About to order - indecisiveness sets in!

Combat squirrel said:
:confused: Well, how you figure better multimedia performance ? in what respect? encoding/video stuff even the P4 was marginally better and general windows stuff as it had HT (before A64 x2 came out), now for games it got trounced by A64, so hence im a little confused. I beg of you to read some reviews of conroe you will see it absoloutly annilates A64/AMD in everything, including multimedia. Also Intel have traditionally been better in regards to reliablility, but to be fair AMD have always been stable since the 1st athlon days, so there both 50/50 as far as stability goes. Im using a Athlon 64 x2 4200+ myself at the moment and am sticking with it for the forseable future, I rarly play games now I have a 360 and its awesome for windows, 2 AMD cores with the A64 omph. But I know for a fact its hugely slow compared to intels latest offereings and if was wacking down 1.5k there aint a heard of wild horses that could pull me towards AMD !

Its swings and roundabouts, the next thing AMD bring out will no doubt beat conroe, but today, this moment, Intels offering is awesome

Why by a 'last generation' tech cpu when intel have the new generation stuff out
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you have a 360 for windows ??!! how? that chip thing or something??
 
I think he meant he plays games on his 360 but his AMD is awesome for Windows. It's just the way he worded it. It took me a couple of reads to figure it out. :confused: :rolleyes: :D

The 360 hasn't yet been cracked or chipped. They've gotten close with the software side of things, but nowhere near with the hardware.
 
Here's a strange question for you. Since I've not actually set up my own components before, I wont run into any problems with these parts will I? I'm mainly talking about the mboard and PSU into the case. I'm fairly sure they're both ATX, but with the PSU, is there some sort of standardised size, or will I have a little tweaking to do?[/stupid]
 
I'm not a guru on these kind of things, but I think you should be ok. As long as they both comply to the ATX standard (and of course the PSU supplies enough juice - which yours does easily) then you should be good to go. Personally, I've been looking at the newer modular PSU systems to help reduce the amount of cabling inside the case - not sure if your one is? Helps with the air flow and cooling and makes working inside the case a whole lot easier.

edit: Just to clarify, the ATX standard (AFAIK) dictates the form and factor of any components - so dimensions, fixings and connections are all universal and can be used in any case meeting the same ATX standard. Much like buying a new oven to fit in an exisitng kitchen unit. :)
 
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Concorde Rules said:
no no no dont get the GX2

X1900Xt-X HIS IMO or wait for the X1950 which will be £295 + VAT on the 23rd August. and the X1950 will spank the GX2.

2ndly, I really think you should go Conroe, as for the long term it will clock better :)
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I would go for an x1900xt, its so much cheaper for very similar performance.

Also i would really suggest going conroe.

The motherboard seems pretty pricey aswell!
 
I would personally choose a different case as Thermaltake are not know for there quality of cases.
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I disagree tbh. I have a thermaltake tsunami dream sat in front of me and as far as im concerned it is fantastic. Looks good, absolute ease to use, fairly light. I would say stick with Thermaltake tbh if you like the case.
 
You really are wasting your money, but hey, its your decision

This is what I'm ordering later this week

Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey (MO-011-DE) - 305.44

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN) - 252.57
Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS) - 164.44
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL) - 129.19

HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-053-HT) - 229.07
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS Edition + HS600 £29.99 Gaming Headset Bundle - Retail (SC-041-CL) - 145.11

2 x (Raid-0) Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE) - 123.50
Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) (CD-078-SA) - 24.62

Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU (CA-005-AK) - 82.19
3 x Akasa AK174CB-4BLB 120mm Blue LED Fan (FG-008-AK) - 28.02
2 x Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable (CB-053-GE) - 8.22

================
Total - £1492.37
================

also, don't waste your money on the GX2. In fact, don't waste your money on the X1900XT-X. The 1900XT at £205inc VAT is a bargain you really shouldn't miss out on.

So it's not the TOP of the range, but you can always upgrade when the next-gen cards are released.
 
I fail to see how this is a waste of money. Imagine, if you will, that the Conroe wasn't available. Tell me then this is a waste.

For the sake of 5fps at high end gaming, I'd rather stick with the familiar brand. I'm not buying this end of a system to run settings to get the highest fps. To be blunt I want to rip its balls off, and the Conroe on those benchmarks dont give me enough of a reason to switch to an unfamiliar brand.

glen8, I'll be using Quad SLi in the future, so I think I'm covered when it comes to graphics, atleast for a couple of years.
 
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Actually kcer, from what I've been reading about the Conroe, the overclocking potential is greater than that of the AMD's at the moment. I could be wrong about that, so I will stand corrected, but I'm almost certain it's right.

But as I've maintained, it's your call. Go with what you enjoy if you can afford it.

I disagree tbh. I have a thermaltake tsunami dream sat in front of me and as far as im concerned it is fantastic. Looks good, absolute ease to use, fairly light. I would say stick with Thermaltake tbh if you like the case.
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@ badgermonkey - I'm inclined to agree with you about the Thermaltake cases. I remember reading some excellent reviews of the Shark and the Tsunami when they were first released. Robust and reliable build quality, and excellent features (such as the removable bays for mounting drives, mobo, PSU etc.) - made putting my system together so much easier than it should have been.
 
Let's say I decide to opt for the E6600. I've picked up the Asus board because I know it supports Quad SLi, something I intend to do further down the line. I'm unsure as to how this works on Intel based boards. Does the ATI Xfire work in a similar fashion?

I've started reading and its becoming more obvious that the Conroe's are the better choice to "future proof" my machine.
 
