System upgrade advice

[drillyourownhol]

Hi people

Im upgrading my system and need advice as Ive not played around with the insides of a PC for about 3 years

CPU: Q6600
MB: Thinking P35 board something like Asus P5K std
Only things I need from a board are
- Some overclocking ability
- Audio
- LAN
- 6 x USB
- Reasonably futureproof
RAM: 2GB ???
GPU: 8800GTS 320MB ???
PSU: Corsair HX520W (quiet and modular for tidy install) 500W should be big enough right?

Can one suggest a spec and do you think £500ish is a realistic budget?

Thanks in advance
Gav

[staffsMike]

Are you keeping your current hard drives/optical drives, case etc.. ?

If so £500 may do it.

£165 for q6600
£80 for asuk pk5
£65 for 2gb of decent RAM
£65 for Corsair 520w (very good psu)
£170 for 8800GTS

Thats going to come to £545 with those approx prices.

New hard drive, optical and case could Add £100 - 150 depending on what you wanted.

[drillyourownhol]

Wow quick response! Thanks staffsmike

Yep keeping current hard drives/optical drives, case etc...

What RAM would you say is decent? Any well known brand I assume (sorry noob questions but Ive been out of it for a while)

[staffsMike]

crucial ballistix pc6400 is very highly regarded.

I have the pc5300 stuff in another pc of mine and it runs pc8500 speeds though so either of those are good choices imo. Obviously you can never be sure with overclocking though so best to stick to pc6400 or even pc8500 as i believe misco are selling it for around £80 at the moment.

If you want to stick to that original £65 estimate then corsair xms2 pc6400 from scan is quite good but not a great overclocker.

That said at pc6400 speeds your q6600 would have to be running 3.6Ghz so you'll be safe enough with that stuff.

[drillyourownhol]

[drillyourownhol]

What would you say is the best bang for your buck graphics wise?
Im currently running ATI graphics but as far as I can tell the nVidia 8800GTS cards are the best compromise of cost v performance these days.

[Queelis]

It really is. The only alternatives are cheaper Radeon X1950XT or nVidia 7950GT, but if you can afford an 8800GTS, don't consider anything else.

[Toobad]

What would you say is the best bang for your buck graphics wise?
Im currently running ATI graphics but as far as I can tell the nVidia 8800GTS cards are the best compromise of cost v performance these days.

I think you will get a more informed reply if you let us know the size and resolution of your monitor along with what you intend to do with your upgraded rig. If you only want to watch pr0n on a 17 " screen you may be in danger of spending way too much dosh

[drillyourownhol]

Good point I hadnt thought of that doh!
Currently running a 19" WS 1440x900 thats quite a low resolution for a graphics card...?

Main use is gaming, TV/movies & music (3D CAD stuff occassionally)

pr0n! Moi!!!

[CrazyMonkey]

crucial ballistix pc6400
I wouldnt recommend this stuff, ive gone through 3 different sets of the DDR2 6400 Ballistix stuff since January this year. However the customer returns from crucial is very good, all testing on the faulty sticks proved to be a fault in manufacturing.

The woman on the end of the phone even said that there is problems with the DDR2 Ballistix lines and that not all faults have been fixed. I have a 2gig set still packaged sat on my desk from the last return i made but i just dont want to use them anymore.

As for the question to the "1440x900" resolution, a 8800GTS will be able to easily cope with that resolution in DX10 and DX9 games

[Toobad]

At this point in time a 320Mb 8800GTS is probably right on the money. If you like watching TV then the Asus cards come bundled with their "Splendid" video technology which gives you a more colour saturated picture thereby emulating purpose built LCD TVs. You will also be nicely set up to upgrade to the 1920 x 1200 goodness of the 24" monitors as they break into the mainstream.
As you are going Quad you may be wise to hold out for the lastest Q6600s with G0 stepping and use this time to get your post count above 25 and thus link to the Scan site for free deilvery. This will allow you to seize those "Today Only" offers and acqire the rest of your kit bit by bit at the keenest prices leaving just the Quad to grab when it becomes available

[drillyourownhol]

Good plan but dont my posts need to be "constructive" Im going to be asking loads of questions which isnt really constructive

and use this time to get your post count above 25 and thus link to the Scan site for free deilvery. This will allow you to seize those "Today Only" offers and acqire the rest of your kit bit by bit at the keenest prices leaving just the Quad to grab when it becomes available

[StaffsKieran]

crucial ballistix pc6400
I wouldnt recommend this stuff, ive gone through 3 different sets of the DDR2 6400 Ballistix stuff since January this year. However the customer returns from crucial is very good, all testing on the faulty sticks proved to be a fault in manufacturing.

The woman on the end of the phone even said that there is problems with the DDR2 Ballistix lines and that not all faults have been fixed. I have a 2gig set still packaged sat on my desk from the last return i made but i just dont want to use them anymore.

Dont let clunk hear you say that

I use ballistix pc6400 and it runs way past pc8500 on stock volts (2.2v) @5-5-5-15 great memory, the best you can get imo