New System Advice

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fox McCloud
  • Start date Start date

Fox McCloud

Fox McCloud

Hi there.
Long time customer here of Overclockers, got my first few systems from them great guys there.

Currently have:
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Barton
ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe
1GB Geil PC3500 RAM
200 + 250GB SATA HDD
GeForce 6600GT
lalalala etc etc.
Its like...3 years old and still going strong, it'll play practically anygame but newer ones, theyre getting lower and lower in settings in order to play :( SupCom comes to a stand still some times.

So,
I'm going to be building a new system soon and I'd just like a little advice on potential really.
I've been a devout follower of AMD for years now, but since Intel has managed to finally make a chip thats any good, I've decided to ditch AMD and come to Intel with the Core 2 Duo ofcourse.

I was planning to get a E6300 but I hear new chips are on the horizon with more cache and goodness galor :) So id like to wait.

Anywho.
I was going to get myself a nice and expensive ASUS board since I do love them to bits, but Ive heard lots of praise for EVGA and looking at their board, it looks rather nice and has good specs toboot, so im gonna get that I think(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-000-EA&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=205).
Once the 6550 arrives I shall make that purchase.

What I am wanting to know is, with this mobo chip combo, what RAM (2GB) should I get to get the best overclocking potential (dont want to go too high, best overclock I can do from standard air cooling).

I hear the current E6300 can get to around E6700 clocks and beyond, will the E6550 do this too ? And its got the higher 1333mhz FSB which the Mobo supports.

I am going to pair this setup with either an Nvidia Geforce 8600 or 8800 too and some nice and shiny bits and bobs. Completly new system.

Anyway, yeh, some advice would be nice on the RAM..or any recommendations on a better Mobo-Ram combo would be cool.

Thanks
 
CPU = e4300, e6300, e6600 - the e6320 looks nice, but not out yet.
Mobo = DS3/4, P5B, P5N 650 SLi
RAM = cheap 6400 left at stock, or overclock with cellshock. 2GB a must
PSU = Corsair 520W, Seasonic M12 600W, Tagen, Enermax, Antec
GPU = It has to be the 8800 GTS 320MB.

How's that?
 
Welcome to the forums. The EVGA (and the whole 680i chipset) is very expensive for what it does, I'd suggest either an Asus P5N-E 650 SLi or a Gigabyte DS3/DS4 instead as they cost at least £50 less and are very good for overclocking a 6300. The Asus supports 1333mhz but the Gigabytes don't.

Ram-wise it depends on your budget, at the cheaper end Geil PC6400 C4 is fairly decent as is OCZ PC2-6400, both are the same price. For slightly higher end Cellshock PC6400C4 are pretty good I believe since OcUK is still selling the ones based on the Micron chips so they should overclock well. Really someone else who knows more about Ram would be better to advise though.

I'd go with the 8800GTS if you can stretch that far.

If you want to post a budget and what you need then I'm sure someone can specify something suitable. :)
 
My budget is around £1000, I can stretch to £1500 if needs must.
I just put one together for 1500 lol.

I need a good combo so I can have a 6550 and some ram to back it up. Cellshock ey..will have to take a look. I am wanting the 1333mhz FSB mind.

Will do some research.
 
Well if that is your budget..... a 680i is a must


Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £56.99
(£66.96) £113.98
(£133.92)
Team Xtreem 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC2-8000C5 1000MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXDD2048M1000HC5DC) £189.99
(£223.24) £189.99
(£223.24)
Gainward BLISS GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £329.99
(£387.74) £329.99
(£387.74)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £169.99
(£199.74) £169.99
(£199.74)
EVGA nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £144.99
(£170.36) £144.99
(£170.36)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)

total £1200


You are getting 640gb of Sata 2 hard drive. The best Core 2 Duo for the money (with 4mb cache), a 8800GTX a 680i motherboard 2gb of 1000mhz ram, 620w psu....

