Spec going in the right direction??

Gepetto

Gepetto

Gepetto

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5 Apr 2008
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Deepest, Darkest, Essex.
Right....first of all, sorry about the "another spec" thread. :) I have frequented the Forum for a little while now, to get some ideas, and to take advantage of the knowledge available, as I know nuffink!!

This has led me (slowly) to the spec outlined below. Sorry, it's in writing, that's 'cos I dunno how to transfer a printscreen. :o

Q6600
Asus P5Q Pro Intel
Corsair 4GB XMS2
Samsung Spinpoint F1 500GB
Corsair HX520 Modular PSU
Antec 300 Case
OcUK Geforce 8800GT 512MB

Now, I thought everything was going swimmingly, then the new graphics cards hit the market. That was the first point, which I assumed wouldn't be a problem as I could just switch. Question is, which one??

I'm leaning towards the ATI Radeon 4870, but it's a bit more money obviously. Is it worth it?

Also, now I'm thinking, is the Q6600 becoming long in the tooth? :eek: I want my PC to last a while, so would a newer chip/MB be worth considering?

I would like a PC that will play the very latest games to their full potential on my 22" screen running at 1680 X 1050, as I think that would give me a reasonable lifespan. I would value your thoughts and input.

Andy.
 
Do you actually feel the need to upgrade your graphics card,is the 8800gt finding it hard to run your games?

Umm personally i can see the q6600 lasting me till the next chipset

~Slash
 
personally i would leave it as it is, as it's a powerful system, as above if the gfx card isn't upto powering the games you want then concider an upgrade
 
when you say 4870, i take it you mean the 4850? it's the 4850 that's a bit more than an 8800GT (at £117) and it's better. The 4850 is worth the higher cost.

why did you decide on a quad? what do you use your pc for?

to transfer a printscreen:
take the shot
paste into paint and save
go to an image hosting site (eg imageshack, photobucket, tinypic) i like photobucket myself, you get an account that keeps all your images with links
get the code that is the direct link to the image- copy it
paste code into your post, write
after it
voila, your purdie picachure.
 
Thanks guys, esp Ben for the explanation on adding pics. Ta. :D

The PC is one I want to build, not my current setup (which came out of the Ark, so to speak) and it will be my first build. :eek: I'm looking at it being as future proof as possible (difficult to quantify that really, as it's a constantly changing marketplace) henceforth the queries.

I'm looking at the ATI 4870 as being the step up from the 4850, although I appreciate that the more comparable, pricewise, is the 4850. Any opinions on whether it would be worth the extra?

I have decided, eventually, on the quad core 6600, as opposed to the likes of the dual core 8400, simply because I believe that more and more games will start utilising multiple cores over the next couple of years. I may be wrong on this, but when I look at the requirements for Assassin's Creed and Crysis even now, I wonder what the new games are going to need.

My PC is used for gaming, surfing, and home office work (including my personal pictures and editing thereof), nothing heavy duty, and I'm looking at a budget of around £700-£800, tower only. I do want to get into overclocking, as it will give me great satisfaction to gain the knowledge to run my PC at its optimum capabilty, so I will include cooling.
 
ok hows this:

Capture-49.jpg


the cooler for OCing same for the mobo.

also the extra fan because the antec 300 does not come with a 120mm intake fan at the front.
 
Thanks Shaffa. It looks as though I'll base my choices on the Q6600, and ATI 4870, from now on. Sorry Phoenix. :D

A few details are different to the items I've chosen, namely the Ram, MB, cooling, and additional fans. I had considered the Corsair, as opposed to the G Skill or the Geil, but have no experience of any of them.

Any particular reason you prefer the G Skill, and is the P5Q-E better than the P5Q Pro?

I had thought to go Noctua NH-U12P for the cooler and Noctua NF-P12 for the additional fans, based on reports of how quiet they are, and I did look at the Antec 900/1200 because of the fans, but decided on the simpler looks of the 300.
 
Watch your Q6600 idling for next 1,5year and then being too slow to run anything new that supports it :P.


Anyways, GeiL Black Dragon is brilliant memory, I can recommend G.Skills as well.
Aint been happy with the Corsair XMS too much on the other hand, tho there are some new models out now so no idea about those.

And I would definitely consider getting BIGGER case.
The small ones are pain to get any decent airflow/cable management in.
So if you don't care about your case taking extra 10cm on top and 5on side get one ;), it will run cooler and let you upgrade more and easier.
 
PhoenixUK said:
And I would definitely consider getting BIGGER case.
The small ones are pain to get any decent airflow/cable management in.
So if you don't care about your case taking extra 10cm on top and 5on side get one ;), it will run cooler and let you upgrade more and easier.
Click to expand...

Size is not really an issue, but I haven't compared measurements in any way at all, just noted that the larger GPU's fit in the 300. Cooler, and therefore quieter, would be good, so what would you recommend I look at?

P.S. Do you think the 8400 will outlast the quad cores. Genuine question, as I'm not fully convinced, one way or the other, yet. Always good to get opinions, and both seem good chips.
 
neocon said:
whats the point of quad core?

wolfdales with larger L2 cache are prob better
Click to expand...

Whilst that is obviously an opinion, could you elaborate on your reasoning.

As far as I can see the main argument against quads (as opposed to Dual) seems to be that they are not fully utilised (by the majority of users) at present. I tend to think that programs will start to use more cores over the next couple of years, so I am therefore leaning towards the 6600. Even though what I use my PC for, at this stage, would be better catered to by a fast dual core.
 
Gepetto said:
Whilst that is obviously an opinion, could you elaborate on your reasoning.

As far as I can see the main argument against quads (as opposed to Dual) seems to be that they are not fully utilised (by the majority of users) at present. I tend to think that programs will start to use more cores over the next couple of years, so I am therefore leaning towards the 6600. Even though what I use my PC for, at this stage, would be better catered to by a fast dual core.
Click to expand...

Well the thing about quads is probably exactly as I've said, gaming wise you will see your extra 2 cores idling (or all 4 working but only on 50-60%) in 19/20 titles for the next 1,5year or so.

Then after that maybe most of the titles will be able to fully utilize all 4 cores but then your PC will be old already and won't cut it with all the new technologies ( 40nm quads at 3.5ghz+ stock with better architecture, triple channel DDR3 , maybe even DDR4 ).

If you think about it, dual cores where quite new just a while ago, E6600 costed like 250quid just over a year ago, do you see any of them lasting 3-4yrs ?

Nowadays with the speed of new stuff coming out I would say it's safer/better to buy new PC every 1yr, max 1,5yr.

It's not anymore the days where your 100mhz pentium with 16mb ram lasted for 4yrs!

---------------------------------------------------

Well I can recommend most of the thermaltake ranges tho many ppl doesnt like them.

If you want it silent you should take a look at the Antec P182, the most silent case I've seen so far.

Other might prefer some of the Lian-Li or Coolermaster ranges but I would say the good ones from those start at 120gbp+.
However, a good case in my opinion is essential and you will probably keep it for next upgrade.
 
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