cheap but decent spec

webby17 · 7 Aug 2007 at 19:21

i am thinking of building a new pc for around £600 taking the optical drives, mouse, keyboard and possibly my sound card from my old pc. already have a monitor and since its my 1st build the oc forum seems to be a pretty helpful place to be. i am thinking of the following spec

CPU E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB) £126
RAM OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 s DDR2 £67
PSU Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant £65
CASE Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £71
GRFX Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB £94
MOBO Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R £90
HDD Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB £65

Total £578

i have read that the geil pc6400 (2*1gb) seem to be more compatiable with the ds3r but i dont really no. Im stickin with a x1950 pro since i will be using xp pro and not really interested in vista - hence not going for a dx 10 card and keeping the budget low. finally may overclock once ive got it working and plucked up the courage (since everyone here says its so easy to do)

Any advice would be gratefully received

lee87 · 7 Aug 2007 at 19:28

Hi, Welcome to the forums.

I would go for a cheaper C2D cpu (E2140) and give it a small overclock. It is very easy to get them to E6750 speeds and further.

I would also change the X1950 pro to a 8800GTS. Even when playing DX9 games the 8800gts is much faster (about double the speed).

Apart from that it looks good.

webby17 · 7 Aug 2007 at 19:34

is it that easy to overclock then? does the difference between 1mb and 4mb cache not make a big difference. also with an overclock surely i will need a better cooler than the intel stock. will the noise get that much louder?

lee87 · 7 Aug 2007 at 19:38

It is very easy to overclock. I got my E4300 to 3.5ghz with the stock cooler but I was lucky to get this good a chip.
Most C2D cpus will reach 2.7ghz on stock volts which is faster than the E6750. This would be fine with the stock cooler.

The difference between 1mb and 4mb doesn't effect performance much when playing games.

webby17 · 7 Aug 2007 at 19:44

ok cheers for the help - i occasionaly use cad as well but will mainly use it for games and music (cant afford a decent sound card and speakers yet tho :mad:

) You running on a stock cooler as well then or should the money saved on the downgrade of the c2d be spent on a cooler?

lee87 · 7 Aug 2007 at 19:48

I would get the E2140 cpu and 8800gts into the spec, then if it fits in your budget get a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro cooler for £17.

Th3D0n · 7 Aug 2007 at 21:30

lee87 said:
I would get the E2140 cpu and 8800gts into the spec, then if it fits in your budget get a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro cooler for £17.

iv got a e2160 and a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro and it runs at 3 Ghz

Edit* and it will clock up more if i needed to