what do u think??

D

Dreamscience

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 12, 2008
Messages
131
im buying these parts this weekend what do you think so far??

its to go on a lain li pc7 with a cooler master 650 watt psu

and a ati hd2900gt (will be upgraded soon)

the pc will be used for gaming and movies and photoshop

on a lg 22" widescreen at 1600x1200


4GB Kingston Hyper-X 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Memory Kit
800MHz
CAS 4-4-4-12
4GB (2 x 2GB Sticks)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core CPU
3GHz x2
1333MHz FSB
6MB L2 Cache

Abit IN9 32X-MAX
Socket 775 / Dual DDR2 800
Dual PCI-Express / SLi Ready
7.1ch Audio / 1333MHz FSB

the motherboard is only £80 clearance :):)
 
There's a possibility that the board can't support the E8400 right out of the box. It can with a BIOS update, but you wouldn't be able to use the E8400 until after the update.

That said, you don't need SLI support for a 1600x1200 resolution. I recommend that you look for a different board, since I (personally) can't tell whether or not the board, being a clearance item, has a current enough BIOS revision that supports the E8400.
 
Dreamscience said:
... the motherboard is only £80 clearance :):)
Click to expand...

Still not worth it, IMO. All NF680i boards were plagued with multiple problems, so much so that even for such a nice clearance price, I wouldn't bother unless you don't mind putting in the time that it may potentially need. And as tiraides said, no need for SLI for such low res. ;)
 
How much money do you have to spend on the board?

Where are you buying everything from?

Which model (number) is your Cooler Master 650W PSU?
 
If you've had the power supply for over two years, then I recommend getting a new one when you buy the new video card.

Here are two options, both from Gigabyte (and Scan PC): the EP43-DS3L and the EP45-DS3R. The DS3R has dual x8 CrossFire and RAID 0/1/5 support... so if you don't need those, you could go with the cheaper DS3L. (And for the record, you don't need CrossFire or SLI for the resolution that you're currently using.)
 
I agree with tiraides, the DS3L is great if you don't need much in a mobo. If you need many features, the Gigabyte UD3R (replaces the DS3R), UD3P, or the Asus P5Q Pro or E are also good choices.
 
ok ive made some more desitions is this a solid system??



4GB Kingston Hyper-X 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Memory Kit
800MHz
CAS 5-5-5-15
4GB (2 x 2GB Sticks)

XFX GeForce 9800GTX+ XXX 512MB
Core Clock: 775MHz vs. Stock 738MHz
Shader Clock: 1836MHz
Memory Clock: 2250MHz vs. Stock 2200MHz
Stream Processors: 128

AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad Core CPU
2.2GHz x4
512KB L2 Cache x4
Socket AM2+ / 95W


Asus M3A78 PRO Motherboard
AM2+ AMD 780G ATX RAID SATA Gigabit LAN
 
It will work... but can you afford the Radeon HD4850?

And how old is your power supply?
 
im just wondering are the phenoms quicker than intel quad core??

and ccl is jsut round the corner from me so i can pop in any time with complaints :p, the gpu's are cheaper at ccl also :D
 
No, Intel still have the lead and they clock well too.

Ah cool, you have no problem with CCL then :)
 
i dunno what to do now lol cud u help me pick a good intel board from the ccl list then?? and cpu??? im not sure about overclocking so i may not do it
 
I wouldnt go near Abit boards, they are dead.
Also the 680i chipset on the board you wanted can be troublesome.

If you dont need an SLi board, this one is pretty cheap + supports 1600MHz FSB
Asus P5KPL SE, based on the G31 chipset £52
http://www.cclonline.com/product-in...=251&manufacturer_id=0&tid=90-mib670-g0eay0kz

If you want SLi then this is your cheapest option
Asus P5N-T Deluxe on offer for £115
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=30115&category_id=507
Note that the 780i isnt the most stable chipset either.
X58 motherboards are the best option for SLi but they are new and expensive.

Assuming you have a low budget...
I am more inclined these days to recommend a quad core CPU but as you arent overclocking and the higher clocked quads are ridiculous prices, the E8400 is the best CPU.
If you get a Q6600 it is only 2.4GHz so needs an overclock to cope with some of the modern games.
The E8400 at stock clocks is fine for nearly all games.

If you intend on running SLI, you should overclock your CPU to cope with the extra workload.
 
Dreamscience said:
is the e8400 the best cpu for gaming then??
Click to expand...

