New Pc - Opinions Please

Redisle

Hi,
Im looking to buy a new pc since my last one died.. Im thinking a budget of about 600 as Im in LC and it wont really get that much use.. want to be able to run a monitor @1680x1050, windows xp.
Want to be able to play BF2,F.E.A.R, and maybe bioshock.. not neceserialy at 1680x1050, I dont mind stretching (not that I have much of a choice with bf2:() , will also be used for occasional video encoding, web browsing,photo processing etc.

Im looking at ankermann as I dont think I will be able to get all this within my budget building again..

Im looking at this or this at the moment.. basically all they are is a choice between a E6750 or Q6600..The quad core would only cost 30more.. same everything else really..

Suggestions, Opinions?
And I know the 8600GT isnt the greatest card but Im pretty sure it will comfortably play BF2 and FEAR anyway on medium-high settings?

Thanks for any help guys,
ab

PogMoThoin

Quad would be worth the extra 30 quid imo, would b better choice for the future as multi-threaded games are coming.

Good luck

Pog

sdanseo

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Quad would be worth the extra 30 quid imo, would b better choice for the future as multi-threaded games are coming.

Good luck

Pog

At those prices I'd go for the Quad especially given the relatively small difference in clock speeds - or if you can afford it the E6850 that way you futureproof it some for better games when you can afford a card to go with it.

TerrorFirmer

That looks remarkably similar to Dells machines!




Anyway, yeah an 8600GT would play those games at high settings without any problems. BF2 doesn't support widescreen so you'll have to scale 1280x1024, not sure about FEAR and how playable it would be at that res on an 8600GT, possibly prone to slowdown, but at worse it'd run perfectly fine at 1280x1024 high settings. Bioshock would definitely fall flat at that resolution, unless you drastically lowered the settings to match. But you can always upgrade the card later, for the price, you've got a fine machine there.

dazftw

right click your desktop shortcut for BF2 and you can add something like x1680 y1050 to make it use that res...

BF2 doesn't support my 2560 X 1600 res but with this little trick it does and its not even distorted like alot of people think it is!

Redisle

Thanks for the advice guys, So should I go for the q6600 or the e6750? Ive read the e6750 is meant to be better for gaming and its clocked higher but would the quad be more future proof?
Also, would I do better anywhere else with the same money?
And I have no plans on o/c'ing except maybe the gpu.

sdanseo

ab_cork wrote: »

Thanks for the advice guys, So should I go for the q6600 or the e6750?

See my post above. Can you stretch to the E6850?

Redisle

Nah I dont think so, I think Id rather go for one of the offers I linked to and there is no option to customize the processor, I could build myself from komplett but I seriously doubt I could come anywhere near the price I can get from ankermann

TerrorFirmer

I'd go for the quad. More future proof, and since you don't plan overclocking. Clock speeds are pretty close anyway.

Redisle

Ok, Im thinking I may as well go for the quad..
Just.. would the quad use a lot more power than the core2? I mean I dont want to be adding huge sums to the electricity bill.. and I think I will only be playing games once every few weeks so Im a pretty casual gamer, otherwise I will be watching movies/browsing the net/rarely encoding stuff/photoshop..
So would the quad use alot of power?

Edit:
Also would I get any better value somewhere else? I dont have to buy from ankermann and I could stretch to 700 for hardware only..?
Sorry for all the questions btw, I tend to research things quite a lot before making a purchase..

Anti

For that price you will be hard pushed to find better value, unless you build the pc from second hand parts. But then you have no come back with any of the products. Best bet is to buy the quad system from ankermann.

Redisle

Okay I almost had my mind up there and then I said id do a bit more reasearch

1.
The motherboard in the quad bundle "MSI P4M900M2-L ATX", although it says ATX there is actually micro atx and is literally the cheapest socket775 board on komplett, I cant even find anywhere that says is supports quad core.And as they always say you get what you pay for.. I even saw a few reviews that when people put their cpu's into this board 2 of the cpu pins actually bent..

2.
The graphics card in the bundle "NVidia GeForce 8600GT 512MB PCI-e" could actually be ddr2, I did a search and most of the geforce 8600gt's with 512 mb are ddr2 bar the xft one.DDR2 is a big step backwards in terms of performance from a DDR3 card is it not?

3.
Power Supply, "600Watt PFC Switching Power Supply". They dont even give the brand, pfc seems to refer to a feature of the psu rather than the brand, Ive read plenty of stories on here to know that cheap powersupply = bad idea.

4.
Memory, the ankermann site does not mention the speed of the memory, it simply says "2GB DDR-II RAM MDT". Looking at other systems on their site it seems to be PC800, reviews of the brand "MDT" are very lacking on the net.

So Im just wondering would I be better off going another route? Or should I just say fcuk it and get this system and hope for the best? I know this system comes with a 2 year warranty but I had a friend who's ankermann bought computer broke and he sent it back at his own expense and when he got it back again it was still broken, they claimed they replaced his mainboard but it still wasnt working..

Wow I should look at myself, I really do look into things waaay too much :eek:

So what do you guys think? Just go for it? Or look elsewhere?

Thanks for the help so far btw.

Anti

ab_cork wrote: »

Okay I almost had my mind up there and then I said id do a bit more reasearch

1.
The motherboard in the quad bundle "MSI P4M900M2-L ATX", although it says ATX there is actually micro atx and is literally the cheapest socket775 board on komplett, I cant even find anywhere that says is supports quad core.And as they always say you get what you pay for.. I even saw a few reviews that when people put their cpu's into this board 2 of the cpu pins actually bent..

