Pure gaming rig

[MarcVenice]

I'm buying in Holland. The e5200 comes at 80 euro's, e7300 at 115 euro's and the e8400 is 150 euro's. I will be overclocking it, with a tuniq tower 120 most likely, or similar HSF (haven't kept up with the latest and greatest in aigo's forum). I'm buying 4gb ddr2 1000mhz ram ( pretty cheap, ddr2 costs 10 euro's less) so if the p5q pro I'm buying is up to the task, each CPU should hit 3.6ghz, right?

I am on a budget, roughly 600 euro's, and 2 HD4850's will be eating 270 euro's. Ram is 65 euro's, and motherboard runs me 120 euro's. Leaving 145 euro's for a CPU, and HSF, hehe.

I noticed how a e8200 is only slightly faster then a e7300, both at 2,66ghz, so I'm guessing it's an easy 40 euro savings. How high can I clock a e7300 anyways? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Anubis]

my advice is to wait save money and get an I7

 

[AmberClad]

He said he's on a fixed budget, so with the i7 motherboard and DDR3 RAM factored in, he'd either break the bank or end of having to wait for months for prices to drop.

 

[JPB]

I7 will be too expensive probably. As will the X58 motherboard and DDR3 memory.

I have read alot of articles that state the E7300 and overclock upwards of 3.6 - 3.8. But the E7200 is the same processor and also can clock that high.

I was going to go with the E8400, but instead chose the E7200, I know it has less cache, but overclocked it shows performance better than a E8400 stock.

 

[AshPhoenix]

I vote for the E7300

 

[FalseChristian]

My vote is for an E0 stepping of the E8400. They overclock past 4GHz.:thumbsup:

 

[Denithor]

If e8200 is in the 135 range that would get my vote, otherwise the e7300 at 115 is your best option.

Why going 2x4850 instead of 1x4870 1GB?

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: JPB
I7 will be too expensive probably. As will the X58 motherboard and DDR3 memory.

.

which is why i said WAIT and SAVE MONEY

and either way i would not go the 2 vid card route

 

[JPB]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: JPB
I7 will be too expensive probably. As will the X58 motherboard and DDR3 memory.

.

which is why i said WAIT and SAVE MONEY

and either way i would not go the 2 vid card route

Depending on how fast he wants to upgrade, this could be a very long wait.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The E5200 will do you good. Not as good as an E8400, certainly, but it can hold it's own. Where's jaredpace with that benchmark comparing GRID scaling with different CPUs?

 

[MarcVenice]

Originally posted by: Denithor
If e8200 is in the 135 range that would get my vote, otherwise the e7300 at 115 is your best option.

Why going 2x4850 instead of 1x4870 1GB?

The e8200 is 130 euro's, but the low multi will make it a hard overclocker? I might as well spend 20 euro's extra on the e8400 then, no ?

And, 2x4850 coz I game at 1680*1050 and I need to replace my 8800gts 320mb. A single HD4870 costs me 220 euro's, but 2 HD4850's cost me 270 euro's, so for 50 euro's extra I get a lot of extra performance. 1gb isn't necesary anyways for 1680*1050 ...

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
The E5200 will do you good. Not as good as an E8400, certainly, but it can hold it's own. Where's jaredpace with that benchmark comparing GRID scaling with different CPUs?

over in this thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2243980&enterthread=y

 

[brencat]

E8400 all the way. At the price points you mentioned, I don't believe the E7200/7300 make sense as you'll have to twist that processor much harder.

I just built a PC for my brother and put a C0 E8400 in it. Now while it wasn't an E0, this thing clocked so easy it was ridiculous. VID was 1.225 and all it took for 3.6ghz was 1.25625v in a EP35-DS3L which has horrible vdroop (so 1.20v under load). Tons of headroom left in that thing but I stopped there.

After that experience and given its 6M cache, I personally will no longer consider the E7xxx series for my own upgrade at some point. It will be E8xxx or right to quad.

 

[Denithor]

Well it looks like the e8200 @ 3.6GHz matches the e7300 @ 4.1GHz so it's your call. e8400 will OC a little easier due to higher multiplier. It's more just how much do you want to push the rest of your system to get there (e8400 9x400 = 3.6 versus e8200 8x450 = 3.6). With DDR2-1000 and a solid motherboard you should have no problems either way.

 

[Wuzup101]

I'd personally pick the E8400 just to pick up the extra cache for gaming... not to mention the easier, more guaranteed overclock. That being said, 70 euro is a decent chunk of change (difference in price between e5200 and e8400).

I'd say: E8400, 4gb of quality DDR2-800 or DDR2-1000 (anything that will reliably run at 500mhz fsb), and a 1gb 4870.

Crossfired 4850's aren't really necessary for 1680x1050 either.... again it's personal preference... go with whatever you wish.

 

[MarcVenice]

Why a 1gb 4870 though, for 1680*1050 ? I won't be upgrading monitor for at least 2-3 years, because I'm happy with it, and for my other needs I've got a 32" LCD tv ...

 

[FalseChristian]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Why a 1gb 4870 though, for 1680*1050 ? I won't be upgrading monitor for at least 2-3 years, because I'm happy with it, and for my other needs I've got a 32" LCD tv ...

Why? Because you're going to keep that 1GB 4870 for 2 or 3 years also and by then there'll be games that require >512MB even at my max resolution of 1280x1024.:thumbsup:

 

[NGX]

Id get the 8400 as well, just for the reasons of a higher multiplier for a easier overclock, easier as in easier on the rest of your components, bigger cache for a more future-proof proc, and the good chance it will be a E0.

 

[MarcVenice]

I figured I might as well tell you guys what I bought. E7300 for 109 euro's, and dual HD4850's Golden Samples, from Gainward ( 700mhz/1100mhz ). Oh, and gigabyte ds4 x48 mobo, for 127.5 euro's, same as a p5q pro

If anyone is interested WHY I chose to bother with crossfire then ask, if not, I won't digress because I have lots of pro's and con's

 

[Tempered81]

i wonder why you got e7300 over e8400.

I can understand the 4850 crossfire

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
i wonder why you got e7300 over e8400.

Probably because he was on a budget, but that will contradict the 4850 crossfire meaning.

 

[Tempered81]

The difference must have been 10 or 15 Euro

 

[MarcVenice]

e8400 would have been another 50 euro's extra. Thats 50% more money, but I don't nearly get 50% extra performance. I was/am on a budget, and yes I could have gotten a single HD4870 instead and a e8400, but went with the HD4850's instead.

It was 109 euro's vs 159 to be exact. Prices went up slightly coz of stronger dollar. For some reason the e7200 appear to be eol in Holland, with the e7300 costing the same and/or cheaper.

 

[Tempered81]

119e and 154e here (~35 euro difference)

http://www.univendi.com/shop/index.php?cPath=33_178

Still you're right about there not being that much of a difference once both cpus are near 4.0ghz

 

[edplayer]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
119e and 154e here (~35 euro difference)

So 109 vs 154 would be a good comparison.

Why would you want to pay more for the same cpu?