New £2,000 System, ideas?

[Seigal12]

Hi all, I am back to make another rare post, and again – I have more questions!

Right, I am looking to build myself a nice new computer, without going much above £2,000.00! Which should be easy, but as usual – cheaper the better

I have currently made a specification equalling £1,867.78 – This consists of:

-AMD ATHLON 64 DUAL CORE 4400+
-DFI LANPARTY NF4 SLI-DR PCI EXPRESS MOTHERBOARD
-CORSAIR 2GB DDR XMS4400 PRO TWINX
-BFG GEFORCE 7900 GTX OC 512MB GDDR3 (PCI-EXPRESS)
-SEASONIC S12 600W SILENT ATX2.0 POWER SUPPLY
---(Among other things)---

Now the question I find myself looking at it this, should I forgo the AMD 4400+ and go for an Intel Pentium 4 Dual Core 3.4Ghz with a relevant setup.

I want something that is generally good all round, applications, games etc… I know AMD would be better for the gaming, but I have loyalty issues with Intel to deal with first!

Can someone please point me in the right direction here; I cannot seem to get many answers. I know it’s the age old question of AMD vs. Intel here, but opinions are always helpful!

Thanks in advance guys, I look forward to the replies!

 

[PikeyPriest]

When do you need it?

At the moment conroe looks to be faster than the AMD line-up and is out on the 23 of july (roughly - cant remember exact date). If you can wait until then you will get some very nice hardware if the released benchmarks are anything to go by.

IMO it is worth the wait and i`m going to hold off building a new PC until it is out. I would recommend doing the same to you, but obviously if you need ** pc tomorrow thats not an option.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

What are these other things of which you speak? What you've listed certainly won't be anywhere near 2k worth of machine.

Also, waiting for conroe might not be a bad idea at all.

 

[Seigal12]

This is the full specification I have lined up at the moment, coming to about £1,800

AMD athlon 64 dual core 4400+ [socket 939]
Dfi Lanparty nf4 sli-dr [socket 939] pci express
Corsair 2gb ddr xms4400 pro twinx (2x1gb)
Bfg GeForce 7900 gtx oc 512mb gddr3 (pci-express)
Maxtor diamondmax plus 10 300gb Sata-ii 16mb cache
Thermalright si-120
Creative Sound Blaster X-fi Xtreme Music
Seasonic S12 600W Silent Atx2.0 Power Supply
Artic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case – No Psu
Nec ND4570 16x16 Dual Layer Rewriter
OcUK Value Floppy Drive
Akasa Ak-Paxmate Plus Acoustic Absorbtion Mat
Vantac Slot Protector Kit
Vantec Cable Sleeving Kit
Vantec SF120SL Stealth 120mm Fan
Altec Lansing MX5021 2.1 Speaker System
Samsung SM-930BF 19” LCD Monitor

I don't need it soon, it's more of how patient I can be to get a better system.

...and at risk of lining myself up with a stupid question: What is the Conroe?

 

[Eliot]

If i was going too spend 2000 i would DEFINETLY NO QUESTION OF A DOUBT wait. but hey thats my opinion, and think of conroe as pentium 5 and you get the idea, its a new processor coming out soon and it looks so fast to the point of the benchmarks being almost unbelievable.

 

[FrankJH]

This is the full specification I have lined up at the moment, coming to about £1,800

AMD athlon 64 dual core 4400+ [socket 939]
Dfi Lanparty nf4 sli-dr [socket 939] pci express
Corsair 2gb ddr xms4400 pro twinx (2x1gb)
Bfg GeForce 7900 gtx oc 512mb gddr3 (pci-express)
Maxtor diamondmax plus 10 300gb Sata-ii 16mb cache
Thermalright si-120
Creative Sound Blaster X-fi Xtreme Music
Seasonic S12 600W Silent Atx2.0 Power Supply
Artic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case – No Psu
Nec ND4570 16x16 Dual Layer Rewriter
OcUK Value Floppy Drive
Akasa Ak-Paxmate Plus Acoustic Absorbtion Mat
Vantac Slot Protector Kit
Vantec Cable Sleeving Kit
Vantec SF120SL Stealth 120mm Fan
Altec Lansing MX5021 2.1 Speaker System
Samsung SM-930BF 19” LCD Monitor

I don't need it soon, it's more of how patient I can be to get a better system.

...and at risk of lining myself up with a stupid question: What is the Conroe?

Thats a very decent setup and either the X2 4400 or an opteron 170 or thereabouts would be a great start, however if you dont want to SLI then I personally think that mobo would be a waste and you could save a little and go for a DFI Ultra D instead.

I would also recommend you look at 20" widescreen monitors also to get the most out of your gaming and general usage also - but of course its upto you.

