Future Proofed System

KrisNZ

KrisNZ

KrisNZ

Associate
Joined
15 Jun 2007
Posts
40
Hello OCUK peoples,

I have decided to finally go for a new build this year and would like opinions and ideas for a new system. I am looking at keeping the price below 800 pounds but want the system to easily upgraded in the future in the form of more HD, new GPU, Ram and new GPU when they come along. What I would like to know is: (I know little about this stuff and going for my first build as well)

A. - Whats the best priced PSU that will last and will work with future GPU cards.

B. - Whats the best 8800GT/S card out for value and performance? Is the 9 series a better option? (Just need a card for COD 4, FOW and CSS ATM running them at optimum FPS)

C. - Best Mother Board around (Should I go DDR3?) for future proofing.

Below is a list of parts I am thinking about (purely from reviews and mucking around on the OC site). Are they feasible?

Case - Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black)

PSU - Corsair 750W MPSU-750TX ATX12V v2.2 Power Supply Unit 5 year manufacturer's warranty

HD - 500GB Hitachi Deskstar HDT725050VLA360 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM Hard Drive

MB - Asus P5K Premium WiFi-AP P35 1333FSB DDR2 PCI-E Motherboard

Mem - OCZ 4GB Performance Gold Edition DDR2 PC2-6400 (2x2 GIG) Dual Kit P.Code XTC (5-5-518) OCZ2G8004GK

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Socket 775 2.40 GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB Quad Core - GO Stepping

GPU - Asus GeForce 8800GT 512MB PCI-E 2.0(x16) 1800MHz GDDR3, GPU 600MHz 2xDual Link DVI-I/HDTV HDCP Fan Cooling Graphics Card

CDW - LG GSAH62NBAL SATA High Speed DVD+RW 6x CLV 8x ZCLV Black with beige bezel Retail Box

Main thing is that I want the cost under 800 and that the system is future proofed. Unlike my current disaster.
 
This is actually quite an interesting question for me (i'm looking at a new machine soon and struggling with some of the same questions).

A: Personally I'm fairly fond of Antec PSU's, although I believe the Corsair is pretty good, and the Seasonic is one of the best.

B: I'm not sure (i'm looking at an ati 3870)

C: I like Asus boards, but i'm currently thinking DDR3 whilst more future proof is at such a premium it's not worth it (you can buy 4gb of good DDR2 ram for about £70, the same as DDR 3 will cost nearly £250 or so, which is about the cost of a new motherboard and ram in a year's time - for the same overall cost of a DDR 3 motherboard/ram you could get 2-3 times the ram on a DDR2 motherboard).
 
The thing is, there really is no such thing as future proofing as far as the cpu and motherboard is concerned. Nehalem will be out at the end of the year and is a completely different socket compared to the current Intel cpu's. A Q6600 is in no way future proof as the new Q9300/9450/9550 quads are going to be released soon. To answer your questions the best i can:-

A. To future proof a psu i certainly would'nt go less than the Corsair HX620w. If you go for a smaller psu then you may end up needing a more powerful one if you ever upgrade or go for multiple graphics cards.

B. The 8800GT is a cracking card and i really do not think that the 8800GTS is worth the price premium for the little performance gains. Just get the cheapest GT you can find. They all have very good performance at stock speeds.

C. If you want the latest mobo then i would wait for the X48 boards. Saying that the P5K P35 is a damn fine board.

Your choices of components are good and i agree with Werewolf about the memory. In my mind the DDR3 is just not worth it. DDR2 is at an unbelieveably low price at the moment. A year ago you were looking at £120+ for a decent 2GB kit of PC2-6400. Now it is in the mid £20's. I certainly would'nt buy a Q6600 at the moment though due to the Q9***'s just about to be released. They will be faster, use less power and will not run as hot as the Q6600.
 
The general opinion on DDR3 memory is that it's not really going to be needed untill the next socket change comes from intel, which is looking to be sometime in 2009. As things are right now, there's hardly any gain over good quality DDR2, and the price difference between them could get you an 8800GT!

As far as motherboards go, the reveiws I've read over the past few months all appear to say that there's not much difference between X38 and X48 as things stand.
 
How much would the new X48 Boards go for?

So my components are ok?

.....and best bet is stick with the GT and wait for CPU (or what is a good interim measure/when are the Q9's out?)

Thanks for the advice.


Oh and are sound cards really worth it?
 
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Nobody knows how much X48 will be. For the top boards such as the Foxconn Black Ops with all it's many accessories i would imagine £250+. Maybe around £150-170 for the low end boards. Just guessing though.

The Q9300 will run at 2.5Ghz with 6Mb of shared cache, Q9450 will run at 2.66Ghz and the Q9550 will run at 2.83Ghz and both will have a whopping 12Mb of shared cache. If you are clocking then you need to know that they have 7.5x, 8x and 8.5x multipliers respectively so you will need a motherboard capable of high fsb's. ETA for them is around the 10th of this month.

Yes your spec is fine. In fact it's very good. I personally think that a soundcard is better than onboard and i am sure quite a few will agree.

***EDIT*** I just noticed that there are three X48 boards up on the website for pre-order and they range from £215 to £258. I would imagine that there shall be some cheaper ones coming along though.
 
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You've already got a pretty great spec. As has already been said, you can't really future proof the Mobo/CPU/Mem so just go for the best value at the moment.

That being said, it's reasonable to expect a case and PSU to last a few builds so worth putting money into them which you already have done. PSU wise, I love Corsair - mine performs great and is pretty much silent.
 
R4z0r said:
You've already got a pretty great spec. As has already been said, you can't really future proof the Mobo/CPU/Mem so just go for the best value at the moment.

That being said, it's reasonable to expect a case and PSU to last a few builds so worth putting money into them which you already have done. PSU wise, I love Corsair - mine performs great and is pretty much silent.
Click to expand...

Agree with above though a Corsair HX 620 would be fine, not sure the TX series is quite as clean with the power and since a HX620 will power a couple of 3870X2's and an overclocked Quad you're unlikely to need a lot more power in the next couple of years unless you have serious overclocking ambitions

If you do then you better have a wind tunnel in you case since 600W of pure heat takes a lot of keeping cool.

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The only true future proof system....
 
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