Advice on this spec please

funguST

funguST

funguST

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Hi guys, firtly just thought i'd say hi. Been reading the forums for a while but never been able to make an account (probs getting the activation e-mail).

I was going to upgrade my machine but after realizing just how out of date it is i have decided to rebuild. The pc is gonna be used for abit of everything really so needs be able to run the latest games and also a little bit of multi tasking (nothing too serious).

I already have a case which i want to keep(cooler master wave master http://www.*****.net/content/item.php?item=588&redirect=yes). Hard disks i have plenty (couple of 250gigs and a brand new 500gig samsung which was bought tp upgrade this pc but wont work without downgrading the disk <sata 2 on a sata1 board). Dvd rewriter with light scribe (IDE tho), mouse, keyboard, 5.1 speakers and monitor (22" belinea tft) etc.

So i am really looking at new cpu (always been an AMD man want to try intel), cpui cooler (heatsink/fan) mainboard (pref one that i will still be able to upgrade in a few years), gfx card, power supply and anything else i have missed out togive me a nice running machine for another few years.

I have been doing abit of reading through the forums and have come up with an initial spec for you guys to have a look at.

My budget is around £400-£500 (dont mind going slightly over for a good machine)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.16GHz (1333FSB) - Retail Intel
(£132.76) £112.99

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
(£17.61) £14.99

Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£96.34) £81.99
Seems to be mixed feelings about this board, maybe one that will accept ddr3 aswell as ddr2?

Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU
(£72.84) £61.99
Most likely can save a few pounds here

OcUK 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
(£44.64) £37.99
Read some bad things about getting replacement in the forums earlier today

Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£117.49) £99.99

Total : £493.37

Is there a need for a separate sound card nowadays? i have an audigy 2 in my system at the moment which is almost dead so wont be able to recover that, but then again i am only using a 5.1 speaker setup which i am more than happy with.

Sorry about the long post guys, your input would be much appreciated.

Cheers
James
 
That PSU is overkill, the Corsair PSUs actually produce a good bit more wattage than advertised and even the 450w version would be more than enough for that rig considering most SLI rigs are proven to not even use that much. Having looked though, the 520w version is pretty much the same price, so its upto you, just know that you don't need nearly that much power despite what some might say.

Switch the Freezer Pro for an Akasa AK-965, cheaper and a proven beter cooler.

I'd go with a quad personally and then clock it, once you're past 3ghz with any Core 2 the bottleneck is always going to be on the GPU, so you might as well have the extra 2 cores spare for future games.

Don't get the cheap OCUK RAM, the decent stuff is only £10-£20 more.
 
I agree, get some G.Skill or OCZ RAM for very little more. I'd ensure you get a modular PSU for nice tidy cabling. Otherwise, you've picked out some great components :)
 
Thanks for the replies, i'll have a little revise and see what people think. I;m gonna be doing the build at the end of the month.
 
Hi, changed the spec slightly (£16 over budget no matter).

so i've changed the psu, ram and cpu cooler.

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99 (£70.49)

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Platinum Series DDR2 (OCZ2P10664GK) £64.99 (£76.36)

Akasa AK-965 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £10.99 (£12.91)

This look any better guys? Maybe an alternative Ram as oc doesn't have that stuff in stock at the moment.

I may stick a small (160/250gig) disk in aswell, was looking at the velociraptor drives, but they are on the expensive side and for now i think i could do without.

cheers

James
 
sorry for the bump.

You guys think that system will run the top end games for a while?
Just noticed this:

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.30GHZ (1466FSB) - Retail

£129.99
£152.74 inc VAT

Worth replacing the E8500 for the Q6600?
 
The dual/quad debate is still going so don't expect a clear recommendation! Personally i would still with the Dual, cooler and cheaper. Yeah that system will run games for a couple years no probs if you dont mind lowering the res for certain/future games.

P.S i would stick with the stock cooler for a while untill you've got the money for a TT,TRUE, Noctua etc
 
I think thats a good setup. My personal preference is the faster dual over slower quad. Actually you could get the E8400 instead of the E8500 if you will be overclocking as both will get you pretty much the same overclock.
 
thanks for the replies... i have got myself stuck in the duel or quad debate now :) not much more, and one day someone will release a patch to make use of the extra cores! could save a few pennies in the next year or 2.

now also looking at buying 2 or 4gigs worth of this

Kingston HyperX 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-9200C5 1150MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX9200D2K2/2G)

£31.99
£37.59 inc VAT

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-023-KS&tool=3
 
Tbh RAM doesnt really matter too much imo, as long as you get a good make. Personally i would get geil or corsair but thats only because ive had no problems with them, sure others have. Pretty much just personal choice imo
 
Quick note on the hard drive - stretch yourself to a 320gb if you can. These have more dense platters and are therefore faster :) It makes quite a big difference over a 160 or 250gb drive.
 
Don't get that 'guaranteed overclock' quad unless you have money to burn. It's the exact same stock as the standard Q6600s - they're not even tested, apparently. Just means that Oc will take it back if it doesn't run at 3.3.
 
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