Couldn't comment on the quad SLi on Intel mobo's tbh. I think at present the answer is no, but I guess it's possible in the future (can anyone else confirm?). Only problem is there's not a huge call for quad SLi - on AMD or Intel - most people just can't afford it or justify the cost. I suppose it will come down to demand.

Out of interest, what would you use the quad setup for? Gaming?

Again, currently Xfire only works with dual cards, not quad afaik. But then I don't think there is quad Xfire on the AMD's either from what I've seen? ATI came late to the dual card game, so are lagging behind Nvidia to a degree - but catching up fast. Bare in mind, you don't have to use ATI - there are Intel SLi mobo's aswell.

In fact, you could probably cut your costs considerably by swapping to a cheaper Conroe mobo with only single PCI-E x16 for the time being, and then upgrading just the mobo at a later date. Or if you were really inclined, you could go for the full Xfire/SLi mobo for now and upgrade to the quad mobo if and when they come out on the Intel. Either way, your graphics card (and cpu) will be interchangeable as long as you stick with either SLi or Xfire mobo's - and changing the mobo and purchasing a second card is all you should need to do to upgrade. Not a huge issue if you're considering spending as much as you are on the AMD system now.

It's really got to come down to what you want to spend your money on. Just don't make any snap decisions that you may regret - you're talking about spending a fair wedge!
 
deary lord, get intel mate ! and go for a Xfire x1950 with that money you have, a SINGLE x1950 beats nvidias quad sli in some benchmarks, you got 1500 squids ? YOU say you want the best? then get:

Conroe
Intelchipset
ATI x1950's or x1900's in Xfire

Fast, STABLE, Next Gen, the way forward, kapeesh, wazzakabam,

Job Done
 
First off, thanks for the advice you've put in here Fatfish its really helpful.

I wont be purchasing for quad right now, but further (further) down the line it will be something I intend to do.

Right now I'm happy just to pick up a mobo that has 2x pci-e 16x slots, and so I'm looking at the Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi. I think I've got Conroe fever, its growing on me the more I read about it.

DAMN YOU! I'M SORRY AMD!!!
 
kcer said:
First off, thanks for the advice you've put in here Fatfish its really helpful.

I wont be purchasing for quad right now, but further (further) down the line it will be something I intend to do.

Right now I'm happy just to pick up a mobo that has 2x pci-e 16x slots, and so I'm looking at the Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi. I think I've got Conroe fever, its growing on me the more I read about it.

DAMN YOU! I'M SORRY AMD!!!
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Look at the spec I posted. You cant go wrong with that for the money. No point in spending silly amounts
 
LoadsaMoney said:
360 was cracked donkeys ago. :confused:
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Proof? I like to keep in touch with what's going on in the 360 community, and as far as I know, it's not been properly cracked as yet. They've had some success with getting a copy of the MS demo disc to run and a few similar examples, but apart from that it's yet to be done with full software titles. Certainly not been chipped yet either. Hardly what I'd called 'cracked'. Even the modding community have taken their hats off to MS on this one so far - but that doesn't mean they've given up or that it's impossible, just haven't managed it properly yet.

@ kcer - no worries mate. Just sharing what I've been learning over the last couple of weeks. That's what forums are for.........oh, that and pointless arguments with trolls who just like to say black is white! :D

To be honest, the setup that glen8 has suggested below is rather nice if you can afford to spend that much. Unfortunately, I can't. :(

Plus, having heard a few of the issues that some people have been having with certain versions of the BIOS loaded in to the Asus P5W DH mobo (which was also the mobo I was thinking of getting), I'm inclined to wait a few more weeks before I order so that Asus can get it sorted and have revised batches sent to the retailers.

Basically, the mobo won't POST with the Conroe cpu's because it's been shipped with old BIOS version preinstalled. Some people have managed to find a way around it by either using an old Intel cpu to POST with and then flash the BIOS, or they have used hotflashing (read: very complicated and long winded process requiring 2nd Intel PC and removal of the BIOS chip from the new mobo) to update the BIOS.

They've managed to get it working, but it's not something I would be comfortable doing or have the facilities to. However, the latest posts in the thread seem to say the mobo's are in the majority shipping with the right BIOS or at least a version that works ok and can then be updated - but I have to wait for money to clear and stuff anyway, so I'll be waiting a little while. I think you'll be ok tbh, but it's something to be aware of. Thread can be found here - worth reading. Also worth checking the rest of the 'Motherboard' forum section for any other issues people might be having. Minimal issues to be honest, but it's always good to be informed.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong glen8, but I think the reason he picked that RAM is because it's actually a very good pair of modules for a very reasonable price. Gibbo has been overclocking them and running benchmark tests, and they appear to be very stable and perform well when running overclocked. Have a read of this - Gibbo's GeIL RAM thread. Very interesting and some impressive results.

And the bonus with this RAM choice is that the price is now down to £129.19 inc VAT (£109.95 exc VAT) as part of this weeks OcUK offers! That seems like a bargain to me - even better value for the money. Just because there's better RAM available, doesn't mean you actually need it or will notice the difference when using it - unless perhaps you're going for extreme overclocking.
 
Combat squirrel said:
deary lord, get intel mate ! and go for a Xfire x1950 with that money you have, a SINGLE x1950 beats nvidias quad sli in some benchmarks, you got 1500 squids ? YOU say you want the best? then get:

Conroe
Intelchipset
ATI x1950's or x1900's in Xfire

Fast, STABLE, Next Gen, the way forward, kapeesh, wazzakabam,

Job Done
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I'm a major fan of AMD, nForce chipsets and Nvidia gfx cards. But if I was upgrading right now then Conroe, Intel and X1950 would be the way I would go.
 
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