Some things before I order, struggling with my budget...

tim0

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Feb 2, 2007
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Hi all,

I am trying to get me a sub €900 C2D build, and I'm having trouble deciding what to do. Originally I wanted to get the E6320 with 2x512 PC6400, 800 Mhz. Low-latency RAM. Then I found out 1GB really isn't enough, but 2x1GB is over my budget. So I tried to scrape of some money of the following list of components:

Cooler Master Centurion 534
Antec TruePower Trio
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
ECS 8800GTS 320MB
Western Digital SE16 250GB
Samsung SH-182M
Intel C2D E6320

I figured I might just as well get the E4400, but that was still over my budget. Then I found out my vendor sells the E4300 for about ~€100, and I'm wondering if it's worth it: 2x1GB and a E4300 instead of 2x512MB and an E6320. I do want to OC to 2,8Ghz or higher.

And then, apart from my question above:
1. Is is true that 2GB is an absolute must?
2. What are the differences between the E4300 and the E4400?
3. The ECS 8800GTS 320MB, is it any good?

I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to look through this and give me your opinion.

Thanks in advance,
Tim
 

mythos

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Definitely get 2 gigs and overclock the E4300. No point in getting teh E6320 which will only clock a little higher if at all and improve very little with the added cache (and cash :)

Ram is so cheap now.. 2-3 months ago it was double the price lol :cry:
 

mythos

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To answer your specific questions:

1) Contrary to what people will tell you, 2GB is only a must for Windows VISTA (to have a nice, smooth experience). For XP, you are still just fine and dandy with 1GB. However, with RAM prices the way they are, there is really no reason to get 1GB and you will benefit (slightly) from having your RAM in dual-channel 2x1GB.

2) The difference between teh E4300 and the E4400 is the clock multiplier. Your CPU speed (frequency) is determined by base FSB (front side bus) x multiplier.
E4300 - 200MHZ FSB x 9 multiplier = 1.8 GHZ
E4400 - 200MHZ FSB x 10 multiplier = 2.0 GHZ

What does this mean? They are the same thing, and if you overclock, which you should, they will reach about the same heights as the limit will be mostly determined by heat output and voltage limits. However, the E4400 will require a lower FSB setting on your motherboard to accomplish the same clock speed - that's what the higher multiplier is good for. Though really, in this case it hardly matters as most decent boards are able to handle FSBs high enough for either multiplier.

3) I would hesitate to get anything from ECS, but other than that, the 8800GTS 320 is pretty mucht he best price/performance in that range. Which card you get though depends almost entirely on what resolution you game at.
 

tim0

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Feb 2, 2007
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Thanks man, you really helped me out. E4300 with 2GB it is then.

I will check if there are other cheap solution to an 8800GTS other then the ECS one.
 

darksidedragon

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For Nvidia graphics cards, go with eVGA, BFG or XFX if you can. They're probably the more expensive brands, but they offer good clock speeds, excellent customer support and solid cards. eVGA even do a step-up program (which may be handy for you once the 8900 cards come out).