Hi all!

I'm planning to buy my own pc. Not from shops like PCWorld, but I'm trying to config a system myself. A local shop offered me these 3 configs :

System 1

Windows Vista Home Prem NL 32Bit
Codegen M603-CA 450W black-silver
Sony/NEC AD7173 18x DVD +/- writer zw
Card Reader Foxconn 7in1 USB zw
2048MB DDRII/800
Asus M2V S/R/GBL AM2
Asus EN8800GTS/HTDP 320MB
AM2 AMD Athl64 X2 4400 2.3GHz EE
250GB 7200 Maxtor STM3250310AS 8MB



€ 779,00 incl. VAT

System 2

Windows Vista Home Prem NL 32Bit
Codegen M603-CA 450W black-silver
Sony/NEC AD7173 18x DVD +/- writer zw
Card Reader Foxconn 7in1 USB zw
2048MB DDRII/800
Asus M2V S/R/GBL AM2
ASUS EN8600GTS 256MB TV-out 2xDVi
AM2 AMD Athl64 X2 6000 3.0GHz 89w
320GB 7200 Samsung HD321KJ 16MB


€ 759,00 incl. VAT

System 3

Windows Vista Home Prem NL 32Bit
Codegen M603-CA 450W black-silver
Sony/NEC AD7173 18x DVD +/- writer zw
Card Reader Foxconn 7in1 USB zw
2048MB DDRII/800
Asus M2V S/R/GBL AM2
320GB 7200 Samsung HD321KJ 16MB
XpertVision GF8600GTS Super 512MB
AM2 AMD Athl64 X2 5000 2.6GHz EE



€ 739,00 incl. VAT



That shop is the cheapest one around, no doubt. These are the systems that he recommended me, but the shop owner could also make slight changes to them if I'd want. Which of these systems would you guys recommend me?

edit: Ofcourse, if you have other suggestions, tell me .

I vote for #2

Procossor is super strong.
Gfx is perfect too altough 8800GTS is better, But you should play the 8600GTS without problems.

Number 2!

Personally, if I had a budget that large I would be looking at a Core 2 Duo processor rather than an AMD. They are around the same price, offer better performance and are easily overclockable.

So I suppose my answer would have to be 'none of the above'.

I'd go for "none" too. Intel are the chips to have at the moment, and I wouldn't want Vista.

Windows XP is almost the same price as Vista. I think that Vista will be improved later on. Because I only have a small budget I can't afford to buy a new OS in one year.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I'd go for "none" too. Intel are the chips to have at the moment, and I wouldn't want Vista.

Good point that I overlooked. I still have my PC set up as a dual boot, gaming on XP and dvd's/browsing etc in Vista. I think I'll need to wait at least until Vista SP 1 before I can get rid of XP completely.

I do have an XP cd here, but I think it's OEM.

I think I'll use Windows XP, so it'll save me €100. I can buy a monitor for that money .

#1. The 8600s aren't getting a great write-up as far as longevity and features go. The 8800 seems to be a much better deal, despite the heftier price tag.
I think even with the less impressive CPU numbers I'd be more inclined to go for the first option.

Just buy all the parts and put them together yourself. That way you get exactly what you want, or at least you get to choose where to skimp and where to splurge.

#2 is the best out of those, but try to get it with an 8800 not an 8600. Then it would be totally worth it.

Quote from Forbin :

Just buy all the parts and put them together yourself. That way you get exactly what you want, or at least you get to choose where to skimp and where to splurge.

I can still decide whatever I want in it, those systems are just some configs the shop owner suggested.

Quote from shiny_red_cobra :

#2 is the best out of those, but try to get it with an 8800 not an 8600. Then it would be totally worth it.

That'd be quite expensive to be honest. The 8800 is much more expensive than the 8600.

Quote from Dajmin :

#1. The 8600s aren't getting a great write-up as far as longevity and features go. The 8800 seems to be a much better deal, despite the heftier price tag.
I think even with the less impressive CPU numbers I'd be more inclined to go for the first option.

Thanks for that. I'll go for the 8800gts. It's much more powerful and all. It might be expensive but it'd be well worth the money in my opinion.

The benefit of the 6000 over the 4400 processor isn't big enough to justify the extra €60. I'll go for system #1 without Vista. Maybe I'll buy this monitor too.

Believe me the 8600GTS is not that bad.

