Advice on non-overclocker

HighlandeR · 28 Dec 2006 at 20:15

Was planning on building a powerful Vista rigg come early next year, but do you guys reckon buying super Fast DDR-II ram like the Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x1GB) kit @ £260 quid?

And then splashing out on a 200 quid EVGA nForce 680 board?

Especially all that $$$$ if im not planning on overclocking?
I was thinking of just being my usual tight self and rather then spend £500 on a mobo+ram I can get a Asrock 50 quid conroe board and 4gig of DDR-II PC6400(800mhz) instead.

Do you think theres a large performance gain in buying and spending £200-300 on ram and boards IF im not going to be overclocking or buying 3 PCI cards?

Snapshot · 29 Dec 2006 at 07:50

You'll pay a price penalty for PC8500 because it's leading edge at the moment and I don't know what motherboards can actually use it at full speed. I'd go for 4GB of PC6400 and a better mobo than the Asrock such as the Gigabyte DS3 or DS4.

Jonathan

Minstadave · 29 Dec 2006 at 10:06

Save a whole load of cash and get a DS3 and some PC5300 with tight timings if you're not going to overclock.

thefishdude · 29 Dec 2006 at 10:21

yeah that hig hspeed ram is only for peopel that overclock seriously. the fsb is very high and you can nly use its full potential if you do overlock big style.

guys above give good adive get 2 gig of quality 5300c4 ram and a mid rang board like the ds3. extra cash over can get you a nice gfx

matt_fsr · 29 Dec 2006 at 12:56

Totally depends what you want the PC for IMO.

The Asrock 'cheapy' boards are well made and ive never had problems with them, as others have said get PC5300 or 6400 RAM, and even then unless you want to play loads of games then get value RAM or slightly better than - no need for super tight timings if you're doing video editing etc.

Save the rest of the cash for other decent parts, quiet parts or future upgrades I reckon.

Basically, the £260 RAM is out there because people will buy it - and companies can make a whopping profit off it!

HighlandeR · 29 Dec 2006 at 22:01

Thx for the advice...

But maybe I havent been too clear, I was just wondering why so many people spend £250 on a mainboard and £200 on Ram and then a Raptor 150gig 15k Hdd unit.

Is there really any benefit in Games/General Windows usage ?

Or is it just for the sheer Overclockers/performance freaks out there?

Reason why I ask is why not spend an extra 50 quid over a raptor 150gigger and well I can pick up 2X500gig (1TB drive), or rather then spend £250 on a mobo I can spend £100 and get the same performance/class.... same applies with the £260 ram, with £260 I can pick up 4gig DDR2+PC6400 (800mhz) ram ?!

See my point?

Minstadave · 29 Dec 2006 at 22:23

HighlandeR said:
Thx for the advice...

But maybe I havent been too clear, I was just wondering why so many people spend £250 on a mainboard and £200 on Ram and then a Raptor 150gig 15k Hdd unit.

Is there really any benefit in Games/General Windows usage ?

Or is it just for the sheer Overclockers/performance freaks out there?

Raptors are performance freaks, for the same price I went a much higher capacity Seagate 7200.10 RAID0 setup which I think is just far better value for money.

Expensive RAM and Mobos are for overclockers, if you're not overclocking you won't get much in the way of a performance increase, as you're system will be running at default speeds.

HighlandeR · 30 Dec 2006 at 12:49

Minstadave said:
Raptors are performance freaks, for the same price I went a much higher capacity Seagate 7200.10 RAID0 setup which I think is just far better value for money.

Expensive RAM and Mobos are for overclockers, if you're not overclocking you won't get much in the way of a performance increase, as you're system will be running at default speeds.

Thx, yeah I wont be overclocking so I think imo ill stick with just the basics and not over the top systems, will save myself a lot of $$$

FreeStream · 30 Dec 2006 at 12:52

Minstadave said:
Raptors are performance freaks, for the same price I went a much higher capacity Seagate 7200.10 RAID0 setup which I think is just far better value for money.

Expensive RAM and Mobos are for overclockers, if you're not overclocking you won't get much in the way of a performance increase, as you're system will be running at default speeds.

I got a 74Gb Raptor for my gaming rig, because its the best

(or was)

My Mac has two 320Gbs so I don't need another big HD in my gaming rig

If your not overclocking, get a DS3+PC5300 tbh, even tho getting to 400fsb is soooo easy with PC6400 and a E6300/E6400