About to buy...

techy6

techy6

techy6

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Joined
6 May 2003
Posts
259
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In a world of my own
It's been 4 years since my last upgrade :eek: , so it's time to flex the credit card. I do a bit of gaming, some programming, some database work, some graphics, and watch a few movies.

Here's what's in my shopping basket:

Intel Core Duo 2.2Ghz
Abit IP35-E motherboard
2GB Geil RAM
36GB Western Digital Raptor
320GB Western Digital Caviar
BFG GeForce 8600 GT
Windows XP Professional
Samsung SATA DVD-RW

Will all this stuff work together? I got a bit stuck looking at motherboards, will the 2.2Ghz Core Duo work with the IP35-E? Is there a better mobo I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance :)
 
It will work together but there are definitely some choices that I'd question there. Namely the Raptor, the 8600GT and XP Pro. As Billy says the budget is rather important here along with probably how much value you put on gaming.
 
£450 budget. A friend recommended the Raptor as a primary boot drive, but I'm open to suggestions on that one. Don't know how much difference it would make to the speed of the system.
The CPU I'm looking at is: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-159-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793

Gaming isn't the main reason for buying - I want to play things like Halflife 2, but not in a serious way. My days of clan gaming are long gone :(

From reading reviews, it sounds like the E6600 is the CPU of choice, but surely it'd blow the budget?

All help gratefully received!

Edit - forgot to say, I've already got an Antec Sonata II case with a new Akasa 500w PSU.
 
This is marginally over the budget but I think probably a better overall PC. :)

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £31.99
(£37.59) £31.99
(£37.59)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £55.99
(£65.79) £55.99
(£65.79)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.33GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £91.99
(£108.09) £91.99
(£108.09)
Sub Total : £381.93
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 : £68.40
Total : £459.28
 
This should outperform what you have above:
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Assuming you wanted to stick to XP until Vista was more mature I threw in Home rather than Pro since Pro offers little more to the non-domain user and its cost is significantly more. This is the fastest 7200 RPM hard disk you can get. Its sustained transfer rates may be even faster than the wee Raptor you had.
 
What can I say.... except thankyou! I'm liking the look of Billy's system, although I still don't understand why a 2.66Ghz Core Duo is cheaper than a 2.4Ghz :confused: Not that I'm complaining!

Thanks guys - will post an update once I've bought the parts.
 
One last question:

Is the ATI Radeon X1950 (£70) better than the BFG 8600 GT (£93)?

I had a friend who was raving about that BFG card too... .but maybe he's just raving?
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Let us know how you do when it comes time for assembly. :)
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay in posting - assembling the computer was a breeze, easiest build I've ever done. The heatsink and fan setup with the CPU is a refreshing change - I remember the days of trying to clip a massive AMD cooler onto the old Thoroughbread processors, wondering if the motherboard would crack under the pressure. No such problems with these coolers - they just clip in!
Windows was up and running in next to no time, the PC is amazingly quiet and fast, I really can't fault it. Went out and bought the "Orange Box", which runs like a dream, then found my GTA San Andreas disks - I've been playing that ever since!!

Thanks for all your help guys :)
 
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