new pc Â£500 limit

JoaTMoN · Post by **JoaTMoN** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:17 am

im looking to build myself a new pc for moderate gaming and recording music.

here are the specs im looking at...

intel c2d e6300 or e6400
skythe ninja
gigabyte ds3
antec p150 or antec solo + seasonic s12 430 (depending on price)
lg gsa-h10n
not decided on ram
hd;s taken from old pc (80 and 250 barracuda)
gpu taken from old pc (6600gt, only until i can save up enough to put a new one in)

i use a usb sound card as i also record on to a laptop. no latency issues etc.

should set me back Â£500. then ill spend Â£100 after xmas on a new gpu (may be a 7600gt)

what ram would you guys recomend

JoaTMoN · Post by **JoaTMoN** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:48 pm

no one seems to be taking an interest

but i think ive decided on...

c2d e6300 (Â£111.61 - scan)
msi p695 platinum (Â£88.88 - dabs)
skythe ninja (Â£29.83 - scan)
antec solo (Â£51.83 - ebuyer)
seasonic 430w (Â£46.87 - scan)
LG gsa-h10n (Â£21.17 - dabs)
Corsair xms2 6400 4-4-4-12 (Â£107.68 - scan)

ill take the two baracudda drives from my pc as well as my 6600gt (which i plan on upgrading early next year)

This all comes to Â£457.87 (i had set my self a budget of Â£450)

what do y'all think. anything better for a similar price or am i set?

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:52 pm

what do y'all think. anything better for a similar price or am i set?

You're set. Pretty impressive you can build a brand new C2D rig for <Â£500.

stromgald · Post by **stromgald** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:32 pm

JoaTMoN wrote: Corsair xms2 6400 4-4-4-12 (Â£107.68 - scan)

ill take the two baracudda drives from my pc as well as my 6600gt (which i plan on upgrading early next year)

This all comes to Â£457.87 (i had set my self a budget of Â£450)

what do y'all think. anything better for a similar price or am i set?

Why did you pick that RAM? Do you plan on doing some big overclocking? From what I've read, Core 2 Duo processors work best if the RAM is a multiple of the FSB speed. The FSB for Core 2 Duo motherboards are usually 1066 Mhz. That's why 533Mhz (PC2 4200) DDR2 RAM works so well with Core 2 Duo processors.

Going up to PC2 5300 or PC2 6400 does not get you much benefit and can actually lower performance unless you overclock your FSB. Personally, I'd just get 667 Mhz (PC 5300) and overclock the FSB to 1333Mhz. If you want to go higher than that, you could overclock your RAM. Most quality RAM sticks can overclock at least a little.

JoaTMoN · Post by **JoaTMoN** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:41 pm

its the RAM i've been having the most trouble in selecting.

I can get some corsair xms2 5400 for Â£93.46 from scan.

or is there something cheaper i can get else where?

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:01 pm

or is there something cheaper i can get else where?

There are usually some good deals on Ebay. I once bought a 512mb stick of DDR2 for Â£10!

scara · Post by **scara** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:14 pm

JoaTMoN wrote:its the RAM i've been having the most trouble in selecting.
I can get some corsair xms2 5400 for Â£93.46 from scan.
or is there something cheaper i can get else where?

Thats for the 2x512Mb kit right?

I think you'd be better getting the equal specced(?)single stick for Â£82.88 or the Corsair value stick for Â£69.55.

The value ram has higher latencies but that apparently doesn't make too much difference (if any) on Core2Duo's.

Having a single 1GB stick will also make it easier to upgrade to 2GB in the future. Theoretically it'll be cheaper for you now and in the long run.

JoaTMoN · Post by **JoaTMoN** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:31 pm

i wouldnt touch ebay for electronics with someone elses credit card let alone my own. rather have a shop i can return parts to than some random.

i remember thinking that ram works better as a matched pair than in a single stick. but maybe i just got it wrong. wouldnt be the first time

but with that single xms stick and the seasonic 380w psu my cost is now Â£426.15!!!!! nice

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:10 am

stromgald wrote: From what I've read, Core 2 Duo processors work best if the RAM is a multiple of the FSB speed. The FSB for Core 2 Duo motherboards are usually 1066 Mhz. That's why 533Mhz (PC2 4200) DDR2 RAM works so well with Core 2 Duo processors.

True, but any BIOS worth anything will allow you to select what speed to run the RAM at. Even if you don't use a 1:1 FSB, a memory divider shouldn't have too much of a performance penalty and you get to run your RAM at its rated speed. If DDR2-533 was a lot cheaper, it might make sense to go this route, but since it's not...

Personally, I'd just get 667 Mhz (PC 5300) and overclock the FSB to 1333Mhz. If you want to go higher than that, you could overclock your RAM. Most quality RAM sticks can overclock at least a little.

C2D has a lot more headrooom than what most DDR2-667 modules can give it. My vote would go to spending a few more dollars and getting DDR2-800. OC'ing the C2D is so easy, it's not funny.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:01 am

JoaTMoN wrote:i wouldnt touch ebay for electronics with someone elses credit card let alone my own. rather have a shop i can return parts to than some random.

i remember thinking that ram works better as a matched pair than in a single stick. but maybe i just got it wrong. wouldnt be the first time

but with that single xms stick and the seasonic 380w psu my cost is now Â£426.15!!!!! nice

No, you're right, you'll get a performance boost by running a matched pair in dual-channel mode (the mobo slots are colour-keyed so you can't go wrong).

2x512 Corsair Value Select PC4200 (533Mhz) for Â£69.82, PC5300 (667MHz) Â£71.12, both from Scan. It was cheaper last week, but RAM prices seem up and down like a bloody yoyo at the moment...