conroe gaming rig

[bakes0310]

Right im gonna be building a new pc in january...........yep im waiting till vista comes out, thats if it comes out in january.
Ill be using the following parts from my current pc:
x1900xtx
sound blaster audigy 2zs
akasa eclipse 62
power supply 600w
floppy drive
dvd drive

My budget is a very strict £1100 and this is what ive come up with:



CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) Retail
£214.95
MB-020-DF DFI Infinity 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£129.95
MY-010-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-8000 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel
£302.95
HD-087-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache -
£103.95 £103.95
HD-003-HI Hitachi Deskstar 7K500 NCQ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
£175.50 £175.50
Subtotal £927.30
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri) £8.95
VAT £163.85
Total £1,100.10

This rig will be used for gaming and i would want it to last as long as possible thats why ive got the 500gb hard drive as ive got 160Gb worth of games to that i currently play on.

Ive never overclocked before but i would like to learn thats why ive chosen some nice memory. I wont overclock unless i need to when my rig seems a little slow in games, which i wouldnt need to worry about for a few years.

Anyway what you think?

 

[toxic]

6 months is a long time in the PC world...I think you should review this again near the end of December as I would be highly surpised if you couldnt build that for a lot less....or a better system for the same money. Aprt from that...looks good!

 

[UKTopGun]

Dont buy MY-010-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-8000 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel instead buy G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ) (MY-013-GS).

And I'm not sure whether it is worth buying 1 single 500GB HD's. Maybe 2x 250gb would be better (Samsung spinpoints maybe?).

And like toxic said, wait until December, some of that stuff might be quite a bit cheaper, most likely the HD will get cheaper too (Assuming you still want to stick with a single 500GB).

I know its sometimes hard to be patient but it pays off usually .

 

[bakes0310]

cheers for all the advice now im gonna ask some more questions to settle my mind

1. why is the G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 better than the ones i choosen and it cost less as well?

2. samsung spinpoints are great hard drives but there only 8mb cache compared to the 500gb one with 16mb cache does that matter really?


And im still definetly gonna wait till vista comes out so im in no rush and ill expect the prices will be cheaper which will end up changing my list anyway

 

[fenderbass86]

1) The G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 will overclock to PC2-8000 speeds and so that saves about £170.

2) Or you could get two of the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache, they've been getting lots of praise since they came out.

 

[bakes0310]

cheers for the quick reply then so be it this what my spec will be instead:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN) 1
£214.95 £214.95
DFI Infinity 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-020-DF) 1
£129.95 £129.95
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS) 1
£149.95 £149.95
Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-087-WD) 1
£99.95 £99.95
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - (HD-079-SE) 2
£52.50 £105.00
Subtotal £699.80
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.95
VAT £124.04
Total £832.79


That leaves me with a spare £268 so what should i do with it i was thinking either stretch and spend £40 more and get a master x1900xt for the dfi mobo so then i can crossfire it with my current x1900xtx or get a conroe 6700 instead what you think?

 

[UKTopGun]

I dont think its really worth spending that much on graphics cards unless your a hardcore gamer.

I'd personally save that money and put it elsewhere because tbh, that system is pretty amazing!

 

[fenderbass86]

You could keep it safe for a rainy day. I don't think there'll be a lot of point X-firing in January, when the second batch of DX10 cards come out get one of those.

 

[titaniumx3]

I'd save up as much as possible and wait for the DX10 cards to come out. Your X1900 should be able to handle any game, well into next year.

I'd only get crossfire if I had a 24"/30" LCD and loads of money to burn! Seriously, its pointless getting another X1900, when DX10 cards are around the corner and you know you'll definitely be moving to Vista.

 

[bakes0310]

ive just thought of something i can spend that extra money on..........Vista home premium i forgot to add that in my budget

 

[Lanz]

This thread is pointless.

Come January we'll probably have new core2's, new motherboards, new ram and probably new raptors.

And chances are Vista wont be out in Jan anyway.

 

[Sir Random]

This thread is pointless.

Come January we'll probably have new core2's, new motherboards, new ram and probably new raptors.

And chances are Vista wont be out in Jan anyway.

Very true, there will definitely be newer revision mobos, ram, and harddrives by January, and DX10 gfx cards should be appearing, or even available by then.

It's pointless trying to choose major PC components 6 months in advance, I'm even having trouble deciding on a mobo for my conroe, just weeks before getting it. Less than 3 months ago, I was all set on getting a 4600/4800+ cpu and AM2 mobo

Wait at least until Christmas before looking at mobos/ram, who knows what'll be available by then.

 

[Paul11]

This thread is pointless.

Come January we'll probably have new core2's, new motherboards, new ram and probably new raptors.

so true.... no point in making a thread about 6 months time !!!

things move too quickly to be speccing something that far ahead..

December time is when you should start thinking about how to spend your money..