Need help with Spec!!

Naan_H · 2 Apr 2007 at 14:56

Hi all,

a mate of mine is upgrading his pc for games, and wants a Core 2 Duo. Ive been an AMD boy for a while and havent kept upto date with the latest intel offerings. All i know is that C2D whoops AMD's ass at the mo!

I know that the Core 2 duo E6600 is the CPU to get for him but im not sure on other components, especially motherboard and RAM. he only has a 17 inch monitor and is not upgrading it for a while so i advised him not to go SLI or crossfire, as i think it would really be a waste on a small monitor.

Other components needed are:

Graphics card: ( im thinking any of the 8800gts 320MB variety)
HDDs for a RAID setup: 2 x 250gb Seagate 7200.10 SATAII

He says he has a budget of £700 - £800 although i dont really think he needs to spend that much for what he needs!

So suggestions for a motherboard and 2GB RAM as he will be overclocking the system to get the most of his C2D ( i have no idea which chipset is the one to get) please!

Your responses will be much appreciated!

semi-pro waster · 2 Apr 2007 at 15:13

I'd probably opt for something like this, you didn't mention the PSU so if you don't need a new one it comes in at around £70 but a solid PSU is important for a good overclock.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £51.99
(£61.09) £51.99
(£61.09)
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink £30.99
(£36.41) £30.99
(£36.41)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £179.99
(£211.49) £179.99
(£211.49)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £101.99
(£119.84) £101.99
(£119.84)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £157.99
(£185.64) £157.99
(£185.64)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Sub Total : £652.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
Vat : £116.00
Total : £778.88

Naan_H · 2 Apr 2007 at 15:29

thanks for the recommendations there, im pretty sure hes got a decent enermax PSU but ill look into it...

Is it really worth getting the SLi mobo even tho he only has a 17inch monitor? I only really thought SLi is worth it on a big 22 to 24inch monitor at high resolutions......Are there any good non-SLi overclocking boards?

EDIT i guess at that price the ASUS P5N is worth it

semi-pro waster · 2 Apr 2007 at 15:42

The Asus P5N-E is a good motherboard and overclocks pretty well, remember SLi is just a feature, you don't have to use it and I certainly wouldn't be bothering with a 17" monitor. However if you want another recommendation that doesn't have the option then the Asus P5B is another good overclocking motherboard based on the 965 chipset at around the same price but it doesn't support 1333mhz FSB so not quad core compatible.

Naan_H · 2 Apr 2007 at 15:45

I think the Asus P5N is the way to go as it overclocks well, and you're right he doesnt have to go SLi but the option is there i guess. he originally only wanted 2 x 250GB 7200.10 but i think ill upgrade them to 2 x 320GB's. Other than that it seems it fits the budget well, thanks for your help.