My New Build

cianclarke

Ok folks:

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) -
HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
**B Grade** Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Thermaltake VB1000BWS Soprano SuperMidi Tower - Black (No PSU)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)
OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK)

Into Ireland unassembled, no OS from OCUK for: €560

Does this sound like a bargain, just OK-value?
Suggestions as to other routes to take to save money? I'm on quite a tight budget, still need to get a monitor ontop of this.
Thanks

farna_boy

Ok was looking into a similar type system myself over the last few days but I was on a tighter budget (€300)and only needed a motherboard, graphics card, processor and RAM, so I can only really comment on these.

First off, the motherboard. I was also looking at B-Grade products from overclockers but while I was going through the overclockers forums I found out what B-Grade actually meant. I thought it was just a refurbished or repaired motherboard, and all the accessories came with it. However, according to their forum, you may only get the motherboard itself i.e. no cables, no drivers, no manuals and sometimes you may not even get a backplate. At the same time though you may be lucky and get everything with it so its entirely up to you.

As for that motherboard itself, it seems to be a good 975 board but it is also 2 years old. Also is uses PCI-E 1.0 graphics slots as opposed to PCI-E 2.0 seen in p43, p45, X38 and X48 boards which means the graphics card you have chosen will not run to its full potential and especially if you decide to use crossfire at a later stage you would be severly limited since crossfire in this board is at x8,x8 PCI-E 1.0. I would suggest that if you think you may want crossfire in the future, you should look at a p45 (if you are trying to limit your budget) or possibly a x38/x48 (which are essentially the same board anyway). A p45 board that is capable of running crossfire at x8,x8 PCI-E 2.0 will have twice the bandwidth of this board, meaning that x8 PCI-E 2.0 is roughly equal to PCI-E 1.0 x16.

The graphics card you have chosen is probably one of the best you can choose at the moment, but if you decide to go with a p45 board or another board that is not B-Grade, you will probably need to same some money and this may be the place to do it. The most popular card for around €100 at the moment is the ATI 4830 and I'm sure anyone here will tell you to go for this card. If you need to save some more money though your other options would either be a 9600GT, 9600GSO or even a 4670, which you could pick up for about €70.

Finally the processor is also one of the more favoured and honestly if you can afford it you should probably go for it. However, if you are just using the computer for gaming, it is worth considering that most games at the moment don't need a quad core so to save some more money you could also downgrade this. As for core duos any of the following are good cpus (descending in price) E8400, E8200, E7200/E7300 or even a E5200. The E7200/E7300 and the E5200 are particularly good for overclocking if you are on a very tight budget (like I was).

Good luck shopping, and just to warn you I ended up going with komplett since sterling seems to be getting stronger so you may want to compare prices just before you click "Buy"!

cianclarke

So, already put the order through without seeing your cavaet re: the mobo.. :-( Silly me!
Only just spotted the PCI-E 1.0 rather than 2.0. I'll give them a ring tomorrow and see if the order has gone through, and if not swap it for something a little more modern.
Re: the GPU, couldn't find charts on tom's hardware but the difference between the 4850 and 4830 seemed fairly large if you're not OC'ing the card, which I wouldn't be? For the sake of roughly £20, don't think it's going to make or break.

Reason I'm going OCUK is I can get parts ex-VAT, makes it much cheaper!

Only thing left now is a monitor, which alas I haven't sorted - hoping to go 24" full HD, expensive and all as it is!

Thanks for the reply!

cianclarke

Okay the order it seems hasn't gone through yet so I have until Monday morning to decide on a new motherboard, presume changing the order won't be a prob.
Anybody have any suggestions? Was looking at either the following:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-118-AB&groupid=595&catid=689&subcat=&name=**B%20Grade**%20Abit%20IX38%20QuadGT%20Intel%20X38%20(Socket%20775)%20PCI-Express%20DDR2%20(MB-138-AB)

Or something out of this list: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=5

I have literally no idea when it comes down to motherboards, so any help would be great.
The only features I particularly want are SPDIF in/out and eSata. 2X Gigabit, Wifi and 2X Bios would be nice.

Budget is £70 ex VAT. Advice much appreciated!

cianclarke

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-383-AS
Looks like i'll go with this instead methinks.. Opinions?

Grim.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-126-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1155&name=Gigabyte%20GA-EP43-DS3L%20Intel%20P43%20(Socket%20775)%20PCI-Express%20DDR2%20Motherboard
gah dosnt support quads
steer clear of b-grade imo m8

cianclarke

Hm does it have to specifically say the mobo supports quads?
If so the only one I can find for under £70 ex vat(the budget) is that B-Grade one. To be honest I could live with the board alone - IO plate off eBay, and a few SATA cables, is there anything else I'd need?

maki

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?&groupid=701&catid=5&subid=1155&sortby=priceAsc

The top two boards there are under your budget and support quads.

Robertr

Wouldn't buy from OcUK anymore. They charge Irish VAT rates so are more expensive then most try Novatech or Tekheads

jonny72

Buying from the UK the exchange rates have changed you aren't saving any money at all really..

cianclarke

I am - I'm buying all the goods as en export within the EU, less 17% UK VAT. :-)
Hardwareversand actually worked out more expensive.. Anyway will let ye' know how I get on with OCUK, the order has apparently gone through.

BadCharlie

But i hear once you get to check out on the OCUK web site and they find your in ireland and delivering it to ireland. The vat will change to the irish vat rate.

Let me know if this is so

Their is also komplett but maybe they are expensive.