Another Boring advise me on new pc thread

BKtje

Right since my motherboard has died and i was going to upgrade in April anyway im just going to upgrade now instead (as long as the bank approve my student loan )

Thinking of spending around the 2500 mark + shipping.

Anyways here it is:

CPU: Core2 Duo 6700 (the 6800 is too little performance for cost imo..even with overclocking).
Mobo: Asus p5wDH This seems to be the best overall one avail atm.
Corsair 2gb ddr2 8500cp Maybe upgrade to 4gb next april. Will see.
cpu Fan: Boxed one for now
Case: Thermaltake VD1000SWA Aguila
GFX: Geforce7800 gx2 1gb Dont need to SLI this bad boy so will work with this mobo.
PSU: Probably a 600w of a good brand
Monitor: OcUK Value Hanns-G HW191D 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor Friend got this and was very happy with it for gaming.
2x Western Digital Raptor 36GB WD360ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache for Raid 0 May get these in April if cash is tight.
Will also have anothr 36gb Raptor (oldest model) and a 200gb hdd for storage.

Total value of the above system is about 2500 yoyos (+PSU, + Shipping).
Anyone got any suggestions to change or improve without altering the price too much? Am i forgetting anything?

Thanks

EDIT: are the core 2 duo's 64bit? I read somewhere that they are i think but not 100% sure.

Anti

Dont bother with the e6700 just get the e6600 and clock it ot the same speeds, pogmathoin just got his to 3.2ghz, and is still looking for more. The graphics card i asume you mean is the 7950GX2 ? yes the core 2 duo is 64bit. All the rest is good, Price seems a bit high. but that could be because of the monitor.

anyway good luck with it

BadCharlie

Dont pick that video card. You can get better for cheaper.

christophicus

Dont get the two 36GB raptors they are very small for what you pay and are a good bit slower the even the 74 GB counterparts, Which are slower again then the 150 GB modles.

BKtje

righto, cheers for input folks and ye the 7950 gx2. Dunno wher ei got 7800 from.
Any suggestions on a better gfx card? Read review a few days ago and that gfx card wiped the floor with anything it came up against at high resolutions/ full aa and af.

K.O.Kiki

Looking at reviews, I say save some money & get a Radeon X1900XTX instead -- OcUK have a HIS "silent" model, and one with a self-contained liquid-cooling system. After all, your monitor does "only" 1440x900 res, so you won't be left wanting for graphical prowess And get a 600W Seasonic PSU

Anti has it right; get an e6600 & overclock -- use the money for a Zalman or Arctic Cooling cooler.
Also, I've heard some good things about Geil & Patriot low-latency RAM -- their PC5300 stuff overclocks to PC8500 speeds regularly.

BKtje

Got a little more than i intially thought. Budgets now 3k.

Doesnt the 6700 clock as well as the 6600?

While the monitor "only" does that resolution. Im thinking into the future here. It will be at least 2-3 years before i do a major overhaul of this system again so while its stupidly powerful atm by the time i upgrade again it will probably be having some problems keeping decent framerate. That said ill have a think about it as i could always add another of the x1900xtx in the future. Infact i think i'll go with that. Rest of the system is gonna be fairly silent so would be waste to have a loud gfx card.

I've added the sesonic psu to my "trolley".

Cheers folks.

TomCo

€414 for ram!?

Somethings up there!

BKtje

Thats the cheapest i could find it. It is after all 2gb of some of the best ram available.

Anti

first off that ram is ott, yes the e6600 and e6700 clock the same? so you just answered your own question. save the money and get the e6600, and spend it on a high end cpu cooler. The gx7950 will wipe the floor with a x1900xtxtxxxtx tripple X hyper mega baddass edition 2. so dont listen to these ati fanboys :P and i wouldnt trust that self contained liquid cooling card. Sapphire should stick to makeing cards and not watercooling systems, If you want it watercooled just go to o-c.co.uk and watercooling.de and get some DD kit and cool both the cpu and graphics card.


