Another new build price vs performance

[Ajp_89]

been along time since i was into building pcs,current one is as follows

amd 64 3000+
1gb of corsair ram
160gb of "IDE!!!" hardrives
52x cd/rw drive
16x dvd/rw drive
recent upgrade of a saphire agp8 2600 hd pro 512mb gfx card
etc etc

either way its getting old and tired so its come to the time to buy a new one, the system im looking at is as follows and any hints and tip or forseeable hardware conflict would be appreciated...]

1xIntel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 95W G0 Stepping (Retail 775) (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Core+2+Quad+Q6600+2.4GHz+95W+G0+Stepping+%28 Retail+775%29+?productId=28356)
1xArctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Fans%2C+Heatsinks%2C+Coolers/Socket+775/Arctic+Cooling+Freezer+7+PRO+?productId=20729)
1xGigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Socket 775 Motherboard (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Gigabyte+GA-P35-DS4+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=27305)
1xOCZ 8GB PC2-6400 C5 Quad Channel Platinum Low Latency XTC (4x2GB) (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/OCZ+8GB+PC2-6400+C5+Quad+Channel+Platinum+Low+Latency+XTC+%284 x2GB%29+?productId=30155)
1xXFX GeForce 9600GT 'XXX AlphaDog Edition' 512MB PCI-E (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/nVIDIA+GeForce+9+Series/XFX+GeForce+9600GT+%27XXX+AlphaDog+Edition%27+512M B+PCI-E+?productId=31083)
1xSamsung SH-S202N/BEBN 20x IDE DVD±R Black (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CD%2FDVD+Drives/Internal/IDE/Samsung+SH-S202N%2FBEBN+20x+IDE+DVD%C2%B1R+Black+?productId=2 8699)
2x250Gb Western Digital Caviar SE SATA 8MB (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/250Gb+Western+Digital+Caviar+SE+SATA+8MB+?productI d=28742)
1xXilence 600W Gaming Edition PSU (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/500w+%2B/Xilence+600W+Gaming+Edition+PSU+?productId=27930)
2x Xilence Red Wing Case Fan 12cm (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Fans%2C+Heatsinks%2C+Coolers/Case+Fans/120mm+Case+Fans/Xilence+Red+Wing+Case+Fan+12cm+?productId=19866)
1xAntec Three Hundred Cool and Quiet Gaming Case (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Antec+Three+Hundred+Cool+and+Quiet++Gaming+Case+?p roductId=31087)

in total, with a copy of vista comes to around £700, id like the budget to stay where it is all peripherals will remain as they are atm

thanks for any help
Adam

[PeterStoba]

Seems a bit unbalanced tbh mate, 8GB of RAM, whats the primary use of the system?

4GB of RAM is more than enough imo, 28923 good timings and reputable brand.

I'd swap the cooler for either an OCZ Vendetta (31338) or Vendetta 2 (31337) For better performance and less noise if it will fit in the 300, should do.

I'd swap the graphics card for something alot better, for £5 more, 8800GT (https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/XFX+GeForce+8800GT+Alpha+Dog+512MB+PCI-E2.0+?productId=31980)

I'd swap the burner for a SATA in favour of IDE, better cable and more speed. 29919

Looks like an ok system otherwise, apart from the 8GB of RAM,seems a bit strange.

Remember a 64bit version of Vista will be required!

[Ajp_89]

thanks for the info, the only reason to throw 8gb in was i allowed around £100 in the budget for ram since thats what ive paid before and i thought if the board handles 8gb,thought it maybe worth throwing it in :lol:

on the cooler nice advice:)

with regard to the graphics i was looking for a hdmi output thats why i looked at the 9600gt alpha

with the drive nice spot, didnt really pay attention to cable type :O

Is it worth having two seperate HDD's and setting them up as raid, or better just to buy a larger drive with the 16mb cache??:confused:

again thanks

adam

[wonderlust]

The Aria £117 8800Gt comes with an hdmi port.

[k.jacko]

I agree with PeterStoba almost entirely, although i use the Freezer Pro 7 and its been fine, not too noisy, reduced temps. Get some Arctic Silver 5 paste as well though for whatever cooler you use.
And as said, only 64 bit OS will utilise that amount of ram, 4gb would still be enough though. Personally, i'd save on the extra 4gb of ram and go for a Blue-ray drive (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CD%2FDVD+Drives/Internal/SATA/LG+GGC-H20L+Blu-Ray%2FHD+DVD-ROM%2C+DVDRW+SATA+Black+Retail+Kit+?productId=2992 3).
I'd also go for a larger 500GB hdd, for the very few extra pounds it would cost, you'll get more storage and faster too.

[wonderlust]

The Mx2 paiste that Arctic cooling use has been tested by various web sites and been found to be as good , if not a little better than AS5.

[coiler]

Seems a bit unbalanced tbh mate, 8GB of RAM, whats the primary use of the system?

4GB of RAM is more than enough imo, 28923 good timings and reputable brand.

I'd swap the cooler for either an OCZ Vendetta (31338) or Vendetta 2 (31337) For better performance and less noise if it will fit in the 300, should do.

I'd swap the graphics card for something alot better, for £5 more, 8800GT (https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/XFX+GeForce+8800GT+Alpha+Dog+512MB+PCI-E2.0+?productId=31980)

I'd swap the burner for a SATA in favour of IDE, better cable and more speed. 29919

Looks like an ok system otherwise, apart from the 8GB of RAM,seems a bit strange.

Remember a 64bit version of Vista will be required!


Peter stole the words from my mouth!


Adam youve not said what your using it for?

[marsey99]

The Mx2 paiste that Arctic cooling use has been tested by various web sites and been found to be as good , if not a little better than AS5.


i second that, a sloppy application of mx2 or ocz freeze will give you same results from a good application of as5 from the testing i have done with them.

tx-2 is also ment to be as good as those 2 too.

[Ajp_89]

Gaming, atm just started with conan and my pc is not too happy with it to say the least due to old spec, playing CoD4 etc on xbow360 so will be used mainly for mmo's etc

thanks for all the advice btw

adam

[Mul.]

with regard to the graphics i was looking for a hdmi output thats why i looked at the 9600gt alpha

In regards to this, all 8800GT's support HDMI and HDCP. If it doesn't physically have a HDMI port, DVI -> HDMI cables work as do DVI to HDMI adapters. My 8800GT has Dual DVI and have connected my new moniter via a DVI -> HDMI cable.