There really isn't a "best CPU for gaming" IMO since just at 1280x1024 and above, it doesn't matter that much what CPU you have (Q6600 and E8400 will perform almost the same). As long as you have a C2D CPU clocked at 3Ghz or with four cores or AMD/Core i7 equivalent, you really won't run into any CPU bottlenecking.
 
Dreamscience said:
sweet so what about the amd am2 6400?? is that any good compared to the e8400
Click to expand...

As Nenu pointed out: NO. Clock for clock, Intel CPUs are faster than their AMD counterparts. However AMD is slowly but surely rolling out CPUs that can perform on par with their Intel counterparts at stock speeds. But right now, no AMD can compete with the E8400 AFAIK.
 
fair enough so ill notice a big differnce from :

amd am2 5000+
and 2 gig or 667 mhz ram

to

intel e8400
4 gig or corsiar dominator at 1066 mhz??
 
Yes and no. Yes, as the E8400 is a better/faster processor at stock speeds, and can reach a higher overclock, than the X2 5000+. (Plus, 4GB of memory will give you some benefit over 2GB, as it allows you to reduce, if not minimize, the use of virtual memory, which can slow things down.)

No, because the Corsair Dominator RAM set is comparatively overpriced compared to other brands of RAM. Intel's Core 2 series doesn't really benefit from "performance" memory like the Corsair Dominator or from tighter memory timings (e.g., 4-4-4-12 vs. the JEDEC "standard" 5-5-5-18).
 
tiraides said:
Yes and no. Yes, as the E8400 is a better/faster processor at stock speeds, and can reach a higher overclock, than the X2 5000+. (Plus, 4GB of memory will give you some benefit over 2GB, as it allows you to reduce, if not minimize, the use of virtual memory, which can slow things down.)

No, because the Corsair Dominator RAM set is comparatively overpriced compared to other brands of RAM. Intel's Core 2 series doesn't really benefit from "performance" memory like the Corsair Dominator or from tighter memory timings (e.g., 4-4-4-12 vs. the JEDEC "standard" 5-5-5-18).
Click to expand...

QFT.

So basically you can use the E8400 with DDR2 667 RAM and it'll still perform as fast as a E8400 and DDR2 1066 RAM setup. The E8400 + DDR2 667 RAM will still outperform the X2 5000+ by a large margin. And yes you'll notice a difference between the two.
 
ah thanks guys, i think i need to re think my choice, everything has to be from cll online, i realy need some help finding the right parts for GAMING

for £350-400

anyone fancy picking some items out that are in stock and i can pick up tomorrow :D
 
Dreamscience said:
ah thanks guys, i think i need to re think my choice, everything has to be from cll online, i realy need some help finding the right parts for GAMING

for £350-400

anyone fancy picking some items out that are in stock and i can pick up tomorrow :D
Click to expand...

Is that £350-400 for just the CPU, mobo and RAM? or does that include other parts as well?

Oh and no matter what, replace that shitty Coolermaster PSU with a better quality PSU from Corsair, Antec (Neopower, Earthwatts, True Power Trio, Signature series only), Silverstone, PC Power and Cooling, and BFG (MX, LS, ES series only) when you upgrade the GPU.
 
Danny Bui said:
Q6600 and E8400 will perform almost the same
Click to expand...

Most of the interweb would beg to differ. The E8400 keeps up with the Q9550 or goes toe to toe with the QX9650 most of the time when up to two cores are utilized. When a game can use four cores (Lost Planet, Sup. Com.) the Q6600 at stock holds it's own.
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
Most of the interweb would beg to differ. The E8400 keeps up with the Q9550 or goes toe to toe with the QX9650 most of the time when up to two cores are utilized. When a game can use four cores (Lost Planet, Sup. Com.) the Q6600 at stock holds it's own.
Click to expand...

And I beg to differ with most of the interweb as well:
CPU scaling in games with dual & quad core processors with 8800Ultra

The above link shows that around 1280x1024 and above, most games become more and more GPU dependent. At that point, there's very little difference between the E8400 and Q6600.
 
well i cud get the 9800gtx xxx which has faster speeds than that 260 :S n that makes it 400 :D
 
You want us to be helpful but you arent helpful for us.
Which components arent in stock tomorrow?
Is there any reason why the mobo I chose on Page 1 isnt good enough? It will save you some cash.
 
NO NO i dont mean to see off hand guys, i just want to buy it tomorrow lol ive been wating months :D sorry dude didnt mean to offend you
 
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