2.
The graphics card in the bundle "NVidia GeForce 8600GT 512MB PCI-e" could actually be ddr2, I did a search and most of the geforce 8600gt's with 512 mb are ddr2 bar the xft one.DDR2 is a big step backwards in terms of performance from a DDR3 card is it not?

3.
Power Supply, "600Watt PFC Switching Power Supply". They dont even give the brand, pfc seems to refer to a feature of the psu rather than the brand, Ive read plenty of stories on here to know that cheap powersupply = bad idea.

4.
Memory, the ankermann site does not mention the speed of the memory, it simply says "2GB DDR-II RAM MDT". Looking at other systems on their site it seems to be PC800, reviews of the brand "MDT" are very lacking on the net.

So Im just wondering would I be better off going another route? Or should I just say fcuk it and get this system and hope for the best? I know this system comes with a 2 year warranty but I had a friend who's ankermann bought computer broke and he sent it back at his own expense and when he got it back again it was still broken, they claimed they replaced his mainboard but it still wasnt working..

Wow I should look at myself, I really do look into things waaay too much :eek:

So what do you guys think? Just go for it? Or look elsewhere?

Thanks for the help so far btw.

1. lga775 is pinless, so i dont know where you heard that.

2. No not really, its the gpu not the ram thats the problem with that card.

3. More then likely a crap make psu, but it should do.

4. The ram will probably be ddr 5300 or 6400.

A simple option would be to drop this idea, and get someone to build you a pc. For 600€ i could build you a better pc then what they are offering. But you would only have a manufactures warrenty with it.

Redisle

Anti, Ive built myself before and I am really comfortable with building myself I was just looking to save a buck by using ankermann, Im not short of cash having worked at tech support all summer I just dont see the point spending too much on a pc this year because Im in LC and It wont get that much use,and chances are I will end up having to get a laptop next year for college anyway so I need to keep cash for that..If you could actually point me to the components I would need to build a pc on par or better than that pc within a budget of about 700euro I would be very grateful,And that hardware only, I dont need a monitor or kb/mouse and I already have ~500gb of storage so dont need a huge hd.I could even reuse my old case, Not my psu though because its only 400w and it actually started making some weird noises last time I tried my old pc..I had a look on komplett myself and I wasnt coming anywhere near that price for a similar spec, Also I would have no problem just having a manufacturers warranty.

Thanks for your help.
ab

TerrorFirmer

Actually yeah the DDR2 version will really hurt performance. The bandwidth will effectively be a massive 75% less then a DDR3 model and although it won't generally translate that badly in real term performance, you can expect to be hit by anything varying from 10-50% less performance. Added to that, the DDR2 won't overclock very well and the 8600GT isn't exactly a powerful card to begin with...

Anti

HavoK wrote: »

Actually yeah the DDR2 version will really hurt performance. The bandwidth will effectively be a massive 75% less then a DDR3 model and although it won't generally translate that badly in real term performance, you can expect to be hit by anything varying from 10-50% less performance. Added to that, the DDR2 won't overclock very well and the 8600GT isn't exactly a powerful card to begin with...

Thats just not true im afraid.. Where on earth did you read that ? GDDR2 will overclock alot better then GDDR3 ( volts, latencys etc etc ). Jeez man, this is the 4/5th thread you have given bad info on in the last few days. Stop giving out information if you dont know for certain, you could end up loosing someone money/performance.

TerrorFirmer

Anti wrote: »

Thats just not true im afraid.. Where on earth did you read that ? GDDR2 will overclock alot better then GDDR3 ( volts, latencys etc etc ). Jeez man, this is the 4/5th thread you have given bad info on in the last few days. Stop giving out information if you dont know for certain, you could end up loosing someone money/performance.

How it that bad advice? At stock, the DDR3 will be 700mhz, the DDR2 400Mhz. so that's 1400 vs 800 effective. Huge difference, no? Even overclocking, the DDR2 won't come be able to equal the bandwidth of the DDR3, which can be overclocked to even further the gap. We are talking about video cards here? If anything you're the one giving bad info by actually suggesting that a DDR2 8600GT is the same as the DDR3 model when it's not.

DDR3 also uses less power and generates less heat. (as you know, obviously, I'm not trying to patronize you in case you think I am)

Low latency is hardly as important in a video card? In fact anyway other then overclockers few people would even realise the benefits of low latency ram, do you not agree? You can accuse me of giving 'bad advice' but consider that not everyone who asks for such advice is as into computers as you are - its all subjective.

No matter what way you look at it, a DDR2 8600Gt is inferior to a DDR3 model, even if its overclocked to say, the limits of the ram at 500-510mhz. I am not misleading ab_cork by any means, unless you can somehow show how a DDR2 8600GT is equal to a DDR3 model.

Finally, I really fail to see how I could **** up someones build (this was suggested elsewhere not on this thread by the way). By suggesting an OCZ Psu, which I personally find good, have read good reviews about? I accept you might differ in your opinion and from a tech enthusiast viewpoint but lets remember not everyone is as into their hardware. It's hardly because I suggested that the DDR2 8600GT was handicapped compared to its ddr3 counterpart. What else did I do - Oh, I once said that I'd used a Thrust PSU that someone actually already owned on the forum (and therefore, not recommending they buy it), and said it had decent rails and performed well for me. My own opinion. So I really can't see how I'm potentially ****ing up someones build and given 4 or 5 dreadful advices.

btw there's just one example of a review of OCZ gamextreme, which you dismissed (ocz in general) as an absolute crap brand of psu when I recommend an OCZ psu. So I think this is a difference of opinion in most case rather then outright fact and saying I'm giving advice that's risking someones money is a bit OTT I think.