Any cheaper alternatives?

[Ross_Innes]

Hi there,

Just finished researching the computer I would like to build. At this high spec most of these product specs become so similar but with £100+ differences. I understand all spec and know what i'm buying, but there are so many products available now my mind can't tackle this problem alone!

Does anyone know of any cheaper alternatives to each product, but with similar/same specs?

Most of these products are SLI certified.

PS.
Had to remove hyperlinks as this is my first post. I apologise for any inconvience this may have caused.

Regards,
Ross

-----------------

Coolermaster stacker

£149.98

w**.ebuyer.com/UK/product/105608

Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93ghz - Skt775 Fsb1066 4mb Cache retail boxed

£617.60

w**.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=23450782487&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3NwZWNpZmljYXRpb25z&product_uid=112728

Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680 SLI PCI-E (Socket 775) DDR2 Motherboard

£246.69

w**.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=606632

MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E-HD 768MB GDDR3 DVI HD TV Ready TVout PCI-E

£467.31

w**.ebuyer.com/UK/product/121047

Western Digital WD2500KS Caviar SE 250GB 7200RPM SATA2/300 16MB Cache - OEM

£51.65

w**.ebuyer.com/UK/product/94403

850W Etasis ET850 Power Supply

£128.65

w**.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=473323

Zalman CNPS9700-LED (Socket 939/754/775/AM2

£44.65

w**.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=606471

OCZ (OCZ2P800R22GK) 2GB (2x1024MB) DDR2-800 PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC EDITION REVISION 2 DUAL CHANNEL KIT (LIFETIME WARRANTY)

£196.84

w**.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116755

Sony AW-G170AB2 18xDVD±RW/RAM Dual Layer Writer Black - Bare Drive

£19.99

w**.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116255

Samsung 'Best Seller' SM913N 19" TFT 8ms 700:1 (1280x1024) Monitor - Silver & Black (3 Years On Site Warranty)

£176.24

w**.ebuyer.com/UK/product/83914

Microsoft Wired Laser Mouse 6000

£19.10

w**.ebuyer.com/UK/product/96796

Labtec Black Standard Keyboard - PS2

£3.99

w**.ebuyer.com/UK/product/79365

Total: £2122.69

[oralpain]

A few points I would like to make:

1. If you intend to overclock, on air, an E6700/6600 will max out near the same speed as the X6800.

2. What does the striker have that is worth the significant price premium over the reference i680 boards (like the eVGA, or ECS, or BIOSTAR, which are all identical boards, except for bioses, which can be changed)?

3. If you are not overclocking a lot, you can use less expensive memory and have no percievable difference in speed.

4. Why are you skimping on monitor? Limiting yourself to 1280x1024, when you will have an 8800GTX, is pure insanity. Cut costs elsewhere, a good monitor will be a good monitor long after the rest of your system is pawned off.

In the end I think you should spend less on cpu, memory, and motherboard, then spend a lot more on a better monitor.

[Ross_Innes]

This is exactly the info i'm looking for. Thank you.

Would you like to recommend a monitor and i'll research from there?

With regards to the CPU, i've taken the "future proof approach" (even if future proof doesn't last that long ) but if my PC can still last with a E6700 then it's definatly worth considering.

I've read a lot of reviews re. the eVGA vs Striker and there isn't that much of a difference. So my future proof theory kicked in again although I have been skeptical about the Striker board and will reconsider.

Oh, and would it be possible for you to recommend some memory as alot has changed since I last built a pc. It becomes a bit confusing with all the different types.

[SiM]

Why not quad core? Its about £700 iirc

24" widescreen monitor (eg Dell 2407) is good...

And £4 keyboard with 2 grand pc

[amjedm]

You should get a better keyboard as advised by above poster. Logitech and Microsoft ones are good.

Zalman 9700 is same price at Scan so I'd order from them unless it's going to make a difference to postage.

Hard drive is good IMO - just bought and installed the same one (from Scan).

DVD Writer - go for NEC or Pioneer. Better makes IMO.

Monitor - as advised get a larger one if you have the space.

I haven't a clue about the other bits as my main PC is still an Athlon XP2400.

[oralpain]

There is little sense in going for absolute cutting edge, esp when it coems to CPUs, if you want to "future proof".

The X6800 is more than twice the cost of the E6600. Buy an E6600 now and you will only be 200-300MHz shy of what you could get out of the X6800. There will be maybe a 5-8% difference in performance, tops. With just the money you save, you can buy a midrange quad core chip in a year. In the end you are better off with the upper-midrange.

A pound per extra MHz is never a good deal.

Concerning motherboards, there is very little difference in features between those with the same chipset. I strongly suspect the striker will overclock better than the reference boards, but you are going to hit the limit of the CPU way before you hit the limit of pretty much any i680 board. As long as you get a stable i680 board, you have done as much as you can to future proof.

As for memory, you can get by just fine with value (but not generic) DDR667. This will even be fine when 1333MHz FSB chips are released (533Mhz DDR2 is all it takes to run in synch with current Core 2 chips). Look for micron or elpida chips. WIth a touch more voltage, pretty much any DDR2667 base on those can run at DDR2-800, or higher, with no problems. Read some reviews (anandtech is a good place to start). The difference in price between value memory and the top end is extreme. The performance difference is almost un-noticeable.

As for monitor, I would recommend looking for a 22" or larger widescreen LCD with an HDMI input and 1920x1200 native resolution. More colors, lower response time, higher viewable angle, higher contrast, and higher brightness are what you should look for.