Opinions on planned upgrade please :)
Im planning an upgrade, and have been looking around, and pricing up...
Firstly, I dont want this to turn into an AMD vs Intel, or nVidia vs ATI war, so lets clear that up first...
Personally I like AMD, but honestly Intel have the edge in the CPU market at this time, so I have opted for Intel
Also, I truly dislike nVidia, had MAJOR issues with them in the past and took a vow of none use as a result (and I have never had an issue with ATI (yet)) - at the end of the day though, it boils down to personal experience and personal preference, so my choice in this has been ATI..
Now for the spec..
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 'Wolfdale' (3.0Ghz) (6mb cache / 2mb per core) - 1333 FSB (£146.86)
Mobo: Asus P5E, with the Intel X38 Chipset (I chose this option due to cost restraints, DDR3 is way more expensive than DDR2, plus this board supports CrossFire) (£149.21)
Ram: 4GB (4 x 1GB) - Corsair DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (5-5-5-15) (1066mhz) (£152.73)
GFX: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD3870 X2 1024mb (£287.86)
Now, the justification:
Why the E8400, and not the E8500?
the E8400 is rated at 3.0Ghz, the E8500 is rated at 3.16Ghz, thats 160mhz (per core) difference, and thats the ONLY difference, The price difference is around the £60 mark, and I cant justify that sort of cost for that difference in speed, however the E8200 is rated at 2.66Ghz, and is only around £26 difference to the E8400, this to me screams out as the better value CPU of the 3 options.
Why the Asus P5E?
I have always had good experiences with Asus, never had one die on me, their support is excellent, and Bios updates quick, their website also holds the drivers for boards for longer than ant other manufacturer I know of, the build quality is good and the over clocking options are (in my opinion) some of the best out there!.
Why The ram?
Again, it boils down to personal experience, I have had various ram from other manufacturers, (Kingston, Samsung, Geil, OCZ) and of all the brands, Corsair is the ONLY one that I have never had die on me.. all the other brands have died, and It has been a nightmare to replace (Ok, I tell a lie, I got some DOA corsair once, and I sent it back to Corsiar, and had less than a 7 day turn around (shipping to the US) for my replacement, got it put it in and it was excellent)
Why the HD3870 X2?
as I said, I like ATI, and have my reasons for not liking nVidia, and I wont go into it now, but any ways, I chose the X2 over the Standard single GPU as the price difference Was LESS than buying 2 seperate cards, and with it being all integrated, the performance is slightly higher than when using 2 seperate cards, plus it leaves me the option of possibly adding a second X2 later (for what reason/game though I have no idea)
Any ways, Whats your thoughts? comments? any suggestions on Alternatives? (taking into account what I have said above) -- and what price can you get these items at? (go go, save me some money)
Firstly, I dont want this to turn into an AMD vs Intel, or nVidia vs ATI war, so lets clear that up first...
Personally I like AMD, but honestly Intel have the edge in the CPU market at this time, so I have opted for Intel
Also, I truly dislike nVidia, had MAJOR issues with them in the past and took a vow of none use as a result (and I have never had an issue with ATI (yet)) - at the end of the day though, it boils down to personal experience and personal preference, so my choice in this has been ATI..
Now for the spec..
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 'Wolfdale' (3.0Ghz) (6mb cache / 2mb per core) - 1333 FSB (£146.86)
Mobo: Asus P5E, with the Intel X38 Chipset (I chose this option due to cost restraints, DDR3 is way more expensive than DDR2, plus this board supports CrossFire) (£149.21)
Ram: 4GB (4 x 1GB) - Corsair DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (5-5-5-15) (1066mhz) (£152.73)
GFX: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD3870 X2 1024mb (£287.86)
Now, the justification:
Why the E8400, and not the E8500?
the E8400 is rated at 3.0Ghz, the E8500 is rated at 3.16Ghz, thats 160mhz (per core) difference, and thats the ONLY difference, The price difference is around the £60 mark, and I cant justify that sort of cost for that difference in speed, however the E8200 is rated at 2.66Ghz, and is only around £26 difference to the E8400, this to me screams out as the better value CPU of the 3 options.
Why the Asus P5E?
I have always had good experiences with Asus, never had one die on me, their support is excellent, and Bios updates quick, their website also holds the drivers for boards for longer than ant other manufacturer I know of, the build quality is good and the over clocking options are (in my opinion) some of the best out there!.
Why The ram?
Again, it boils down to personal experience, I have had various ram from other manufacturers, (Kingston, Samsung, Geil, OCZ) and of all the brands, Corsair is the ONLY one that I have never had die on me.. all the other brands have died, and It has been a nightmare to replace (Ok, I tell a lie, I got some DOA corsair once, and I sent it back to Corsiar, and had less than a 7 day turn around (shipping to the US) for my replacement, got it put it in and it was excellent)
Why the HD3870 X2?
as I said, I like ATI, and have my reasons for not liking nVidia, and I wont go into it now, but any ways, I chose the X2 over the Standard single GPU as the price difference Was LESS than buying 2 seperate cards, and with it being all integrated, the performance is slightly higher than when using 2 seperate cards, plus it leaves me the option of possibly adding a second X2 later (for what reason/game though I have no idea)
Any ways, Whats your thoughts? comments? any suggestions on Alternatives? (taking into account what I have said above) -- and what price can you get these items at? (go go, save me some money)
Quote from: Ghozer Firstly, I dont want this to turn into an AMD vs Intel, or nVidia vs ATI war, so lets clear that up first...
How about a Mac vs. PC war?
(Just kidding!)
Being a little more serious, just bear in mind that depending on your OS (namely, whether or not it's 64-bit) you won't be able to take advantage of all 4GB of your RAM. You sound like the sort of person who probably already knows that, but I saw no mention of the OS you're using in your post, so thought I'd mention it anyway.
Yeah I already know that thanks -- that's 1 reason I stuck to 4GB and not more, but i'll probably be using Vista x64 any way, but even if I use 32bit, It still means im 'there' when i do go 64bit and wont need to bother upgrading my ram or anything.
[Moderator's note by Peter (PJ): Full quote of previous post removed as per the link:rules]
-- that's 1 reason I stuck to 4GB and not more, but i'll probably be using Vista x64 any way, but even if I use 32bit, It still means im 'there' when i do go 64bit and wont need to bother upgrading my ram or anything.[Moderator's note by Peter (PJ): Full quote of previous post removed as per the link:rules]