My New Build

[duke]

Guys,

Hoping to build this spec up in the near future, my budget is around a grand, preferably less!

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6400+ Socket AM2 Black Edition 3.20GHz

ASUS Crosshair SKT AM2 nForce 590 SLI DDR2 SATA 8 channel audio ATX

OCZ 2Gb PC2-6400 DDR2-800 4-4-4-15

OEM Nvidia 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 Dual DVI PCI-E

Aspire X-Cruiser Black ATX Windowed Gaming Case

Arctic Power 600W PSU - With PCI-E, SATA, 20+4, ATX12V, 8pin +12V Connectors

2x Seagate 320GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Cache

2x WD Raptors 32GB SATAII 10000RPM (from existing PC)

Pioneer DVR-112DBK 18x DVD±RW Dual Layer Internal IDE

ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 Cooler

I'm kinda unsure about the OEM 8800GTX although i've read a number of good reviews about the ability to overclock it to almost 3rd party manufacturer spec. Any input would be greatly recieved!

duke

 

[JN]

Most of that looks pretty good to me. I'm guessing you've gone AM2 as even the highest-end chips are stupidly cheap.

One thing you deffo need to change is that PSU. Never heard of it before, and I don't trust what I haven't heard of . How much is it? I'm sure we can find you a better one.

 

[duke]

quite right with the AM2, it will allow for a lot of upgrades in the future, supposedly it will natively support quad core when that catches on also!

I think I may have skimped on the PSU as I kinda reached my budget, heres the ebuyer link:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124926

 

[JN]

Personally I'd avoid that PSU at all costs. You dont want to spend a grand on a new rig to have a £30 PSU kill it all.

Check out this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/109552

or this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/115161

or this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129949

A bit more than £30, but they are all good units.

 

[duke]

very good point, i'll look at getting one of those instead.

it's a while off yet before i go all out and buy it (probably xmas) but i wanna make sure i get the best for my money

 

[Mr. Smith]

Well... That CPU costs what, £140? The q6600 is £160 and clocks like a beast and will thrash the amd.

The mobo you picked is ~£120? The ip35 pro is £120.

An intel quad set up will last you longer and deffo outperforms the AMD rig there for pretty much the same price.

You may wish to hold back on the GTX as the 8800GT is due for release and will probably force GTX prices down ((it is a mid range card that seems to perform like a GTX (yet to see game benchies with AA/AF on etc, part of the new line up)). Jan/Feb we see new flagships meaning the GTX price will plumet.

Where is your monitor? What size/resloution will you be gaming at? I'd wait until Nov and get the 8800GT/2950xt and get the next flagship model when it arrives, if you need it.

Or buy a 320mb 8800GTS now for ~£170 and sell in the new year when the flagship arrives. I'd hate for you to invest in a GTX now only for it to become last generation in a couple of months...

Edit: saw your post re xmas. if that is the case sit back and let events unfold. By then penryn will be out, meaning all c2d/quad will be cheaper, the new amd's might be out and if they outperform the intel offering get one of thise! gfx will be cheaper with new flagship models coming...

 

[duke]

I don't know enough about the Intel quads to comment, although if your serious that it would provide a much better performance for almost the same cash then it's something I'll definately look into.

The monitor I'm using is a 19" Samsung SyncMaster from my current PC, although given time this will be upgraded to a 24" wide (once my wallet allows it).

Good tip for the GTX, thankfully as stated above I'm not looking to buy quite yet so hopefully by then the prices will have dropped!

 

[Mr. Smith]

Take a look in the benchmark section mate... Plenty of evidence what performs best there

Besides, by Jan things will have changed anyway. Enjoy your stay though mate and I bet we'll be specing you a w/c rig for your new build

 

[Pat123]

Yeh go for a Q6600 The mobo will need changing obv lol. but the rest other than the PSU as said earlier, looks pretty good

 

[Mr. Smith]

Psssst, hey, look, cheap card only 17% slower than an ultra

 

[Brooksie]

I hope this is true, they say around $266, which at the current exchange rate its £130 :O

Nice rig, but personally go for a intel much better in performance and much easier to overclock

I mean my planned rig so far is coming to around £600.

 

[Allargando]

Hmm, I think you're going to run into space issues trying to fit that 8800 in your case.

I also happen to have the Aspire x-cruiser, and I can barely fit my x1950pro in it (IIRC, the x1950pro is 230mm long...haven't checked the dimensions on the 8800's, but they do look a fair bit longer than my x1950pro)

I ended up having to shove my 4th drive into my spare 3.25" external bay