Can you check my spec please?

KaHn

KaHn

KaHn

Soldato
Joined
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Afternoon Gents,

Just a few quick questions before I buy some computer goodies.

I am looking at getting the following but I am not sure on what Mobo will be best for me:

- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065)
- Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
- OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply £49.99
- HIS ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

I was wondering if anyone up to speed on this could check and see if any (ideally around 100 quid) would be best and if they can see any problems in the spec.

Cheers

KaHn
 
Will you be overclocking?

I've always stuck with Asus, they make fantastic-solid mobo's and highly overclockable. I'd get whatever you can afford from the P5K range (so either P5K-C or P5K-E).

Graphics wise, I'm assuming you've done your research? A 9800GTX would be a far better choice.

Everything else looks fine, I'd personally choose a Corsair PSU, they're absolutely rock solid and quiet.
 
Nope sorry not really upto date on PC stuff any more, why would the 9800GTX be better?

Also will only be Oc'in slightly on Stock cooler, I will look at the Corsair PSU.

Cheers :)

KaHn
 
Ok so for 600 quid what would your spec be? I only need PSU,Mobo,Cpu,Ram and GFX.

Feeling pretty useless about the new tech now lol :(

KaHn
 
Corsair 650W (or if you want modular PSU, the 620)
Q6600
Asus P5K-E
BFG 9800GTX
Ram wise, ballistix are great but depending where you're buying from it's an easy decision to make. 2GB is more than adequate but given current RAM prices 4GB would be a good buy for the future and depending on your usage.
 
With Windows XP I will be limited to 2gb untill (If) I move to Vista, so no point in doing that untill I have decided.

I have heard some problems with the Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) not being able to produce the 1066 timings.

KaHn
 
KaHn said:
With Windows XP I will be limited to 2gb untill (If) I move to Vista, so no point in doing that untill I have decided.

I have heard some problems with the Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) not being able to produce the 1066 timings.

KaHn
Click to expand...
:confused:

Can't say I've heard that. My anniversaries are similar to ballistix, albeit more special and I've got well over 1250 iirc (was over a year ago).

Also an extra 2gb will only cost you a further £20 or so, definitely worth it imo.
 
Ah ok might be me finding the bad post in the millions of good ones like normal.

Do I have to go for the nForce 7 Chipset if I am going for Nvidia GFX or will the P35 Chipset on the P5K-E be ok?

KaHn
 
KaHn said:
With Windows XP I will be limited to 2gb untill (If) I move to Vista, so no point in doing that untill I have decided.
Click to expand...

You won't. XP has (like any 32bit OS) a limit on the amount of system Ram it can address but the limit is 4gb total system Ram which includes both physical Ram and the graphics card so if you have a 512mb graphics card (for instance) you will be able to use slightly less than 3.5gb of the physical Ram installed as well.

KaHn said:
I have heard some problems with the Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) not being able to produce the 1066 timings.

KaHn
Click to expand...

Like dark_shadow I haven't heard anything about that either, it might be true but my main issue with Ballistix is that it is great when it works but it seems more temperamental than a lot of other Ram in that I've seen quite a few people complaining of dead kits. I must admit however that I don't know how many kits are sold so in percentage terms it could be a miniscule amount.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Like dark_shadow I haven't heard anything about that either, it might be true but my main issue with Ballistix is that it is great when it works but it seems more temperamental than a lot of other Ram in that I've seen quite a few people complaining of dead kits.
Click to expand...
Indeed. When my RAM came, it failed almost instantly on memtest. After playing around it was rock solid.
 
Ok so far I now have

- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065)
- BFG GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
- Asus P5K-E WiFi Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
- Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU

What do you think?

KaHn
 
No im buying from OcUK.

The only one I can see is Crucial Ballistix Tracer RED 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664AR804) which is 800 mhz which might over clock to 1066 but I would prefer it to be kept stock as much as pos.

KaHn
 
KaHn said:
The only 4gb is the Dominator which is 50quid more.

KaHn
Click to expand...

You could quite easily drop to PC6400 Ram here and get a 4gb kit for £80 or less, the Crucial Ballistix Tracer for instance would be fine. Unless you are seriously overclocking, 3.6ghz+ then PC6400 is easily sufficient for a Q6600.

//edit ah, I see, you are perhaps thinking that you need the FSB and Ram speed to match at 1:1 which isn't the case any more. The FSB is quad-pumped in effect so you only need Ram capable of 266.5mhz to reach the 1066mhz FSB that the CPU requires - PC6400 is capable of 400mhz i.e. up to 1600mhz FSB.
 
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semi-pro waster said:
You could quite easily drop to PC6400 Ram here and get a 4gb kit for £80 or less, the Crucial Ballistix Tracer for instance would be fine. Unless you are seriously overclocking, 3.6ghz+ then PC6400 is easily sufficient for a Q6600.
Click to expand...
To echo that I have PC-5300 and I managed to take my 1.86ghz to 3.9ghz, granted not stable (3.7 stable) but it just goes to show how capable they are.
 
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