Originally Posted by wuyanxu but Akasa cooler for mid-range? isn't Arctic Freezer 7 Pro the king in value?
God no - Akasa employed AC engineers a long time ago and made the ones we recommended :D It's far better.
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and no Corsair Hx620w?
Again, read the mid-section. We said most would probably want the HX620W but we recon it's getting a bit long in the tooth now - the CM SP 700W is better imo.
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Maximus2 for high end mobo? not x48?
Max 2 does pretty much everything you need it to - why pay more for an X48 when it could be spent on more memory, more graphics or more CPU?
Is there a reason you guys listed the GA-MA78GM-S2H over the GA-MA78GPM-DS2H?
IMO the DS2H is a much better board for the money, i recently used it to rebuild my system and it was only $10 AUD more than the original, and you get the integrated 128mb DDR3 Sideport memory and 140W CPU support, which would be good down the road if i wanted to chuck a higher TDP CPU in there
The way i figure it only $10 more for all that makes it that much better value
"First Choice: Asus Maximus II Formula
UK Pricing: £141.59 (inc. VAT)
Weve only just recently reviewed this motherboard and its a simply fantastic system platform for many enthusiasts while not being too expensive either."
Not being too expensive? In that price range it's one of the most expensive on the market surely? Not that I'm arguing with it, though it did seem quite 'bare' for what you were paying. The P5W and it's ilk of yesteryear seemed to bring much more to the table. *sigh*
you guys seem to really like vista 64 bit. i run 32 bit because i was slightly doubtful about vista 64 driver and software support, but it seems pretty good now. i think i'll upgrade to 64 bit in a few months
Originally Posted by Bindibadgi It doesn't sound appealing but it's exactly the same architecture. Basically it's more than a Celeron, but still leverage the very, very strong Pentium brand for inexpensive PCs where people are looking for a "Pentium" because that's all they know.
We previously overclocked a Pentium Dual Core E2140 from 1.8GHz to 2.9GHz and that was a 65nm chip - a 2.5GHz 45nm CPU should do 3.5GHz with a decent board.
As for other comments like lists etc - ours for next month is as long as our arm now :D Ha!
don't worry I knew that already :)
I was just wondering if Intel had different marketing techniques in UK
Already stated above, but having an additional category for sound cards, peripherals, monitor etc, would help when speccing an entire system, not just the 'box'.
It would also be neat, if somewhat labor intensive, to see actual builds of the systems proposed in these type of articles periodically, just to see some performance numbers and such.
All in all though, great articles and I look forward to seeing next month's "What Hardware Should I Buy" article!
Nice little guide. I actually think I was looking/asking something like this a year back. And indeed a last page table of features might be nice. You could list the components and maybe things like crossfire(yes/no), gblan(1/2), number of sata-connectors etc. This sure adds some work, but with just a couple motherboards it still might be doable?
Though I am even more pleased that there must of have been input for this kind of content from others as well on the bit-tech survery a little while back. I remember when asked the question what they could do to improve or whatever; specifically asking for this kind of article. Stuff like Tom Hardware's "Best video cards for the month of ... ".
We don't spend money running surveys for the fun of it - we spent a long time analysing all of the data and responses, working out what people actually want to see us do. Everything we went through was all, not surprisingly, all incredibly valuable feedback. ;)
This article is something we've had requests for in the forums and via email for quite a long time as well, so getting more feedback on that in the survey was not necessarily the tipping point, but it was definitely a big influence. :)
The Spinpoint F1 probably shouldn't be in the Premium system I think. There are newer, faster drives such as the large Caviar Black series, albeit for more money.
Also, for the more expensive systems, you might as well recommend Vista Ultimate (especially if the builder is a student - £40!!!). I find things like remote desktop quite useful, and IIRC the backup options in Premium are not quite as tasty.
Good article though, except it just makes me want to spend money.
Yes, yes yes yes. YES!!
You guys are the best, hands down.
Thank you for the article. this will make it easier to choose stuff.
And like you said it yourself, hopefully cut down on the "what should i buy?" threads in the forums.
this article came at the right time,
i was getting ready to build anew system and this helped alot.
thanks to everyone that put it together,
it helped me make more informed choices.
