Vista new build

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by MrNice, Jan 29, 2007.

  1. MrNice

    MrNice Kilobyte Poster

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    Alright dudes,

    I am about to order my first Vista PC for a friend and am after some quick advice.

    The budget is reasonably tight so..

    Am I better going for a new core duo CPU, mid range mobo, Budget graphics (well X1600 Pro 256mb) and 1Gb of ram...

    Or a Pentium 935 or similar, similiar mobo and graphics but 2Gb of ram.

    O/S is Vista home pemium, This system will be used for MS Office/Internet/Pictures...def no games or high end apps.

    Cheers
     
  2. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Oh, most definitely a Core 2 Duo processor. The performance gains achieved by the new processor architecture blows away what Intel and AMD previously had to offer, all at an affordable price. The Core 2 Duo E6300 (which I got) currently costs about $188. The Pentium 935 you're considering costs about $148, so the C2D is definitely worth the extra $40.

    That said, I got BOTH a C2D AND 2GB of memory in my new box.
     
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  3. Boycie
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    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Where abouts are you purchasing the system from?
     
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  4. elli5on

    elli5on Kilobyte Poster

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    Brain beacon michael.... You have the e6300???? Well in that case, you are lacking behind me kiddo :D
     
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  5. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I wouldn't be if it were overclocked - the E6300 is an overclocking monster... and at 60% of the price of your 5200+. Had I gone with a similarly priced E6600, I'd be smoking you at stock voltages and still have OC headroom. 8)

    That said, your video card absolutely smokes my $125 X850XT. :D
     
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  6. MrNice

    MrNice Kilobyte Poster

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    Hey dudes,

    I use various suppliers, dabs, ebuyer, microdirect, planetmicro, overclockers etc.

    Looks like all of this system will come from dabs soon as they agree to match ebuyers OEM Vista pricing. They want £121 for ultimate version and ebuyer are £115, it may be splitting hairs but I am ordering 2 home premium and 2 ultimate.

    I persuaded the buyer to increase budget to £700 to allow for 2Gb RAM but I am having to buy 4 512Mb sticks as opposed to 2 1Gb sticks for price!

    System is as follows:
    MSI S775 Intel P965 ATX 8 CH HD Audio GB Lan Silent
    Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Socket 775 2.13GHz
    Corsair Memory 2x512MB 240pin DIMM non-ECC unbuffered CL5 667MHz
    Sapphire Radeon X1600 PRO 256MB DDR2 TVO PCIE Retail
    Western Digital Caviar 250GB S300 16mb
    Akasa Ultra quiet Active PFC 500watts PSU
    Samsung DVD+-R/R/RAM 18x Dual Layer IDE Black - Drive
    Samsung DVD16x CD48x IDE Black
    CoolerMaster Centurion 5 Black/Silver Case

    Any opinions? that and vista home premium, keyboard bundle and some blank dvdrw/cdr for £700
     
  7. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Some folks swear by MSI. I would recommend the Asus P5B motherboard.

    How much is the price difference to get 800MHz memory?

    How much is the price difference between the Sapphire X1600 Pro and a Sapphire X850XT? You'll get MUCH better performance out of an X850XT, usually at a similar or lower price. EDIT: Hmm... I'm not seeing many places offering the X850 anymore... Newegg in the US has it... if you find it, I'd recommend it over the X1600 Pro. See the performance difference for yourself: link

    Don't skimp on PSU. If you ignore everything else in this post, focus on this one. I've never heard of Akasa. If you're comfortable with their performance, then fine... but if you're getting it based on price, I'd urge you to reconsider. I used to be a big Antec supporter, but a couple of poor product reviews and scattered incompatibilties have caused me to switch to Enermax and Seasonic.
     
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  8. elli5on

    elli5on Kilobyte Poster

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    Ive heard of Akasa, They also make case fans aside from PSU's. Personally im using a Hiper, which are good on price for performance. If your spending big bucks, Id thrown it Seasonic's direction if not enermax or tagan.

    Dont always listen to michael, hes just upset cos i have a better processor than him :D

    Oh and graphics card..... He He :biggrin

    Craig
     
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  9. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    heeheehee! :p
     
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    WIP: Just about everything!
  10. MrNice

    MrNice Kilobyte Poster

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    Thanks dudes,

    Aska are a pretty good make in my opinion. I went for a 580w Hiper in the end, same price but i prefer the modulars for minimum cabling.
    All up and running suprisingly smoothly, the advisor had a few problems identified but none materialised. Every driver was built in :biggrin
     

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