I'm looking at getting rid of my laptop before it devalues too much and going for a DIY build.
Currently looking at:
Q6600
8800GT
680i mobo
4gb Corsair Ram
Not going into specifics juust yet but i was wondering if there's anything i should hold out for (eg certain product releases that would affect pricing etc).
Any advice MUCH appreciated (especially as i'm a noob when it comes to building from scratch!)
When to buy
Well,
Nov 12th Intel is launching their new "extreme" penryn, but the whole line up of the new penryns does not come out until Jan/Feb. If the early prices are correct, You may want to wait, as the new quad cores seem to be a bit lower than the current q6600 prices.
At that time, I am not sure how much the Q6600 would drop, and if it did, it would not be a lot.
The only other comment I wanted to make is regarding the 680i mobo. From what I have read, unless you are planning on running an SLI set-up, you should get Intel P35 or X38.
As far as the GT, well, I can give you direct feedback on that this week once I have played some games and run 3DMark, etc.
Nov 12th Intel is launching their new "extreme" penryn, but the whole line up of the new penryns does not come out until Jan/Feb. If the early prices are correct, You may want to wait, as the new quad cores seem to be a bit lower than the current q6600 prices.
At that time, I am not sure how much the Q6600 would drop, and if it did, it would not be a lot.
The only other comment I wanted to make is regarding the 680i mobo. From what I have read, unless you are planning on running an SLI set-up, you should get Intel P35 or X38.
As far as the GT, well, I can give you direct feedback on that this week once I have played some games and run 3DMark, etc.
Cheers, Damnidge
Well the thinking is regarding the 680i is initially just having one 8800GT then in the future, perhaps at a sale or something, to buy a second 8800GT. Anyone got an idea regarding price changes when the new penryns come out?
Ps thanks for the info damnidge, i hope your gfx card meets expectations!
Ps thanks for the info damnidge, i hope your gfx card meets expectations!
Everything I've read about the 680i was to stay the hell away from it, Unless SLI is that important to you. Get a decent p35 or wait until the x38/x48 boards are more mainstream.
X38 info
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/in ... spx?i=3120
Mainstream penryn is still looking for release jan 2008.
X38 info
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/in ... spx?i=3120
Mainstream penryn is still looking for release jan 2008.
-
DW_StaticLan
- 1337 Haxor
- Posts: 187
- Joined: Tue May 08, 2007 11:00 pm
- Location: IN.
I have the 680i and have beat the hell out of it for 6+ months now and love it.
Maybe it's the xtremesystems forum, However I've seen a few posts about them going through multiple boards. I believe Toxic has mixed experience with the boards in general.
Unfortunitley, I see nothing about UT3 and SLI. I'm assuming this is one of the main reasons for the new build. If it is, Epic released some information that SLI mode only really showed benifits in really high resolution situations. It's probally worth to just forget the whole SLI thing at this point.
8800GT is roughly = 8800GTX, current mainstream level is rougly equal to the previous top end. With two you'll probally get close to the performance of the next top end. By the time your ready to get the extra card there will be a new card that will eclipse even the old SLI setup for much cheaper.
It really doesn't make sense. Also there are power requirements for this crap.
Unfortunitley, I see nothing about UT3 and SLI. I'm assuming this is one of the main reasons for the new build. If it is, Epic released some information that SLI mode only really showed benifits in really high resolution situations. It's probally worth to just forget the whole SLI thing at this point.
8800GT is roughly = 8800GTX, current mainstream level is rougly equal to the previous top end. With two you'll probally get close to the performance of the next top end. By the time your ready to get the extra card there will be a new card that will eclipse even the old SLI setup for much cheaper.
It really doesn't make sense. Also there are power requirements for this crap.
ohh ok, i suppose prices are getting so cheap anyhow. From the looks of things the x38 is about £150.
Looking like:
Q6600
4GB RAM
8800GT
Gigabyte atx x38
Coolermaster nvidia special edition
Got to look at the whole cooling and power stuff now
Looking like:
Q6600
4GB RAM
8800GT
Gigabyte atx x38
Coolermaster nvidia special edition
Got to look at the whole cooling and power stuff now
After some research it appears there was a bad batch of the 680i motherboards and that the most recent versions are very good.
Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail
£150
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC2-8500 (1066), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5
£100
512MB EVGA 8800GT Superclocked, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1900MHz, GDDR3, GPU 650MHz, 2x Dual Link DVI-I, Fan
£187
BFG Technology BFGRNFI680iS NF680i SLI, S 775, PCI-E(x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX
£144
Coolermaster Stacker 830 Evolution 'nVidia' Special Edition Case
£153
On the to-do list:
Unsure about the memory.. the cheapest at 1066 or higher quality/more at a lower clock.
PSU?
Cooling?
Keyboard? Thinking G15
Operating system: I already have vista 32bit that came with the laptop however this my be sold with the laptop. Should i go for XP 64 bit and then in the future dual boot/move to vista 64bit. I've had enough of f*cking driver issues and no updates! (That said, i do like vista itself, just the drivers can't get a move on!)
All prices from http://www.scan.co.uk - possibly not the cheapest i can get for each unit but they're generally cheap and is good for a ballpark figure.
Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail
£150
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC2-8500 (1066), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5
£100
512MB EVGA 8800GT Superclocked, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1900MHz, GDDR3, GPU 650MHz, 2x Dual Link DVI-I, Fan
£187
BFG Technology BFGRNFI680iS NF680i SLI, S 775, PCI-E(x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX
£144
Coolermaster Stacker 830 Evolution 'nVidia' Special Edition Case
£153
On the to-do list:
Unsure about the memory.. the cheapest at 1066 or higher quality/more at a lower clock.
PSU?
Cooling?
Keyboard? Thinking G15
Operating system: I already have vista 32bit that came with the laptop however this my be sold with the laptop. Should i go for XP 64 bit and then in the future dual boot/move to vista 64bit. I've had enough of f*cking driver issues and no updates! (That said, i do like vista itself, just the drivers can't get a move on!)
All prices from http://www.scan.co.uk - possibly not the cheapest i can get for each unit but they're generally cheap and is good for a ballpark figure.