One thing that has caught me, do I go for a 65nm or 45nm processor? Or does it not matter so long as I have the right socket (775)? Also what quad core would you recommend which would be an improvement on the e8400?
you would be using 45nm proceesor type don't bother whiching to a quad core the e8400 is a brilliant processor when overclocked to 4ghz and above
How much performance change do you think I would get between the two? Im no expert but surely you would get better performance by having an overclocked quad core than two core?
well it depends if you go with core i7 or a q9650 core i7 same performace gaming miles better at multitasking and vedeo editing at that sort of stuff q9650 slightly worse in gaming minamam difference, noteacably better at multitasking and vedeo editing at that sort of stuff
So for gaming really Im ok with the e8400 for now yes? Seen as I won't be doing much multitasking stuff. Fairly speedy once its overclocked anyway I guess.
Ok so from what I been told from you guys, here is my spec so far, rell me if I need adjustments. I can't really spend more then this for now I don't think, but hopefully I can save some money. PC Build: (scan.co.uk) HDD: 640GB Western Digital WD6401AALS Caviar Black, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm, 32MB Cache £54.57 Sound Card: XONAR D2/XDT - Asus Xonar D2X Ultra Fidelity 7.1 PCI-E Sound Card £95.32 Graphics Card: 2GB XFX HD 4870 x2, PCI-E 2.0, 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 750MHz, 1600 Cores, Crossfire, 2x DL DVI-I/HDTV £240.90 Case: Antec 900-2 Nine Hundred Two, Plastic/ Steel, ATX Case, Window, without PSU £99.46 Power Supply: CMPSU-750HXUK - 750W Corsair HX Series PSU, ATX, EPS12V, Modular, UK Version £119.95 Motherboard: Asus P5Q PRO, iP45, S 775, PCI-E 2.0(x16), DDR2 1200MHz, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £101.76 CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo, E8400, Wolfdale Core, S775, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, 9x Multiplier, Retail £132.24 Memory/RAM: VS4GBKIT800D2 - 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX Value Select, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5 £38.69 Cooler: Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ 120mm PWM 17dBA+ "HDT" CPU Cooler (755/1366/K8/AM2/AM3) £33.11 Optical Drive: Optiarc (Sony/NEC) AD-7200S-0B 20xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM £16.55 I'll keep updating this, as I get input from you guys.
no no no you got the wrong sound card this one is better http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-Xonar-D2X-Ultra-Fidelity-71-PCI-E-Sound-Card-(New-Version) and don't you need more than 150gb of storage in your computer? persanlly i woudn't bother with a 10,000 rpm HDD just get this one cheaper fast enough and will give you enough storage http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/640G...ALS-Caviar-Black-SATA-300-7200-rpm-32MB-Cache
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all your help, and specifically bagman's for getting the base of the system laid down. If anyone has any additional things they would like to add I would still appreciate it, thanks.
The sound card and the HDD can be argued over for hours, but here are my two cents. 10krpm HDDs are just a waste of money, they don't give any preformance increase over a regular 1TB HDD. Creative is horrible, or at least was, particularly with drivers, and I'd never recommend a Creative card to anyone. Get an Asus Xonar DX.
Awesome, taken that into account. I'm going to keep updating the list of parts I will use above as I receive in from you guys.
Now I think about it, I currently have an un-used external HDD. Would it be possible to use it in my PC rather than buying one for now? I have taken the panel of the side of the case for it and the HDD is a Maxtor 300GB PATA113.
maxtor is not a very good brand better if you bought a western digital or samsung they would be notacably better http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/320-...inpoint-F1-SATA-300-7200-rpm-16MB-Cache-89-ms the asus xonar D2X is exacally the same as asus xonar D2 only difference is the slot you use and the D2X is moe suited to you
Ok, great. My main focus though is that all of those above parts work together, thats key for me. As for anyone, it would be a bit of a bugger of they didn't work together especially after spending roughly £1000. Also, anyone in the UK. What so you think is the best place to buy my parts? I have heard allot of good things about scan.co.uk
all those componets will go together and i recomend scan a lot i have had very good expeiece with them
PSU looks a bit pricey. Mine's excellent, and the Corsair range in general gets good press. I'd recommend this which I make a bit cheaper and still modular. Scan are good, don't discount Overclockers if it's cheaper than Scan (but otherwise, don't buy from them). I've had good experiences with both.
This ram is no good, its laptop memory (SODIMM) try this instead, its the same stuff just in a 240 pin dimm: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-Corsair-DDR2-Memory-800-MHz-2x240-DIMM-Unbuffered-CL5
Aren't the newer nVidia cards better than the ATI ones for Crysis? The 4870X2 will be great regardless, but 2x GTX 260s will run it better according to this: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/01/30/bfg-tech-geforce-gtx-285-ocx-1gb/6, and it will cost only a little more. IIRC the 4870X2 is notoriously hot and loud, and the GTX 260 runs pretty cool. +1 for everything else, I would go with a 1TB HDD though, and the PSU may be overkill. The fact that the RAM you chose is for laptops has already been covered.
Just to point out, if you do find the spare cash behind the sofa for SLI, stick with a 750W PSU. Better safe than bzztttnnnnnnn...
RAM changed, thanks. However looking at the benchmarks and the card prices on Scan.co.uk for about £300 I can get two GTX 260 (216 cores) vs the 4870 x2 at £240. Looking at the benchmarks I would get about 10fps more, but as resolutions increase the fps difference gets smaller. So its a tricky choice. What do you guys think is the best idea? Go triple SLI in near future to get bigger boost? Go crossfire when I can afford it? Or what else?
