Whats the Price/Performance spot?

Discussion in 'New Build / Upgrade Advice' started by Matt, Nov 7, 2007.

  1. Matt

    Matt Oblivion Junky

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    hey all

    i have been really busy for a long time and hardware has changed so much in the meantime. i'd really like to get reaquainted with the trends and general ideas. so if anyone has a little time to re-educate me because i need to build several boxes soon.

    SO! the questions at hand. what is the price for performance spot at the minute? what is your basic middle of the range box that is giving the best bang for your buck. this is very general i know... but generally? :p
     
  2. OnStock

    OnStock Geek Trainee

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    Budget system you mean? Well, i'd go for this:

    AMD X2 5600+ 2.8 Ghz processor
    GIGABYTE MA69GM-S2H AMD 690G+SB600 motherboard

    Corsair DDR2 2GB DDR800 XMS2-6400 matched pair, with Heat Spread

    CORSAIR 520W PSU
    (Don't know which case)

    Samsung HD250HJ, 250GB, 7200rpm, 8MB, FDB, SATA II
    DVD-RW Pioneer DVR-212

    Gigabyte 8800GT

    ======================================

    Intel system:

    Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2.00 GHz (800MHz 1MB) Box

    GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P motherboard

    Scythe NINJA Cpu cooler

    other parts remain the same as above
     
  3. gazaway

    gazaway Geek Trainee

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    Right now I would stick with an intel system to tell you the truth. For value/performance it is the top. For a complete budget build you can get a Pentium Dual Core 1.6 Gig that will overclock to 3+ Gigs. It has a lower L2 Cache though, so if you are going for gaming you are going to want to get a Core2Duo and overclock that. If you are an AMD fan go with an AMD Black Edition processor with the unlocked multipliers.

    Really any mobo with a p35 chipset would do you well unless you want to run dual video cards in SLI. Then you would need a 680i chipset for top performance. As always I recommend Gigabyte boards as they manufactor the highest quality boards in my opinion.

    As far as video cards go, right now the new 8800 GT 512 is by FAR the best bang for your buck. It benchmarks just bellow the 8800 GTX and will soon cost only 200-250. Only problem is that these babies sell out fast.

    As far as harddrives go - for highest performance you will want either a Raptor (or equivelant) or one of the new 7200.11 HDDs.

    This is all off the top of my head and it's early, so correct me if I'm wrong anywhere.
     
  4. OnStock

    OnStock Geek Trainee

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    E2180 can reach almost 3,6 + ghz (some of them even 4 ghz)
     
  5. gazaway

    gazaway Geek Trainee

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    True, but notice I said budget and for most people a liquid cooling system would not be considered budget. Even a high quality HSF will run you 60-100 USD. So under budget cooling I would only recommend overclocking to 3.0-3.2
     
  6. mut

    mut Geek Trainee

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    I'm building an E2180 + GA-P35C-DS3P system, seems to be the best bang/buck at this time :)
    The P35C model supports DDR3 RAM.
     
  7. gazaway

    gazaway Geek Trainee

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    DDR3 = Opposite of bang for your buck....:doh:
     
  8. mut

    mut Geek Trainee

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    Not really. It supports both DDR2 and DDR3. The board is well priced at around £75 and its also futureproof.
     
  9. gazaway

    gazaway Geek Trainee

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    The gain you get from DDR3 is so absolutely minimal it's laughable. I beleive the synthetics showed a 2% increase in performance from DDR2 to DDR3. Yet the prices for DDR3 are yet to fall. The one thing I do like about DDR3 is that it can have a thermo sensor to watch for overheating. Very nice. :D
     

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