Some advice please?

Dave26

Dave26

Dave26

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Joined
27 Dec 2008
Posts
53
I'm looking at building a computer for general use and some light gaming. I've got about £650 to spend. Im looking at the spec below, and would just like some advice on whether I could get more for my money?

compy-1.jpg


Also i'm going to need a wifi pci card, any reccomendations?

Thanks.
 
Would I be better sticking with the e8400, or going for the e8500 or stretching to the q6600? I will probably do some light overclocking in the future, but not for a few months at least. I was thinking the dual core would be easier for a beginner, as it'll run cooler?
 
duals are slightly cooler,

a gamer it always had to be core 2

games dont use 4 cores, there designed for video encoding etc...so that would be a waste of money

stick with the E8400 with an AF7 Pro attached to that chip you can easily get 3.6Ghz + with ease.! which will blow any game out the water.
 
not sure if the asus mobos still have problems with the ocz memory.

what resolution you likely to be gaming at if its on a 22" screen may be worth going with the 4850.
 
Im just going to be using my 37" 720p television for now, I know its not ideal but i'll probably buy a monitor further down the line. Would you recommend changing the graphics card? Should I buy different ram?
 
I have Asus board and OCZ RAM and no issues here, that being said its not a guarantee you wont get any, I dont think OCZ are on Asus' official list of supported RAM, so if you're worried you could change it, would'nt hurt - but OCZ is good RAM
Yeah you should upgrade gfx card, you can get a 4850 for less than you're paying for that 9800 and the 4850 is quite a bit better I believe, a 4870 or 260 are even better but would mean stretcing your budget quite a bit
you ask about wifi, what router have you got? If you've got one yet. The best ones to get are N-series, but theres no point getting a N series card unless your router is N series too, unless you think you might change your router in near future. Linksys is good make whether you get N-series or normal 54Mbps G series, Ive never had any problems with them
 
Wouldnt it be worth while going for a proccessor that isnt retail if you are buying a new heatsink?

Not sure if you would save much but dont see the need to have another heatsink there
 
I'm going to go with a 4850. I'd rather change the make of the ram, just incase of any issues with the asus board, which make should i go for instead? Around about the same price would be nice :)
 
Right, I built the above system just over a year ago now and upgrade-itis has struck. In the end I went for the spec in the screenshot except I went for a 4850 instead of the 9800, and I got 2x2gb ddr2-800 CL4 Ballistix instead of the ocz ram. I'm thinking about getting a 3 screen setup sometime in the near future so that needs to be considered, although i'm not looking at monitors right now. I'm happy with my hdds (dont fancy ssd) and disc drive, and I didn't overclock the E8400. For around 2 to 3 hundred quid, what do you lot reckon?
 
If you are not overclocking the only decent CPU upgrade would be to get a Q9550 or Q9650 quad core but these are quite expensive both brand new and secondhand.

You could get an HD5850 1GB to replace your HD4850 but TBH I would only do this if you are having performance issues ATM.
 
Dave26 said:
Right, I built the above system just over a year ago now and upgrade-itis has struck. In the end I went for the spec in the screenshot except I went for a 4850 instead of the 9800, and I got 2x2gb ddr2-800 CL4 Ballistix instead of the ocz ram. I'm thinking about getting a 3 screen setup sometime in the near future so that needs to be considered, although i'm not looking at monitors right now. I'm happy with my hdds (dont fancy ssd) and disc drive, and I didn't overclock the E8400. For around 2 to 3 hundred quid, what do you lot reckon?
Click to expand...

Your CPU is still decent.

Buy a new graphics card, a 5850 would be a good upgrade.
 
Dude, overclock that badboy! I got mine to 4.5GHz very easily, and you should get 4GHz without ANY issues. Hell, you can usually get 3.6GHz without making any voltage adjustments (and you have a great board for doing it too). a 50% OC is definately worth it and makes a noticeable difference. BC2 maxes out my cpu at 4.5GHz so it's definately worth doing to avoid bottlenecking your new card. Plus, it's free performance. Combine a good OC with a 5850 and you'll be well sorted.

EDIT: you may be limited by your RAM speed, but you'll get 3.6GHz without having to OC the RAM at all, and might even make 3.8-3.9GHz with a bit of a push.
 
Devrij said:
Dude, overclock that badboy! I got mine to 4.5GHz very easily, and you should get 4GHz without ANY issues. Hell, you can usually get 3.6GHz without making any voltage adjustments (and you have a great board for doing it too). a 50% OC is definately worth it and makes a noticeable difference. BC2 maxes out my cpu at 4.5GHz so it's definately worth doing to avoid bottlenecking your new card. Plus, it's free performance. Combine a good OC with a 5850 and you'll be well sorted.

EDIT: you may be limited by your RAM speed, but you'll get 3.6GHz without having to OC the RAM at all, and might even make 3.8-3.9GHz with a bit of a push.
Click to expand...

I think i'm going to look at overclocking! I've got the freezer 7 pro and two fans in the front of my case, would that be enough cooling?

Should I look at replacing my exisiting graphics card or adding another? Ideally would like to connect three monitors by dvi, rather than displayport (looking at monitors around £170 and 24" so they don't have displayports), or would be using converters possible? I'm not too up to date with this if i'm honest.

Is it worth upgrading my ram?
 
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