Deal of the year?Maybe..

TheThreeDegrees

My aim to upgrade my existing 5 year old box to a decent clockable (once I learn how to clock) game playing/workstation "rig" (as you lads call them!) using the latest technology components.

I attempted this last year and chickened out and ended up buying a 360,which I sold three months later.Dissapointed to say the least..

Have plenty time off work so since last Monday have been spending every minute searching researching bidding and buying.

So far I have purchased the following:

Q6600(stock) Retail €240ish Paid €220 (New)
SilverStone OP850 850W Power Supply Retail €160 Paid €125 (New)
Asus P5N32-E SLI, nForce-680i Retail €160 Paid €106 (Kinda New)One of the Grade b's from Komplett.

Spent €451.

So whats left to buy?

Ram GPU and Cooler.

My thoughts are crucial ballistix 2gb ddr2 pc8500 or pc6400
Any of the new 8800Gt cards for the GPU
And for the cooler (until I learn the physics:-) a zalman.

And now for the catch.
I have set a target of €650 but most importantly I still want to be able to play any game that they throw onto the market at the max resolution possible.

So will €199 buy me those items?
Are there any alternatives to keep me on track?
Donations accepted :-)

goodlad

hehe! man u haven't a hope in hell of getting the last few bits u need for 199 euro. A good zalman cooler will set u back about 50 euro. The memory about 100 euro ish depending on what u get and the new GT is upwards of 250 euro. Looks like ur budget will be getting smashed. As for alternatives, i cant see any if u want a machine to play new games for the next year. Ur just gonna have to spend more money

uberpixie

As goodlad mentioned you will need to extend your budget a little!

cooler: get a Thermalright ultra 120mm extreme. €82
http://elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=EQP52149

or a tuniq tower €42
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=318575

or a scythe Ninja €42
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=320978

(the coolers mentioned above are all very large coolers, makes sure you have enough space on motherboard/case if you are thinking of getting one.)

Zalmans are good coolers, but they are not for anything more than a cpu with mild over clock.

You can also pick up an Artic Freezer7pro cooler for €25 in peats which is a good cooler to get if you are stuck. But not too great for quads and def not for overclocking a quad: but it will tie you over if you get stuck.

GPU: What ever is in stock! The 8800GT or a radeon 3870 would be very good if you are on a tight budget. A radeon 3850 256mb can be found for €160 or so if you look hard enough and is a good alternative.

RAM: crucial balistix is only €80 for 2gigs, good price. It is meant to a dacent overclocker at a very good price.

If time is not an issue order of www.hardwareversand.de

They only take bank transfer but they have some of the cheapest prices around.

Anti

Jasus, dont even consider buying the cooler from elera. 82€... WTF ? its 40£ in the uk.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-039-TR


So if you take todays exchangerate:

82.00 EUR = 59.0467 GBP
Euro United Kingdom Pounds
1 EUR = 0.720081 GBP 1 GBP = 1.38873 EUR

That means you will be paying 50% more for the cooler then you need too.

Forget irish shops, use the uk ones and save a fortune

TheThreeDegrees

Spend more money:eek:

Yep, well into the Thermalright ultra 120mm alright for the winter were havin at the moment:)
Theres one on ebay at around £5 at the moment but the fooker wont post to Dublin.
Have to agree with Anti prices are very good from the UK at the moment.
The only reason i bought the board from Komplett is that it was a B grade and if there is anything wrong with it then its easier to deal with.

So the RAM and GPU>There must be an alternative?
Lets face it how many games are directX10 at the moment?
would a decent 7950GT clocked or something not do the trick?

TonyM.

Ninja for sale new fan included.€25.00.

TheThreeDegrees

Ok tonyM i'll have it so long as I dont have to pay postage?

Thats 199 minus 25 = hmmm ah yes 174 yoyo's left.

Great thats 174 left for ram and a GPU.

TonyM.

ok deal pm sent.

http://www.memoryc.com/products/description/2Gb_OCZ_DDR2_PC2_6400_Platinum_Revision_2_Dual_Channel_kit/index.html

€70.00 FOR THE RAM .

You have €104.00 left my two 7900gtx cards will be for sale when i buy a gt.

TheThreeDegrees

Thanks for Tony for sorting me out with a cooler.

I still want the Ballistix Ram so I will spend the extra to get it.

That leaves 100 euro.

I may have to sell the kitchen sink to get me one of them GT's or 8800GTX's!

How come the GPU's end up being the most expensive component?I think were all being rode by Nvidia and ATI!

Anti

dont bother with a GT or a GTS in 2 weeks time the revised 8800gts 512mb card come out, and is faster then both the GT and GTX. It will be priced at 350$