottleneck?

melbourne720 · 26 Sep 2007 at 15:33

Not games, have a look in my sig.

popejpii · 26 Sep 2007 at 21:21

melbourne720 said:
Not games, have a look in my sig.

Excellent, I'm really tempted to do that now, although I also do a lot of mp3 / video encoding.

Teaf · 26 Sep 2007 at 21:45

popejpii said:
Excellent, I'm really tempted to do that now, although I also do a lot of mp3 / video encoding.

The quad would really help for video encoding providing that the software you use can use 4 cores. Although with such a short wait I'd still advise making do with a E2160 for your encoding and then buy a quad in January.