Hardware What Hardware Should I Buy? - March 2009

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2009/03/03/what-hardware-should-i-buy-march-2009/1

What changed for March? Take a look at our recommendations for building a budget, premium and ultimate system if you're in the market for a new PC. We provide a breakdown of first choice and alternatives to help balance and sift out the best products at your fingertips.

 

Umm. On the premium hardware section, how is it possible for the ACTS 840 to cost less in dollars than it does in pounds... What is wrong with prices of parts in the UK..

 

The current exchange rate is bad for us UK buyers. Less than a year ago we were around 2 dollars to the pound, now its 1.4.
A 4850 cost me £130 when it launched in the summer. Right now the same site sells the same card for £122.
On some products we still get it nearly as cheap as in the US but others its up to 50% more.

 

Just bought a 4830 two days ago. Arrived today, havent had chance to use it yet but good to see its still the best buy.

 

I'm thinking of following the affordable to upgrade my current A64 3500 system. looks a good spec for the price.
Quick question though, I'm currently using a Hiper Type R 480watt PSU, it should be able to handle that spec right?
Cheers guys.

I'll stick the Win7 beta as the OS on this I think (at least until August any way).

 

You could always substitute the EP45-UD3R for the EP-45 UD3P if you were opting for Crossfire, or even one of the older EVGA 750i or 680i boards.

And instead of the 4850BE you can grab a 7750+ BE for around $66(US).

But overall great article as expected, just that some of the alternatives are...lacking..

ps: You could always get a 2 GTX 285s and have it cost $670 but pretty much outperform the rest of the cards..

And Where's the HD4850X2?

 

It evens out a bit with US sales tax added, but on average you'll always pay more here in the UK

 

Why there is no consideration in premium for a SLI 285GTX , i belive its gonna do much better than a 4870x2 or a 295, and in the end, its still premium

 

I have a suggestion/alteration.

Given that the 7750 Black edition Athlon X2 is now ~£60, is higher frequency, based on Agena (Kuma) core and has L3 cache that the 4850 doesn't have, not to mention higher overclocking headroom and unlocked multiplier, surely that shoudl replace the 4850e in the low end spec??

Also, maybe even for the same segment, the Phenom (and Phenom II) X3's are extremely good value when compared to higher clocked dual cores from Intel, especially given the highly multi-threaded state of games and applications these days.

(i just bought one and it clocked to 3 Ghz easily outs my mates E6750 @ 3.3Ghz)

 

I still think it is weird that the Q6600 is the high end, i bought this over a year ago for only £8 more than listed in this article, true its a great performer and overclocker, and i definately have got my monies worth out of this system! Just need an update to the graphics card it seems.

 

The Q6600 still being there is kind of a joke IMO. Even the Phenom 9850 could compete against the Q6600 at stock and mild overclocked speeds, compared to the new AM3 CPUs such as the X4 810 or 910 its quite simply outclassed.

Not to mention the fact that the price for the Q6600 or the E8400 for that matter is the same if not higher then it was over a year ago.

 

[pedantic]

In the affordable section the pictured cooler is an Akasa 966 rather than the 965...

[/pedantic]

 

Just bought a 4870 1gb yesterday, so I'm glad to see it's back on top in your list too

 

Include in your display IMO Dell 2408WFP, the new revision ( newer then anad tested) was reported as having almost none inputlag, and the price is kinda nice, somewhere around £500 and it's even better without any calibration, that some of the displays after the hardware calibrations, so it speaks for itself.

 

I'd like to ask about the Antec Three Hundred: I'm fine with the way it looks, and it's great that it has capable cooling, but: what about the noise of it and the dust accumulation inside?

Thanks in advance for answers.

 

I was quite impressed with the low prices, until I realised that Windows wasn't included in the budget, which is a bummer.

 

It does have lag, at least compared to my dell 2001FP 20" displays. But not enough to care about.

I'm very happy with my 2408, another strong recomendation for a premium 24"

 

Isn't the March high-end machine completely the same as the February one? I just built a machine a week ago with the exact listed hardware and I was following the Feb, guide.. Only difference in my shopping was that I bought a 750W Corsair and 2 x 2x2GB XMS2.

Edit: just noticed that you changed the Antec 802 with the 902. I guess I was just looking for you to have changed mobo and cpu but apparently the market is a bit in a standstill atm.

 

I agree. Cheapest Phenom X4 completely annihilates 6600 (when overclocked). I know that it's a memorable CPU for some, but it's time to let go

 

apparently the gigabyte boards are getting tons of failures and returns. am i wrong saying this?