This is a great feature! I wish it had been available before I ordered the components for my new computer. I think I made a few mistakes.
As a newbie who's been burned with incompatible hardware, I'd like to see a short section at the end reassuring readers that the components all work well together, note any limitations and desribe the type of user this build is suited to. Perhaps it would also be helpful to show the results of some (some, not lots) of test between the 3 systems to show what the extra cost buys you.
Comments 51 to 75 of 79
now, i have: same case, same CPU, (shame about Abit), same Vista, and same TRUE cooler (for higher overclock)
but Akasa cooler for mid-range? isn't Arctic Freezer 7 Pro the king in value?
and no Corsair Hx620w?
Maximus2 for high end mobo? not x48?
anyway, great article, will you keep it updated?
Max 2 does pretty much everything you need it to - why pay more for an X48 when it could be spent on more memory, more graphics or more CPU?
IMO the DS2H is a much better board for the money, i recently used it to rebuild my system and it was only $10 AUD more than the original, and you get the integrated 128mb DDR3 Sideport memory and 140W CPU support, which would be good down the road if i wanted to chuck a higher TDP CPU in there
The way i figure it only $10 more for all that makes it that much better value
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17883751
"First Choice: Asus Maximus II Formula
UK Pricing: £141.59 (inc. VAT)
Weve only just recently reviewed this motherboard and its a simply fantastic system platform for many enthusiasts while not being too expensive either."
Not being too expensive? In that price range it's one of the most expensive on the market surely? Not that I'm arguing with it, though it did seem quite 'bare' for what you were paying. The P5W and it's ilk of yesteryear seemed to bring much more to the table. *sigh*
I still love my IP35 Pro!
don't worry I knew that already :)
I was just wondering if Intel had different marketing techniques in UK
It would also be neat, if somewhat labor intensive, to see actual builds of the systems proposed in these type of articles periodically, just to see some performance numbers and such.
All in all though, great articles and I look forward to seeing next month's "What Hardware Should I Buy" article!
same here. but you got to know P45 is the chipset to get in 2008, iP35 Pro was the best mobo in 2007 (which Bittech recommended in their 2007 article)
;)
Usually Intel marketing is completely uniform across the company - they have big, big documents about how everything should look.
Though I am even more pleased that there must of have been input for this kind of content from others as well on the bit-tech survery a little while back. I remember when asked the question what they could do to improve or whatever; specifically asking for this kind of article. Stuff like Tom Hardware's "Best video cards for the month of ... ".
Hell yeah Bit-Tech!
This article is something we've had requests for in the forums and via email for quite a long time as well, so getting more feedback on that in the survey was not necessarily the tipping point, but it was definitely a big influence. :)
Also, for the more expensive systems, you might as well recommend Vista Ultimate (especially if the builder is a student - £40!!!). I find things like remote desktop quite useful, and IIRC the backup options in Premium are not quite as tasty.
Good article though, except it just makes me want to spend money.
:-)
SM
You guys are the best, hands down.
Thank you for the article. this will make it easier to choose stuff.
And like you said it yourself, hopefully cut down on the "what should i buy?" threads in the forums.
and now they've got it.
great articles.
keep em coming at regular intervals
i was getting ready to build anew system and this helped alot.
thanks to everyone that put it together,
it helped me make more informed choices.
When I built my current rig it was BT reviews and recommendations that I turned to.
Thanks for this. I love you guys :)
urrr...Maybe I just don't quite get it..not having tinkered with Intel for a long time.
For High end, you recommend running:
a 1066mhz fsb CPU (and even overclocking it to 1333mhz fsb)
a 800mhz memory...
? So you run the 800 mhz fsb memory at 1333mhz fsb?
If so an additional text to the memory (that it will run at 1066/1333mhz fsb with about theseandthose timings) would be handy?
Xir
Yup
As a newbie who's been burned with incompatible hardware, I'd like to see a short section at the end reassuring readers that the components all work well together, note any limitations and desribe the type of user this build is suited to. Perhaps it would also be helpful to show the results of some (some, not lots) of test between the 3 systems to show what the extra cost buys you.
Phil