Stuck on the power

The_K · 30 Dec 2006 at 11:19

Hi

I am buying a whole new pc today and i have settled for

Core 2 Duo 2.13 ghz
2x512MB DDR2 Corsair XMS2 at 667mhz
HIS X1950 Pro
MSI P965 Platinum Mobo
Seagate 250GB 7200rpm

but i have no clue what psu to choose. I like the Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel because its just £58 inc VAT. Any suggestions?

EDIT: I am not planning to oc anything for at least another year and im probably never going for SLI or Crossfire

I am also looking at
Enermax Noisetaker 485W EG495AX-VE(G) SFMA ATX2.0 PSU = £61.09 inc VAT
Enermax Noisetaker 535W EG565AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU = £64.61 inc VAT
FSP Sparkle Blue Storm 2 500W ATX2.0 PSU = £58.74 inc VAT
Tagan TG500-U25 500W ATX2.0 Dual Engine Silent SLi Compliant Silent PSU = £76.36 inc VAT

.

Trigger · 30 Dec 2006 at 11:35

Sorry to put it bluntly but that's not a brilliant spec. There is no point in putting an E6600 with only 1GB RAM and then trying to power it all with an Akasa PSU- there is just no balance between it which is something a lot of OEMs are guilty of- putting a super fast CPU with next to no RAM and pants graphics. This should be better:

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £93.99
(£110.44) £93.99
(£110.44)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £124.99
(£146.86) £124.99
(£146.86)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £56.99
(£66.96) £56.99
(£66.96)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £13.99
(£16.44) £13.99
(£16.44)
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 Pro Extreme SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £108.99
(£128.06) £108.99
(£128.06)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)

Total : £650.81 (Inc VAT and Delivery)

By getting a slower CPU, it allows you to get 2GB RAM which is definatley more worthwhile and seen as the E6300 coupled with that board and cooler should overclock fairly easily to E6600 levels, it makes much more sense. I don't know how much you original spec was costing because I couldn't find all the parts on OcUK but that *shouldn't* cost much more than yours did, bearing in mind that I have included an awesome PSU

FreeStream · 30 Dec 2006 at 11:45

Trigger said:
Sorry to put it bluntly but that's not a brilliant spec. There is no point in putting an E6600 with only 1GB RAM and then trying to power it all with an Akasa PSU- there is just no balance between it which is something a lot of OEMs are guilty of- putting a super fast CPU with next to no RAM and pants graphics. This should be better:

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £93.99
(£110.44) £93.99
(£110.44)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £124.99
(£146.86) £124.99
(£146.86)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £56.99
(£66.96) £56.99
(£66.96)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £13.99
(£16.44) £13.99
(£16.44)
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 Pro Extreme SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £108.99
(£128.06) £108.99
(£128.06)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)

Total : £650.81 (Inc VAT and Delivery)

By getting a slower CPU, it allows you to get 2GB RAM which is definatley more worthwhile and seen as the E6300 coupled with that board and cooler should overclock fairly easily to E6600 levels, it makes much more sense. I don't know how much you original spec was costing because I couldn't find all the parts on OcUK but that *shouldn't* cost much more than yours did, bearing in mind that I have included an awesome PSU

^^ Aye, that be good

The_K · 30 Dec 2006 at 11:54

thanks for the advise Trigger but i cant go for the slower cpu and then overclock it becasue im buying it in retail so that i get 3 years warranty and a heatsink. i will be sharing the computer and the budget with my brother so im not doing overclocking for some time - possibly a long time.

as for the ram i dont see why i should get 800mhz when im not overclocking. I am going for 1gb for now but have in mind to upgrade to 2gb when i feel it holds the pc back and for now games like oblivion, cs:sourse, bf2 and fear play very well at 1gb.

for the mobo i read some review of MSI P965 Platinum and it says its very good even better than its competitors for this price range. im not so keen on the oc abilities - i just wanna go cheaper.

i will consider the corsair psu though. thanks

stinka · 30 Dec 2006 at 12:21

Trigger said:
Sorry to put it bluntly but that's not a brilliant spec. There is no point in putting an E6600 with only 1GB RAM and then trying to power it all with an Akasa PSU- there is just no balance between it which is something a lot of OEMs are guilty of- putting a super fast CPU with next to no RAM and pants graphics. This should be better:

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £93.99
(£110.44) £93.99
(£110.44)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £124.99
(£146.86) £124.99
(£146.86)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £56.99
(£66.96) £56.99
(£66.96)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £13.99
(£16.44) £13.99
(£16.44)
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 Pro Extreme SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £108.99
(£128.06) £108.99
(£128.06)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)

Total : £650.81 (Inc VAT and Delivery)

By getting a slower CPU, it allows you to get 2GB RAM which is definatley more worthwhile and seen as the E6300 coupled with that board and cooler should overclock fairly easily to E6600 levels, it makes much more sense. I don't know how much you original spec was costing because I couldn't find all the parts on OcUK but that *shouldn't* cost much more than yours did, bearing in mind that I have included an awesome PSU

agree totally you should get 2 gb of ram and an e6300 ive clocked mine to 2.88ghz and it loves it this is my first overclock.

