Before we take the plunge

syke · 8 Dec 2007 at 20:55

Been looking at specs for the last month or so, looking between 800-1000 pounds.

The sort of spec we were looking at is;

Asus DRW-1814BLT 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - Retail
Cherry G83-6105 PS2 Keyboard - Black
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 - Retail
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual (x2)
Samsung SM-206BW 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ)
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

Hope nothing is missing there..just quickly re-specced it.

The above comes to £940.98 inc delivery.

But before we take the plunge of spending near on a grand, i'd like to see where money can be saved.

Ive chosen the above to be as future proof as possible, but having thought about what it will be used for, im contemplating the Q6600..it will be used for gaming (COD4, Crysis FM08 etc) and the usual, programming/photoshop etc. So i was tempted for the E2180 to save a lot of money.

In games, the settings will be maxxed out, but not to the monitors full resolution, however crysis may not be maxxed out.

Before we take the plunge and spend the near on grand, what would you do?

Ta for any advice.

semi-pro waster · 8 Dec 2007 at 21:26

There isn't anything obvious missing there apart from possibly speakers but you may already have some. I'd probably just go with the quad core because I tend not to upgrade all that regularly and simply replace the entire PC but if you are more likely to upgrade rather than replace the dual core may make more sense.

syke · 8 Dec 2007 at 21:30

semi-pro waster said:
There isn't anything obvious missing there apart from possibly speakers but you may already have some. I'd probably just go with the quad core because I tend not to upgrade all that regularly and simply replace the entire PC but if you are more likely to upgrade rather than replace the dual core may make more sense.

Thats what i am umming and arring about. We tend to not upgrade for atleast a year or so. However if the Quad prices were to drop, we would be tempted to go for one. I'd prefer something that would be more future proof, as i can then play games that come out and not upgrade for atleast 2 years or so. What would you go for, in this price range?

semi-pro waster · 8 Dec 2007 at 21:34

syke said:
What would you go for, in this price range?

Do you mean in terms of a whole system? If so it would be fairly similar with a few minor changes - motherboard for an IP35, DVDRW for either an NEC, Pioneer or Samsung, Ram for a 2x2gb kit, case for an Antec P182 and an aftermarket cooler such as the Tuniq Tower but most of them will affect the system performance relatively little and come down to personal preference as much as anything else.

I would pick quad core but then I upgrade even less frequently than you do, my current PC is ~4 years old, poor student and all that until recently when I'm now a poor employed person.

syke · 8 Dec 2007 at 21:36

semi-pro waster said:
Do you mean in terms of a whole system? If so it would be fairly similar with a few minor changes - motherboard for an IP35, DVDRW for either an NEC, Pioneer or Samsung, Ram for a 2x2gb kit, case for an Antec P182 and an aftermarket cooler such as the Tuniq Tower but most of them will affect the system performance relatively little and come down to personal preference as much as anything else.

I would pick quad core but then I upgrade even less frequently than you do, my current PC is ~4 years old, poor student and all that until recently when I'm now a poor employed person.

Heh, to be honest..the 2 years was only because i may change the graphics.

The only PC we have now - is a P3 (i think) 550mhz, as the AMD 2800 has been given to my sister.

We only really use laptops atm.

So to be honest, it probably wouldnt be majorly upgraded for atleast 3 or so years. Other than the odd fault perhaps..or a new HDD.

syke · 9 Dec 2007 at 12:52

Any one else got an input?

syke · 9 Dec 2007 at 21:37

Always seem to think i miss something..

Please help point out the obvious or check this spec

;

fobose · 9 Dec 2007 at 21:50

Perhaps a 3rd party cooler so you can overclock in future?

syke · 9 Dec 2007 at 21:51

fobose said:
Perhaps a 3rd party cooler so you can overclock in future?

Not looking to overclock just yet..will get a cooler at a later date if i feel like over clocking, i think the stock speeds will be sufficient for now

.

Will that case/psu be okay with no overclocking? Will replace that at some point too.

How about the motherboard? Can get the DS3R if its worth it?

I chose the OcUK 24" over the Samsung 22", wise choice or not?

fobose · 9 Dec 2007 at 22:00

I personally would go for the Dell 24" but for the price the OcUK one seems like a good buy. The Abit IP35-E is a rather good overclocker and is the same price as that board you have spec'd at the moment. I would still get a 3rd party cooler now so you dont have to faff around later on if you decide to overclock, plus it'll save you on delivery in the long run :rolleyes:

Also PSU will be fine.

syke · 9 Dec 2007 at 22:03

fobose said:
I personally would go for the Dell 24" but for the price the OcUK one seems like a good buy. The Abit IP35-E is a rather good overclocker and is the same price as that board you have spec'd at the moment. I would still get a 3rd party cooler now so you dont have to faff around later on if you decide to overclock, plus it'll save you on delivery in the long run Also PSU will be fine.

Yeah, that was the reason for selecting the OcUK one - theres a big price difference.

