What PC do I get?

phill9800

phill9800

phill9800

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Now its that time, I need a gaming rig and I've gotta get one soon!! So which one?

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC Series EL-DDR CAS2 £139.95
DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard £79.95
HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) £194.95
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail £137.95

Total cost is £649.54 including vat..

OR...

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit £106.95
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS4 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £104.95
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £214.95
HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £194.95

Total cost is £730.62 including vat...

Ummm.... What to do? I dont know too much about the Intel side of things and the memory also, what do I do?
 
if you want cheap+cheerful with good performace then S939 and AMD.
If you want the fastest system for the money that will do you a good lenght of time then Core 2.

Over all if you have the money for Core2 then go for it.,
 
Well with the hardware I have choosen for the AMD and then tried to spec for the Intel (to which I have no idea whats right or wrong) there really isnt much difference in the price but the performance is a big increase, more so because I'm coming from a XP1600....

What's best?
 
I actually prefere the first one, i love OCZ memory, and DFI boards are rather nice.

But if you want to go with the "CPU of the century" which everyone will tell you to go for then go with the second one

My vote is with #1
 
I just want the best value... The Intel system seems to be the better value. Would it be best to get a AM2 system rather than 939 system?
Might be a thought there...
 
dont bother with AM2, not worth the money for a 7-9% performace incrase over S939.

If your thinking of AM2 then Core2 is a far better choice.

I am going with the S939 route as i want to wait for quadcore next year.
 
Go for the E6300 and overclock it... that will make both systems pretty much the same price, but the Intel will perform better.
 
I've gone for the E6600 because its faster and I wont be overclocking as I wont know how too!! :p

Is the memory and motherboard any good? Do I need 1066FSB memory or is there something else I should have? I really do need advice on that please!!
 
I say go with number one. To be honest, I think that Conroe is extremley overrated and I've had enough bad experience with the junk Intel churn out to last me a lifetime so my advice is steer clear. Of couse I'm going to get flamed and moaned at but it doesn't bother me- Intel CPU's run like lawnmowers, end of ;)
 
The only question I have with the AMD system is should I go for the AM2 setup rather than the 939 setup? The reason I ask is that as its mostly going to DDR2 now, wouldnt that save me money on the next upgrade as it where?
 
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
MB-147-AS Asus M2N-E (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-147-AS)
£59.95 £59.95
MY-071-OC OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Special Ops XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2SOE8002GK) (MY-071-OC)
£139.95 £139.95
GX-053-HT HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-053-HT)
£194.95 £194.95
CP-172-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-172-AM)
£189.95 £189.95
Subtotal £584.80
VAT £102.34
Total £687.14

Something like that maybe? Only thing I'm not sure on is the amount of L2 cache on the 5000+ :confused:
 
I've had a bit of a re-think...

HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £194.95
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.40GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail£141.95
Abit KN9 Ultra nForce 570 Ultra (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £74.95
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC5400 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC Series EL-DDR2 £129.95
Samsung SM-920N 19" LCD Monitor - Silver/Black £134.95
Logitech Cordless Optical Desktop Rechargeable Black/Silver £29.95

Total £830.38

I figure as its cheaper and its all that I want, I thought the AM2 way to go was the better option? Still its with DDR2 and I've no worries for that, but its sure as hell gonna be faster than what I have at the moment!!

Is that OC Z memory gonna be ok?
 
Trigger said:
Something like that maybe? Only thing I'm not sure on is the amount of L2 cache on the 5000+ :confused:
Click to expand...

Arent they all 512k now with the AM2 stuff? I've gone for a 4600+ which i think is better value, but worth a look :) Also I was unsure of the memory, as I see you have spec'd PC6400 :D Is that the better stuff to go for?
 
Well I'd originally put the 4600+ into my spec but then there was a fair bit of room left in the budget so I bunged the 5000+ in :D OCZ memory is very good stuff- yes the higher the PC number the faster its speed basically, ie PC6400 runs at 800MHz. Looks a nice spec what you have come up with there although get yourself a decent motherboard :)
 
I always loved the Abit boards!! I've sorted everything but the board then.. Any suggestions? I'm trying to keep the price down so I can just get it faster! Plus I aint that fussed over 200mhz and at the extra cost I could possibly overclock it that much further anyways...

I assume the retail cooler is more than enough for the CPU at standard clock?
 
AMD retails coolers are pretty good so unless you're overclocking, it'll be fine :) There's a pretty simple rule with AMD motherboards- if you want to overclock, get a DFI, if you want stability, get an Asus :cool:
 
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