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| Thread ID: 80447 | 2007-06-23 12:20:00 | Let's build a PC (June 2007) | Metla (12) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 562163 | 2007-06-23 12:20:00 | From the earlier thread Alrighty folks, In light of the usual "What should I buy" and associated arguing that follows I thought we could have a thread where as anyone can post a configuration that they would recommend. The idea more then anything is to identify which items on the market offer the best bang for buck. The guidelines (in order to stop try hards posting million dollar systems, Lets keep it real) System has to be current, Built to run Vista though software can be excluded from the system. A certain level of quality is expected, No crap parts A certain level of "don't be a knob end" is expected, No need to list an LCD worth $1500, A terabyte drive or any Apple gear.Gear must be currently available, preferably from NZ wholesalers, If its only an on-paper product then it doesn't count. The system is for family use, It will be used for gaming so must be capable but not expected to run the latest system killing game at 2024x966. Would be good if the likes of Pedalslammer could take the time to read,comprehend and then decide not to post in this thread.:annoyed: Its been a few months since the last thread was created, Whats changed?, Whats best avoided?, Are DX10 cards now available at mainstream prices?,Have AMD tried to kickstart sales with price drops?, Asus once again making boards that over clock like crazy? Or is a current system still going to be near the same as one detailed in Feb? |
Metla (12) | ||
| 562164 | 2007-06-23 12:45:00 | I thought you were the gun tech in here. And yet you ask us mere mortals :stare: Anyway, I still think the AMD x2 4400+ and greater are still a good option for your requirements. And still dropping in price. Paired with an Asus motherboard, 2*512 or 2*1GB RAM, and nVidia graphics, it should easily meet your requirements. Cheap starting unit, take your pick as to how much storage, what sort of monitor etc you want |
Myth (110) | ||
| 562165 | 2007-06-23 12:57:00 | Metla is there any ballpark budget your sticking to like sub $2000 or sub$2500? | winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 562166 | 2007-06-23 13:02:00 | $2000 to $3000 Worth noting that this isn't for me personally, I have bought this years computer. I went with AMD 4600 (x2) 1GB Ram, Generic 300Gb Seagate HD Asus mobo running a via chipset Asus 7900GS videocard Asus DVD Writer Thermaltake PSU from DSE ( I wore my hair vest to bed for 5 weeks as penance for this) |
Metla (12) | ||
| 562167 | 2007-06-23 13:06:00 | $2000 to $3000 Worth noting that this isn't for me personally, I have bought this years computer. Cool:) |
winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 562168 | 2007-06-23 20:48:00 | ... Thermaltake PSU from DSE ( I wore my hair vest to bed for 5 weeks as penance for this):eek: You haven't heard obviously. With the rising dollar affecting things, penance has gone up to 10 weeks and MUST include the wearing of pink fluffy slippers down town |
Myth (110) | ||
| 562169 | 2007-06-25 06:24:00 | I wouldn't touch an AMD CPU at the moment, Intel just offers so much better value and thats ignoring the extra performance that can be had from a very mild overclock. There not even any need to fiddle with voltages and some of the cheap brands of DDR800 are offering a awesome performance/value ratio. Unfortunately ATI's DX10 cards aren't worth touching the nVidia equivalents run cooler, use less power and perform better. Anyone who buys a current gen DX10 card with the intention of running DX10 games is a mug, there are very few DX10 benchmarks available and it will be a long time before DX10 are commonplace. The new P35 chipset form Intel looks solid and the tweaked memory controller offer superior performance when compared with the older P965. There are new chipsets on the horizon from nVidia and AMD but there still far enough away to iqnore. If your building a HTPC or want integrated video a combination of the AMD 690G chipset and 65w Athlon X2's cant be beat, in particular the ASUS board. If your wanting to overclock ASUS and DFI are your best bet and certain Gigabyte boards are whooping arse. Also if your considering a 600 series nVidia board the reference design boards sold by the likes of EVGA and ECS are a good option. Bottom line buy a Core 2 Duo, grow a pair, and overclock. As long as you don't touch the voltages you cant do ANY damage. Edit: Forgot to mention that DDR3 is still ridiculously priced and should be avoided unless your Bill Gates |
Pete O'Neil (6584) | ||