Ofcource the 8800GTS is better.

the 8600gts isn't really a gaming card. I'd say pick either the 8800gts or get a 1950pro for 120 euro's. Perhaps you could invest the extra bit of money from the gfx card into an intel processor and mainboard ?

What makes an Intel processor better than this AMD? And what do you mean with 'extra bit of money from the gfx-card'?

Quote from extremetech.com :

Intel still maintains a lead in performance and lower peak-power utilization. The Athlon 64 6000+ is ultimately a good effort, but falls just a bit short.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2096655,00.asp

Quote from techreport.com :

AMD's current weaknesses manifest themselves most fully in its high-end models, like the Athlon 64 X2 6000+, which draws more power at peak than the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 yet is often outperformed by the less expensive Core 2 Duo E6600

http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2007q1/cpus/index.x?pg=1

Quote from Rikje :

the 8600gts isn't really a gaming card. I'd say pick either the 8800gts or get a 1950pro for 120 euro's. Perhaps you could invest the extra bit of money from the gfx card into an intel processor and mainboard ?

omg. The 8600GTS is better/faster than the x1950pro.
And what? ure one of these Intel fan or something. AMD is perfect.
AMD 6000+ with 3.0Ghz is damn nice. Inel is way to expensive (greedy company)

EDIT : So as you see AMD pwns Intel with the 6000+

I found out that the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz costs €60 more than the AM2 AMD Athl64 X2 6000 3.0GHz 89w here.

Quote from Takumi_lfs :

And what? ure one of these Intel fan or something. AMD is perfect.
AMD 6000+ with 3.0Ghz is damn nice. Inel is way to expensive (greedy company)

EDIT : So as you see AMD pwns Intel with the 6000+

Erm, hands up who doesn't know WTF he's talking about? I've HAD a 3 GHz AMD, and believe me this Core 2 CPU (a Xeon X3210) absolutely PWNS it. Intel is buy no means "too expensive" - AMD only have ONE CPU worth buying atm, the 3600 X2, and even then it's only for people who know how to overclock.

I'd like to see an AMD CPU get 18 seconds in SuperPi, feck i'd like to see one hit 25 seconds in SuperPi stably on something that isn't Phase Change, LN2 or similar.

(I'll give you a hint, on my AMD 3700 @ 3.07 GHz my best was 27.8 seconds, on this new Xeon @ 2.8 it's breaking 18 seconds :P)

TBH i'd go for none of them systems above, AM2 isn't an overly impressive socket, it's just 939 with DDR2. For the price of an Opteron 165 (a CPU which would overclock to about 3 GHz) i could get an Intel E2160, Asus P5K and some 1337 Crucial memory for £110 selling my old stuff and the E2160 would TROUNCE that Opteron.

EDIT - Erik, how much does each CPU cost? Here an E6600 can be found for £120. It might also be wise to look at the E6550 CPU?

go away intel sux

I even dont care if Intel has an cpu that do 1 sec in superpi.
My first Cpu was an AMD and the last will be an AMD.


And how about the gfx card?

EDIT : Uhm. I read somewere over the net that the AMD 3500+ was the best cpu to overclock.

Quote from Takumi_lfs :

go away intel sux

I even dont care if Intel has an cpu that do 1 sec in superpi.
My first Cpu was an AMD and the last will be an AMD.

That's just stupid.

Jack, you can find the list here, and scroll down to the processor list. For some reason the list won't copy and paste properly here.

"Intel sux". Now THERES an opinion well supported by facts!

My first CPU was an AMD, but i'm a fanboy purely to performance - if i can build a QUAD CORE for the price of a high end dual from AMD, i'd be an idiot not to!

And you read wrong, the "best" modern CPU from AMD to overclock would either be the Opteron 165 (1.8 GHz -> 3-3.1 GHz) or the AMD 3700 (a nice stepping like mine, 2.2 GHz -> 3.07 GHz, some even hit 3.1 GHz

EDIT - £142 for a E6600?! Obviously they've never heard of the JULY 22nd Price Cuts in the Netherlands, i thought the UK was bad! The prices SHOULD go down

What do you recommend, regarding those prices?

Quote from hrtburnout :

What do you recommend, regarding those prices?

I'd recommend you find a better shop, tbh that looks really unprofessional, and their range leads a lot to be desired!

It might look unprofessional, it certainly isn't . It is a lot cheaper than other shops too.