Save me some pennys? Let me Overclock

[NewPC]

Hi,

Not getting much feedback(In comparison to hottie atleast )

I wondered if this setup is ok?



Antec TruePower Trio 550W PSU £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Leadtek GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £93.99
(£110.44) £93.99
(£110.44)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
Asus TA-210 Series Midi Tower (Black) - No PSU £21.99
(£25.84) £21.99
(£25.84)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £173.99
(£204.44) £173.99
(£204.44)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) £104.99
(£123.36) £104.99
(£123.36)
Asus P5B (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £77.99
(£91.64) £77.99
(£91.64)



Main questions are:

Can i overclock this?
Can i downgrade RAM to save money?
Will this run the latest games at good settings?
Do you see anywhere i can save money on this(Downgrading anything that seems to fast?)

Current PC is 1.8GHZ AMD athlon/9800Pro/512MB RAM

 

[akhilles]

Yep, you can overclock anything, BUT, your specs aren't great for o/cing.

Post a link to the e-store.

The case I've seen doesn't have good cooling. It's 80mm case fans. It does look nice. Nice isn't your goal.

e6600 is a bit overkill, especially you're overclocking. Just get an e6300/6400 & o/c it to the max.

P5B-E would be the minimal for overclockers. P5B-DELUXE would be the best in the series. Too expensive? Try some other P965 boards like GA-P965-S3. Look here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/13/shootout_at_the_core_2_corral/index.html

 

[NewPC]

Hi Akhilles.

Basically im looking to save as much cash as i can, im not keen on OCING as it kills warrentys and im not experienced with it at all.

6600 seems to be good when testedvs others?

www.overclockers.co.uk is the store.

What makes a PC good for ocing?

Wondered if you could put similar specs together which would allow OCING better but similar prices? Trying to cut costs where i can.

Im not gaming much, just lots of applications, maybe i dont need such a fast CPU? hmm but for £80 more this CPU seems to be much better than lower core duos?

 

[akhilles]

Sorry I thought you wanted to overclock since your topic is let me overclock.

If you o/c, get an e4300/e6300/e6400. o/c it to 6600 speed. If you don't o/c, get e6600 & run everything at stock speeds.

It's hard to answer the question. I have to look at various reputable reviews & benchmarks of a particular pc part to determine whether it is good for overclocking. I do not know everything. Nor do I claim to.

Too bad it's out of stock. I'd take this over the Antec. Has 580W & 30A combined on +12V rails.

Hiper HPU-4M580 Type R 580W ATX2.2 PSU - Black
Click image to enlarge
£49.99
£58.74 inc VAT
ETA: 31/01/07
Out of Stock
Stock Code: CA-009-HP

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-009-HP
http://www.hipergroup.com/English/products/hpu-4m580.html

535W & 34A combined. No buy button. Go figure.

Enermax Noisetaker 535W EG565AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU
Click image to enlarge
£54.99
£64.61 inc VAT
No ETA
10+ in stock
Stock Code: CA-023-EN

We're just looking for a quality 450w+ 30A+ combined psu for the x1950pro. From the e-store, I recommend these psu brands:

Corsair
Enermax
FSP
Hiper
OCZ
Seasonic
Tagan
Zalman

Here's my auditor general's recommendation:

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU £28.99
(£34.06) £28.99
(£34.06)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
Sony AW-G170AB2 18x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer - (Black) OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) £104.99
(£123.36) £104.99
(£123.36)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £173.99
(£204.44) £173.99
(£204.44)
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £99.99
(£117.49) £99.99
(£117.49)
Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £61.99
(£72.84) £61.99
(£72.84)
Arctic Cooling Arctic Fan 12025L 120mm Fan - 3 Pin £4.99
(£5.86) £4.99
(£5.86)
Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Black UV £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Sub Total : £593.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
Vat : £105.85
Total : £710.71

About 20 quid more than your 1st setup. The reason I recommend x1950pro over 7900gs is:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=466&card2=443

 

[NewPC]

Hi,

Sorry i've had a change of mind about overclocking. The thing is, i need a stable system(0 Chrashes, or it costs me money).

However... I realise in the future my PC will be slow for newer games, so having the Overclocking ability seems to be a HUGE PLUS.

So although i want to overclock, if it rises the price to high(I.e. requiring faster components) then maybe its not worth the exra cost. However having the ability is, a massive bonus if prices are similar

Motherboards and RAM puzzle me, how do you ever know which one to chose? with CPUS and GFX there seem to be good reviews and comparisons.

I think i may go for the 7900GS or shall i go with your choice? Ill be playing flight sims and some first person shooters.

However mainly its for applications(poker) this system

 

[akhilles]

That's wise decision. Stability over performance.

Spending a lot of time on computers, it's hard to not know a good overclocking setup when you see one. Just like sports, how do you know if the English soccer team is good? What about the French team that just lost the world cup to Italy? I think you get the idea.

7900gs isn't the best bang for the buck. It sure runs cooler & quiet. The x1950pro is much faster for about the same price. It runs kind of hot & loud.

It's your money. I won't tell you how to spend it. I made a suggestion. You make the move.

 

[Shadow703793]

Good set up. Go witha E6400 and save some $. Yes, you can OC the E6600 and the E6400

 

[Bobsama]

I'd say don't overclock for the first 1-2 years. After the 1st year, you have basically gotten rid of all troublesome components (like faulty RAM, a bad HSF, unstable PSU, etc). Then it would probably be best time to do some overclocking; your warentees are pretty much gone and you are in need of a bit of a speed boost to keep up with others. In 2 years there will be 45nm CPUs, DDR3, DX10 as a standard, etc.

If you had the time, I'd say buy a GeForce 8600 Ultra at the end of the month; a bit of a premium but you'll have waited for a while.

I'm looking at a new rig in March; the latest stuff at under $900!

 

[NewPC]

BOBsama - Yeh OCIng in a year sounds good, get last bit of performance out ready for all the new games. Then maybe upgrade to DX10 card and keep system going for a while?

Thats what i did with my 1.8GHZ AMD system im on now, upgraded to 9800 pro



Shadow- OCING the E6600 will give bettr performance vs the E6400 OC'ed though i assume? Or so the latter OC better therefore rendering the E6600 pointlessif ocing is planned? Differenceis around £80.


akhilles Thank you in advanced for your help so far, read the site you linked me to. Seems its ATI card then

Oh and your advice decides what i buy


So what makes us go for the Mobo "Gigabyte GA_965P_S3" ? Just good for Ocing?


Important note: Im willing to spend more if the performance increase is worthy of it, or if the OCING ability is massivelyimproved. However in general i want to keep the prices as low as possible.