| 562170 | 2007-06-25 08:50:00 | I agree with everything Pete just said. I'm into going for DX10 cards for all new systems now - the nVidia 8600/8800 series are brilliant, and you can pick the 8600GT 256MB up for under $210. Currently I would go for: Get a Core 2 Duo CPU - E6320 is the minimum I would use. If you have $3000 to spend (on the computer) you can quite easily afford the Core 2 Quad Q6600, and I really like that CPU. Not many things take advantage of four cores, but they will in a while, and I REALLY love running three intense processes while having the computer run as if it were idling. Of course, you get this with a Core 2 Duo and one big process too. The Quad Cores are mainly useful if you are a big multitasker. Unless you have a LOT of spare cash, any higher quad cores are a waste of money. Just overclock the Q6600 to 2.66GHz and save around $800+ Asus P5K or Gigabyte GA-P35-S3 (P35-based, DDR2, not DDR3) 2GB DDR2-800 RAM (Whatever brand you like, A-Data is the cheapest I would recommend after some ..... mistakes). Don't go for 1GB if you're spending over $1000. Ram is EXTREMELY cheap right now. If you're running a 32 bit OS, more than 2GB of RAM isn't very useful. If you run a lot of things at the same time, I'd get XP Pro x64 or a 64-bit version of Vista (Home Premium 64 bit for example) and 4GB of RAM. 320GB Seagate hard drive - best value per GB, best brand, good warranty, big enough. If you want more than 500GB, go for two of these. I usually use the CMV 946D 19" 2ms LCD. Get a 19" or bigger, and try to go for 2ms. It's not that flash in design but the performance is excellent, and I find it a pleasure to use (note, I haven't tried any other 19" widescreen LCDs). nVidia Geforce 8600GT ($210ish) to 8800GTS 320MB ($480ish) graphics card depending on your gaming habits. If you have the cash, the 8800GTX is a brilliant card. I really like the thermal design (dual slot) of the higher up 8x00 cards, as they pretty much don't heat the inside of the case up at all. My advice is to leaving the ATI HD2000 cards alone at the moment. There is no advantage to them over nVidias 8x00 lineup, and the 8x00s have come down a fair bit in price lately. Get any 18-20X DVD drive. I use the Liteon LH-20A1P and they are great, and very very cheap. They come with silver and black faceplates, and the tool for opening it which is a damn handy thing to have when the paperclips have all disappeared :p Don't ever buy Vista Home Basic. Premium is only $15-30 more and far better. There's nothing wrong with good old XP, just get which one you like better. I have had no problems with Vista, but I only install it and haven't used it for an extended period of time. Don't skimp on the power supply. If you are looking at less than an $80 power supply ($100-120 at more expensive stores) the power ratings mean pretty much nothing. You get 500W PSUs that can't actually put more than 350 out. I only use one brand of PSU (AcBel) but that's only because they're the best value for money for me. Raidmax and Silverstone are roughly equivalent in retail pricing, and both pretty good AFAIK. At the same time, there's no point spending $200 on a 600W monster. Unless you're coupling a Quad Core CPU with an 8800GTX or two, 500W should be plenty for any PC you make, providing it is a good quality unit. I think 500W is the best middle ground to go for, allowing for plenty of upgrades, and not putting much strain on it, which is nice. Hopefully you will find this advice useful. |
george12 (7) | ||
| 562171 | 2007-06-26 19:17:00 | If your wanting to overclock ASUS and DFI are your best bet and certain Gigabyte boards are whooping arse. Also if your considering a 600 series nVidia board the reference design boards sold by the likes of EVGA and ECS are a good option. Bottom line buy a Core 2 Duo, grow a pair, and overclock. As long as you don't touch the voltages you cant do ANY damage. Edit: Forgot to mention that DDR3 is still ridiculously priced and should be avoided unless your Bill GatesHuh, you should stay out of 680i MOBOs if you wanna overclock badly because of heat produced by 680i chipset. Best overclocking MOBO? I would say Gigabyte P35 DQ6. And I got some links. :illogical Do their homework before posting right? Ok. www.tomshardware.com www.pcstats.com :thumbs: P35 DQ6 comes in great value and overclocking like never before. Less than $400 NZD is not much compared to Nvidia 680i boards, but useful for full X16 SLI, and running games at extremely high details, and resolutions. Sorry Melta, I not talking about bling bling PC now, but it just that P35 DQ6 is a good value mobo |
PedalSlammer (8511) | ||
| 562172 | 2007-06-27 06:39:00 | Huh, you should stay out of 680i MOBOs if you wanna overclock badly because of heat produced by 680i chipset. Best overclocking MOBO? I would say Gigabyte P35 DQ6. And I got some links. :illogical Do their homework before posting right? Ok. www.tomshardware.com www.pcstats.com :thumbs: P35 DQ6 comes in great value and overclocking like never before. Less than $400 NZD is not much compared to Nvidia 680i boards, but useful for full X16 SLI, and running games at extremely high details, and resolutions. Sorry Melta, I not talking about bling bling PC now, but it just that P35 DQ6 is a good value mobo If you took the time to read the article instead of being a muppet you would have realized two things. The board has an Intel chipset so it doesn't support SLI only Crossfire, there have been murmurings that Intel got a SLI license from nVidia but nothing official yet and even if it did have SLI the second 16x slot only runs at 4x many any multi GPU setup would be severely crippled. How the hell is a $400 motherboard great value? The Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 overclocks just as well and would only perform slightly slower (not noticeable in real life) and for half the price, now thats GREAT value. Nothing wrong with the 680i for overclocking, any motheboard with passive cooling (Intel boards included) are going to struggle as you increase the FSB and voltage, its not a nVidia only problem. |
Pete O'Neil (6584) | ||
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