First build

[Dakkon]

My friend is pretty much convinced and was surprised how good it is for the price, one final question. The 4870, which i worked out to be 36% of the entire cost, is a very beefy card in terms of is raw processing power not the size lol, will the rest of the computer be able to use this card to good affect or is it worth gong for a cheaper alternative?

Thanks for the help everyone

[moogle]

My friend is pretty much convinced and was surprised how good it is for the price, one final question. The 4870, which i worked out to be 36% of the entire cost, is a very beefy card in terms of is raw processing power not the size lol, will the rest of the computer be able to use this card to good affect or is it worth gong for a cheaper alternative?

Thanks for the help everyone

What res are you gaming at?

4870 = 1920x1200 res's
4850 might be more up your street if you game at lower than the above.

[Dakkon]

Well he has a 22" widescreen so i assume 1680x1050, so the 4850 will be better value for money?

[moogle]

Well he has a 22" widescreen so i assume 1680x1050, so the 4850 will be better value for money?

It will, although if he wants to play max settings for games then the 4870 would let him and still give good framerates

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you can go for the HD4870 then buy it!! Alternatively you could save the £40 to £50 towards a graphics card upgrade in 2010 to replace the HD4850.

If you want to overclock I would get a q6600 instead of a E8400 as a quad core will have a longer gaming lifespan. Games like the PC version of GTA4 make use of quad cores. Hopefully you should get upto 3.0ghz quite easily with the Q6600.

Scan have it for £145:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...tiplier-Retail

It will take the total cost to around £512 but I think it is worth it!!

Also as I reminded you earlier make sure both your the drives you are using are SATA as most modern motherboards only have one IDE connector. A SATA DVD drive will cost around £15.

BTW moogle I like your avatar!! Such a pretty kitty!!

[Dakkon]

Neither of us have any experience in overclocking and to be honest and i doubt he's the sort of person who would ever try, also yes sata all the way. If you don't overclock at all is it better to go for the E8400 over the Q6600, won't it still be quite a while before quad cores start being used universally by games?

Oh and moogle CAT-THE-FIFTH is right, awesome avatar.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If I were not overclocking a dual core should be fine. Most gamers still probably use dual cores (including me) and hence even if games start having more quad core support a dual core will be still the minimum supported processor. Tell us how your build goes!!

[Dakkon]

I will, it'll take a couple of days to some. Hopefully though my next post will be on his new computer.

[Dreaming]

The RAM is not worth the money. Use PC2-6400 memory instead as the difference is very small. You can save over £40 getting this instead:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146051

If your friend likes gaming I would put the extra 40 quid towards an HD4870 instead:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...VI-I-HDTV-HDCP

This will make a make a much larger difference when gaming than slighly faster RAM. You may need to get a new DVD drive if both his existing drives are IDE. A SATA DVD drive should cost around £15.

Not at 1680 x 1050 tho, at least from what I've read. The really nice graphic cards only come into their own at high resolution from the benchmarks I've seen on here...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Not at 1680 x 1050 tho, at least from what I've read. The really nice graphic cards only come into their own at high resolution from the benchmarks I've seen on here...

Buying a better card will mean more leeway for future games,ie ,better settings at 1680x1050.
Even at 1680x1050 a game like Crysis would run better on the HD4870.

[Dakkon]

Just to clarify for anyone who has any more recommendations or other people looking for a gaming rig for around £500, this is what he's going for atm.

cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400: £135.96
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971

case: Coolermaster Elite 335 £27.98
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151368

psu: OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W £42.29
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159...roduct_reviews

graphics card: Sapphire HD 4870 £175.84
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...VI-I-HDTV-HDCP

mobo: MSI P43 Neo-F £63.25
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...html?MSI-P43NF

ram: OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) 800MHz/PC2-6400 £43.52
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132904...roduct_reviews

fan (for front of case): Hiper 120mm £6.74
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/105137...oduct_overview

Those prices including vat and all have free shipping. Total: £494.58

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Just to clarify for anyone who has any more recommendations or other people looking for a gaming rig for around £500, this is what he's going for atm.

cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400: £135.96
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971

case: Coolermaster Elite 335 £27.98
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151368

psu: OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W £42.29
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159...roduct_reviews

graphics card: Sapphire HD 4870 £175.84
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...VI-I-HDTV-HDCP

mobo: MSI P43 Neo-F £63.25
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...html?MSI-P43NF

ram: OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) 800MHz/PC2-6400 £43.52
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132904...roduct_reviews

fan (for front of case): Hiper 120mm £6.74
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/105137...oduct_overview

Those prices including vat and all have free shipping. Total: £494.58

Just saw this E8500(3.16ghz) on Ebay for only £130 brand new !! The sellers feedback indicates that he/she has sold a few of them already!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INTEL-E8500-PR...3A1|240%3A1318

Be quick!!

[Dakkon]

Just saw this E8500(3.16ghz) on Ebay for only £130 brand new !! The sellers feedback indicates that he/she has sold a few of them already!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INTEL-E8500-PR...3A1|240%3A1318

Be quick!!

wow now that's a find, CAT-THE-FIFTH you're the best!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You can save a few quid and get this Corsair XMS2 memory cheaper:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-(...d-CAS-5-5-5-18

Some other bits are cheaper on Scan this weekend:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

The E8400 is £134.54 and the Q6600 is £137.97. The RAM I mentioned is £35.64 also.

[Dakkon]

There have been countless number of debates between the e8400 and the q6600, the e8400 is apparently better for gaming atm with its higher clock speed since games don't support quad core yet. However one day they will, the question about which one to choose boils don't to one thing, how long will it be until games start using quad core and is it worth getting the q6600 to future proof your system or have the shorter lifetime but faster e8400. Any guesses when quad core might start being used in games anyone?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Like I said earlier some games like the PC version of GTA4 and Supreme Commander benefit from quad cores. Whenever Alan Wake comes out it too will benefit from multiple cores. Why don't you go for the quad core and get the Akasa cooler first. Then you can read a few guides on overclocking or even ask for help on this forum. You should be able to get upto 2.8ghz easily or even higher.

If you are not comfortable with overclocking then the E8500 will be a better choice. At least until the end of next year it should be fine as most people have a dual core anyway like I said. You could always drop in a second hand socket 775 quad core in 2010 if it is a real limitation!!