Should I Wait? Advice needed

[Jay007]

I'm currently looking to build a new PC which is long overdue(currently have a shuttle Nforce2, AMD 3000XP, 9800pro combo) and im so lost with all the latest stuff available. Up until recently i always assumed that AMD would be the way to go but with the release of Core 2 Duos im being tempted by them.
One thing I've noticed though is the very few c2d mobos on the market and with some people having problems with the ones available. So now im in the predicament of deciding to wait for a little while for the c2d mobo market to mature or to just plunge in now? I know of the Nforce 500 SLI series but not entirely when it will be available.

The sort of system i will be looking to purchase will be:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6700(would it be better to get a 6300 and overclock it?)
2Gb of Ram
250GB SATA Hard Drive
7600GT (Not going all out as i will end up getting a DX10 card as soon as they hit the market)

The system will be for gaming and 3d and 2d production(using tools such as 3ds max, Photoshop and Zbrush).



Also how far off do you thing AMD Quad cores are?

[kalniel]

It's easy to fall into the trap of always waiting for the next thing to come out - PC development never stops and there is always something better around the corner.

My advice is usually to only look ahead as far as a) you can wait with no compromise and b) you have dates that new products are likely to come in on.

I think if you do your research with mobo/s and especially ram choices you will be fine buying something even today - take the time to check with a manufacturer what ram they specifically support etc and don't try and push the envelope too much.

Whether it would be 'better' or not to get a 6300 is entirely subjective! You can always overclock a 6700 too. Your suggested specifications are fine.

Quad core AMD chips.. hmm my guess would be early next year.

[shaithis]

There are actually quite a few C2D motherboards to choose from, the problem is they all seem to have a quirk or 2

It seems all will hit roughly 3Ghz on stock volts as long as you have decent DDR2-800 RAM, so I personally wouldn't go with the flagship model.....very pricey.

As for the NForce boards......I wouldn't hold out too much for them, nVidia chipsets with Intel CPUs have never gone well together and normally under-perform by quite a margin compared to the Intel chipsets. The new ATI chipset might be worth waiting for but TBH, if you want Conroe there isn't much point hanging around, just grab the motherboard that suits you the best and make sure the RAM that you purchase is compatible with it beforehand <- (*Wish I had done that* )

Quad core AMDs are middle of '07 I beleive.

[charleski]

If you can bear waiting 4-6 weeks it might be worth it. Boards with the nVidia and ATI chipsets should have come out by then (or at least have had reviews of shipping product done), so you'll be in a better position to choose. Although nVidia's first attempt at an Intel chipset wasn't that good, early looks suggest they've improved things a lot.

Another issue is price, as there are only a couple of options if you don't want to pay for top-of-the-range boards ATM: Asrock and Gigabyte. I expect to see some change in that as the inital rush for Conroe systems dies down, remember that theses have only been available for a couple of weeks.

As far as which model of CPU: go for the E6600 if you plan to do a lot of content creation and encoding, and this will benefit from the extra cache. If you're mostly gaming the E6300 will be just as good when overclocked.

[Jay007]

Thanks for the great replies guys, i can stand to wait a few weeks(even though my graphics card is on the blink and needs slapping every time the screen goes funny) if it means getting a more reliable and better performance motherboard.

Quad cores are too far away to be considered, the E6600 would probably be the better choice for me over the E6700 and it'll save me around £150 to put towards better Ram/Case/PSU.

[dangel]

I think i'd wait too - prices are only going to go down and the motherboard situation isn't too good atm.. I'll probably build a new system in a month or two if it looks economical by then.

[Jay007]

Also wanted to find out if somebody could recommended suitable cooling for a c2d with overclocking in mind? and a good PSU to go with it.

[shaithis]

Arctic Cooling Freezer (easy to take off/on)

or TT Big Typhoon (harder to remove but cools better from my tests)


For PSU, you have a HUGE choice. Just buy a decent 500-600w quality brand.

[Jay007]

ok ive waited long enough and pretty much decided on the pc i want. Just thought id get your thoughts on it before going through.

[shaithis]

All good stuffs

[Jay007]

im tempted on getting a 8800GTX but i honestly dont know if its worth getting. Just seems more future proof plus in a years time it would be great to stick another one in and go SLi but the price is sooo much for a graphics card.

[charleski]

I'm sure if you wait another 3 months the 8800 will have come down in price .

[Jay007]

ive decided to go with a XFX 8800GTX instead of the 7950GT as im gonna get a 2007WFP monitor and just want to be able to play Oblivion max'd out on it. Although i am worried about spending &#163;480 now for only the 1GB and faster 8900s or 8950s to come out and be cheaper.

Also wondered if it was the right choice to go for the EVGA 680i seeing as im not sure how much overclocking i'll be doing(only ever slightly dabbled with OCing before) and thought maybe just getting a ASUS P5B Deluxe would be more appropiate? In the future if i ever choose to go Sli i can hopefully pick up the 680i cheaply.

Also what are your opinions on the memory, seem to be a new line of corsair? Its a shame Adata are for sale on Scan otherwise they woudlve been my choice.

[Clunk]

I would go with the single 8800gtx and p5b, purely because the p5b is a good solid performer and the 680i boards are still new and not out of the teething stage.

You cant really go wrong with corsair ram

[Jay007]

well he's a revised spec. Id have pulled the trigger by now but im waiting on the stock of the Dell 2007FPW and Memory. I also upped the PSU just in case i ever go SLi and i realise 600w isnt enough(would 750w be enough?).

Also does anyone know if the Mirage-62 comes with any case fans or do they need to be purchase seperately?

[Clunk]

Looks good to me, although as good as that dell monitor is, you can have a 22" samsung for less, and if it were me, i would go with a different brand 8800gtx, much cheaper (up to 80 quid).