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Hardware What Hardware Should I Buy? - March 2009

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Tim S, 3 Mar 2009.

  1. Elton

    Elton Officially a Whisky Nerd

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    I think so, All the time I've used them they've been great.
     
  2. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    News to me tbh. From what I've read recently most people are moving from x to Gigabyte. And having said that - it's like PSUs and hard drives where everyone gets bad experiences and preferences of product.
     
  3. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    No, I don't agree at all. Clock for clock the Intel Core 2 Duos are faster and the Q6600s will do 3.3GHz easily at lower voltages than an overclocked X4 940 which will top out usually at 3.6GHz unless you get a really good one, and it's also more expensive (and so are the better AMD boards) to boot.

    I want to throw in the Q9400 or Q9550 but again they're both more expensive and the lower multiplier hinders overclocking somewhat.

    RE: Low end PC - we're trying to keep the cost as low as possible, and the 7750 BE will be a good alternative at £60, I do agree, the 4850e will still overclock heavily for £49. It's the same as saying "well, scrap the P43 and go P45" - we could but then we wouldn't be really minimising cost. Maybe it's worth beefing out the alternatives..?
     
  4. Baz

    Baz I work for Corsair

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    No dust filters, but both the fans have 3-step fan speed controllers, so on the lowest speed it's fairly well behaved as far as noise goes, with the option to switch to wind tunnel mode if you wish.,
     
  5. jblade

    jblade What's a Dremel?

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    on newegg it says it does come with filters?

    "The front panel includes a pair of USB 2.0 inputs as well as jacks for a headphone and microphone. The front bezel is perforated for maximum air intake and it has a washable filter to reduce dust within the system. Inside, are a total of nine drive bays – six 3.5” internal HDD’s and a trio of 5.25” external drives. Seven expansion card slots let you load up on graphic and other options up to – and including – a full height ATX motherboard. A rear-mounted 120mm TriCool fan as well as a top-mounted 140mm TriCool fan – both with 3-speed switch control – draw air through the case."

    i too was thinking about buying this case

    what are you thoughts about the x3 720 vs the q6600?
    if you want to cut costs, you don't have to go the ddr3 option for the 720
    and from people's comments it's easily overclockable (up to 3.7-3.8)
    and the 720 is cheaper by a good amount as well
     
  6. chambochae

    chambochae What's a Dremel?

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    I also like the fact that with the phenom IIs you are investing in the newer am3 socket. I am reluctant to buy into the 775 still. I remember the last time I built a new system I went for 939 and then a few months later am2 came along, and 939 was virtually forgotten overnight. How much more life does the 775 have?
     
  7. mystvearn

    mystvearn any-may

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    Nice monthly article. Keep it up. I notice that the affordable part cost less and less now. That is always good.
     
  8. Slyr7.62

    Slyr7.62 «ŚŁÂŶÈŘ»

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    Look, the Antec 1200 is $155 @ newegg, $5 less than the Antec "900-2". I'm curious who would take the 900-2 over the 1200 right now.
     
  9. Dreaming

    Dreaming What's a Dremel?

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    I've read that the latest Q6600s don't clock as well anymore. Speculation is that Intel have sneakily changed one of the construction materials for something cheaper so they just can't be pushed as far anymore. I need an upgrade from my e6300 as playing E:TW was a bit laggy (might just be GPU lag though..?) but all the quads currently are too expensive to justify really.
     
  10. Adelpha

    Adelpha What's a Dremel?

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    Do they test the compatibility of these products? Because I recently bought a 128GB G.Skill TITAN SSD which does not work with my current Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard so I'm looking to upgrade to a Core i7 system with a P6T Deluxe motherboard. This is why I would like to know if my 128GB G.Skill TITAN SSD will work with the new P6T Deluxe motherboard.
     
  11. *mat-ster*

    *mat-ster* What's a Dremel?

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    BenQ - no longer available from eBuyer.....hyperlink out of date

    Mistake on the description for the Optical drive = LG GGC not LG GGGC
     
  12. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Yea it does work with the P6T. Your P5W is a 925X = ICH7R southbridge which was released before anything Jmicron/Samsung NAND SSD was even invented. The Titan will work with everything X58-ICH10R based.

    It's surprising for you to say that though, I would have thought the SATA spec was pretty solid for any kind of drive! Interesting.. I wonder if it's a BIOS issue limited to that board/Asus brand or whether it's more widespread.
     
  13. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    775 dies early next year and the last chipset for 775 was the P45. Intel's next mainstream CPU is in Q3: Core i5.

    A DDR2/775 upgrade is cheap until then, whereas AM3 offers no performance benefit over AM2+, which in turn works out more expensive than 775/DDR2.

    Don't get me wrong - I really do like the 720, but it's the lack of decent, cheap motherboards that pisses me off. £100 for a Gigabyte P45 UD3R/P or £145 for an Asus M3A79-T?
     
  14. *mat-ster*

    *mat-ster* What's a Dremel?

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  15. jblade

    jblade What's a Dremel?

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    amd x4 940 is now 200.00 on newegg.
    q6600 is 197.99 on newegg

    is the old but highly overclockable q6600 still recommended even though the 940 is about the same price now?
     
  16. mauvecloud

    mauvecloud What's a Dremel?

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    I've got a suggestion for the 30inch monitor: the Gateway XHD3000. I don't know what the pricing is for it in the UK (or if it's even available there), but it seems like an attractive choice for those of us in the states, since some sites list it for $929, which is less than I paid for my Samsung 305T a few months ago, and the XHD3000 has additional inputs for hooking up game consoles, as well as HDCP support which I've found out the 305T lacks (though that's not a big deal for me yet).
     
  17. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    That's a damn good price for a 940 - there was a £60 difference over here.
     
  18. CowBlazed

    CowBlazed What's a Dremel?

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    I can't say I know pricing in the UK very well, but in NA prices on the Q6600 and E8400 haven't dropped in over a year. Infact about a year ago they could be found for cheaper, now they're all basically $200+.

    This makes it very bad value in my mind, buying old hardware for high end prices that can get you something 45nm and better, such as any of the AM3 CPUs. Plus they're backwards compatible so any decent 780G board with 95W support will work fine. Hard to recommend Intel as they're higher end CPUs are all over priced compared to AMD's latest offerings.
     
    Last edited: 18 Mar 2009
  19. Blademrk

    Blademrk Why so serious?

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    I can confirm there are no dust filters on the 300.

    Quick question, I've just run the Windows experience Index and I'm getting a 5.4 for both the CPU (E5200 @2.50GHz) and the RAM (4gb Corsair) (both at stock speeds) does that look about right?

    I ended up upgrading the PSU after all, I went for a 550watt BeQuiet Dark Power modular PSU and I can't believe how quiet the system is now compared to when the 480watt Hiper Type-R was in it.
     
  20. cjmUK

    cjmUK Old git.

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    Hmmm... The Akasa 965 is not 40% more expensive since this article was published... :(
     
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