What about the Freezer 7 then?

fobose · 9 Dec 2007 at 22:04

Yeah that one will do - I have it on my CPU although its not overclocked, might do in the near future though.

syke · 9 Dec 2007 at 22:12

fobose said:
Yeah that one will do - I have it on my CPU although its not overclocked, might do in the near future though.

What you think the Q6600 will get easily with the Freezer? And stable 24/7?

fobose · 9 Dec 2007 at 22:42

I am not sure but lots of people have them on their Q6600's. Search the forums and you will come up with results

syke · 10 Dec 2007 at 12:14

Hows this?

Do i keep the 24"? Will the 8800GT be enough for COD4 on that?

Should i save money and get a 20-22"?

PSU is definately enough? (will change in a few months time)

What you think i can get easily 24/7 from the Q6600?

JimBowen · 10 Dec 2007 at 12:57

To save a bit of cash I would personally drop down to a 22" monitor and you'll be looking to save £100 just on that. That will cover an OEM version of Vista Ultimate or similar. I have a Freezer 7 on a Q6600 (only a few days old), have yet to run any proper tests like Prime95 but with the Asus motherboard software it is reading the CPU at 29 degrees and goes up to 38 degrees when playing UT3 on highest settings possible.

As you mention futureproofing have you considered a motherboard with DDR3 support? Not a necessity I know, but always worth a thought..

The PSU/case is a tough choice - I always buy a case without a PSU so I know the true value of the case, then get a separate PSU to really determine the cost. I bought an OCZ Stealthxstream 600w PSU for about £50 and the same again for a case that I thought was acceptable (have bought sub £30 cases before but this time I wanted a better build quality).

The 8800GT will certainly see you through COD4!

syke · 10 Dec 2007 at 13:10

JimBowen said:
To save a bit of cash I would personally drop down to a 22" monitor and you'll be looking to save £100 just on that. That will cover an OEM version of Vista Ultimate or similar. I have a Freezer 7 on a Q6600 (only a few days old), have yet to run any proper tests like Prime95 but with the Asus motherboard software it is reading the CPU at 29 degrees and goes up to 38 degrees when playing UT3 on highest settings possible.

As you mention futureproofing have you considered a motherboard with DDR3 support? Not a necessity I know, but always worth a thought..

The PSU/case is a tough choice - I always buy a case without a PSU so I know the true value of the case, then get a separate PSU to really determine the cost. I bought an OCZ Stealthxstream 600w PSU for about £50 and the same again for a case that I thought was acceptable (have bought sub £30 cases before but this time I wanted a better build quality).

The 8800GT will certainly see you through COD4!

Am looking at a PC7+ and a OCZ StealXstream 600W! Hehe.

Updated my spec already..undecided on monitor now, either the Belinea at £140 or so..or Samsung 223BW or 226BW..im leaning towards the Belinea for the price.

If i got the Belinea, it would leave me more money towards the case/psu:

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM
Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ)
Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 - Retail
Belinea 2225S1W 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver
Cherry G83-6105 PS2 Keyboard - Black
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (512-P2-E801-AR)
OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black)

Comes to just over £895 inc.

Chosen 2GB as im gonna keep XP for a bit longer.

The case, good to build in?

PSU good enough?

semi-pro waster · 10 Dec 2007 at 13:24

Again it all works fine but why bother with a DDR2 and DDR3 motherboard, initially I thought it might be a boon but thinking more on the issue makes me decide that it really isn't all that worthwhile since it only supports 2x DDR3 slots. Given the current price of DDR3 I can't see 2x2gb sticks coming down to a reasonable price (comparable with present DDR2) in the immediate future which makes it somewhat redundant since by the point the price is acceptable for most the CPU and motherboard will need to be replaced anyway. DDR3 also currently doesn't offer any major performance benefits to justify the cost that I've seen. That would just be my take on it though.

The PSU is fine, I might spend a bit more and get a Corsair HX 520w but that is up to you and as for the CPU potential, I'd reckon 3ghz is a fairly realistic minimum given the selected components.

syke · 10 Dec 2007 at 13:26

semi-pro waster said:
Again it all works fine but why bother with a DDR2 and DDR3 motherboard, initially I thought it might be a boon but thinking more on the issue makes me decide that it really isn't all that worthwhile since it only supports 2x DDR3 slots. Given the current price of DDR3 I can't see 2x2gb sticks coming down to a reasonable price (comparable with present DDR2) in the immediate future which makes it somewhat redundant since by the point the price is acceptable for most the CPU and motherboard will need to be replaced anyway. DDR3 also currently doesn't offer any major performance benefits to justify the cost that I've seen. That would just be my take on it though.

The PSU is fine, I might spend a bit more and get a Corsair HX 520w but that is up to you and as for the CPU potential, I'd reckon 3ghz is a fairly realistic minimum given the selected components.

Thanks

.

How about changing to a DS3L or the IP35-E (is that right?) and a HX520W?

syke · 10 Dec 2007 at 13:28

Another updated spec:

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM
Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ)
Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 - Retail
Belinea 2225S1W 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver
Cherry G83-6105 PS2 Keyboard - Black
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual
EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black)
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)

£892.80inc.