Arse arse arse arse arse arse. (cpu question)

[nath]

Ok, my motherboard has just died - northbridge fan died ages ago and now the heatsink on it has fallen off and the clips used to hold it in place have disappeared. End result being that it no longer boots. Or that it gets to the start of windows (just) and reboots in a constant cycle.

Rather than replacing just the motherboard (which could be a major pain) I'm looking at getting a new machine. I don't want a ninja PC, just something solid that performs as good as, if not better than the corpse I currently have. Herein lies my problem. I've no idea about the new intel dual core jobbies and how good they are.

For example, I'm looking at this Duo E6300 1.86ghz thing. How exactly does that compare to what I've got which is a P4 (HT) 2.8ghz?

Also, I've got an X850 PE agp card, how does that compare to the new PCI-E cards. I want to spend about 100-150 on it, will that be enough to beat the x850 or at least be on a par? I need a machine fairly pronto and can't afford to get the best, so just want something solid.

Any ideas appreciated!

 

[inactionman]

The processor is good, much faster than your current one. Any 7800/7900 nvidia or 1800/1900 ati will be faster than your current card.

What's your budget, and what do you need to replace?

 

[nath]

The processor is good, much faster than your current one. Any 7800/7900 nvidia or 1800/1900 ati will be faster than your current card.

What's your budget, and what do you need to replace?

Ok, well I'm hoping to spend about 400 plus vat (give or take 100). I've totalled up some stuff on ebuyer for a machine that looks fairly solid. I'm going to leave my current machine more or less the way it is and just start from scratch.

What I've got so far:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86ghz) Socket 775 Fsb1066 2mb Cache Retail Boxed Processor 112704 68 in stock £94.63 £94.63
Connect 3D X1950Pro 512MB GDDR3 DVI VIVO PCI-E 119276 152 in stock £93.57 £93.57
Corsair (VS2GBKIT667D2) 2 x 1 GB DDR2 667 MHz 2x128Mx64non-ECC 2x240 DIMM Unbuffered CL5 098691 130 in stock £76.58 £76.58
Enermax Liberty 500W Modular ATX2.2 PSU 106366 5 in stock £56.25 £56.25
XION Solaris Black (Green LED) Steel ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case - No PSU 107993 73 in stock £28.07 £28.07
Maxtor STM380211AS 80gb 7200RPM SATAII 2MB Cache - OEM 120301 1240 in stock £22.79 £22.79
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 Socket 775 Onboard Audio SATA ATX (£87+, £102inc)


The gigabyte isn't in stock at ebuyer atm so I'll find it elsewhere but looks to be good for what I need. The hard drive is only 80gb as it'll be purely windows, I'll bring across my 200gb and 300gb sata's from my old pc, leaving out the old 120gb windows drive.

Things that concern me - memory, it's cheap, but will it do the job? I don't need uber performance, just something that's solid. The motherboard, can I get better for that money? Do I need to spend that much? The reason I went for it is because it's Gigabyte (decent brand) and has all the connectivity I need as far as optical out, sata/pata etc is concerned.

Also, the graphics card looks amazing for the price which makes me question it. I know Connect 3d were decent back in the day - are they still?

Finally the processor, is that the best *bang for buck* or is it worth paying an extra 10-20 quid for something higher up?

Again, muchos thanks for any help/advice. I've not been following the hardware market for ages so I'm quite out of touch :\

Links for the above stuff:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=112704
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=119276
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=98691
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=107993
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=120301
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=106366
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=118922


edit: for an extra 30 quid I can get this. 2.13ghz instead of 1.86ghz. Thing is, is that a significant enough difference to go for it?

 

[Whipped]

Nath, check out my thread here. Had pretty much the same problem and the kit there is what I'm running now and it's been smooth sailing so far. The only main difference in that list is that I went with the E6300 chip as suggested by Chet. (Overclocked and running smooth at 2.1GHz using the cooling HSF and thermal paster that came with the chip)

Only thing I can't recommend is the graphics card as the Quadro I'm running was aquired from a 3rd party.

Also, it was all bought from http://www.advancetec.co.uk/ as I couldn't find all of it at my usual supplier, eBuyer

 

[inactionman]

All looks good, apart from the case, no idea about that.

 

[nath]

Right, I've totally mixed things up. I've decided to push the boat out as I know I'll regret it if I don't. Plus I did with my last machine and its lasted 4 years - would still have some life in it if it weren't for that ruddy northbridge hsfan.

Anyway, my list now looks like so:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...WN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=83044
Antec SLK3000B Black Super Mid Tower Case - No PSU

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...N0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=116481
Asus P5B Deluxe WIFI Socket 775 Core 2 Duo P965 FSB1066 DDR2 SATA Audio
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...N0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=116755
OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC with LIFETIME WARRANTY
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...N0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=112706
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4ghz) Socket 775 FSB1066 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...WN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=94406
Western Digital WD1600JS Caviar SE 160GB 7200RPM SATAII/300 8MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...N0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=114933
Antec TruePower Trio 650W PSU - With 3x 12v Rails and 120mm Fan

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=499238
768Mb Asus 8800GTX PCI-E (x16), Mem 1800 MHz, GPU 575 MHz, 128 Streams, 2 x Dual Link DVI-I HDTV

My concern now is whether that bloody nvidia jobby will fit in the case :|

 

[inactionman]

No idea! I know one (or even two) fits in my p180, but I know nothing about that case. As for the 8800GTX, get one of these instead, they have a faster factory overclock, and the warranty is much better (lifetime): http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-035-BG

If you are going for an nvidia card, you might as well get an SLI mobo, get a 650i, like the P5NE-SLI, and whack a wireless card in there:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=529752

 

[nath]

Too late, already ordered :\

I know for a fact I'm never going to SLI them, so I'm not so bothered about that - as for the BFG thing, pants. Might see if I can cancel the scan one now actually.

 

[Ch3tan]

I was going to say get the gigabyte ds3 board. It is an overclocking beast.

 

[nath]

Overclocking is something I'm never gunna do either. so I'm more concerned about what's better out of the box.

OK as per Inactionmans advice I've cancelled the Asus and am looking at getting the bfg from scan (same price as from overclockers). Before I do this, anyone else got any more advice?

 

[Ch3tan]

It is great out of the box though, and cheaper than the asus to boot.

And you will overclock wether you realise it yet or not, the core2 will overclock to nearly 1ghz over stated speeds on air without breaking a sweat.

 

[inactionman]

Nothing apart from that you might want to get a quieter cooler for the processor, something like an Artic Freezer 7 Pro:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=340995

 

[nath]

The only gigabyte card I can see is a pre-order on scan - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=506623

But it's slightly slower out of the box than the BFG and more importantly, not available now. Ebuyer and overclockers don't have it and Dabs' two are both slower than the BFG.

 

[inactionman]

Think ch3t is talking about the DS3 mobo. Get the BFG, they are probably the best value nvidia graphics cards you can get, the warranty and aggressive pricing just sells it IMHO.

 

[nath]

Ahhh ok. Well too late for that but good to know about the BFG, I'll order it now