Spec me cpu/ram/mobo bundle

MikeHiow

MikeHiow

MikeHiow

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26 Oct 2004
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I'm looking at upgrading my current (cheap) E6300/4GB ram/Asus P5K setup, and having not followed hardware at all for many years, I've no idea where to go now.

I'm looking for something with good value - this system at 2.8GHz is perfectly usable, but with the overclocking, and mixed cheap ram comes unreliability, so it is a good excuse to upgrade.

I guess around £300 would be ideal, less is even better but I am willing to go more if it means better value (If this is the case, could you kindly explain it to me? :P )

I suspect in the persuit of value, overclocking needs to be a consideration. Despite my previous comments, this is something I'm willing to do, as long as it can be done reliably.

FWIW, I currently have an Pre-clocked ATI 4890.

Oh, what I will say is more cores the better - I do a lot of development work, and as such run virtual machines. I would like a minimum of four (I've no idea if these i* chips have more these days?)

Thanks in advance :)
 
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Hi, if you can stretch your budget slightly - for a little extra you could get this:

oc.jpg
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £141.98
(£118.32) £141.98
(£118.32)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £60.67
(£50.56) £60.67
(£50.56)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £38.99
(£32.49) £38.99
(£32.49)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 High Performance CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/939/AM2/AM2+) £26.54
(£22.12) £26.54
(£22.12)
Sub Total : £223.49
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £46.60
Total : £279.59


Six core cpu, a good heatsink for overclocking too.
 
Yep, £80 over budget without explaining why its worth that £80. Thanks all the same.

Stulid, how does that spec compare to an equivalent intel system in terms of performance, what is it comparable to? By the time I've sold my few bits, that'd only cost me £150 so provisionally seems like an absolute bargain. Also, you mention overclocking, is this a processor/board combo that is well documented for overclocking? I don't want to be doing it all on my own - my Q6600 was a gem with plenty of guides giving you a great head start.

Should I really be looking at 3x2GB for ram to take advantage of the tripple channel with DDR3? Or do I have that wrong?
 
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MikeHiow said:
Yep, £80 over budget without explaining why its worth that £80. Thanks all the same.

Stulid, how does that spec compare to an equivalent intel system in terms of performance, what is it comparable to? By the time I've sold my few bits, that'd only cost me £150 so provisionally seems like an absolute bargain. Also, you mention overclocking, is this a processor/board combo that is well documented for overclocking? I don't want to be doing it all on my own - my Q6600 was a gem with plenty of guides giving you a great head start.

Should I really be looking at 3x2GB for ram to take advantage of the tripple channel with DDR3? Or do I have that wrong?
Click to expand...

To be honest, a newer Sandy bridge i5 2400 would waste it - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=cp-362-in&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1275

but the motherboard for amd systems is a lot cheaper and will overclock like a champ, the h67 cheap intel chipsets for sandybridge dont allow overclocking i believe, you need the more expensive p67 chipset for that, killing your budget.

this link - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/147?vs=144 compares that cpu against the similarly priced i5 650

this link is a 1055t @4ghz - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-phenom-ii-x6-1055t-overclocking.html

If you look at the ocuk bundles with the H67 chipset, notice that they arnt supplied overclocked, because im sure the H67 cant.
 
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Yeah, the description is a little misleading seen as im pretty sure the h67s don't actually overclock. Didn't notice that until after id posted. My only opinion is that Intel is the better chip if you're doing a lot of multi tasking. In my opinion the amd chips are more of a gamers chip, but that's just from past experience and there will be many different opinions on that subject.
 
MikeHiow said:
The description seems to imply it comes pre-overclocked, but makes no mention as to what it overclocks too?

Also, how does this compare to Stu's suggestion considering it is £70 more expensive?
Click to expand...

I noticed it says pre-overclocked? You can only overclock the K series from what i have read. Anyone enlighten me?
 
stulid said:
The K series have a completely unlocked multiplier, the normal versions have a limit.
Click to expand...

Yes i know, basically they only overclock a fraction which is not worth bothering with.

Sandy Bridge processors will have a maximum overclock potential of 2-3% before your system becomes unstable.

The reason Intel have decided to do this is apparently to lower costs. Linking the bus speeds removes the need for an external clock generator.
 
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Reading the article Stu linked me to, that AMD chip looks like a cracker for the money, and 6 cores will be a real benefit for running virtual machines.

I assume these new boards are all ATX still? I have an ancient PC case.
 
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