Old vs New

Russs

Russs

Russs

Associate
Joined
30 May 2008
Posts
7
Firstly, don't be put off by my post count; I've been lurking for some time now and found that OcUK is the prime supplier for all my hardware needs! I always consult these forums for any information/news before buying anything anywhere.

My machine can play Crysis at minimum spec at 800x600 at around 14 fps. :eek:

I have never experienced game play at over 25fps at lowest quality, let alone high...and I think its time to change. I have some cash in the bank, which I am reluctant to part with but its necessary!

This is my PC.

Pentium 4 CPU @ 3.2Ghz
1gb of some cheap ram
GeCube Radeon x1300 Pro
Asus Motherboard
WD RaptorX 150gb
WD Caviar 500gb

As you can see from the above, Ive decided in purchasing everything bit by bit, starting from the HDD. My CPU has multi-threading or whatever, so has deceived me into thinking that I have dual core for the past few years!. Time for change.

Looking at the reviews, the best CPU for me would be the Q6600. Its cheap and over-clocks easily (I think I can do it, I've tried it with my P4 a few times :p )

Other than that, I'm stumped. There are just too many choices of graphics cards that I can buy. (I know I know wait till the 18th) And regarding a new motherboard; I know nothing about them, I'l probably just buy one through reading reviews and looking at others who have a Q6600 overclocked well and just buy their mobo.

I'm also clueless about RAM, whats the difference between DDR2 and DDR3? And must the motherboard be the same?

I'm looking for a PC that will be able to handle the likes of Crysis, Call of Duty 4, Assassins Creed and any other upcoming DX10+ Games. All for a reasonable price; I'm hoping to buy the mobo and graphics (and hopefully some ram) for £300 - £400. Fingers crossed prices drop with the new cards on the 18th.

Any advice?
 
- AMD Athlon X2 4200+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2)
- MSI K9N Neo V3 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- OCZ 2GB (2x1024MB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
- HP DVD1040i-B 20x DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black)
- ATI Radeon 3870 XT 512MB GDDR4 HDTV/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express)
- Western Digital 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
- Antec NSK4480 Case
- Antec 380W PSU

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...AMD Athlon X2 4200+ 2.2GHz SILENT DDR2 System


that would do you nice for that price
 
What psu, case and optical drive have you got, you don't need to upgrade your hdd so that's one less thing to budget for. Also have you got an OS you can use?
 
Thanks RizL4, I'l have a look through that.
[edit] It is lacking the Q6600, but then again, how noticeable it the difference between a P4, Dual and quad core CPUs?


umm, I have a thermaltake 450Watt PSU and I will change the case since I've put all sorts of holes into mine to fit fans on it. It buzzes so much. Oh and that's another thing, I'm looking for it to be relatively quiet. Its ridiculous how much nose my current PC makes.
 
Last edited:
have a look at the 7200/8200 wolfdale processors.

ram wise you'll be best going for ddr2.

something like the 8800gt might be ok, what size monitor are you running on ?
 
Right now its a 15" Sony, but I have a +-25" Sony tv with a hdmi and VGA connector which I have used with my PC before, it doesn't seem to support high resolutions however. A new monitor isn't one of my priorities.
 
If you could stretch another £50 asssuming you are re-using the HDD you'd be able to get a decent setup something like:

Asus ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT 512MB - £105.74
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail - £111.61
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) - £62.26
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 - £39.94
Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU - £64.61
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA - £15.26
Antec Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - £35.24

Total: £449.88

Can play all the games you want. There's a few things there you could skimp on to save some money if needed as well but would lose performance. Also 8800GT can be had for another £10 or so.
 
Last edited:
Great, Also, something I should have mentioned before, I am able to claim VAT from all my purchases ;) So take the price before VAT.

Would a Quad core improve loading times/frame rates compared to the Wolfdale?
 
What's your absolute maximum budget? Could get a real nice system for under £500 not including VAT. Could always get a Q6600 and overclock it.
 
Last edited:
You might have had a good deal in Members Market, had your post count been higher, instead of lurking and saved yerself a few extra spondulocks :D But then again the claiming VAT back prob end with a decent system actually :D
 
Lian-Li PC-7B PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black £49.99
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £24.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £114.99
Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU £54.99
Samsung SH-S203D/BEBN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £89.99

Total £401 without vat

You could save some cash on the case and get a Antec 300 but i dont like the look of them :p. Also with a bit more cash u could get a better cooler and mobo to clock your CPU.
 
I'm sure I could get a decent system. Like I said, my budget is not confined to £400. It was only for the mobo and cpu (and maybe graphics card) I have £1300 to spend but am really reluctant to (student, blah blah blah) I'd say £600 tops.

SBD;

Yeah the stuff I really want to get is the Q6600 with the Tuniq Tower - which I hear is very good.

Will I be able to clock the GT to decent speeds? Is it wise to spend that £50 on 64 more stream processors and get a GTS or even a GTX? The OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS Extreme 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) looks really cheap.

Again, I'm relying on reviews and you fellas to help me out here.
 
If you want to spent that much on a GFX card wait till the new cards are out and see what prices they come out at and what performace they bring. They might also significantly knock down the prices of the current cards, there should be some good bargains - especially second hand with people wanting to sell their older cards for the newer ones.
 
A 8800 GTS/X would be pointless with your current Monitor setup, the Res on the TV wouldnt be much more than the Sony 15". If you went down the GTS/X route that would be overkill, if you are definately not going for a higher resoultion monitor. Personally at the price of bigger screen monitors, even a 22" monitor would be a good investment even with a 8800GT card.
 
I'll take that into consideration Vicar.

And neon; absolutely:- I'm not planning to make a purchase until the cards retail.
 
Just wait until the new cards are out but it looks like the GTX280 is going to cost a lot £400+ :O so that leaves the GTX260 which should be less but again performance will be a lot less. If AMD/ATi have got their a$$ in gear then the 4850 should be a really good affordable card which i think should be better than the 9800GTX, but it's hard to tell atm since nothing is concrete .

Even if you don't upgrade your monitor now your graphics card will just last you for ages. You might want to upgrade soon since a 24" can be had for less than £250 :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom