spec help for first timer!

tech inept

tech inept

tech inept

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Joined
30 Dec 2008
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9
Hey, Looking to get the parts together for my first build and could use some advice/suggestions. Ive noticed theres an influx of these threads atm and i did use the "spec me" thread, so hopefully i havent broken any forum rules!



Budget: 600-700 ( the cheaper the better)

Use: Gaming primarily, everyday use and uni work. Would like to be able to play the latest stuff, however money is tight being a student and so would like to try and future proof it a bit.

chosen so far:

Q6600 - Not sure whether i should go for a higher clocked dual core or a quad for gaming, bearing in mind trying not looking to upgrade for quite some time ( age old debate im sure )

4gb ram - not sure on best brand here

4850 - so many brands of this, a little confusing

mobo - whatevers best

PSU - whatevers best

Antec 300

onboard sound will do

hoping to include a 19/20 inch monitor aswell

Optical drive

HDD - 500gb or above, 1tb would be great if it could fit within the budget

As for cooling, I may try to overclock at some point ( nothing hardcore) so not sure whether ill need an after market cpu cooler here.

no need for an OS, got xp

hope i havent forgotten anything, if i have ill edit it in later! Cheers in advance, appreciate it!
 
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Unfortunately if you want to include a monitor, the best I could spec you was an E8200, the Q6600 is a bit more. This is still a good, fast dual core CPU and will get a pretty decent overclock.

You want to go with a minimum of 20" monitor, better resolution and the 4850 will be great at it. The samsung is a great price for what you get.
 
Personally i normally would recommend a highly clocked dual core for gaming. However. As you will be keeping the rig for quite a while it would make more sense to go for a quad and clock that. The cooler that has been recommended for you by 95thrifles is massive overkill for a E5200 but very good for a quad. If you can stretch to it try to find the extra £25 for the Asus P5Q Pro P45 motherboard.
 
pastymuncher said:
Personally i normally would recommend a highly clocked dual core for gaming. However. As you will be keeping the rig for quite a while it would make more sense to go for a quad and clock that. The cooler that has been recommended for you by 95thrifles is massive overkill for a E5200 but very good for a quad. If you can stretch to it try to find the extra £25 for the Asus P5Q Pro P45 motherboard.
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I'm the same, I prefer a faster dual core with gaming, that's the reason I went with the E8400 and overclocked it ;) but if you are keeping it for a while, then see if you can stretch the budget for a Q6600. If you only plan on a mild overclock, the freezer 7 pro will be more than enough to keep it cool.
 
Thanks for taking the time out to post.

i may be able to stretch the budget just a tad.

at pastymuncher: why that mobo over the others, better for a quad or the suggested dual cores? btw, did u mean the artic cooling extreme (95thrifles spec) or the other arctic cooling in ro550's one? Or would either do?

ro55o: Cheers for the info. If im going to be sticking with this build for a while, will that suggested dual core be ok?

95thrifles: if i decided to upgrade to the Q6600 would the mobo still be ok?

any thoughts on case fans, will i be ok with what comes with the antec or will i need additional fans? Also, ive noticed the artic cooling CPU coolers have been getting a bit of stick as of late, anything to be worried about - seen the Bequiet coolers suggested a few times

Was leaning more towards the Q6600 as per my future proofing needs but seems its a bit of a push with a monitor and all ; / Still open to more suggestions/advice however, cheers in advance!
 
tech inept said:
ro55o: Cheers for the info. If im going to be sticking with this build for a while, will that suggested dual core be ok?
Click to expand...

It'll be fine, I've got an E8400 and plan on sticking with it for a while, at least until I can afford to go i7, which won't be soon :p If you feel the need for more speed, then just overclock, it should see 3.6ghz with a decent enough cooler.

The arguement with the quad vs dual is an age old debate. For future proof quad would be better, as more and more programs will start to use 4 cores, but the Q6600 is getting on a bit, and like I said earlier I prefer a faster dual core for gaming. For a real future proof spec, get i7 :p

The motherboard will be fine, the P43 is just a slight downgrade on the P45 boards, they seem to get a good review aswell. It supports the new 45nm multi core CPU's. The one big difference is that it doesn't support crossfire, whereas the P45 pro does.

Be Quiet, as far as I know make power supply's and not coolers. If it's only a small to mid overclock then the artic freezer will be fine, for a bigger overclock, something like a tuniq, thermalright or noctua.

For case fans, people do tend, with the antec 300, to get extra fans. The noctuas are highly regarded as the best, but don't come cheap.
 
Decided to opt for the E8400 instead, can anyone suggest a good mobo for this? Planning to keep it at stock for now ( but may venture into OC'ing at a later date so Mobo would need to acomodate this). Is it ok to stay with the stock cpu cooler if im not planning to Oc it for now?
 
The mobo recomended earlier is fine, its a very competent board, as pastymuncher said if youre thinking of keeping the board a while and think you might want to add a 2nd gfx card to the set up later to make x-fire then yes Id recomend you stretch to the aus P5QPro. And yes if youre not going to OC you can just stick with the stock cooler for now, you can always add an aftermarket one later if you do decide to OC. Enjoy
 
It has more cache for starters, a higher native FSB, clocks higher overall, doesnt need OC'ing out the box to be a good chip now where as the others would, I could go on
 
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