Quad core for £800.

BoomAM · 28 Jun 2007 at 20:17

Hi.
Ive got a challenge for people.
Im fairly certain that in about a month im gonna be upgrading my PC.

Im budgeting £800, and would like some advise on parts.

Im planning on getting the following upto now:
Xeon 3200 @ £287.86
GeIL Value PC6400 2Gb @ £64.61
Asus X1650 256Mb Silent @ £52.86
Samsung 500Gb @ £65.79
Antec P182 Black @ £82.24
Zalman CNPS9700 @ £41.11

That comes to £594.57, leaving roughly £200 for a PSU & Mobo.
Suggestions?

Mobo must have 2x PCI-E x16 slots & 6 SATA ports.

Thanks in advance all.

.

stickroad · 28 Jun 2007 at 20:25

You said you wanted a Mobo that has 2 16x PCI-E slots, by the looks of your GPU your not thinking about going crossifre/sli, out of interest why do you need 2 PCI-E Slots?

Markus123 · 28 Jun 2007 at 20:25

I know you didn't ask for opinions on this but any particular reason you're going for the Xeon 3200 over the Q6600? They're essentially the same (both using a kentsfield core anyway) but the Q6600 is ~£50 cheaper (It'll be closer to £100 cheaper after 22nd July).

Is it for a server?

BoomAM · 29 Jun 2007 at 00:12

Markus123 said:
I know you didn't ask for opinions on this but any particular reason you're going for the Xeon 3200 over the Q6600? They're essentially the same (both using a kentsfield core anyway) but the Q6600 is ~£50 cheaper (It'll be closer to £100 cheaper after 22nd July).

Is it for a server?

Hmm.
Odd, i could have sworn the Xeon was cheaper the other day! lol.
Ah well, theres £50 saved.

stickroad said:
You said you wanted a Mobo that has 2 16x PCI-E slots, by the looks of your GPU your not thinking about going crossifre/sli, out of interest why do you need 2 PCI-E Slots?

The graphics card is a secondary card. My existing X800XL will be going in the system as well. The newer X1650 will run my two 2407s, and the X800XL my telly.
Im not aiming for gaming performance at the moment. Just pure multi-tasking and media performance.
Adding to the system my existing 750Gb of storage space (over 3 drives), and Vista Ultimate, i should have a system that will hopefully run Vista rarther nicely and provide my telly with a proper media interface.
Also, giving me the option of just plonking in a high end graphics card to effectively turn the system into one more than capible of the latest games.

So what mobos & PSUs are recommended?

Ol!ver · 29 Jun 2007 at 00:19

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

The gigabyte is well thought of on here, and I just built my new machine around one. Simple to get running and seem to have plenty of options for when you want to play with it

BoomAM · 29 Jun 2007 at 15:27

That board doesnt have 2x PCI-E x16?

Im leaning towards the Abit IP35 Pro and a Seasonic E+ 650W Silent tbh.

Any opinions?

Egon · 29 Jun 2007 at 15:41

Seasonic = Nice PSU's

BoomAM · 29 Jun 2007 at 16:50

What are they like noise wise?

V|per · 29 Jun 2007 at 17:08

corsair hx psu, 520w will do you, but 620w for future proofing. Quietest psu i have ever worked with...

BoomAM · 30 Jun 2007 at 00:42

So upto now i have the following spec'ed:

Intel C2Q Q6600 @ £250 (Intel price cuts soon so im asuming around that price).
GeIL Value PC6400 2Gb Kit @ £64.61
Asus X1650 256Mb Silent @ £52.86
Samsung 500Gb @ £65.79
Antec P182 Black @ £82.24
Corsair HX 650W @ £91.64
2x Pioneer DVR-112DBK @ £39.92
Akasa PSU Extension Cable @ £4.69
Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 VGA Cooler @ £19.96 (the fan on my X800XL is making a right racket! lol.)
£40 for HSF.
£40 for Logitech MX1000(from elseware).

