Around £1500 to spend. Thoughts?

[sprognak]

Got about £1500 to spend on a new rig.

My current setup is a Barton 2800 clocked to 215FSB x10.5 on air with 2Gb Corsair XMS 3500LL, The Asus NVidia 6800GT 128Mb (The one that wasn't a 'real' 6800GT as it only uses 128Mb IIRC), 1x40Gb Raptor, 2x WD-JB 80Gb's and a 200Gb Diamondmax 10.

Above rig has served well for around 4 years even with various upgrades during that time but I now have 'permission' to replace the rig after a failed HD and PSU.

So....

Thoughts and opinions on this please - it's based on the Pentium 4 805 after reading reports on Toms Hardware of 4.1GHz. The power demands are insanely high for that speed though hence the PSU and Asus 8-phase mainboard which should have no trouble feeding the beast.

The water cooling rig is self explanatory. When a CPU kicks out 200W+ of heat one needs decent cooling. The RAM is 1066MHz and I can't settle for less than 2Gb.

With graphics I have to admit I've been a hardcore NVidia fan for a long time now, but perhaps it's time to change - thoughts on this selection please!

Main considerations: It has to be quiet! Inaudiable in a room with a little conversation would be nice.

CP-116-IN Intel Pentium 4 805 Dual Core "LGA775 Smithfield" 2.66GHz (533FSB) - Retail (CP-116-IN)
£71.95 £71.95
MB-140-AS Asus P5WDG2-WS Extreme Intel 975X (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-140-AS)
£159.95 £159.95
CA-005-HP Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Black UV (CA-005-HP)
£54.95 £54.95
MY-066-OC OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-8000 Dual Channel XTC Platinum Series EL-DDR2 CAS2 (OCZ2P10002G-K) (MY-066-OC)
£299.95 £299.95
GX-087-AS Asus ATI Radeon EAX-X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-087-AS)
£289.95 £289.95
SP-083-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music + Inspire T6060 5.1 Speakers - Retail (SP-083-CL)
£83.95 £83.95
HD-078-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE)
£59.95 £119.90
CD-000-BQ BenQ DW1655 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LightScribe ReWriter (Black) - Retail (CD-000-BQ)
£30.95 £30.95
WC-014-SW Swiftech H20-220 Apex "Ultra" Watercooling Kit (Socket 462/478/LGA775/754/939/940) (WC-014-SW)
£128.95 £128.95
Subtotal £1,240.50
VAT £217.09
Total £1,457.59

 

[sprognak]

Just to add, £50 is left for a case. Open to opinions on what to go for here, seen a couple of nice Thermaltakes...

 

[SiriusB]

Just to add, £50 is left for a case. Open to opinions on what to go for here, seen a couple of nice Thermaltakes...

Thermaltake are rubbish. Antec, Akasa and Lian Li all do nice quality cases for around the £50-£60 mark.

SiriusB

 

[trojan698]

Surely some PC2-6400 or even 5300 Ram would suffice for running 1:1 ? Maybe the GSkill?
Also, either go for the cheapest x1900 xtx as they're all the same. Or go for the HIS IceQIII version - same price as the asus but with a superior cooler.

 

[m3csl2004]

you do not need a 975x board and pc8000 ram for a p-d 805

 

[SiriusB]

Surely some PC2-6400 or even 5300 Ram would suffice for running 1:1 ? Maybe the GSkill?
Also, either go for the cheapest x1900 xtx as they're all the same. Or go for the HIS IceQIII version - same price as the asus but with a superior cooler.

Go for an XT. They can be clocked past an XTX in minutes. Will save yourself some more money

SiriusB

 

[Harrigan]

With the money you save getting an XT, get a 930 instead of the 805, faster to start with, more cache and 65nm, so itll go further with less heat.

 

[sprognak]

Thanks so far...

m3csl2004
- The 975 and RAM are for the overclock I'm aiming for plus the 975 has the 8 phase supply which should give the stability.

Is a 930 likely to go beyond 4.1 on water?

This has been my basis for 4.1 on the 805 - http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/05/10/dual_41_ghz_cores_uk/

Also, while I've been overclocking CPU's for a long long time, I have never had much success with video cards - dropouts, corruption and DX9 bsods have always plagued me. Anyone care to shed more light on the ATI's capabilities.

 

[Explicit]

To be totally honest, that is probably the most worst way to spend £1500.

I presume you will want to be gaming with that X1900XTX you spec'd? It doesn't make sense to me...£350 on RAM, £80 CPU?! I would ditch the cheap Intel 805 & £350 DDR2 RAM, and get an AMD X2 4400+ with normal RAM instead.

