Bouncing between builds

[philip]

I'm doing what all first timers must do, driving myself crazy bouncing between builds. I originally went for a faster setup, better graphics, RAM, CPU etc. I then tried to re-evaluate to save some money and ended up at a lower-end build. The thing is if the performance drop is going to quite significant I would pay the extra money to get a smooth, fast system. I will be getting either a 20" or 22" monitor (need to visit local store). I don't plan to overclock. I hadn't intended gaming much but I would like the option to enjoy some nice games. If you guys would be kind enough to assess the two builds and let me know if I should just go for the better one to achieve a much better computer. Thanks in advance.

Build 1 ~ 858 Euro ($1152)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.16GHz (1333FSB)
Asus P5Q-E Intel P45 (Socket 775)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Black Dragon EVO ONE DDR2
Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3
Western Digital Caviar Green 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Corsair HX 520W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case


Build 2 ~ 717 Euro ($961)

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.80GHz (1066FSB)
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775)
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 800MHz
Western Digital Caviar Green 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3


Everything I buy will be from overclockers.co.uk

 

[aevm]

I would get the first build, if possible, with a P5Q Pro and a Corsair 650TX and a WD 640 Caviar Black. That is, 858 euros - 10 pounds - 4 pounds + 6 pounds.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-008-CS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-244-WD

Why:
- the E8400 is a lot faster than the E7400 at stock.
- the 650TX has 52A instead of the 40A of the 520HX, and it's cheaper too. It's not modular, true, but still it's one of the best PSUs ever made.
- The WD Black is faster than the WD Green. Since you're only getting one disk, speed should be your #1 priority. The Green disks make sense as second/third/etc disk for storing movies and music and rarely accessed stuff.

 

[aevm]

One more thing: depending on what you do most, you may want to invest in a quad CPU.

Q9400, 192 pounds (that's 20 more than the E8500)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-270-IN

It's slower than the E8500 in lots of things (but it won't matter because the HDD will usually hit its limit first and the same job would still take the same time with either CPU). It's way faster than the E8500 in applications that support 4 cores, or if you run several things at the same time. For example compressing a DVD or a WAV file will be much faster on a quad if your software is smart enough. Games like FSX or GTA4 would also work better on the quad.

 

[philip]

Thanks aevm. Would the E8500 surpass the Q9400 on many things? Would both setups run fast and smooth? Is the WD Black louder than the Green?I had heard so but wasn't sure.

 

[aevm]

Yes to the first question, the E8500 will win most often. Think of it this way: E8500 has two cores at 3.16 GHz. The Q9400 has 4 cores at 2.66 GHz. They are pretty much the same kind of core (it's not apples vs oranges).

If you run a program that uses 1 or two cores, the E8500 will win because its two cores run faster, and the Q9400 doesn't get a chance to use cores 3 and 4. If you run 3 or 4 such programs in parallel, the Q9400 will win.

If you run a multithreaded program (FSX, video encoder, etc.) the Q9400 will win again.

Yes to question #2 - both are very fast CPUs. There are better things out there (Q9550, i7 920) but they cost more.

#3: If you look at Newegg reviews you'll see that most reviewers find the WD Black quiet enough.

OK, there's the occasional idiot who considers it a con that it's louder than a SSD, but you can ignore that one. Of course a hard drive (with mechanical parts that move) makes more noise than a SSD (which has no moving parts, obviously).

I found a reviewer that said the Caviar Blue (WD6400AAKS) is quieter. You may want to investigate that one too. It's right between the Green and the Black as far as price in the UK.

 

[Gedoe_]

If you are on that budget, do you really want to spend money on "special memory" or "faster hdd" ? No, because it does not return significant preformance for its money. Save it for the CPU and GPU because that is whats gonna matter preformance wise. Also 450 w PSU is good. I run a similar setup on a 430 earthwatts PSU that came with antec case.

quad vs duo: your gonna pay more to get less framerates. quadcore adoptation rate is 11% in the steam hardware surveys. If you get the duo, you pay less, get more preformance in all games released up untill now and probly all games released in 2009 too. The thing is there is no real "future proof" in computers.. it really depends on what your using your PC for. For everything besides gaming quad kicks ass.

 

[philip]

Okay further thoughts on my first build, will I notice a difference in performance between these two builds if all I use it for is the net, movies, music, MS Office and Visual Studio? Thanks gents. I can't overestimate the importance of your input to date

Build 1 (More Expensive)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.16GHz (1333FSB)
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Black Dragon EVO ONE DDR2
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3


Build 2

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.80GHz (1066FSB)
Asus P5Q Intel P45
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 800MHz
Western Digital Caviar Green 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB DDR2



Would both builds run quiet??

 

[aevm]

"Net, movies, music, MS Office and Visual Studio", as in no games?

Get this AMD combo for $241:
http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/AddToCart.aspx?Submit=ADD&ItemList=Combo.165024

Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core
GA-MA790GP-UD4H AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX

and don't buy any video card, because the 790GX has integrated video that can play even HD movies.

Compared to E8500+P5Q Pro + HD 4650, it's $120 less and I don't think you'll see any performance difference. The only exception I can think of: if you use Visual Studio.Net 2008 to write Web applications. In that case the triple-core 720 is better than the dual-core E8500.