New System Build For Around £500

[Cemeterygates]

Ok, so i'm looking to figure out a set up for a friend of mine and i'm basically after opinions on this.

Mobo - Abit IP35 Pro XE
CPU - Intel Q6600 (clocking it at 3.2GHZ)
CPU Cooler - Freezer 7 Pro
RAM - 2GB OCZ PC-8500
GFX - Asus ATI Radeon HD 4670 (512mb)
HD - Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB (32mb Cache)
PSU - OCZ StealthxStream 500w Silent ATX2

Unsure about case as of yet, depends what he likes the look of i guess but does anyone have a few recomendations that will house that lot that ya can pick up for say....around £50-£80?

Just looking on OCUK atm and so far it comes to £469, not the cheapest place i know but using that as a reference gives a bit of room for improvement i guess.

Thanks in advance folks (most likely Kryten) :worthy:

 

[Cemeterygates]

Another option i'm looking at is as follows.

Mobo - Abit IP35 Pro XE
CPU - Intel E8400
GFX - Asus GeForce EN8800GT (512mb)
RAM - Corsair XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500 (2x 1GB)
HD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB 32mb Cache
PSU - OCZ StealthxStream 500w Silent ATX2

Comes in at £447 on OCUK....what do we think?

Sorry about second post, was too late to edit.

 

[Kryten]

What's the aim of the machine?
Looks like a decent spec. If he's gaming, go for the e8400 processor. I posted a link to a case and PSU combo for £70 for both iirc from Coolermaster, it'll be in the Hot Purchases thread.
Tight call between the 8800 and 4670 though, I'd be tempted with the latter for better all round support. Might be worth googling a few benchmarks and see what the difference in performance is, I'll guess not a lot.
If it's running Vista I'd certainly get another couple of gig of ram too, it'll make it that little bit nippier.

 

[dysfunction]

this one? Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 650W PSU *SPECIAL OFFER* - Ebuyer

 

[Cemeterygates]

What's the aim of the machine?
Looks like a decent spec. If he's gaming, go for the e8400 processor. I posted a link to a case and PSU combo for £70 for both iirc from Coolermaster, it'll be in the Hot Purchases thread.
Tight call between the 8800 and 4670 though, I'd be tempted with the latter for better all round support. Might be worth googling a few benchmarks and see what the difference in performance is, I'll guess not a lot.
If it's running Vista I'd certainly get another couple of gig of ram too, it'll make it that little bit nippier.

Aim of the machine is general net use and gaming, bit of a media centre too.

Was kinda thinking tho, the Q6600 is a fine processor....and oc's well....as does the E8400 i hear....can crank them to 3.6 with a decent CPU cooler?
I know of Q6600's bein cranked to 3.4GHZ with a GOOD cooler...whats the E8400 like in terms of OC'ing and cooling requirements?

In regards to more RAM, tis kinda what i was getting at with OCUK aint the cheapest, can squeeze more out of the price

 

[Kryten]

I'd certainly stick with the e8400 for general usage, like the g0 Q6600 it's a monster clocker and stays just a tad cooler than the 6600 too. Very good performance & value for money, currently can't really be beaten. To echo what I've said before, the Q6600 only really comes into it's own with very heavy supportive applications - i.e. for people doing huge amounts of Photoshop, audio editing and the likes.

And aye, that's the case.

 

[Helme]

The E8400 can go up to 3.4-3.6GHz with no problem using the stock cooler and a decent case - 4.2-4.6GHz seems to be the average/extreme with a good custom cooler.

I would personally go for the 8800GT card if you were to stick in that pricerange, the 4670's while good, is imo not worth it when you can for a very small extra cost get a 4850 that outperforms it(and the GT).

2GB more ram seems like a good idea aswell, but if moneys tight 2GB will do just fine - can always get the last sticks later

I would also switch the motherboard for an Asus P5Q-Pro, mainly because it costs the same but offers better Crossfire support for future upgrades(PCi-E 2 times 8x in Crossfire mode rather than the Abit's 16x and 4x).

 

[Cemeterygates]

Ok so i made a few changes an looked at some other sites an i've come up with this.

Mobo - Asus P5Q-Pro P45
CPU - Intel E8400
GFX - Asus 4850 (512mb)
RAM - OCZ DDR2 1066mhz PC2-8500 Reaper HPC Edition (2x 1GB)
HD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB 32mb Cache
PSU - OCZ StealthxStream 500w Silent ATX2
Case - Coolermaster Elite 330

Coming in at £479

 

[Kryten]

Christ, a tenner more than your original setup? Go for it!

 

[Helme]

I agree, alot of computer for very little - and potentional for even more with another HD4850 card and 2GB more ram in the future.

 

[Cemeterygates]

Christ, a tenner more than your original setup? Go for it!

Yea like i said, OCUK aint the cheapest of places...had a look on Ebuyer...seems they much cheaper for some things...an about the same/more for others. With a bit of effort an looking around ya can save yaself a lot of money/get more for ya money.

 

[Cemeterygates]

I agree, alot of computer for very little - and potentional for even more with another HD4850 card and 2GB more ram in the future.

With Crossfire you dont have to match cards though, right? so for a bit of extra kick, my friend could throw in his Radeon 9600 pro(no extra cost as he can yank it out his current rig), correct? I'm no guru with crossfire and SLi...or much in general (why i linger round here and a few other places tbh) but i know a lil bit lol.

More ram is ofc a good thing...but i was thinking, and saying to my friend, if he got a copy of XP stick with that for now considering the 2GB of ram, as Vista is a hungry OS and after a lil while get Vista 64 and the extra ram (when money allows it)

Thanks for responses btw, appreciate the help and advice

EDIT: Looking around an comparing what OCUK and Ebuyer are asking for certain parts...like i said OCUK are good for some things..but awfull with others...and vice versa.
goin from the IP35 Pro XE to the P5Q-Pro P45 was £10 less (IP35 on OCUK, the P5Q-Pro on ebuyer) and the CPU was £12 less on Ebuyer.

ANOTHER EDIT!!: Is the Samsung Spinpoint F1 the better hard drive? could maybe squeeze that in...with more space if so...

 

[Helme]

Don't know if its much better(or better at all) but I like my Samsung Spinpoint F1 500GB. It's dead silent(I haven't actually heard it yet) and really fast.

I'm not sure about the Crossfire question - but im pretty certain that it won't work as Crossfire was introduced first after a year or so of PCI-Express and the 9600 would most likely be AGP.

Besides, it's not really gonna help much, the 4850 can handle almost anything you throw at it with max settings and keep good frames.

Talking about GFX card btw, see if you can get ahold of the Sapphire HD4850 Dual Slot card - the 4800 cards run quite hot but this one comes with a custom cooler that basically cuts the heat in half - and I got mine for the same price as all the other brands.

--

Regarding the ram, yeah that'll work just fine. I did the same thing myself, stuck around with XP until I got my last 2GB of ram and I can't say that I have noticed much of a difference other than a few extra FPS in Crysis & the fact that I can run 3 WoW accounts without lag