The_K · 30 Dec 2006 at 12:26

ok i will consider it

my question about which is the better psu is still not settled though. i think i might get a tagan or corsair. What do you think about this FSP ? its a bit cheaper than corsair and it says "energy efficient" whatever that is.

.

t31os · 30 Dec 2006 at 12:37

800mhtz ram is priced the same as the slower stuff, thats why its specced....

check the prices....

PSU, Corsair are real popular right now, very good apparently, and they are new models compared to a lot of the other models...

Trigger put up a perfect spec.

If your not overclocking, get a cheaper board. P5B, S3, etc...

FreeStream · 30 Dec 2006 at 12:57

The_K said:
thanks for the advise Trigger but i cant go for the slower cpu and then overclock it becasue im buying it in retail so that i get 3 years warranty and a heatsink. i will be sharing the computer and the budget with my brother so im not doing overclocking for some time - possibly a long time.

as for the ram i dont see why i should get 800mhz when im not overclocking. I am going for 1gb for now but have in mind to upgrade to 2gb when i feel it holds the pc back and for now games like oblivion, cs:sourse, bf2 and fear play very well at 1gb.

for the mobo i read some review of MSI P965 Platinum and it says its very good even better than its competitors for this price range. im not so keen on the oc abilities - i just wanna go cheaper.

i will consider the corsair psu though. thanks

Why the hell not overclocking?

ITS SOOOOO EASY!

FSB = 400
CPU Voltage = 1.3-1.4V
Chipset voltages = Up one/two settings
Mem = as specs.

I was overclocking when I was 12, so im sure you can do it.

thefishdude · 30 Dec 2006 at 13:17

get the corsair 520 will do you a treat

2gig of ram would see an improvement but understand you are working to a budget.

The_K · 30 Dec 2006 at 13:31

Concorde Rules said:
Why the hell not overclocking?

ITS SOOOOO EASY!

FSB = 400
CPU Voltage = 1.3-1.4V
Chipset voltages = Up one/two settings
Mem = as specs.

I was overclocking when I was 12, so im sure you can do it.

I could do it but i want some warranty to make sure that what i pay for will last and overclocking voids the warranty. i would do it later on though when i start needing more fps.

The_K · 30 Dec 2006 at 13:50

what do you think about GIGABYTE 965P-S3 ? it seems to overclock well looking at this

Scope · 30 Dec 2006 at 14:09

Concorde Rules said:
Why the hell not overclocking?

ITS SOOOOO EASY!

FSB = 400
CPU Voltage = 1.3-1.4V
Chipset voltages = Up one/two settings
Mem = as specs.

I was overclocking when I was 12, so im sure you can do it.

What about the heatsink/fan? Is the stock heatsink and fan good enough?

I'd love to OC, but not if I have to spend another £30-40 on new heatsink/fan/paste. Might aswell buy the higher PCU then.

thefishdude · 30 Dec 2006 at 14:25

artic pro 7 cooler is £16 and comes with pastes allready on it

popular cooler on here and works well i have one

t31os · 30 Dec 2006 at 15:30

You'd rather pay £100+ for a better CPU rather then pay £40 max for a cpu cooler and some paste?.....

Think you have more money then sense...

Scope · 30 Dec 2006 at 18:02

t31os said:
You'd rather pay £100+ for a better CPU rather then pay £40 max for a cpu cooler and some paste?.....

Think you have more money then sense...

Not at all. But can you reach 6600 levels on a 6300 using something like an artic cooler pro 7 alone? Another question would be, how far could you go with a 6600 with something like an artic cooler pro 7?

t31os · 30 Dec 2006 at 18:38

Google and ye shall find...

Lots of overclocks about, there's a thread here somewhere to.

Point is, i don't think you'd notice the difference, and there's a fair few users here who swapped 6600's for 6300's for reasons such as this.

Is the extra (for little is noticable) worth the extra £100 or whatever the diffrence, and i think in most cases a lot will say no, but some may say yes.... but thats likely to be when OC's come into play.

The_K · 30 Dec 2006 at 21:06

I decided to buy the 6300 with a Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 and do some overclocking when i need to. I am buying the retail 6300 w/heatsink though cos i am not going for burning speeds when I do overclock. How is that? Would it work?

what i will be trying is to reach at least 6400 speeds without paying for it and not risk damaging Anything.

,

Owenb · 30 Dec 2006 at 21:32

t31os said:
800mhtz ram is priced the same as the slower stuff, thats why its specced.... check the prices....

PSU, Corsair are real popular right now, very good apparently, and they are new models compared to a lot of the other models...

Trigger put up a perfect spec.

If your not overclocking, get a cheaper board. P5B, S3, etc...

I remember everyone been delighted with Tagan when they were first released, roll on 6 months to a year and everyone was saying stay away from them- they have resolved that issue now. Same for Hipers, everyone was recommending them 2 years ago...

Moral of the story- dont buy new PSU, buy old PSU brands and let someone else test the new ones- Enermax/Tagan.

t31os · 30 Dec 2006 at 23:08

Agree with you there, just going with the crowd on the Corsair, personally for reliability i'd choose FSP (i dont use one now, Enermax now), but in the past in my experience the FSP psu's i've had have been faultless minus dying of old age.