£600 Budget PC

[Drayshak]

I bought an entirely new system using 'brand new' parts that were expensive when they first came out around a year ago (AMD X2 and stuff like that), and now I'm looking for an upgrade

I plan to upgrade in a couple of steps, the first step being for Motherboard, CPU, Memory, PSU and a cooler for CPU. At Christmas I'm going to buy a 8800GTS (or maybe two.).

I've been looking around at various reviews and have come up with the following parts as an idea, and I do plan on overclocking the CPU, but only to around (or just above) 3Ghz:

• Asus Striker Extreme
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
• Memory(2GB) - DDR2 PC2-8500
• OCZ GameXStream 850W PSU
• Scythe Ninja

The PC will mostly be used for gaming, but I do quite a lot of work on it too.

If you think that I can safely overclock to higher speeds on air cooling (I don't want to watercool), tell me

I'm undecided on good brands or specific parts at the moment, as long as the final budget for these parts comes to around £600. Any help is really appreciated

PS: I don't need a graphics card in this upgrade.

[staffsMike]

I'd say the abit 680i is better than the striker extreme. My mate has one and it clocks very well is very stable on air.

E6600 is a great chip, i've had two of them but prices are soon to drop on intels and one of the newer dual cores or even quad cores might appeal to you and your budget.

For memory I'd get Crucial Ballistix 8500. Its great RAM and will be good for any overclocking you throw at it.

The PSU seems a bit over kill even if you plan to SLi 8800 GTS..the 700w of the same PSU is certified by nvidia for dual 8800GTS's (i have it)

Scythe Ninja i love mine. Keeps my e6600 under 20 degrees at stock settings and is great for overclocking although I havn't extensively tested it when overclocking.

[mycarsavw]

What to get for 600 quid?

Spec me

[NightshadowUK]

- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 ~ £142.16

- Scythe Infinity ~ £28.54

- Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R ~ £84.59

- 2GB (2x1GB) OCZ Platinum PC6400 4-4-4-12 ~ £65.79 + delivery

- 320MB EVGA 8800GTS Superclocked ~ £200.13

- 520W Corsair HX V2 ~ £68.02

Total ~ £589.23

-----------------

SLi is pointless, PC8500 memory is overkill as PC6400 can get you to 3.6GHz with an E6600, and the Scythe Infinity is better than the Ninja at non-passive cooling.

What's the resolution on your display?

EDIT: Wait, you have £600 to spend on everything except the graphics card?

[Drayshak]

Thanks for the speedy replies

The last two suggestions both include things I don't need, I'm mainly wondering what to spend the extra £200 or so quid on because I'm only upgrading Mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU and Cooler.

My display is 1280x1024, and yes I have £600 to spend on everything except graphics card, case and other extras.

[NightshadowUK]

- LG L226WTQ ~ £206.79

If you're planning on getting an awesome graphics card at Christmas (I can't stress enough how much you shouldn't go SLi or Crossfire) then there's no point in running at 1280x1024.

[mycarsavw]

Loose wo.....family forum

[Drayshak]

Heh, I like my display, I have 7.1 surround and top of the range logitech keyboard and mouse.

I was thinking more along the lines of performance upgrades with this £200

[NightshadowUK]

Seriously there's no point at all in having something like a GTX and running at 1280x1024.

Maybe get 4GB RAM if you're gonna be running x64 Vista?

What do you use your computer for?

[Drayshak]

Yeah, maybe 4gb RAM would be good. I do plan on getting x64 Vista at Christmas as well.

I mostly use it for gaming (I play quite a lot of UT2004, can't wait for UT3) and when I'm not gaming, I tend to have a fair few things running. I don't encode media or anything like that.

[NightshadowUK]

Well just save the extra money for a rainy day, you don't need to spend it all.

For £600 you're looking at a quad-core, water cooling and a beasty overclocking motherboard but for what you do there's absolutely no point.

[staffsMike]

The way dx10 runs at the moment you'll want more than a GTX on that size screen

One GTS will probably be enough though. I like having the option of being stupid and running SLi tho..

[Drayshak]

Let's put what I use the PC for out of the window, basically this money is what I saved up after exams to blow on a stupidly fast PC I saved up purely for buying a fast PC and I have some more cash for other things - it's not like I'm spending all of my cash on this upgrade.

Edit
This is what I've found so far:

• Abit IN9 32X Max 680i - £193.08
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - £138.23
• Crucial Ballistix Tracer (DDR2 PC2-8500) - £143.34
• OCZ GameXStream 700W - £76.59
• Scythe Infinity - £29.36

Total cost is £580.60

Also, given the price drops on 22nd July (I'll be buying in around a months time) I might upgrade the CPU to Q6600, because I'm not planning on overclocking past 3Ghz.

[mobo]

get a E2160 & clock it to 3Ghz and save £100 on a E6600

[staffsMike]

get a E2160 & clock it to 3Ghz and save £100 on a E6600

order a celeron sticker while you're at it

You will get the RAM cheaper than that.. around £105 from ocuk i beleive.

The tracer version just has LED's in it.. hardly worth £40

[Drayshak]

Good point

Is this the memory you are talking about? DDR2-PC8500