Spec Me New CPU/Motherboard/RAM Please!

Hi Guys,

Looking to finally make the move from Socket 939 and I have around £250 to £300 to spend on a new CPU, Motherboard and RAM. The setup will be used mostly for gaming, standard internet and office work, light photoshop work, maybe some light video encoding and editing in the future.

I'd also like to have a go at some overclocking, my last attempt was years back with the P4's and XP series of Socket A processors lol!

I have the following requirements:

• Motherboard must be Crossfire ready for future upgrades
• Everything must also be good for overclocking
• Most likely looking at 4Gb Ram, thinking DDR PC2-8500 (1066)
• Retail Processor if just for the extra warranty

Thanks!

Mark

Hows this:

Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 120mm Heat Sink Fan for AMD/Intel CPU (bare sink no fan) £29.69 £34.89
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR, Kentsfield Core, Socket 775, 2.40 GHz 1066MHz 8MB Cache, Retail £98.89 £116.20
Asus P5E, iX38, S 775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1066/1200/ 667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £93.89 £110.32
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz), Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX £55.64 £65.38

£326.78

Was going to go with PC2-8500 but saved the money and going to get the Thermalright heatsink instead, others said the 8500 was overkill for overclocking the Q6600!

Perfect for overclocking and full speed crossfire :) PC8500 is overkill PC6400 will take you to 3.6GHz without even overclocking the RAM.

If you've waited this long to upgrade (like me), I would really think about waiting another couple of months, as there are two pretty huge releases in the pipeline - Intel are releasing their next gen Core i7 in about October probably, which is around the time AMD's 45nm Deneb core will be coming out also. Both are significant enough to wait for imho (and will be accompanied by the usual fluff like new chipsets).

Suman

Ordered! :)

Sumanji: That's true but you could end up waiting for ever thinking like that, I've waited long enough tbh. The new releases will also be very expensive for at least a few months after release, so it could well be 6 months before anything comes into my price range.

Well that's a pain, they have ran out of Asus P5E's, thinking of ignoring X38 and going with a Asus P5Q Pro, which is £27 cheaper and around £36 cheaper if I got a P5E elsewhere. Also thinking of changing the ram for some Geil Black Dragon, it seems to get good feedback and it's the same price! Hopefully it would be better for overclocking.

What do people think?

Damn I been planning to upgrade for 2 months now. My daughter is having my old rig she is doing my head in wanting her pc, lol and she uses my other daughters computer who in turn isnt happy about it, argh families

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sumanji

If you've waited this long to upgrade (like me), I would really think about waiting another couple of months, as there are two pretty huge releases in the pipeline - Intel are releasing their next gen Core i7 in about October probably, which is around the time AMD's 45nm Deneb core will be coming out also. Both are significant enough to wait for imho (and will be accompanied by the usual fluff like new chipsets).

Suman

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That is why you don't have kids... or let your kids bully you. Although, I have to say, my parents have 4 kids and I'm still waiting for them to dig me out the bike I could have 6 months ago... As for families sharing computers... my family does that, but I got bored so I went and bought one. Suggest it to her, or that she has to pay half or two thirds of the cost... then you can make her build it and make it her responsibility as well..



Anyway, getting back on topic; if you can, wait until Nehalem/Deneb, as when they come out the other CPUs will have a price drop (hopefully) to allow you to buy a better CPU for the same price...

If you can't, get other stuff like suggested. It's your money afterall.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Speed

Well that's a pain, they have ran out of Asus P5E's, thinking of ignoring X38 and going with a Asus P5Q Pro, which is £27 cheaper and around £36 cheaper if I got a P5E elsewhere. Also thinking of changing the ram for some Geil Black Dragon, it seems to get good feedback and it's the same price! Hopefully it would be better for overclocking.

What do people think?

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What is wrong with this?> DFI Lanparty

I'd say its better than the Asus :)

I think I read a few bad comments on it with regards to overclocking, there also don't seem to be any reviews around for it.

Scan have however made the decision for me and shipped my order, guess they received or found some more stock of the Asus P5E!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mediaboy

if you can, wait until Nehalem/Deneb, as when they come out the other CPUs will have a price drop (hopefully) to allow you to buy a better CPU for the same price...

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I think now is the perfect time to do a budget upgrade with the recent price drops imho. I doubt the current CPUs are going to drop much more in price even when i7 hits the scene. i7 are going to be the performance parts and the budget parts are still going to be budget parts. Then budget i7 parts will come in to replace the current budget parts at their respective price points. You're squeezing a lot out of £110 in the Q6600 as it is.

Asus P5Q-E ip45, i have it, so far its been great to me, overclocks well and when you overclock you notice it, i oced by 0.6 ghz and i notice its faster, vista rating gone up 0.2 points, benchmakrs are better.

Sounds good, I doubt I'll do much overclocking to begin with, I'm thinking of having a second quieter office, e-mail, internet and download Pc. That way I can overclock and game without fear of losing access to everything should something go wrong.

Let us know how you get one with your new rig, I am jealous ;)

Hehe! Will do!

Just finished a case move for my business Pc, now my Antec P180 is empty ready for Monday!