Any advice for a not-so-first-time build?

Deadbeat

Deadbeat

Deadbeat

Soldato
Joined
26 May 2009
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This won't be my first time building a PC, but it's been a long time coming & the first I'm doing from scratch. I'm so far set on a Core 2 Q8400 2.66GHz, 4Gb probably OCZ Blade 8500 & one of the better classes of 1Gb ATI 4870, probably XFX or Gainward. I don't really need much more than a 500Gb hard drive, though I may add a second at a later date, and after slotting in a generic DVD burner there's not much else I need.

Now, questions. I'm looking to build this in a Coolermaster 335 or Antec 300, mainly on the basis that Overclockers' standard can't be too shoddy - is there a clear winner from these two or a better case in that price range? Also from Oc's standard I'm edging toward the GA-EP45-DS3P P45 mobo, so again, any issues I should know about or better deals? Finally, if the mobo, CPU & RAM in the Q8400 bundle check out okay, is it worth lumping up the extra £40 for the CPU fan & OC service, given that I've no experience overclocking whatsoever?
 
for an extra £130 you could upgrade to an i7 based system
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As for if you should get the OC service, personally I would say no, if you can follow guides and have a modicum of common sense, you should be able to OC it yourself

Do you have a total budget?
 
Claimed!

I had 0 exp of overclocking but managed no probs, read up & save £40 is my opinion.
 
Thanks. I think. They banned claiming folk? Huh.

I'm seriously tempted by the i7 stuff, mainly for the kudos of telling people I've got an i7 system. As for budget, It's more of a time thing - I'm paying off a credit card, and as soon as it's got enough leway I'm gonna hit Aqua Cred Services in the crotch with a spinball. So far I'm about £250 under my limit, and I can afford roughly £250 a month, aiming for a system toward the end of July. Obviously prices may not be applicable then, but really I'm just looking for a build to improve upon - so for the sake of argument, we'll say £750 budget.
 
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£20 over

D0 is a newer stepping, bascialy a minor revision, the D0 stepping is nown to perform better on lower voltage (higher clock speed achievable). Due to the fact that head produced is proportional to voltage squared, having a lower voltage requirement means that temperature is less of a limiting factor

I expect prices will go down slightly and cover the £20 that this build is over
 
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I was just reading into that. Should be fine, the release date for i5 is predicted as Sep now, and they won't discontinue the 920/940/~950~ (~= eerie lines of future portent) until that chipset's out, will they?

And I like the look of that build, 1453. If the price dips enough, and/or I get my back pay before then, I may have to push the ram up to the 12800 OCZ Gold. Think I'd splash out on the graphics card first, though. They could really last the distance nowadays - hell, my old GeForce 5700 *LE* ran C&C 3, albeit painfully... RAM on the other hand, they're giving sticks away in cereal boxes nowadays.
 
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noo, it's not like intel would hold back products or stop production of products early in order to create a market for one of their own products eg holding back i5 to get rid of s775
 
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