X2 to C2D Price Check

It's less than a year since i built my last baby, but now i'm getting itchy fingers again (no comebacks pls :naughty:). now a mate of mine wants to upgrade his - well if thats what you can call it as he has an old p3 system, he's not a gamer but mainly for surfing and d/l and burning films and most things pc except gaming.

now i've the bright idea of selling him my set-up which he says is ok by him, minus my new 8800gts card (it will have the original x1880xt 256mb card in), and building a new one around c2d as rumours of july price cuts might mean a good time to jump on board.

so would like opinions on prices for the set up in <<<<<my system, won't be setting the bar high and i will give a small discount as he is a mate and his dog is bigger than mine.............for now!!!!!


next thing will be what to go for c2dwise, may oc but not sure, thinking of asus or gigabyte mobo but weather to go for a 965 or p35 chipset is another question.

cpu wise it's a toss between e6420 (slightly slower clock and same cache) or e6600 (faster clock and bigger cache) and there's not a lot of difference in price, also the hsf - never have or will use a stock cooler so want something fairly quiet but doesn't have to be silent just efficient (have heard good things about scythe ninja/infinity anyone recommend?).

memory will be ddr2 because of the current prices and theres no justification for ddr3 (depends on the mobo to). have been using geil in this set-up but any other opinions.

monitor and gfx i already have as brought a bfg 8800gts the other day, so with my unique line of thought i've saved myself nearly &#163;200 that can get something else like a decent case. read a lot about antec cases but a mate swears by areocool (he's on the other side of the big lake), this is probably one of the more arkward choices and is more dictated by taste/performance in a mixture of those categories.

as for the psu.........Enermax Liberty 620w fairly beefy and with it being modular can ditch what i don't need cable wise unlike at the moment.


all opinions taken onboard and maybe digested:bowdown:





ps. he's not getting his hands on the 2 ext hdd's

e6600 and scythe ninja are great choices..keeps mine below 20 degrees (stock) in an antec p182 (also greatly recommended)

For overclocking..crucial ballistix is great ram and very fairly priced..the geil stuff you have already is good though...I have it in mine.

With those parts you are on for a silent system without breaking the bank...may as well be silent even if its not crucial that it is.

Motherboard wise.. the P35 chipset seems to be popular. Asus P5K..abit's version seems good too.

E6600 - Fancied a change from AMD
Scythe Ninja - read good things about it and can be used fan or fanless (although really wouldn't do that)
Gigabyte DS3R or Asus P5K - Haven't used either of these makes so opinions and advice welcome
Enermax Liberty 620w - Beefy, power and modular, a gamer mate swears by enermax
Samsung Spinpoint T 500Gb HDD - Have spinpoints at the moment and very quiet and reliable
Pioneer DVD Drive
Antec P182 - people rave about them and it looks good, what are they like for cable routing as the psu sits at the bottom?

That lot comes in at around &#163;550 so it's only really costing me about &#163;250, and as i've said already got a monitor, 8800gts, zboard merc, mx518 and can keep 2 of the 3gig of memory for the time being as it's only a month or so old. Is vista really worth it at the moment? or should i stick with xp pro?

and if prices come down enough then might look at a Q6600 but will see a bit nearer

Hello

I would stick to the Gigabyte P35. The i965 will soon be EOL, so rather go straigh to the P35.
Unless you get a very good price on the i965.

I would difinitely stick to DDR2 - value and performance is still very good.
DDR3 is too expensive vs performace.

Gigabyte do have a P35 that supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory.
Its something like the P35C (C= Combo)

With regards to a case, I would seriously look at the Gigabyte Triton or Poseidon - very nice.
Cable management and very good built quality.
I have a Poseidon and I'm very happy with it, I like the light-beam which can be changed.

Good luck with the decision.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SuicidaL

Is vista really worth it at the moment? or should i stick with xp pro?

---

Im on Windows Vista Ultimate... Its brilliant but its still not ready. There is still all kinds of driver issues, program incompatabilities, hardware incompatabilities. This isnt too much of an issue with a whole new computer but if you do decide to go vista, be prepared for some of ur software to not work.

I would stick with XP unless you fancy running dual boot which is what im doing. I am seriously considering just jumping back to XP for a few months until they get a proper service pack out for it though

will prob stick with xp for now (save a few quid if nothing else), but now keep having other ideas of what to get with the p5k deluxe being very tempting.