So. Two days from now a disgusting amount of tax payer's money will flow into my student bank account, which means I'm building a new PC - since I'm currently using a 32Mb GeForce 2 MX200 rig, I don't think that's unreasonable. Even if it's not my money. Bit-tech's summary article on building for different budgets was very useful, and some choices are direct lifts from that. Others are slight tweaks, some totally different. These are the components I'm sure about, unless someone sees something they'd distinctly advise against: Antec p182 (owning one of these is like a Bit-Tech user's membership badge by now) Noctua NH-U12P heatsink Be Quiet BN073 650W supply Asus p5Q-E Samsung HD753LJ 750Gb drive (chosen over 1Tb models for the insanely low price per gig, and because I'll be able to add another 3 as time goes by, leading up to a drool-worthy 3Tb in the end) 4Gb of Corsair XMS2 PC2-8500 (1066MHz) That racks up to £622.53 on scan (counting unlisted accessories like KB+mouse). Now, the obvious remnants are CPU and graphics card, and these are subject to debate, suggestion and improvement: BFGtech GTX260 Maxcore - my main problem with this is there's a bewildering array of versions solely within this aftermarket OC of this card, which in turn is one of a multitude of new cards in Nvidia's 2xx line. So it's impossible to get a balanced overview of where each falls in the overall market of graphics cards, and I'd be guessing if I chose one by myself. Core 2 Duo E8500 - It was a no-brainer until they fleshed out the rest of the line. Now there's a ton of E8xxx and Q9xxx processors and a lot of them are getting very affordable, so again, I have no idea. What would the performance gain be from an E8500 to an E8600? Scrutinize and recommend - all advice is very appreciated
Looks good. You could swap the P5Q-E to a P5Q Pro to save some money. You could get 800MHz RAM to save some money. You could save some money by getting a E8400 and OC'ing it yourself. The E8600 is definitely not worth £50 extra over the E8500 just for that small clock increase (which you can do by yourself aswell really easily). Same goes for E8500/E8400.
agree with all of those "you coulds" i got BFG gtx260 OC2 maxcore just because OC1 is only £5 difference on Ebuyer. well, it's up to you, just make sure you get a Maxcore. what are you studying? i found my q6600's 4 cores to be a great help when im doing simulations or modelling on my computer. btw, student loads should have be payed into your account at beginning of October, not November
I'm a philosophy undergrad, so I don't require - and can't plausibly fob off - my purchases on grounds of academic need, unless I claim that the intricate refined complexity of modern computers provokes deep meditations on the nature of reality, the ethical objectability of modern technology and the possibility of virtual reality and its existentialist implications. ...screw it, that's my official story now. And yes, student finance direct are a bureaucratic failure. What kind of Crysis performance difference is it between 800MHz and 1066MHz DDR2? Can anyone testify from direct experience? When I chose it I was partly thinking "future-proof" as well as performance too, mind. And it's all so cheap now... Re: motherboard, would I lose anything by getting the absolutely cheapest P5Q board, the Asus P5QL SE? Apart from the memory limit (8Gb instead of 16Gb), only one PCI express slot and other useless stuff cut down that I wouldn't use anyway because I'm a normal human being and don't have money to burn, it seems more or less the same as the P5Q boards that go for over twice the price. Is the BIOS horribly cut down and unusable? If not, for £57 it's pretty damn good.
There's only one major problem I can see... You're using a P45 chipset and a NVidia card... to be honest I'd stick with ATI (HD 4870's benchmarks seem better as well) http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?...PU+750MHz,+800+Cores,+2x+DL+DVI-I/+HDTV,+HDCP from scan http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148105 from ebuyer
HD 4870 falls well below the GTX260 Maxcore, but that's a good point about the chipset. I want all-out playability in Crysis on full at 1680x1050, so ATI don't really have anything in my line - I can't afford a dual-core card, they're ludicrously expensive. So, nvidia chipsets...but then, what are the negative repercussions of using an nvidia card in an ip42/5 board?
No idea, I've just been told not to bother trying (uber-geek-friends are overly protective)... I'd just change the motherboard and get a DFI of some sorts, or Gigabyte are apparently good for X48 chipsets
As far as I was aware the only downside is that you will be limited to a single graphics card. A core 2 dual core is a good choice for games, particularly older ones that don't scale well across cores, but if you can hold out for a month or 2 it will be interesting to see if the AMD 45nm Deneb CPUs perform well enough and are priced right to make them a serious option to a Core 2 quad or to make Intel start rethinking their pricing strategy for Core 2 Quads.
The new stuff coming out in both Intel and AMD lines is exciting, but I just can't wait long enough to find out. It's gonna be an e8400, I've decided (thanks mm_vr ) - everything I need, cost-efficient choice, overclocking potential. Is there any word on the confusing selection of GTX260s available? I was gonna go with BFGtech's cheapest model, since the rest you're basically paying them a lot of money to do a bit of core tweaking that you could do yourself just with software. And re: motherboards, I've chosen the dirt-cheap P5QL-E because....goddamn, for 6 SATAII, 6 USB2, 1600MHz FSB, 1066MHz DDR2 and a maximum memory allowance of 16Gb, all for £70, you just can't complain. It's absurdly cheap. Thanks for the input everyone I'll be spending your taxes as soon as they arrive... edit - also, I'm gonna get vista 4-bit, any problems associated with that & any of the hardware I've chosen?
What is with the sudden influx of "zomg! can't use nVidia with Intel chipsets" Any graphics card can be used with any chipset. It's when you get to dual cards that you need a specific chipset. Ninja edit: Vista 64bit is fiiiine!
Never heard of BE quiet psu before, so not sure if they are any good, but you could always have a look at a corsair 650W, very good supply, I would check prices and such but scan is blocked at work
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/07/29/be-quiet-dark-power-pro-650w/1 There ya go. They're good.
They rock to the moon and back. Apart from being very quiet (appropriately), that one's also modular, and modular PSUs make my pants wet. Okay, they don't, but they're cool, is what I'm saying. Any input on DDR2 1066MHz 5-5-5-15 compared to DDR2 800MHz 4-4-4-12? Am I paying an extra £20 for nothing or will it help with overclocking? Oh, also, is the Logitech G9 mouse worth the hefty price tag, or is there a similarly awesome one that anyone would recommend that comes cheaper.