Total of £882.06
Minus the £170 i should be getting for X2 3800/Abit AN8 Ultra/2Gb DDR/CM Stacker/500W AntecNeoHe/2xLiteon DVDRW.
Comes to £712.06

Adding to the above spec:
X800XL
3x 250Gb HDDs.
2x1Gb GeIL Value DDR2.

Is it recomended getting the two extra fans for the P182, and having them all running at minimum voltages so i get plenty of airflow with not much noise?
What about CPU HSF?

Thanks in advance all.

.

Azza · 30 Jun 2007 at 00:53

Just so you know the Intel C2Q Q6600 will be sub £200 when the pirce cuts come into affect properly.

As for CPU heatsink Tuniq Tower 120?

BAMBI · 30 Jun 2007 at 09:51

If you are going for value ram why not consider the OCUK value ram and save a few more £?

BoomAM · 30 Jun 2007 at 11:01

Azza said:
Just so you know the Intel C2Q Q6600 will be sub £200 when the pirce cuts come into affect properly.

Really?

As for CPU heatsink Tuniq Tower 120?

Quiet? Good cooler?
Havnt read much on it?
Im tempted by the Thermalright Tower Extreme thingy. With the two fans in the P182 being literally right next to the CPU socket, i could probably get away with running the HS without a fan directly on it?

BAMBI said:
If you are going for value ram why not consider the OCUK value ram and save a few more £?

Because i already have 2x1Gb of the GeIL Value sitting next to me.

.

Infact, as im not upgrading till late July anyway, im thinking of getting the RAM and HDD now, as the memorys cheap at the moment, and i can start moving data over to the HDD now, saving me time.

Azza · 30 Jun 2007 at 12:28

BoomAM said:
Really?

Well its at £200 now. Gibbo has said that it will drop by another £30-£40 by the time the 22nd comes around, which is likely becuase its meant to be the same prie as the E6850.

BoomAM said:
Quiet? Good cooler?
Havnt read much on it?
Im tempted by the Thermalright Tower Extreme thingy. With the two fans in the P182 being literally right next to the CPU socket, i could probably get away with running the HS without a fan directly on it?

It meant to be one of the best if not the best you can buy. As for quiet just change the fan and put in a Yate Loon or a Scythe S-flex.

I think the Termalright is better but if you have a Quad Core CPU you will defiantly have to have fans on the heat sink unless you had Deltas inside your P182.

As you can see the Ultra 120 Extreme seems to be the best there is so I would go for that actually.

BoomAM · 30 Jun 2007 at 12:42

Azza said:
Well its at £200 now. Gibbo has said that it will drop by another £30-£40 by the time the 22nd comes around, which is likely becuase its meant to be the same prie as the E6850.

Its at £200 without VAT, and because its on offer though?
So its basically £270 at the moment. So with a £30-£40 reduction, it'll be £230-£240.

As you can see the Ultra 120 Extreme seems to be the best there is so I would go for that actually.

What fan is recommended for the U120E then? The Akasa 'Silent' one i have on my SI-120 at the moment isnt all that silent.

.

Azza · 30 Jun 2007 at 12:49

BoomAM said:
Its at £200 without VAT, and because its on offer though?

What fan is recommended for the U120E then? The Akasa 'Silent' one i have on my SI-120 at the moment isnt all that silent. .

Ah well I can not read but when the 22nd of July comes along it will be sub £200.

Was the E6850 I was thikning about being at £200. That price will drop at bit more by the 22nd of July and the Q6600 is meant to be the same price as that.

For fans I would get either 2 Yate Loons or 2 Scythe S-FLEX fans. Both are better than the Akasa Ambers, they are quieter and move more air. The Scythes are quite expensive.

Scythe fan

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-005-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=4

As for the Yate Loon fans just google 'Yate Loon' in UK search and click the second result. Yate Loons are very very good fans for the price.

BoomAM · 30 Jun 2007 at 13:50

Might go for the Scythe tbh.
What are the two Arctic Cooling 120mms like? Worth getting?

Will the price drop also bag me the two games?
Because if it doesnt, it'd probably still work out cheaper buying the CPU now and getting two games free than what it would cost for the cheaper CPU in a few weeks time and buying SupCom and SC4.