Advise/Spec Help

Associate
Joined
28 Oct 2002
Posts
534
Location
Taunton, Somerset
Hey Folks o/

Ok, so i've been saving my pennies; I reckon i'll be grabbing either an 8800GTX or R600 Top end card once the playing field is clear.

However, i've a snag, well several actually.

First off is my Hiper 580w Type-R; I dont trust it to power a top end DX10 card; as they have issues when fully loaded; iirc. So the 620w Corsair one? 700w Seasonic? I'd like to have the option of 8800SLI/R600 X-fire if nessecary - Assuming Vista-64 drivers arrive at some point.

I've also 'only' got an X2 3800, presently at 2.4ghz, backed by 2gb of very generic crucial memory, borrowed from work. I intend to clock the chip a little more, as im maxing it out playing eve these days. The intel stuff just confuses me though.

Do I want a Conroe? Allendale?
What board - are the intel chipsets worth having, or is nvidia better for overclocking? what memory is worthwhile pairing with this?

Do AMD have anything around the corner cpu wise? I mean im waiting for the GFX cards, waiting for the cpu isnt going to be too bad.

In addition; I still have an eihme (sp?) 1250 pump, and a roll of 1/2" ID tubing, I was debating going back to watercooling... Any reccomendations/thoughts on this? do the pre-constructed kits now come close/out-perform the DIY route? Anyone doing anything clever/silly with bits of drainpipe now? :p

Budgets are flexible - Obviously £400-500 for the GPU, and not more than that for the mb/cpu/ram if possible. Cooling is an idea, not really looking at prices yet. Dont need hdd/optical/peripherals.

Many Thanks
Netvyper
 
As your budget appears to be around £1,000 this is what I'd probably go for. I'd change the PSU for the Corsair 620w which is a little cheaper also but it is currently out of stock unfortunately. I wouldn't normally pick the motherboard as they are quite pricey but if you want SLi then the 680i chipset is probably best. :)

Seasonic M12 Modular 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £89.99
(£105.74) £89.99
(£105.74)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
EVGA nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £149.99
(£176.24) £149.99
(£176.24)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £329.99
(£387.74) £329.99
(£387.74)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £149.99
(£176.24) £149.99
(£176.24)
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink £30.99
(£36.41) £30.99
(£36.41)
Sub Total : £845.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
Vat : £149.78
Total : £1,005.67
 
Board is a little pricey indeed O.o;

How would that setup compare to my existing... are we talking dogs danglies, or a modest step in the right direction?
 
You could go with an Nforce 650 based motherboard because they do support SLi but I think it is only at PCI-E 8x for each lane, however they are about half the price of the 680i based motherboards and SLi isn't generally worth it for most people.

The CPU is probably comparable to an X2 5200 or maybe even a 5600 at a guess but that is before it is overclocked and many run at 3ghz+ with no issues permanantly particularly with a good cooler such as the Noctua.

The graphics card is the area where you will probably see most difference, it is in another league entirely from the 6800GT. :)
 
As semi-pro waster says, thats a pretty major step up, particularly the graphics card. Basically just go with what he recommends, good list of parts. If you are thinking about clocking the Ram you might want to go for something like the Cellshock PC-6400, on offer at the moment and very good for overclocking.
 
Back
Top Bottom