Specced my PC. Cant aford it. Overclocked spec to match it though!

Woody_FX · 30 Jan 2007 at 14:24

I was looking to make a decent PC thats good for games. Didnt want to spend to much and started talk to you guys here, picking parts that are fast and most importantly reliable. I hate when something goes wrong in my PC and i got to send my part off to be replaced and PC is down for a month.

Basically this is what i picked out :
Intel E6400 €230
Gigabyte DS3 €130
Sapphire Radeon X1950XT 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express, €255
Samsung SpinPoint P80SD 80GB SATA2 8MB 7200RPM €48
Gigabyte GZ-X1 Silver, 4X 5,25", 2X 3,5", (Case) €43
Antec NEOHE 430 GB 430-Watt PSU Low €90

Crucial DDR2 BallistiX PC8000 2048MB CL5 Kit w/two matched BallistiX 128Megx64 €465 Omfg ... really expensive part for the system >.<

So in total €1290 with tax & delivery!

Memory seems to be the biggest place where i spend money i might be able to save by buying something thats cheaper and over clocking.

Is there anywhere else i can save money and can get the same performance by over clocking? If it means i need to spend money getting extra fans etc then it get pointless. I leave the system on 24hours a day, 7 days a week.

Have you any recommendations where i can save money? Are any parts a particular bottle neck? I play WoW a lot on 19inch screen in about 1200-1*** screen mode. So need a nice bit of G-card power.

Thanks for any tips and advice.

Deiwos · 30 Jan 2007 at 14:28

Why on earth do you need PC8000? You could easily drop to 5300 or 6400, save yourself £150+ and still happily OC the rig. You could also drop to E6300 or E4300 and you'd barely notice the difference, especially if you're going to OC the rig.

Mr.Clark · 30 Jan 2007 at 15:06

Deiwos said:
You could also drop to E6300

I don't know about the 4XXX chips, but as far as I'm aware, the E6300 is the best Core 2 Duo overclocker by a long way. PC Format got it to almost the same speeds as the Extreme Edition, only it's £600 cheaper.

Don't get the 6400, get the 6300.

Dark_Angel · 30 Jan 2007 at 15:15

E4300 overclocks insane. Many have it at 3.2GHZ + with ease. You can even do it with a worse Mobo/Ram because of the higher multi.

Woody_FX · 30 Jan 2007 at 16:00

Deiwos said:
Why on earth do you need PC8000? You could easily drop to 5300 or 6400, save yourself £150+ and still happily OC the rig. You could also drop to E6300 or E4300 and you'd barely notice the difference, especially if you're going to OC the rig.

Excellent! Will there be much of a performance hit with the lesser RAM?

How safe is it to OC this RAM? I want it to be reliable and last me at least 2-3 years with no problems. I dont mind a small OC but a big greedy OC i dont want to do and end of blowing stuff or messing the system.

Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 2048MB CL5 is €236! Seems ok! Could we push that to the same speed (or close) as the PC8000 stuff?

Woody_FX · 30 Jan 2007 at 16:02

Mr.Clark said:
I don't know about the 4XXX chips, but as far as I'm aware, the E6300 is the best Core 2 Duo overclocker by a long way. PC Format got it to almost the same speeds as the Extreme Edition, only it's £600 cheaper.

Don't get the 6400, get the 6300.

So E4300 or E6300? I done want to almost double the clock speed, but a little OC without extra fans how safe would it be to go on those chips? Again i dont want to harm the system or burn the house down in my sleep. Also will be using all the stock heat-sinks fans as i am skint!

Any thoughs on the Gcard, Mobo and PSU? They ok, or am i wasting money somewhere. I picked them cause they seem well liked by all the guys here at OCUK forum!

Van Diemen · 30 Jan 2007 at 16:10

Woody_FX said:
Excellent! Will there be much of a performance hit with the lesser RAM?

How safe is it to OC this RAM? I want it to be reliable and last me at least 2-3 years with no problems. I dont mind a small OC but a big greedy OC i dont want to do and end of blowing stuff or messing the system.

Get DDR2-6400 RAM, If you run 1:1 you would have to run 400+ FSB to overclock 6400 RAM. 8000 is not needed.

Van Diemen · 30 Jan 2007 at 16:22

What is your budget??

Woody_FX · 30 Jan 2007 at 16:53

Van Diemen said:
What is your budget??

It was originally €700 but thats never going to fly. Will stretch it to €900 and i cook dinner for my girlfriend on Valetines!

Van Diemen · 30 Jan 2007 at 17:33

Woody_FX said:
It was originally €700 but thats never going to fly. Will stretch it to €900 and i cook dinner for my girlfriend on Valetines!

Thats about £630. C2D, 2GB RAM with gaming graphics, just cant be done, but I'll have a try

Trigger · 30 Jan 2007 at 18:21

Van Diemen said:
Thats about £630.

Is it? Oh well, heres my attempt:

Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £95.99
(£112.79) £95.99
(£112.79)

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) £124.99
(£146.86) £124.99
(£146.86)

Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU £28.99
(£34.06) £28.99
(£34.06)

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £61.99
(£72.84) £61.99
(£72.84)

Samsung SpinPoint P HD160HJ 160GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £34.99
(£41.11) £34.99
(£41.11)

Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £9.99
(£11.74) £9.99
(£11.74)

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1950 XT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £137.99
(£162.14) £137.99

Total : £676.65