This would blow you away.

p.s you could get this at least £300 cheaper if you look in the right places ;)
 
I would go with
Abit Fatality F-I 90HD Motherboard £71
Intel core 2 duo E4300 "If you buy a 6300 now it's allendale so may aswell get 4300 with the higher multiplier."£99
Geil® Value DDR2 1.0GB PC6400 £52
GeForce 7600GT 256MB DDR3 £65-85 or if you want high res 8800gts
Tuniq tower 120 £35
Corsair 520Hx £67
total cost around £389 -£489-£600 dependant on card/ram you want

everyone recommends getting 2 gigs but you only really need that for
a limited amount of games if you want max details etc f.e.a.r bf2
"bf2142 runs smooth on my 2800xp 7600gs 1 gig pc3200 @1024-768"
it's more optimized than bf2.having said that i myself will be getting 2 gigs when i can afford it.
Most games i play run fine with 1 gig i would'nt spend a huge at the moment
especially with the arrival of the new p35 later this year i'd buy a cheapish
core 2 duo setup there isnt going to be a huge difference between a 4300 at 3.0ghz and a 6600 at 3.4 ghz certainly not worth the extra £.
i think the above rig will be just fine for at least a year and just upgrade with a new dx10 card as and when viable with the option of getting 2 gig ram.
I changed my mind last second was going to get a ds3
but i've heard the abit is good just needs a new bios.

Now is not the time one can get a board like the asus a7n8x and have it last
3 years so i'd go budget for sure new socket intel will be here sooner than
we think.
My old rig which i had a week ago.
asus a7n8x deluxe rev2.0
Barton 2800 @2.3ghz
enermax 365w noisetaker
1 gig ddr 400
7600 gs
:Notice how i've just recommended my own hardware :)
 
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Regarding RAM - 2 gig is pretty much essential these days.

Online games especially thrive on ram but most games will start to push a 1gig system.
 
2 gig essential? i disagree name what its essential for other than bf and fear.
Have you researched this ? most games dont ever go over 1 gig memory in use.
It's a common myth that games need 2 gigs.I think battlefield 2 is what started it all.Bf2142 runs smooth with 1 gig for me it's the engine that chugs on bf2 but it's more optimized in bf2142 thus it runs smooth on 1 gig.
 
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CompMan said:
2 gig essential? i disagree name what its essential for other than bf and fear.
Have you researched this ? most games dont ever go over 1 gig memory in use.
It's a common myth that games need 2 gigs.I think battlefield 2 is what started it all.Bf2142 runs smooth with 1 gig for me it's the engine that chugs on bf2 but it's more optimized in bf2142 thus it runs smooth on 1 gig.
Click to expand...

Secondlife
EQ2
IL2 can get quite memory intensive.
SWG

It tends not to be needs 2gig but more than 1gig is tight. At the moment my PC is sitting on 800K ram used. with EvE-Online running + 2 instances of F@H. If I JUST run SL, EQ2, IL2 or SWG it pushes 1gig to the limit, often past it.

I got 2 gig simply because 1gig keeps getting used up.
 
for the price ram is atm get the 2 gigs u wont regret it..... altough 4 gig is a waste atm for a gaming machine
 
I also agree that 2Gig is essential, and especially for Vista too.

Some sound advice, thank you very much guys.

Anyone know the release date of the E6550 ?

--edit--
Also just a quick unrelated question.
Recently my system, on boot, will tell me that my gfx card is not getting enough power and has powered it down somewhat to protect it. One card has already fried and i fear for the replacement (its not mine lol). Is it the PSU thats on its way out ? :( I think it is...simple really when I think of it. Poop.
 
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Check all the power connections into the card are ok, that includes reseating them and making sure the nothing has moved.
 
Yah, all secure, changed card and the cable too.

Im gonna buy a clearnace card from oc.uk i think a 7800 or something, should give me a little boost 'till the new system is purchased.
Gonna have to buy a new power supply too now :(
 
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