Help! - buying graphics card, mouse and cpu.

[Lightnix]

Hey, I wasn't entirely sure where to post this (I'm probably being a bit thick here ), but this forum seemed the most fitting. Anyway, long story short, I'm upgrading my computer a little and want some advise on any good deals going around. Current relevant specs:

Pentium Dual Core E2140@3GHz

2GB PC6400 Kingston HyperX RAM

GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB (630/1500/1800)

MSI P35 Neo-F, LGA775, single PCI-E 16x.

22" Monitor - 1680x1050.

OCZ StealthXStream 500W.

Basically, I'm giving myself an absolute upper limit of £280 to upgrade my mouse, CPU and graphics card.

I typically use my PC for: Gaming, some 3D animating and rendering, a fair bit of programming, college course work, internet browsing. I will definitely be overclocking - that's one thing about the 4830, it seems some people have been able to clock the thing by 40% (to around 800MHz)! Other things to note, I don't really have any brand preferences as far as graphics cards or mice go, but the CPU has to be an Intel since I already have a P35 motherboard.

I've basically done a fair bit of work scouring several sites that I've bought from to find the best component combinations. Here they are in a spreadsheet:

i85.photobucket.com/albums/k56/Lightynix/lightnixspartshunting.png <- thar.

So, any tips regarding retailers I might've missed, or any awesome deals would be very much so appreciated!

Also, hope I haven't broken any rules or unwritten laws inadvertently.

 

[monkey7]

Seems you have already done half our work yourself in that Excel sheet :')

Mouse: nearly everyone who has a high quality mouse is saying it's the best... So if you have ever touched one of the listed mice before and you liked it, go for it.

GPU: As you said, the 4830 is an excellent 'budget' card. You might want to replace the cooling with something like the AC accelero with tiewrapped 120mm fan to reduce noise though.

CPU: what's the UK price of the E7200/7400? I heard these are great budget clockers, and you do not need a quadcore for gaming. Of course the 3D rendering will go a bit faster with a quad, but is the few seconds waiting worth the loss of FPS?

 

[soapsupah]

hello mate, i wont give any link of the products since i dont know any cheap stores from uk, but if you upgrade only you xfx card, you will already get an enourmous upgrade, just let your cpu alone, also a good mouse, (thats already old nowadays) is the G5, i like it alot when using some programs. But still if you got some money left (after getting a xfx card) go with core duos like monkey said, since quad cores arent so cheap and you need the xfx card more than anything.

 

[zak4994]

See if you can get a Q6600 G0. Those overclock nicely...

A 4850 with custom cooling for overclocking.

No custom cooling for GPU=£30 DI for mouse.

Or, buy 4830 with custom cooling and still have money left over for mouse...

 

[Lightnix]

Thanks for the responses.

On the quad vs. dual front, I'm a bit on the fence with it myself, the cheapest quad costing over twice as much as the cheapest dual core (in 45nm terms at least). The Q6600 seems to have inflated in price lately (I'm sure I saw it for £130 a few months back, they seem to be £150 everywhere now! :\)

Also, the E7xxx series are pretty expensive at the moment, for example, a E7400 on ebuyer is £50 more expensive than the E5200. Although, even then the Q-series are a good £30 more in the best case scenario. I might check around for a second hand Q6600, if I remember rightly, the ones released around December '07 were killer overclockers.

On the mouse front, frankly anything would be better than what I have now! I can't even draw a circle with it in MS paint.

Cheers for the suggestions though

 

[zak4994]

On the mouse front, frankly anything would be better than what I have now! I can't even draw a circle with it in MS paint.

Do you have a mouse mat?

Maybe a mouse mat can solve your problem if you don't have one.

 

[monkey7]

The Q6600 is being phased out, so worse avaibility could explain the problem.

On the mouse front, frankly anything would be better than what I have now! I can't even draw a circle with it in MS paint.

With the free drawing tool, neither can I with my mx518. The only way to make you capable of that is either touch screen or high skill with a wacom A5 or bigger drawing board. Main thing you have to pay attention to is sensitivity, comfort and precision. Do you always click near the point you want to without the risk of contracting some kind of RSI? Can you accurately draw a vector (straight line) in paint? That's the main points you'd have to look at.

EDIT: to give you a sense for the sensitivity thing: I'm using my mx518 at max. DPI (1800) with an ulti-mat mousemat and it's just right for me. I'm a high sensitivity user though.