christophicus Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Ok so i am going to do my first build from teh ground up and I was hoping some of you guys could go over what I have specced out and suggest alternative , better price/ performance components. I'd also like any comments you have about the different components. CPU:Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 RAM: 2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) MOBO:Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R, iP35 Express HDD:500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Case :Antec 900 PSU :720W Enermax Infinity EIN720AWT Modular Quad SLi Quad Core DVD Drive:Asus DRW-1814BLT, DVD±R x18, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM GPU:256MB Power Color RX1950Pro Arctic Cooling CPU HSF:Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Does anyone know the ram will limit the max ( stock) clock of the CPU? All oppinoins and suggestions are much appreciated. This all comes to just over €1100 including p+p Cheers Chris
system_error Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Well if the motherboard supports your RAM it doesn't have any effect on your CPU just the general performance depending on size, latency, clock. For what purpose do you want to use that build? Pure office work seems to be out of question as is gaming when I look at the specifications. Monster CPU but low-end GPU, 2GB RAM only, .... Can't really see in which direction you want to go. Also I would check how many RAM slots you have - because if there are only 2 either use a 2GB stick if supported (think DUAL thingy needs two all the time) or 2 x 2GB. Because with this configuration so far you could buy a notebook (alright Core 2 Quad not ready for notebooks yet) aswell - same specs a bit more expensive maybe but portable
Caris Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 I've heard the Q6600 G0's are slower than the normal ones and they only take up a extra 10w so...
christophicus Posted August 21, 2007 Author Posted August 21, 2007 I've heard the Q6000 G0's are slower than the normal ones and they only take up a extra 10w so... Hmm interesting, taht shouldnt be the case if they have the same modle munber/letter. I am building this predominatly for gaming . I feel 2 Gb of ram is grand atm. It has 4 DDR2 slots and 2 DDR3 slots. Yeah the GPU is quite underpowered , but I will probably get a new one in a year or so.
system_error Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Get DDR3 RAM and decent GPU now - or at least some Crossfire/SLI setup.
McPhee Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 DDR3 is overpriced at the moment, Crossfire and SLI aren't very cost or power effective either It all looks right, the PSU and CPU are probably overkill though. Quad-Core isn't used much yet, most games and apps aren't even fully Dual-Core optimised yet! An E6750 would be better value for the money You're not going to need a 700W PSU either, certainly not a £130 one anyway! Try a Corsair/Seagate/Targus PSU and save yourself some more cash. Also see if you can get a hold of an 8800GTS, x1950 XT or x1950 XTX. The Pro is a good card, but theres little point in having such a high spec computer with such a low spec GPU (unless gaming isn't a priority?). Is it just me or has building a computer suddenly become very popular
Caris Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Actually i have to disagree on Phee for the PSU comment. Things are becoming more and more powerful and if you want to overclock your better off having a nice big 700w like that.
system_error Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Well I would rather buy top notch components now because otherwise he can upgrade every couple of months and I doubt that will save him any money.
McPhee Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 My point is simple, with the specs posted above 700W gives around 400W of headroom at peak load! Im getting 334W with this power supply calculator: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine Or 298W with an E6750 instead of a Q6600. A 500-600W PSU would be much better value for money
Caris Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Yeah but there really inacurate(sp). Nvidia say 600 minuim on 8800's.
christophicus Posted August 21, 2007 Author Posted August 21, 2007 Yeah I think I will stick with the PSU, I may however drop and Q6600 and go for an e6750 instead and hopefully get a cheap 8800gts if I can stretch that far. And yes gaming is a priority , infact it is the main focus of this PC. Are the 630 MB cards alot better then a 320MB cards?
McPhee Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Depends on the resolution you'll be running, get the bigger card for 1680x1050 and higher (i.e. 20" screens and up)
christophicus Posted August 21, 2007 Author Posted August 21, 2007 Well I have a 19" Crt , that is not widescreen. So the max res it does is 1600x1200 , although I will probably be running it at 1280X1024 so that my crt does not blow up!! lol . I can barely afford teh 320 ( infact I am not sure I can ) so it looks like thats the card for me to go for ( if I can ) . I just checked toms hardware VGA hardware chart and the 320 varient is supposedly faster then the 640 at 1280X1024 !!!!
McPhee Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Toms Hardware charts aren't very good, they don't use the same setup for every test (they can't). There isn't a great deal of difference between the 2 anyway, theres 1 or 2 tests floating around that show a frame or 2 every second on a 30" Dell
christophicus Posted August 21, 2007 Author Posted August 21, 2007 OK cool, it looks like I may be getting an X300 for €20 , so I will probably use that untill the nvidia 9800's come out which should be this year. Hopefully the 8800 gtx's should plummet in price then and I might be able to get a cheap one in the new year sales .
McPhee Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 You're planning on playing games with an X300? Good luck! My laptops X700 struggles with BF2 on minimum...
christophicus Posted August 21, 2007 Author Posted August 21, 2007 LOl Thats what I was thinking. I only really play 2142 and I'm hoping if I have all settings at minimum and res at 800x600 it will work. This site is interesting but I doubt it works. http://leviticuz.com/2007/08/20/ati-radeon-x300-series-and-bf2142/
system_error Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Just for information ... My laptop is a 2 years old and has a NV 6800 ... you really wanna settle with a x300 on a desktop?
christophicus Posted August 22, 2007 Author Posted August 22, 2007 OK so I am going to post a list of what I am thinking of now. CPU: Core 2 Duo E4400 MOBO:Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R, iP35 Express HDD:500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Case :Antec 900 PSU :720W Enermax Infinity EIN720AWT Modular Quad SLi Quad Core DVD Drive:Asus DRW-1814BLT, DVD±R x18, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM And I'm looking at Either getting the OC UK branded 8800 320 GTS or the Leadtek 8800 320 GTS. They are both the same price so I dont know which I want to go for. Also I am looking at getting either teh ballistix that was pointed out earlier , or this G skill, http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 Although it will probably have gone up in price by the time I get everything in order to buy the pc. Do you think that the ballistix would be able to take the E4400 up to 3 Ghz? Also is there any point in going for pc 8500 over pc 6400?
McPhee Posted August 22, 2007 Posted August 22, 2007 Which Ballistix? The Geil is probably better value for money, has 4-4-4-12 timings, the Ballistix at that price is 5-5-5-12 PC2-8500 is a waste of money for the time being (although it is coming down in price quite quickly) Go with the graphics card that has the best warranty and RMA (repairs) system Im still convinced you're wasting a lot of money with that power supply, it's built for QUAD SLI! It's got connectors for powering 4 graphics cards. I don't think i've ever seen a spec like that with such an expensive PSU and you are unlikely to ever use it to its full potential Also, heres a review of that motherboard: http://techgage.com/article/gigabyte_ga-p35c-ds3r/8 They say it's crap for overclocking
christophicus Posted August 22, 2007 Author Posted August 22, 2007 Thanks. Yeah its the ballistix at that price. I don't think i've ever seen a spec like that with such an expensive PSU and you are unlikely to ever use it to its full potential What do you mean by that? Do you mean that for that you have seen better psu's for that price? Yeah I read that review. I have also read other reviews though, where they have managed to get the FSB up to 500 Mhz and over, which to me seems really good ( I've been out of the loop since core duo 2 came out, so am not sure of whats good these days ).
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