Intel dual core build...

[360bhp]

Another build thread here..

Been an AMD person since my first pc, but after alot of advice, I'm going to give Intel a go now.

Got about £250 to spend but preferaby less than that.

I already have:
A case
Gecube HD3850 gfx card

So need a..
PSU
Mobo
Memory
HDD (Only need around 200gb so was thinking maybe 2 x 120gb drives, and have the a slave with a fresh XP on just incase the OS (XP) on master drive ever needs fixing)

Main uses are..
Few games, photoshop, dreamweaver, illustrator, bit of encoding.


Was thinkin of an e7200 with ddr3 and a mobo that accepts ddr3 to make it futureproof? Also gives me the option to upgrade to a q6600 or better in future.

Any opinions?

Thanks

[staffsMike]

No need for DDR3 on socket775. Waste of your money really as you will spend too much on both the board and the RAM to make it worth it.

E7200 is a good pick but don't count out the new E5200 pentium dual core. £55 and a hell of an overclocker if the inital reports hold true.

Scan today only has a DFI P35 board which is very nice
http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=24231

It's £70 on today only in the super savers.

4GB of any decent DDR2 PC6400 should set you back £50 -£55.

HDD wise I would try and pick up a 320GB (AAKS or Samsung) single platter. But a bog standard 320GB AAKS is a nice enough drive
You can save money here though, 250GB or whatever really.

PSU, the corsair 450VX would be more than enough for all of that and overclocking ~£45.

About £255 in total.

[360bhp]

Going to be using xp mike so 3gb should be enough?

Also read some info on how everything should be matched up to 1066mhz? Is that a good idea?

[staffsMike]

Matching up FSBs is fine but know that RAM and CPU's are different.

DDR2s actual FSB is multiplied by 2 to get it's rating. So PC6400 (800MHz) is actually running 400MHz.

Intel Core 2's actual fsb's are multipled by 4. So at 1066Mhz it's actually running 266MHz.

At 800MHz like the E5200 it's 200Mhz so you have a lot of room to play with when buying 800MHz RAM (PC6400) and either of the mentioned chips.

3GB is enough but 4GB will cost you the same near enough and 4GB will run in dual channel.

[360bhp]

Thanks Mike, think I will go with the E5200. Saves £26, just by losing 1mb of L2 cache as far as I can see.

So thats...

450W Corsair VX Series
E5200
DFI P35 board (Love the look of the board http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=24231)
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=632574)
250 GB Western Digital WD2500AAKS (http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=567857)

In the past when my OS has been corrupt, I installed xp on the slave and booted with that and it would fix the master. Is this a good idea to have 2 drives, or best to stick with one?

[staffsMike]

It's always nice to have two drives but I don't bother with it too often. The WD AAKS is such a reliable drive I have no problem recommending them for a single drive. I'm using them in all of my current PC's (various sizes) as the only drive in most cases and I've not had a single problem

[360bhp]

Missed out on the today only on the dfi board.

Came up with these 2 builds. Proberly going to go for the ebuyer build. Any opinions mike, or anyone else?

[staffsMike]

Both look good. I'd go with Asus over Gigabyte personally but I know there are so few problems being mentioned with either that it makes little difference these days. I hold grudges for a long time

[NovaSphere]

Maybe I missed it but, are you getting XP 64-bit or 32-bit? If it's 32-bit, kind of a waste to get 4GB of RAM's, you should get 2GB or so and keep or spend the savings on something else, if you did go for 64-bit, ignore this one

[360bhp]

Thanks

XP will be 64-bit.... But I'm ashamed to say I'm thinking of vista to avoid any compatibility issues with xp 64-bit and older games/software.

[staffsMike]

Vista is working pretty nicely since SP1. I used to hate it now it's pretty good.

[NovaSphere]

Vista is working pretty nicely since SP1. I used to hate it now it's pretty good.

Yup.

Ever since SP1, Vista has been working pretty fine ^^

[360bhp]

Think im going to go for a quad now. Ordering it for del on tuesday



Any money saving ideas/improvements?


Got this in the end...
1 250 GB Western Digital WD2500AAKS Caviar Blue, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 9 ms
1 450W Corsair VX Series PSU, ATX, PS/2, UK Version, 80 PLUS® certified
1 Gigabyte GA-P35-S3G, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800 MHz, SATA II, ATX
1 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR, Kentsfield Core, Socket 775, 2.40 GHz 1066MHz 8MB Cache, Retail
£254.60
&
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800Mhz/PC2-6400 Memory GOLD DUAL CHANNEL Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-18)
£49.99

£304.59

Thanks for all your help Cant wait to build it and check the speed out.

Also settled on going for Vista 64bit