The X2 is better for gaming, runs cooler, will overclock well without needing watercooling etc.

 

[joeyjojo]

First read this thread on the 805d, and this article.

The first question is do you need the system asap? Most people on this forum have gone conroe mad, if you can wait a month and a bit you would definitely be better buying a conroe system (if the benchmarks we've seen are anything to go by).

If the answer is 'yes', and you want an intel system you could probably get a much more balanced system by spending more on the processor and less on the ram and mobo. I don't know a lot about intel systems, some of these guys can point you in the right direction.

If you need a system now and youre not doing entirely video editing, the best solution may be to get a dual core amd system. Be it an X2 or Opteron.

Finally, buy the cheapest x1900xt and a good waterblock and add that to the apex loop. I have an mcw55 in my apex loop and it keeps the 7800gt below 40. The money for the extra X is not worth it.

Edit Just noticed, the ram (and hard drives) you have now would be very nice in an amd system

 

[sprognak]

Explicit, I've always been a believer in good RAM and Mainboards. Possibly at fault in that but I find if all I have to focus on is the CPU I can get much higher clocks and at £70 the CPU is something I can potentially upgrade down the line.

joeyjojo, thanks, some great links there. I'm thinking of changing the spec to potentially a 930 based system. According to the reviews on a good overclock, the only thing to beat it is the AMD FX's which cost an arm and a leg.

Anyone know how an X2 4400+ would fare against the D930? Please factor in OC potential also, I've always been on AMD's side before but the 805 and 930 OC figures are pushing me back to Intel.

As far as graphics, I'm contemplating opting for a GX2-7900 which overclockers.co.uk will start pushing out this afternoon and possibly drop the sound card package to allow it...

Please keep the advice coming

 

[Explicit]

Explicit, I've always been a believer in good RAM and Mainboards. Possibly at fault in that but I find if all I have to focus on is the CPU I can get much higher clocks and at £70 the CPU is something I can potentially upgrade down the line.

Let me put this into perspective for you:

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 805 - £84.54 <<< lol
MOBO: Asus P5WDG2-WS Extreme Intel 975X - £187.94
RAM: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-8000 Dual Channel XTC Platinum Series £352.44
Watercooling to keep them PrecHott twins cool: Swiftech H20-220 Apex "Ultra" - £151.52

Total spent: £776.44

You, my friend, make me laugh! Spending £800 based on a CPU that is still not a very good choice given your generous budget. The X2 4400+ costs more, yes, but it will walk over that 805 when you overclock it. Same applies to the Opteron 170. I think you're looking at "GHz" over performance? Those days are gone.

Look what you could get:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ - £311.32 (Or an Opty 170)
MOBO: DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D - £88.07
RAM: Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Redline Extreme Performance £223.19
WATERCOOLING: Swiftech H20-220 Apex "Ultra" - £151.52 (Or just get a Scythe Ninja at £30)

Total spent: £774.10

You can easily reach FX60/FX62 speed with that kit, and that will slaughter the Intel 805.

Anyway, it's your money. Can't say I didn't try.

 

[sprognak]

There's another thread I started to directly compare the CPU's. Suffice to say if I go intel I'll take the 940

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17584476

 

[Explicit]

p.s. I hope that post didn't sound insulting, just trying to help you spend your money wisely

 

[sprognak]

p.s. I hope that post didn't sound insulting, just trying to help you spend your money wisely

I didn't think you'd throw the MHz vs Power arguement at me having posted my original rig but appreciate the advice nonetheless

 

[trojan698]

Given your budget, I'd recommend waiting until conroe is released in July and buying a new PSU and HD in the meantime.

 

[m3csl2004]

Thanks so far...

m3csl2004
- The 975 and RAM are for the overclock I'm aiming for plus the 975 has the 8 phase supply which should give the stability.

Is a 930 likely to go beyond 4.1 on water?

This has been my basis for 4.1 on the 805 - http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/05/10/dual_41_ghz_cores_uk/

Also, while I've been overclocking CPU's for a long long time, I have never had much success with video cards - dropouts, corruption and DX9 bsods have always plagued me. Anyone care to shed more light on the ATI's capabilities.

fair enough as the 975 boards are the dogs - but for a chip with a 533fsb you realy dont even need 5300 ram, as at 4gig it will run at 200fsb, thats 3200 speed 1:1


if your going intel dual core now (ie you wont wait a month or 2 for conroe) then go with a preler (9xx), they clock a lot better the smithfield (8xx) chips and run cooler also



edit: totally agree trojan^

 

[Quillian]

You might want to have a look at the june issue of pc format if you can get hold of it - they got a bunchload of companies to build the highest spec pc they could with 1500, might be worth a look.