The Official Budget-Conscious Dream Machine!

Those companies are there to make money, and you are there to spend yours WISELY. There is NO point in fanboyism, they don't care aout you, they care about your money.

Don't attach emotional values to a product.

 

tru tru...should i get E6500 or E4600?...which one is faster than the old E6600?

 

I don't know the answer, but that seems really confusing. Wouldn't the numbers go up as the cpu gets faster?

 

get neither, get the E6750.

 

hmm...R300 = $46 difference...thats quite a lot...which P35 mobo do you recommend that supports the new technology 45nm and Sli/crossfire...

 

Well, I don't. I don't advise crossfire or SLI, simple as that, I think it's a waste of money if you're concerned about budget.
Buy a Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R and a single HD3870.

 

nice mobo...supports DDR3 1333 but not higher, 6 ram slots for more ram...good mobo...

so
CPU:
E6750

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R

now the problem with GPU which brand do you do prefer...

Ram:
http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=30_291&products_id=10626
or
http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=30_291&products_id=14338

PSU:
OCZ StealthXStream

Chassis:
Antec 900

now the question how long would this computer last...5 years?

 

That all depends on what you want to do. In 5 years time the PC will almost certainly still work fine. However, it will probably be utterly useless for gaming after about 3 or 4 years. Think about how an Athlon XP 2500+ with 1GB of PC2700 and a 9800XT will run games now. Not exactly high end stuff is it?
For the GPU I'd recommend an HD3870. As for the RAM, if you can afford the 4GB go for it, if not, stick with 2GB.

 

well yeah of course it wil still be running, what i'm asking is will it be able to run games in the next 5 years...if i upgrade the GPU only...

about the GPU which brand do you prefer for the HD3870 sapphire, GeCube or PowerColor?

 

i would suggest either the E6750, the E4550, or the E2180.

as for mobo, i have many a build with no problem with the same gigabyte mobo sam has shown, but the L instead of the R, the Abit IP35 pro, or the P5K-E

 

I prefer Sapphire. Gecube and Powercolor have both made some pretty dire quality parts in the past, tarnishing ATI's name quite severely.
As for upgrading the GPU, I expect so, but not that well, you'll probably find that unless you upgrade your CPU while you have the chance you'll end up lagging behind. That said though, if you grab a Penryn I think there's a good chance that your PC could play games well in 5 years with an updated graphics card. My X1900XT is already nearly 18 months old, and I only have the desire to upgrade because I run such a high resolution. With standard resolutions like 1280x1024 and 1680x1050 the card can play pretty much every game that comes out on max except for Crysis.

 

i would recommend HIS. they have a UK RMA centre aswell.

 

@REAM whats the difference between the L and the R for the mobo? and HIS can't get that brand in SA...never seen one here so i presume there isn't any...

@sammorris If i have a E6750 and my 8600GTS will i be able to play games on max?...since 8600GTS is powerful than your X1900XT is it not?

as for the ram i'll get the 2GB kit...since i won't be using 64-bit OS...

about how long this build would last, i'm not typically worried about the RAM or the CPU its fast enough, and the CPU should be able to keep up with the latest games in the next 3-4 years...but not the GPU tho...

 

Nope, my X1900XT is faster. Not by that much, but it is definitely faster.

 

hmm...thought so...8600GTS and lower series sucks...even 7-series can beat it...i regret buying 8600GTS...i should've bought 8800GTS 320MB...

Oh um...sammorris will the CPU be able to power any latest components like the Penryn CPU's and lets say 8800GTX?

Christmas is coming up which component should i buy...first:
CPU, GPU, PSU, mobo? or RAM

 

To be honest, you really shouldn't. The 8800GTS 320MB can't run quite a few new games at high resolutions because it doesn't have enough memory. In most of the Crysis benchmarks it gets 0 since it crashes with certain settings enabled. My card will as well, but usually only if you try to enable AA at high res. Just running the game on high isn't enough to crash it for a 512MB card, not even at 2560x1600 (even though the frame rate is ass)
As for your components, get a decent PSU first. ALWAYS.
Then, since the graphics card is the most reasonable component in your PC, leave that alone for now.
The motherboard, and its requisite RAM should come next, along with the CPU. If you want to make the build cheap initially, get something like an E4400 to tide you over initially, then upgrade to a Penryn later. if you want to go all out now, get an E6750 or Q6600.

Do you mean the PSU? If so, yes. However, if you're going to go with a very high end graphics card, then I recommend getting a PSU with a bit more grunt like a Corsair HX620W, to avoid putting a great deal of stress on it. This, however, is not compulsary. The 600W OCZ will still handle that load fine.

 

thnx sammorris after hearing that i feel better now...

um...why E4400 why not a E4500 it's 200mhz faster...or doesn't make a difference?

abou the PSU don't know if it can handle a Penryn and the 8800GTX or even the new Nvidia/Ati card coming out next year...

 

I say the E4400 because you'd only be buying that CPU to save money in the interim. If you're going to spend a reasonable amount of money now you may as well grab an E6750.

As far as the PSU goes, I expect it would be able to handle the new tech OK, since the trend seems to be for reasonably power efficient hardware of late.

 

tru tru never thought of that...

well thats everything i need to know about the Budget-Conscious Dream Machine!

 

HIS are a big company. they have superb coolers for the GPUs they refere to.

the difference is the L is cheaper, and doesnt support DDR3, but when the prices for the DD3 are normal, youll probably upgrade the whole system anyways.