Confirming the new rig

[V1ncent]

Ok, now I am going to order a real PC.

Q6600
2 GB DDR2 RAM
250 GB HDD
nVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 512-MB
Intel G35

Many of you will focus your eyesight on the graphics card, but hey its all I can afford. The 8800 is triple the cost at my place.

Just in case I'm mistaking something, I want your suggestions.

But, I got no more to spend.

[gamefreak94]

Thumbs up! Its not an extreme gaming machine, but I think it will handle PCSX2 and Crysis fairly well on high graphics settings. The Q6600 is definetly a winner. I think it'd be better if you got an 8500GT but then get an extra 1 gig of RAM. 3 gig ought to run Vista smoothly (if you want to run it that is)

[V1ncent]

Thanks
Its not for gaming purpose. Its for my computer course.
I'll not let Vista come near a range of 30 feet to my PC.

[Densetsu]

RAM is pretty cheap. You can get 4 GB of RAM for, like... 70 bucks or something close to that.

I'd keep the 8600GT. Sure, you say you won't use it for gaming purposes, but who knows? Maybe you'll get bored and want to play the newest and hottest FPS? It's not like it costs 2 billion dollars.

[V1ncent]

Whats the better RAM then ? I can change it to 4GB, but will be a cheaper RAM. But, will it be a good choice ?
I don't have much more to invest, even this is doubtful. But I'll appreciate some suggestions.

[gamefreak94]

RAM is pretty cheap. You can get 4 GB of RAM for, like... 70 bucks or something close to that.

Its a little different here in the Sub-continent. 4 GB RAM for me costs $90 and that is worth a lot more here then it is in Europe and N. America. To give you an idea, the average income per month here is $149. And my Pentium dual-core (3.24 GHz) with 1 GB RAM and an ATI HD 2400 Pro is considered to be a really good gaming rig.

[Spyhop]

V1ncent, if I were in your shoes I'd probably take the E8400 over the Q6600. The extra clock speed will serve you far more often than the 4 cores ever will, and the E8400 is very overclockable, you can push 4.0ghz on air cooling.

[IronicMan]

His rig is not for gaming, so a quad core should be fine (or recommended).

[Cheesus]

Isn't there even a 9600GT? Or a 9600GSO? (8800GS even?)

All of the above are better video cards, and afaik they're at around the same price as that 8600GT of yours.

[V1ncent]

Originally Posted by Spyhop

V1ncent, if I were in your shoes I'd probably take the E8400 over the Q6600. The extra clock speed will serve you far more often than the 4 cores ever will, and the E8400 is very overclockable, you can push 4.0ghz on air cooling.

Not for gaming otherwise I would've gone for E8400.
The second thing is that I cannot overclock my CPU much, its pretty hot here at summers.

Originally Posted by Cheesus

Isn't there even a 9600GT? Or a 9600GSO? (8800GS even?)

All of the above are better video cards, and afaik they're at around the same price as that 8600GT of yours.

Thanks, I'll ask about that. But if the price of these cards have gone down recently, then chances are that they are going to be extremely expensive here.

[Cid Highwind]

Originally Posted by gamefreak94

Thumbs up! Its not an extreme gaming machine, but I think it will handle PCSX2 and Crysis fairly well on high graphics settings. The Q6600 is definetly a winner. I think it'd be better if you got an 8500GT but then get an extra 1 gig of RAM. 3 gig ought to run Vista smoothly (if you want to run it that is)

And lose out on your dual channel configuration, good luck getting good performance when your memory bandwidth is halved. Definitely not a good suggestion.

As for the OP: I take it ATi is pretty much unavailable where you live? Otherwise check out the HD 3850, it is a lot faster than the one you have selected. I hope it's an option for you simply to get the best bang for your buck

[V1ncent]

Ok, I'll ask about that card. Thanks

*Still waiting for RAM's suggestion*

[gamefreak94]

Well you're gonna have to decide whether you want to go for more RAM or a better video card if you can't extend your range.

Suggestion: If you never play any sort of graphics intensive games on your PC (or any other graphics intensive apps for your course), then the 8600GT isn't worth it, you're better of with an 8500 GT at most (though I think a 6800 Ultra would be more then enough). Go for more RAM, that'll help you with multi-tasking and overall system speed, 2GB RAM with a Q6600 would be a very fast PC indeed! Though I think that at some point, you might wanna try out a game like Crysis or something, in that case, stick to the 8600GT because your RAM will always be open for upgrading in the future by inserting another card or two (and RAM prices are only bound to go down as time goes on and especially with DDR3 RAM gaining popularity)

[V1ncent]

I need the PC only for graphic intensive apps
All I want to know now that there are some cheap RAMs available which are almost half the price of my current choice. Should I go for the cheap one and get 3 or 4 GB, or stick to a branded 2 GB ?

[IronicMan]

If you're not going to overclock (since this is not a gaming rig), it doesn't matter if the ram is cheap or branded. High performance RAM are meant for overclocker to run 1:1 with the FSB.

[Chaos_Blader]

Originally Posted by IronicMan

If you're not going to overclock (since this is not a gaming rig), it doesn't matter if the ram is cheap or branded. High performance RAM are meant for overclocker to run 1:1 with the FSB.

+1

If you are not overclocking get 4GB of unbranded RAM. Speeds shouldnt be over 667MHz (q66 wont go above that)

[Cheesus]

Originally Posted by Chaos_Blader

+1

If you are not overclocking get 4GB of unbranded RAM. Speeds shouldnt be over 667MHz (q66 cannot go above that)

What are you talking about? You can run them at 1:1.0-2.0. With different increments depending on which motherboard.

But, overall, yes...
If overclocking isn't a big factor, then just get 4Gb of cheap RAM.

[Chaos_Blader]

Originally Posted by Cheesus

What are you talking about? You can run them at 1:1.0-2.0. With different increments depending on which motherboard.

But, overall, yes...
If overclocking isn't a big factor, then just get 4Gb of cheap RAM.

lol, I should have said wont. There is no point in buying 400 DDR2 RAM when the q66 will only use 333.

[V1ncent]

Ok, so 3 GB cheap DDR2 RAM fixed.
One last thing, how much powerful should the PSU be ? 350 W will be enough ?

[runawayprisoner]

Originally Posted by Chaos_Blader

lol, I should have said wont. There is no point in buying 400 DDR2 RAM when the q66 will only use 333.

Q66 uses 266.

Anyway, higher RAM speed can benefit other components... such as graphics card and such. Heck... ever thought of caching your HDD with RAM? Now that is going to provide some crazy HDD specs, and... I mean it.



^= That was with DDR2 400MHz. (200)
Now imagine what 800MHz or 1066MHz... or even 1200MHz can do.