And unless you plan to get a 23" + monitor and plan to run lots of AA and AF with all details on highest you will be throwing your money away. for the monitor you have a 7900gt will do you.

TomCo

I’m getting the X1900XT, its not too expensive at the moment.
Personally I wouldn't touch the 7950GX2 with a barge pole.

I'll let someone else advise regards ram, but €250ish should be enough.

BadCharlie

TomCo wrote:

I’m getting the X1900XT, its not too expensive at the moment.
Personally I wouldn't touch the 7950GX2 with a barge pole.

I'll let someone else advise regards ram, but €250ish should be enough.

if i was told i could buy any video card on the market and only one no mater what the price, it be the x1900xt card also.

Also if u plan on adding a Ati video card in the future dont u need an non sli moterboard. Im sure the SLI motherboards dont take kindly to 2 ati cards.

Would also consider getting a 21inch Monitor or higher.

K.O.Kiki

HardOCP review of the Sapphire TOXIC Liquid Cooled X1900XTX -- you can draw your own conclusions regarding factory-OC'd X1900XTX vs 7950GX2...

conzy

The X1900XTX will own in games that dont support SLI, The 7950GX2 will have the edge in games that support SLI, The X1900XTX supports 6AA in source games, The X1900XTX supports AA and HDR simultaneously, And the X1900XTX has a newer architechture that will be more suited to future games..

A crossfire X1900XTX is €420
A 7950GX2 is €560

I think I would go for the X1900XTX seen as the mainboard your getting supports Crossfire..

But if you can wait get one of the new ATI X1950 cards that will be out soon:)

PogMoThoin

Why would you spend that much money on a gpu, with dx10 on the horizon. Buy either 7900gt or x1900xt, upgrade next yr.
Also get the E6600. Clocks like a beast. I got to 3.29Ghz on air with mine but had 2 back off a little cos temps were gettin the better of me. I've it runnin 24/7 @ 2.98Ghz now cos missis has heatin on a fair bit (coldest woman in the world), and still not goin over 50' max load. Serious fast @ that: super-pi 1m in just under 17secs.
Also i put zalman cooler on my 7900gt & have it running at the driver limits (nearly gtx speeds) & it only hits 52' max load. Lookin for hack driver to push it further. My last gpu was hittin 75' max load without probs.
Buy cheaper parts & oc to the max with proper cooling

K.O.Kiki

PogMoThoin wrote:

Buy cheaper parts & oc to the max with proper cooling:D

That's why I keep telling people to buy 7300GT's -- 7600GS (or better with DDR3 models) performance for less than €100!

K.O.Kiki

Right so I took a gander over at OcUK -- and they have pre-orders going for the X1950XTX.
With 512mb of 2Ghz GDDR4...

So, my advice now is either one of those or a HiS X1900XT which is going for £190 ex-VAT...

BadCharlie

K.O.Kiki wrote:

Right so I took a gander over at OcUK -- and they have pre-orders going for the X1950XTX.
With 512mb of 2Ghz GDDR4...

So, my advice now is either one of those or a HiS X1900XT which is going for £190 ex-VAT...

I wonder how good these new Ati cards will be. Should push the prices down on the x1900 now.

jesus_thats_gre

Get the 6600 and OC it.. Get the X1950Xt when it is released in a few weeks.

TomCo

Thats a waste of money, why would you buy two cards in quick succession?

BKtje

You've given me some stuff to think about.
Think ill go with the 6600 conroe and overclock it as suggested.
I dunno if i can wait till mid sept for a new gfx card as i have no gaming machine. If i can get a cheap 2nd hand pci-e card then i might.

Friend of mine is selling a http://www.viewsonic.com/support/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/proseries/vp201s/index.htm so will see if i can get a good deal for that with the little extra money i save on the conroe 6600.