E2xxx which should i go for??

[sare^baw's]

E2xxx which should i go for to suit my system ?

i have the upgrade bug but im on a budget, i bought a new 22" monitor and then decided on a gfx card upgrade and got a HIS x1900xt for £60 in MM.

so then i was looking for a cheap pci-e mobo to house my p4 3.0, people suggested upgarding to a dual core cpu and mobo but i dismissed this expecting it to cost the earth, after reading many posts and trying to get my head round the new technology i realised i can make the upgrades without bursting the bank.

so i read the gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L mobo is highly recommended as a budget board and under £50 so i kindas decided i may go for this board, now i want to know what cpu i should get are ound £50, am i as well going for the dual core E2200 since there is not much difference in price ? I will likely o/c to get the extra performance from my system.

my pc is a htpc and i have it very quiet with zalman coolers on the gfx card and cpu, i need to keep it nice and quiet as its in my living room. I play dvds and hi def movies on my plasma and occasionally play the odd game, i want to get into more gaming and try games like cod4 to play lovely on my 22" monitor .

the GA-P31-DS3L has only 1 ide port, currently i run 2 dvd burners and have each as a master on each ide channel, i often burn to both burners at the same time, will this no longer be possible if i only have 1 ide channel.

also here is my proposed set up please tell me if theres any particular thing here will be creating a problem in performance or compatability.

new hardware

GA-P31-DS3L
core 2 E2xxx
HIS x1900xt 512mb gfx card

ill be using it with these existing parts of my system

XP mce
seasonic 430w psu
1gb ocz pc4400 ram heatsink 2 x 512 dual channel

 

[sare^baw's]

well i was considering the e2200 as its £57 with free delivery and an extra 0.2ghz over the e2180, the gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L mobo i can get for £48 from another place buy something for £2 and get free delivery next day

i just want to be sure that all my hardware is compatable and no particular item is letting my set up down, i know i am limited as i have a htpc but i am surely able to o/c the cpu without going into noisy fancs, i would probably get a zalman cooler or something quiet.

i am happy with the noise level of my htpc so as long as i dont add any noisy fans ill be ok. i have a vf900 on my 6800le so it will be going onto my x1900xt to keep it quiet.

 

[sare^baw's]

I see no problem at all with this set up. I made a post early this morning and have been reading all the posts on the forum here on the E21xx series and have heard nothing but good things if ya oc them.

yes indeed, is the E21xx series different from the E2200 as far as oc'ing goes

 

[sare^baw's]

only £6 difference between the e2200 and the e2180

 

[sare^baw's]

E2180 and with an AC Pro7 it will run at 3.3ghz easily, add to that 2x2Gig PC5400 and you will have a nice system. The E2180 has a x10 multi so very easy to OC.
Built one the other day and its 24 Orthos stable.

hi m8 im gonna order my E2180 today and gigabyte mobo and ac freezer 7 pro, i reckon the 2 x 1gig ram will be enough for my needs.

someone recommended this geil ram to match my mobo im getting CLICKY as some memory modules have problems with some of the gigabyte mobos

 

[sare^baw's]

Your existing RAM wont work. You need DDR2 RAM, you PC4400 is DDR1

thanks mate ill perhaps buy the geil on offer on ocuk at £30 for 2 x 1gb pc6400, pity my old memory wont work more money sigh

 

[sare^baw's]

Remeber that due to the 333fsb and 10 multi on the E2180, you dont need PC6400 Ram as PC5400 will be running at 1:1 if you clock your CPU to 3.3mhz (well 3.33mhz to be exact).

sorry but i dont understand that bit

i get the first bit, are you saying i need to go for pc5400 ram and if so why ?

the gigabyte mobo im getting is fussy with what ram works and that geil ram was recommended to be compatable

 

[sare^baw's]

With that memory you can drop the multi so you could have 400 fsb x 8 multi + 3.2ghz at 1:1. Every little helps

are you saying ill be able to oc my cpu higher if i use pc5400 ram

 

[sare^baw's]

phew im trying to get my head round everything i just read, thanks for all the advice guys, so you reckon go for the pc 6400 ram and the E2140, and bob's yer uncle

 

[sare^baw's]

all this advice is fantastic however im getting recommended the 2140 2160 and 2180

and as im not well clued up on this stuff i am confused as to what i should go for, my cooling will be limited as this is for a HTPC in my living room so i will be happy getting what most people get either 3.2ghz or 3.3ghz.

once i decide on some very quiet cooling solution i will want something that will be quiet/ silent with the fan on low and the htpc under normal use, then when i want more performance i can turn the fan up to keep the cpu cool under load ie gaming and i wint mind the fan noise during this but it does need to be very very quiet under normal htpc use.

 

[sare^baw's]

hi my htpc is a silverstone case LC17

and its on my glass stand below my plasma so i will easily hear any noise, so far i have not had any heat issues with my current set up. zalman 7000 (i think) on the cpu set to low and zalman vf900 on the gfx card set to low, 2 80mm case fans on the rear turned low and the seasonic psu is quiet.

anyhow i have 140mm from the mobo surface to the inside lid so i could get a 120mm fan but this depends how its positioned. there is pleanty of room for a large cooler and fan.

my current zalman hs and fan do not have any model numbers on them, it looks like the 7000 model with 92mm fan, the newer ones fit the socket 478 and the 775 but i suspect mines is the older version. all it has for fitting is 2 small screw holes each side of the hs.

 

[sare^baw's]

ok just ordered my
Mobo Gigabyte GA P31-DS3L = £48 (free del)
Cpu E2160 = £49 (free del)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz ULL DDR2 Dual Channel = £39 (inc del)

i was still not sure which cpu to go for as peoples opinions differed but im sure ill be more than happy with the results.

waiting on my His x1900xt (£60 in MM) coming too and im going to order a fitting kit (£4) for my existing zalman 7000 cooler so it will fit the new 775 cpu.

cant wait

 

[sare^baw's]

good stuff! will be significantly faster than you old p4 thats for sure!
let us know what temps you get with that zalman cooler dude.

yeah no probs will do.

does thermal paste make much difference i have a small tube of artic silver there. or the stock stuff i get with the cpu.