How out of touch do I feel !!!

[Egon]

I used to consider myself "up to date" with modern hardware but with work and varying things I've pretty much lost touch over the last year or 2 !

Its been hard work trying to spec myself up a new PC but I think i've managed it and the final part in the jigsaw is a GFX card, this part always seems to be the hardest I've got about £100 - £150 to spend, as far as I can tell in this range i'm looking at the Ati x1900 or the Nvidia 7900-7950 range? Does that seem fair? What is damn confusing though is the whole GT, GTO, XT etc. they tag on the end of the card name, I have no idea in what each means and which is better, doesn't really help when your as out of touch as I feel right now.

Anway I was considering these, they're all B-Grade cos I thought i'd get better value for money there, maybe, maybe not I just don't know:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-077-XF
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-070-MS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-062-CO

How do these look? Or if you can suggest better alternatives that would be nice !

 

[Mad_Jay]

Save up abit more and get a 8800GTS for less than £200

Whats the rest of your specs ?

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Save up abit more and get a 8800GTS for less than £200

Agreed, 320mb 8800 GTS is sub £200, is next gen and destroys all those cards.

 

[Egon]

Whats the rest of your specs ?

This is what I was thinking of putting together. Notice its mostly mid range which is pretty much my price range.

RAM
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NQ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit - £100

MB
Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) - £80

CPU
Intel CPU Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz - £190

Save up abit more and get a 8800GTS for less than £200

Possibility but more than I want to spend !

 

[LoadsaMoney]

If u r in the UK then u cold try these ********

Remove the name as well, not allowed either.

 

[ljt]

maybe drop the cpu to an E6300 and overclock it slightly, although it'll be fine at stock, this will give you the extra for the 8800 GTS 320Mb

 

[gt_junkie]

maybe drop the cpu to an E6300 and overclock it slightly, although it'll be fine at stock, this will give you the extra for the 8800 GTS 320Mb

I agree! This will be your most effective upgrade route! Any x1950 or 7950 can't hold a candle to 8800. Incidentally i'm a 7950GX2 owner.

The e6300 will just need a bit more coaxing for higher clocks compared to the e6600 but you won't regret that if it means you can afford an 8800gts!

gt

 

[Slinwagh]

If u r in the UK then u cold try these **********

I think you should remove the competitor name sharpish.

 

[Egon]

Thats not a bad idea! How much overclocking can the stock cooler handle on the 6300, and is the motherboard above going to be ok with OC'ing?

If the stock cooler isn't OK I guess an OEM chip is the best way forward (are OEM chips available on the 6300?) with a new cooler.

 

[melbourne720]

maybe drop the cpu to an E6300 and overclock it slightly, although it'll be fine at stock, this will give you the extra for the 8800 GTS 320Mb

Or even a e4300

 

[Egon]

Or even a e4300

Processing power is quite important to me and I think for the £7-8 price difference between the 4300 and the 6300 i'd be off with the 6300.

Still, need some more info on my last post first though before I make a decision

 

[melbourne720]

Fair point about the price difference (it is tiny) but the e4300 and the e6300 are pretty much the same chip. One has a 9x multiplier and a 800MHz FSB, and one has a 6x multi and a 1066MHz FSB.

The 6300 can get up to 3GHz on air, with relative ease, on a lot of motherboards (notably the DS3, DS4, P5B, P5N 650SLi...). Many have gone further.

 

[ljt]

Thats not a bad idea! How much overclocking can the stock cooler handle on the 6300, and is the motherboard above going to be ok with OC'ing?

If the stock cooler isn't OK I guess an OEM chip is the best way forward (are OEM chips available on the 6300?) with a new cooler.

i cant really say what it'll be like on the mobo, although i'm sure it'll clock fine. You'd easily reach e6600 clock speed and above with the 6300, plus you'll have a much better graphics card, so hopefully wouldnt need to clock the 6300 to its limits etc

 

[Egon]

i cant really say what it'll be like on the mobo, although i'm sure it'll clock fine. You'd easily reach e6600 clock speed and above with the 6300, plus you'll have a much better graphics card, so hopefully wouldnt need to clock the 6300 to its limits etc

I'm assuming stock cooler won't be good enough? What sort of cooler am I looking at to reach 6600 performance?

 

[iv-tecman]

I'm assuming stock cooler won't be good enough? What sort of cooler am I looking at to reach 6600 performance?

Scythe

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-005-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=821

Or Arctic Freezer Pro 7 - a lot cheaper as well.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-017-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=821

Using a Freezer Pro 7 myself, and it fits easy, and comes with arctic silver compound... On a E6600 using ASUS Q Fan control, I never see it go about 31c. If I ramp the fan up, it can drop to 24 idle. Under load no more then 36c. C2D run quite cool stock anyhow. Stock cooler is not too bad, try with it, if it runs too hot, upgrade the cooler then perhaps to save cost?

I also recommend you save for the 8800 GTS. Very good GPU for the money. Not a lot that GFX won't run...

 

[melbourne720]

That's good temps with an AC 7 Pro - is that the core temp or the socket temp?

 

[Raikiri]

If u r in the UK then u cold try these ********

You could try reading the FAQ

e4300 paired with the G.Skill, Geil or OCZ 6400 ram and the Asus 650i board or Gigabyte DS3 would go well with an 8800GTS 320mb.

Cooler wise the AF7 pro is very good but you're better off with the Scythe Ninja on this week only.

 

[iv-tecman]

That's good temps with an AC 7 Pro - is that the core temp or the socket temp?

Core.

Review of the Freezer Pro 7 here -

http://www.hardware-review.net/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2333

Motherboard temps are around 21c, sometimes after a heavy gaming session, 24c overall a decent cooler..

If the ninja is on sale though, that is meant to be an even better cooler. The freezer 7 pro tends to pop of the motherboard mounts if you don't screw the top clips around really tight, I noticed it JUST before I turned my system on for the first time... Yikes..