£600 to spend.. having trouble deciding

Pimmo2000

Pimmo2000

Pimmo2000

Associate
Joined
11 Nov 2007
Posts
122
Hello,

me again... I'm having trouble working out what to buy to get the best gaming experience !

I have £600 to spend and have already got:
Case, PSU and a Geforce 7950GT.. which I'm not sure if I need to up grade ?

I'd like a quad core.. but other than that suggestions would be great please?
 
For £600, you can get a Q6600 and overclock it to 3.2GHz, 4GB of PC2-6400, a P35 motherboard and a Geforce 8800GT and still have change from that.

What PSu do you have?
 
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK) £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £55.99
(£65.79) £55.99
(£65.79)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £159.99
(£187.99) £159.99
(£187.99)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ) £56.99
(£66.96) £56.99
(£66.96)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £141.99
(£166.84) £141.99
(£166.84)
Sub Total : £484.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £86.43
Total : £580.32


Doesn't inc OS If you intend on using the full 4GB of memory, then you will need a 64 bit OS.
 
Last edited:
If you still like your CRT then stick with it - how big is it?

Spec:-


Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
(£27.01)

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM
(£166.84)

HIS ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT ICEQ3 512MB GDDR4 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£144.51)

2 x G.Skill 2GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400C4 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400
(£75.18)

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS)
(£64.61)

Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£21.14)

Asus P5K Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£78.71)


Total : £588.52
 
How about

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

MSI P35 Diamond Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Gainward BLISS GeForce 8800 GT Golden Sample 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (4718462008941)

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz SLI-Ready Edition Low Latency Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2N800SR4GK)

Samsung SH-S203NRSMN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail

Western Digital Raptor 36GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (WD360ADFD)
 
I wouldn't bother with the Raptor tbh. They are expensive, noisy, have little in the way of capacity and aren't that much faster than the 7200 drives tbh.

The Asus P5K, as melbourne suggests, is also a superb motherboard. Then again, any mobo with the P35 chipset is awesome :)
 
Last edited:
Admiral Huddy said:
I wouldn't bother with the Raptor tbh. They are expensive, noisy, have little in the way of capacity and aren't that much faster than the 7200 drives tbh.

The Asus P5K, as melbourne suggests, is also a superb motherboard. Then again, the P35 chipset is awesome :)
Click to expand...

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3320620AS)

Instead ...

aahhh which motherboard would you choose?
 
I'd go for the Samsung spinpoint 500GB. A bargain and a great HDD>

As for the mobo, the Gigabyte board I suggested earlier or the Asus P5K Melbourne suggested are great boards for the price. Both are decent overclockers too. Other than that any P35 motherboard will be a good choice depending on what you want to spend on that one component.
 
What about

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £141.99
(£166.84) £141.99
(£166.84)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £31.99
(£37.59) £31.99
(£37.59)
OcUK Value IP35 Pro Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £144.99
(£170.36) £144.99
(£170.36)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)

Sub Total : £503.93
Shipping : £8.95
VAT : £89.75
Total : £602.63
 
You've all been excellent but I'm so confused..

The board I listed is so much more expensive than the ones you list... the memory.. the DVD drives and the sodding 8800GT why are there so many different makes and models ??

I'm scared to order
 
Pimmo2000 said:
You've all been excellent but I'm so confused..

The board I listed is so much more expensive than the ones you list... the memory.. the DVD drives and the sodding 8800GT why are there so many different makes and models ??

I'm scared to order
Click to expand...

Most boards have **** in the box you don't need. Like the board in my sig, i don't use most of the stuff i got with it.
 
If you are too scared to order then don't! Do some research first.

When I upgrade, I do my research months ahead. I know that whatever system I choose, there is always going to be something new and better ahead and/or there's something I've missed. As a PC builder, you have to accept this.

When I choose my components, I make sure I'm getting the best value for my money but more importantly, it does what I want it to do. When I have a short list, I research any pitfulls and installations problems there might be. If you do your research up front then 1. there are least likely to be problems with the build and 2) you get to know your stuff.

Read reviews. There are plenty of on-line site and magazines to read. Custom PC always have a round up of what components to buy MB, CP etc. They've done the testing for you.

Read the reviews written by owners. The OCUK reviews on the product pages are a good place to hear from the horses mouth, so to speak...

When you are happy with what you have, then draw a line in the sand otherwise you'be constantly chasing your tail.

If all this sounds too much, then maybe you should consider buying a pre-built unit.

I'm not trying to put you off, just putting you in the picture.
 
Last edited:
Huddy's right, you can never know too much about PCs. There will be a first time for building a PC, as with most things in life.

When it comes to gaming, it is mostly related to graphics card. Head over to the Graphics card forum, and see what the buzz is about certain products. At the moment I would say the 8800 GT from NVidia and the 3870 XT from ATi are where it's at. Both are excellent value for money, and are selling well as a result. It doesn't really matter which brand you get, but a lot of the people on these forums are perfectionists who want the best, so if brand a is a little cheaper, or faster, or quieter, then they will go for it over brand b.
 
Ok.. I'm gonna build my base and then up grade the graphics card when the next one comes out !! I've decided..

If you have 10 minutes I would be grateful if you could look over these parts and for gaming PC.. would this make a good start.. I'm ready to click BUY

Just need to make sure I aint missed anything.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-092-SA

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-235-AS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-120-WD

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-086-OC

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-161-IN
 
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