How low can you go?

[Arkady]

I'm building a low-budget gaming PC. Been out of the loop for a couple of years, and I'd like to mention that the "October 2007 Midrange Buyer's Guide" from this site was like sent from heaven!

A bit of history just to put things into perspective. Up until recently I've been perfectly happy with my old 1.7Ghz AMD Athlon XP system, that is until my gfx-card called it quits. I'm somewhat of a WoW geek, and never had any performance issues to speak of, even when using my ancient 32mb ASUS V7700 Geforce2 as a replacement. Having said that, it would be nice to be able to try out newer FPS and racing games, but let it be known that I'm perfectly happy running in 1024x768 resolution and low quality settings.

A few points ..

1) I allready own a 520w Corsair PSU, an ASUS EN8800GT gfx-card and a 19" monitor.

2) I want an Intel CPU.

3) Don't care about SLI, PCI 2.0, DDR3 compability or any other extra "future" features of the like. Just want onboard sound and LAN.

4) My main source of confusion is what FSB a given CPU runs at, and which MB and RAM compliments this the best, without adding all kinds of features I don't need.


So to sum it up, here's what I want to know. Taking into account all of the above, which build would you recommend? Budget is around $500 for CPU/MB/RAM. (considering e4400, e4500 and e6750. Perhaps a P35 MB, but no idea w/ respect to brand)

Thanks in advance
- Arkady




P.S

I'm Danish so don't bother linking good offers in the US, just happen to prefer US boards as I work nightshift and post from work. Besides the pop is much higher than over here.

 

[Arkady]

Ok, to make it a little simpler here's two options that I'm considering.

1)
CPU: e4400
MB: Asus P5B SE (Intel 965P)
Ram: 2x1gb DDR2 Kingston Value PC6400

2)
CPU: e6750
MB: Asus P5K SE (Intel P35e)
Ram: 2x1gb DDR2 Kingston HyperX PC8500


Wondering:

1) Will option two match the 25% cost increase performance wise?
2) Are my choices sound for each example respectively?
3) More explicitly in option two, the e6750 runs at 1333Mhz FSB. Aren't the PC8500 modules only guaranteed to run at 1066Mhz? Will this even work?

 

[ForumMaster]

Originally posted by: Arkady
Ok, to make it a little simpler here's two options that I'm considering.

1)
CPU: e4400
MB: ASUS P5B SE (Intel 965P)
Ram: 2x1gb DDR2 Kingston Value PC6400

2)
CPU: e6750
MB: ASUS P5K SE (Intel P35e)
Ram: 2x1gb DDR2 Kingston HyperX PC8500


Wondering:

1) Will option two match the 25% cost increase performance wise?
2) Are my choices sound for each example respectively?
3) More explicitly in option two, the e6750 runs at 1333Mhz FSB. Aren't the PC8500 modules only guaranteed to run at 1066Mhz? Will this even work?

about ram, you need to understand how the speeds work. Intel CPU's have a quad pumped FSB. in other words, the e4400 that has a fsb of 800mhz will have the mobo run at 200mhz. since DDR2 is dual data rate, even DDR2 400 will suffice. the e6750 has a 1333mhz fsb which is 333x4. 333x2 is 667 so DDR2 667 will be enough.

DDR2 800Mhz will be enough for a CPU with a 1600Mhz FSB. the 1066Mhz modules give you room to overclock.

as for your question, it depends on what you do. the performance increase is definitely not 25%. but if you game or do CPU intensive work, then it is worth it. your call.

 

[Arkady]

Excellent reply, exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

Such sillyness! As a biochemist by trade I'm quite used to dealing with different nomenclatures, but this system is downright counter-intuitive. You almost need an engineering degree to make heads or tails of this industry tbh. Had a friend recommend the Asus P5B, but much to my dismay I soon discovered that there was over 20 versions to choose from, each with it's own little meaningless abbrew. Takes quite a bit of detectivework to figure out what they all mean, and whether it will impact what you need/want. But then again, I guess that's all part of the attraction of building your own system.

Good news from a cost perspective nonetheless.