Guys, I am required to build a mid-range system. It needs to be good at computer gaming, but most importantly it needs to be cheap and energy efficient.

I'm looking at the following systems...

Asus P5E Intel X38 Motherboard
Intel Q6600 Processor
OCZ 4GB 800MHz RAM
HIS ATI Radeon HD3870X2 Graphics
Lian-Li PC101-B Case
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Total: £877.65

or

Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard
AMD Phenom 9600 Processor
OCZ 4GB 800MHz RAM
HIS ATI Radeon HD3870X2 Graphics
Lian-Li PC101-B Case
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Total: £863.55

The 'Spider' platform is tempting because, for starters, it's not an Nforce chipset. I am disliking Nforce chipsets as time goes on. They are too hot and the features are not impressive any more.
I am fully aware of all the problems the Spider platform has - slow USB transfer speed for example.
But I am also aware that the Phenom can be more efficient with C'n'Q technology as it is far more advanced than Intel SpeedStep technology.
I do not want an Nvidia graphics card.
I do not want 1066MHz RAM either, it needs to be 800MHz.

Also, HD3870X2 could be a HD3870XT, but I am not sure about that yet.

Which system would you choose?

Edit: No I am not forgetting anything The system does not require a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, a set of speakers, a power supply or a (set of) hard drive(s).

Intel system, with a cheaper mobo (you don;t need X38).

Out of interest, why don't you want a nVidia card? A new GTS/GT would be better for a budget system, or do you want to spend more on graphics for your big screen?

Yes, I'm donating the 3007WFP-HC for a while.

I'm thinking the Intel system too, now. But it will need to be overclocked just so I am satisfied from a value-for-money perspective. 3GHz is fine; I'll put FSB to 1333. RAM must still be 800MHz though. I'll make sure to keep the CPU airflow duct for the case this time.
Crossfire is looking better than ever, and the new drivers are doing a good job at proving just how scalable it is. HD3870 is very good value for money on the performance front. It's pretty good at the top-end, at 2560x1600.
I am looking at upgrading it in the future to sport 2 graphics cards.

Anyway, I am looking to buy this system as soon as a couple of weeks time.
I know the layout of the PC101 much better now, after having owned a V1000, so I know what to expect, and I feel much more experienced as a PC-builder, having gone through so much trouble with my current, or former system.

I think you can push the Q6600 to a 1600 FSB with 800 RAM, I think. I've not had any experience with them, though, but I think Q66 is quad pumped and DDR2 is dual pumped. I'm not sure whether you will benefit more from sycronous or max clocks, though.

I don't want to push it that far. With a 1600MHz FSB on a 9x multiplier that would be 3.4GHz and that runs far too hot; remember the screenshot of my system running at 77C? Well, it didn't stop there...
Possibly with an 8x multiplier, but then that's still 3.2GHz, and the FSB is just through the roof. Best to wait for 45nm before I even try that!
1333MHz on a 9x multiplier leaves the Q6600 (just) below 60C in a well ventilated system.

By the way, this system is for my girlfriend. It needs to last! It cannot fail!

Yeah, I know, I was just saying that you wouldn't have to worry about a RAM threshold. You could use 667 RAM, actually, or is that significantly slower?

I would suggest you get an Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, aswell, they're only £10 ish and they are significantly better than stock.

Good suggestion! I'll buy one of those too.

From what I've seen they actually beat most of the expensive heatsinks too, if I was to build a new system I certainly would get one. Heck, by getting one of those you can get the OEM chip and save money.

I'm going to hold off until next month when I can get hold of a 2.66GHz 45nm dual-core chip. I want to overclock it to 3.4GHz or as close to 4GHz as possible without fizzling out. The 2.66GHz 45nm chip seems to be going for about £140.

Where are you seeing that price, Scan and OCUK are both selling it for £200+...

Sorry, I mean £120.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=736333
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... subcat=793

Woops, I thought you meant quad core, lol. Yeah, seems reasonable for dual core.

And the Asus 750i board is more reasonable than a P35 or X38, and has a decent feature-set, supporting SLi... I am really very confused with this system, but I now feel that the best setup possible is...

Asus P5N-E nForce 750i SLi Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
2x2GB OCZ PC2-6400 with EPP
Geforce 8800GTS 512MB
Lian-Li PC-A17 (or A16 as OCUK call it...) in Black

I think this will provide a decent upgrade path as the motherboard supports 45nm processors, SLI graphics and unofficially can support PC2-8500 1066MHz DDR2... but I'm going to stay away from that, it's always been DDR3 territory. I can safely say I have learned my lesson there.

Power supply will of course be the Tagan 900-BZ, and hard drives will be 2x Samsung HD501LJ 500GB's in RAID 0. OS will be Windows Vista Home Premium.

Have some pictures...

The Q6600...


...and the cooler (thanks Skillers)...


The memory!


The graphics!


All going on this board...


Inside this case...


And all f**ked up by this:

Lol

I think you've got a fairly decent spec there. I'm not sure if the RAM is a tad expensive, but the rest looks good.

The RAM is so incredibly cheap, I believe it is about £70.

Also, it is very tempting to go for the Lian-Li V600 case, as the A17 is a normal sized tower or midi-case. The problem with the V600 is that there is not much clearance between the CPU's HSF and the PSU... yes, the PSU... it is mounted vertically above the processor. If I wanted to get some decent cooling I would require a Scythe Kama-Bay.

Heh, last time I checked the "SLi" modules were ridiculously overpriced. That's actually a decent price.

I thought you wanted a mostly conventional case?

A conventional case would be nice for me to work in, but a smaller case would be a bit more girlfriend friendly. Functionality isn't that important, just as long as it can cater for a quad core processor.

Oh, I thought it was just a standard sized unconventional case, but I can see it's a lot smaller now. If size is an issue, have you considered something like a desktop/HTPC case. You can get tehm in full ATX spec and quite small, though they are fairly expensive. I don't really see that the loss of ~10cm height is really worth the hassle the insides would give you on that case.

I'm thinking of just getting silver full-aluminium Wavemaster again... they seem to be in limited supply now though, and have disappeared from the http://www.coolermaster-europe.com website. The Wavemaster is good because it is slightly thinner than most cases, and the layout is pretty standard. There is enough room behind the removable motherboard tray to keep the inside of the case tidy. The air flow is half decent. Plus she does actually keep telling me that she just wants 'the one I had in the flat' so I think I had better do myself a favour and just get it!!!

Yeah, they were pretty good cases. They didn't have the best cooling (as in there were better, I think they only had 80s). I need a new small case, actually, that V600 may be suitable, but I doubt it.

Yeah the Coolermaster was OK...

The cooling was alright, but yeah I agree it could have been better. The 80mm fans that were included don't push that much air, but they are pretty quiet.

But hey, I guess it was better than some cases! Some cases that I have seen recently, including the V600 don't have an exhaust fan at the back of the case to take out the hot air from around the CPU area. Some don't even have any ventilation around that area.

Cases like the Eclipse and Mirage are great, the PC-60 and PC-7 from Lian-Li are also good like that as they use 120mm fans as exhausts.

Anyway. I bought the Wavemaster.

That's quite strange, as cases used to only have the exhaust fan at the back.

Well atleast the wavemaster looks good. I'm getting kinda fed up of this monolith, btu I may be modding an old case over summer, see how that goes.

am i right in thinking its cheaper to put together ur own computer than buy already made :s

It can be, depending on what price range you're looking at. The ultra cheap you can get cheaper from Dell, probably, but the really expensive high end ones you pay a large premium for. We also build our own for the level of freedom it gives and just because we enjoy doing it.