Intel Conroe is their new cpu - as stated its out end of July and is a really decent step up in performance over anything currently available. It also looks like the CPU's are going to be reasonably priced, however I have sneaky suspicion that early adaptos esp are going to pay thru the nose for motherboards - but thats just a guess on my part going from Intel's history.

Also possibly change the GTX for a X1900XT (-x) which are a little cheaper ( or certainly used to be) and on a par performance wise.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

...however I have sneaky suspicion that early adaptos esp are going to pay thru the nose for motherboards - but thats just a guess on my part going from Intel's history...

Any LGA775 motherboard with the i965 or i975 chipset will run it. There are already several on the market such as
Abit AW8D Intel 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-102-AB) for 124.95 GBP from OcUK.

 

[FrankJH]

Any LGA775 motherboard with the i965 or i975 chipset will run it. There are already several on the market such as
Abit AW8D Intel 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-102-AB) for 124.95 GBP from OcUK.

You might that even these dont offer complete compatability - I am no expert but I believe there are additional "componants" required for full funcionality

 

[Pr0t0c0L]

wait for CONROE

 

[Energize]

wait for CONROE

 

[Eliot]

yes like i said. please dont spend 2000 on a system which will be paced by one for 1400 in 2 months

 

[Azza]

Ive come up with this, it has AMDs new socket AM2, adn comes up at Total £1,879.95 without delivery costs.


AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2)
Asus M2N32-SLi-DLX nForce 590 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
OcUK GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 400GB ST3400633AS SATA-II 16MB Cache
NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
OcUK Value Floppy Drive - Black
Zalman CNPS9500-AM2 Aero Flower (Socket AM2/939/754) CPU Cooler
Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminum Case
Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music + HS600 £29.99 Gaming Headset Bundle - Retail
Logitech Media Keyboard Elite - Retail
Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse
Dell Ultrasharp 2007FP 20.1" Performance LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey

also 2 Akasa AK-183-L2B Ultra Quiet 120mm Fans, because im not sure how quite the fans are in the Akasa, or if there are any.


Also im not that great with picking monitors, but just see what other people think about that one.


Also if you are considering spending £2000 on a new PC wait for Conroe, and see what Intel has thrown up.

 

[Noni]

Get a bigger monitor 24inch 2405FPW!

 

[Seigal12]

So, what sort of spec would you recommend with Conroe then? I mean, GeForce/ATI is another good question.

I will admit, waiting for Conroe does sound a good idea, however it seems alittle experimental to jump at a newly released processor?

And to ask another stupid question, though Conroe will be new - what are its benefits? (I have not done much reading obvoiusly)

 

[BillytheImpaler]

http://anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2713
That's the first one I found. There's a good article about it on a large UK overclocking and enthusiast site but I won't link becasue they're a competitor to OcUK.

Conroe, AKA Core 2 Duo, is a dual core next-generation CPU from Intel. It is decended from Banias, the original Pentium Mobile chip and it boasts very large amounts of on-die cache and an extremely efficient clock cycle. It is projected to take the performance crown back from AMD in a big way.

If you check out the Overclocking & Cooling forum you'll see an array of threads about it, especially ones wherein Conroe breaks it's own SuperPI record every few days.

 

[Azza]

if you take a look on the Xtreme Systems forum, Seigal12, theres allways news on there about Conroe and what people are doing with their chips, mainly overclocking, and they seem to be very very impresive

 

[Mr Jones]

2000 Buckeroo is a lot to spend, wait a couple more months. At least a month more after Conroe to see the benchmarks and coming MoBos.

Also, look out for nForce590 mobos for Conroe -they are brilliant when paired with a Cosair DDR2 8000 2x1GB RAM, if it works for AMD AM2, it'll have similar effects with Conroe. Makes overclocking *that* much easier and "efficient".

 

[Spit]

Wait for Conroe and get an Extreme edition, its only a few weeks!

 

[Seigal12]

Well, I have been looking into the new Conroe CPU, and it sounds great! I am definatly going to go for it me thinks! And agreing with Spit – I will most likely go for the Extreme Edition.

Though what would be a good spec here now? Obviously the MoBo and RAM will need to be changed from my original specification to compensate for the new CPU – but to what? And is the rest okay?

Especially the ThermalRight SI-120, Vantec Stealth 120mm fan and Antec P180 case, as the comments expressed about the heat generated from these processors makes me wonder, the best – quietest way to keep it all cool

Finally, a question just out of curiosity, the cost of the Conroe?

 

[BillytheImpaler]

Expect the Extreme Edition to cost an arm and a leg, just like the FX-62 and all other uber-high-end CPUs.

These prices are as close as I know.:
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/1023_large_conroe_pricing.jpg

Personally, I'm going to be all over the E6600. 4 MiB L2 cache and room to overclock.