carmatic Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 hey guys, the insurance claim for my broken computer has gone through and theyve given me 1100 pounds to spend... i was contemplating on the asus maximus extreme because im pretty sure it was the mobo which died on my old computer, one of the screws holding my northbridge waterblock worn into the trace of the mobo, and also the asus maximus extreme has a builtin northbridge waterblock... but ive just read that the intel x48's are being released in january or something, and the nvidia 700-series mobo is not far off, so im kind of not so sure what to buy anymore... i dont actually know for sure what is broken with my old computer, i just think its the mobo, but it could be much more, or it could dissapear in the post on the way back from the insurance company... lets just say that if i had to keep it down to ?1100 for an entire new rig, what would i be looking at? ::edit:: my old specs q6600 , one of the early batches which i got to work at 3.2ghz geforce 8800 ultra gigabyte p35-ds3r , the first revision sound blaster x-fi 2gb 1000mhz cellshock ddr2 ram 1kw psu, forgot the name of the company.... and i think thats pretty much it, please tell me i can at least get something like my old specs back? or if i cant please tell me in a gentle and soothing way.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
and1direct Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 $2,222.04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted December 18, 2007 Veteran Share Posted December 18, 2007 Okay, ?1100 GBP is approximately $2222.16 USD. EVGA 768-P2-N881-AR GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail Thermaltake Toughpower W0155RU ATX12V / EPS12V 1000W Power Supply - Retail OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1150 (PC2 9200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR11502GK - Retail ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - RetailTOTAL:> $1,795.94 USD w/ out taxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HyBry Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 looking at overclockers UK, you can get some nice systems for that money.. just down to putting parts you want together... and you should wait january for Intel 45mn parts... and I think x48 was delayed till march or something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 wow you guys are amazing!!! Didnt expect the links, and most definitely didnt expect that id have enough cash to spec it back to what it was before... Altho seeing that this is the uk everythings gonna be more expensive... I was kinda looking at the overclockers uk set deals but i was holding off in case my old computer, or whats left of it, arrives... If it dissapears, thats more ??? for me in compensation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[B00] Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 not sure how you would get more compensation if it goes missing in the post m8 as when we pay out that kit in theory belongs to the insurance company they have given you what they think it is worth and belongs to them if they send it back to you its a bonus ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshBluebird Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 There is just one problem in converting ? into $ then using newegg. Stuff costs a lot more in the UK. For example, the 8800 ultra is $650 or ?325. However, in the UK, the cheapest you can find it for is a bit over ?400 (or $800). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 27, 2007 Author Share Posted December 27, 2007 (edited) well i got the computer back, the bad news is that theyve packed it like scrap , everythings just thrown into the case and the case itself is bashed up real good, and most of the screws are missing, and they arent gonna compensate like you said... The good news is that ive got one of them evga 680i mobos lying around since i bought it second hand from someone and they sent the wrong mobo version so i left it out of my computer... Anyway this mobo has a 2 digit led readout and it says that the ram is borked ... So i went out and bought a stick of pc2-6400 1gb for ?40, and it booted right up! But i didnt bother to test the hard disks, dont think they survived the journey, and if they did , that i would trust them to have much of a life left...and i need to test for more damage using prime, orthos, 3dmark etc The 680i i have wont do the 45nm stuff, and a few google searches seem to indicate that the p35's are as fast as the x38's? Still cant spend too much, i'll prolly be getting a 45nm cpu when the mainstream ones come, or the video card might be crippled...should i get a p35 or X38? Any other options? Im looking at the asus maximus formula waterblock edition... Edited December 27, 2007 by carmatic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwai lo Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 P35's and X38's are similar in performance, X38's have the possibility for more features depending on the motherboard manufacturer..but if you're not into that stuff and/or don't understand the features, I'd say a cheaper P35 board will fulfill your needs. The two overclock the same and perform practically the same, no need for an X38 in your case. Personally, I think anyone who "needs" an X38 or should get one would be able to make that decision themselves ( eh..no offense..if this is offensive ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PL_ Veteran Posted December 27, 2007 Veteran Share Posted December 27, 2007 Judging by the fact that you included an 8800 in your specs I'm going to assume you're into cutting-edge games. It might be worth holding off until February, there's rumors that the GeForce 9 Series will be out by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwai lo Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Well, it's supposed to be next month, but video companies blow at launches, probably be till March before the cards are widely available and priced reasonably. Plus it sounds like the OP needs a rig right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brodel Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 There is just one problem in converting ? into $ then using newegg. Stuff costs a lot more in the UK.For example, the 8800 ultra is $650 or ?325. However, in the UK, the cheapest you can find it for is a bit over ?400 (or $800). It's out of stock, but it's only ?326.89 here: http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.a...ProductID=18260 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premgenius Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Just my 2 pence why not settle for 8800 GTS and E6600 unless they are same priced, you can probably sent around ?800 on a decent system and use the rest has saving on something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 27, 2007 Author Share Posted December 27, 2007 thats exactly what i hope not to do, buying a new video card... Im praying that my 8800 ultra is still intact, and that to find out, i need a good mobo to test on Can someone who is informed about the differences between p35 and x38 try to tempt me into getting the latter? I read its got like dual memory somethings, and uuhhh pci express 2.0... I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwai lo Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 PCI-E 2.0 offers extra power at the slot and more bandwidth, but current cards don't even saturate the current PCI-E specifications. The next generation Nvidia cards *might*, but it'll probably be two or three more generations ( or years ) till we see a significant difference. DDR3 support is added natively, but you won't see significant gains in that for another generation of systems, if that. Nehalem is going to include an on-die memory controller...so that might negate the entire DDR3 support on chipset altogether. Current chips won't benefit from DDR3, Nehalem might..but it won't need the chipsets ( or not like they're used now ). X38 offers more PCI-E lanes, but that's up to you to decide whether or not you'd even take advantage of them. You'll get the full x16 bandwidth for Crossfire, but you might not even need that ( unless you're gaming at 19?12 or higher ), dual GPU as an upgrade path is not a great idea because by the time you get the next card a new generation of cards will have been released and they may easily outperform two cards of the previous generation. Plus dual GPUs add heat, power draw, and complexity to your system that may not even be needed. If you're going for the cool factor or epenis factor, it's not worth it. You'll be respected by people if you make a smart decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 27, 2007 Author Share Posted December 27, 2007 (edited) If you're going for the cool factor or epenis factor, it's not worth it. You'll be respected by people if you make a smart decision. Yup, that was exactly why i chose a gigabyte p35 mobo the first time round... I would have thought that , several months on, we would have move forwards by a little? granted, there is a rev2 version of my board out by now, with more usb ports and thats just about it... A smart decision to me right now is not to buy an x48, because apparently it makes the x38's better value, which makes the p35 even better value... Also , no ddr3 , like you said its before its time... Edited December 27, 2007 by carmatic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 30, 2007 Author Share Posted December 30, 2007 (edited) ive made my purchases, now im thinking to the future... Ive bought an asus maximus formula, i think its formula anyway , OC UK lists it as the maximus extreme ddr2 motherboard... In addition to that , they also sell a 2gb kit of corsair dominator pc2 8500 c5 ram, so i bought those... Probably the weakest link amongst the other stuff i bought, dunnoe if its faster than my old 1000mhz 4-4-4-12 micron d9 ram... Also bought 2 seagate barracudas, the 7200.11 500gb 32mb cache ones, to set up as a raid 0 array like i always do... If you guys think that my x38 mobo purchase was stupid then i'll get ready to sell it as second hand as soon as better stuff get released... What about the ram, could i have done better?it was kinda the best looking ram which OC UK sells apart from the c4 8888 corsair dominators which cost more than 3 times as much, and i wanted to keep the shipping down so i stuck with them for everything... Edited December 30, 2007 by carmatic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I am Reid Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 Okay, ?1100 GBP is approximately $2222.16 USD. EVGA 768-P2-N881-AR GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail Thermaltake Toughpower W0155RU ATX12V / EPS12V 1000W Power Supply - Retail OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1150 (PC2 9200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR11502GK - Retail ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - RetailTOTAL:> $1,795.94 USD w/ out taxes. In the US, Internet purchases are not taxed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 30, 2007 Author Share Posted December 30, 2007 yeah, you lucky lucky americans... Unless i get them from somewhere that helps me do tax evasion and all i pay is the shipping or something Anyway, i think the only thing that i'll use my 1066mhz ram for is to boot up my computer with, install windows, go on ebay to sell them and buy a better set of ram... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drkbld90 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 In the US, Internet purchases are not taxed. Really? Because I went on Walmart's site and I purchased a couple of things yesterday because I had gift cards and they charged me tax.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 31, 2007 Author Share Posted December 31, 2007 doesnt it like, depend on which state you buy from or ship to or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I am Reid Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 doesnt it like, depend on which state you buy from or ship to or something? I think it would only apply if you are ordering it from a business within your home state. With the way the consitiution is setup the states have no say in what happens to your money in another state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted January 3, 2008 Author Share Posted January 3, 2008 (edited) alright guys, my stuff have arrived... 2x seagate barracuda 7200.11 500gb 32mb cache hard disks 4gb ocz reaperx pc8000 5-5-5-18 dual channel kit asus maximus formula mobo... which is the problem, since it is not the special edition that http://www.amakia.com/customer/estore/prod...idproduct=86851 says it is... if you search for 'maximus' on their site, you can see that both the listings for the SE and the non-SE board are identical, and the guy who responds to my emails couldnt tell the difference between them, he even says that the SE board doesnt have a waterblock and something about 'the ability to connect to a watercooling system' means it doesnt have a waterblock... this is what the box is supposed to look like , with the red 'special edition' written on it... i've asked them for a refund and stuff, and ive bought another maximus formula SE from another site http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/689442/art...-lga775-so.html ... hopefully they arent as dumb as the Amakia guys, altho the Pixmania site doesnt say it is the special edition board, but it does list the fusion block as one of its features, so i dunnoe... ive been without a PC for 2 months and i cant wait to get it back online again, but whats a few more days of sending stuff back and trying different shops going to make a difference anyway... if and when i do get a SE board, the first thing i will do is to get some dental floss or something and cut through the paste that holds the nb to the heatsink/waterblock and replace it with some artic silver 5 Edited January 3, 2008 by carmatic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+PeterUK MVC Posted January 4, 2008 MVC Share Posted January 4, 2008 Thats not the ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA / SE you got then. The board you got is just as good unless you wanted the watercooling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 well its also just as good if i wanted to do this but im not going that far, costs too much flowrate and money, so yeah i was kind of planning to use the fusion waterblock... the idea of a heatpiped waterblock always intrigued me anyway, too bad when other people cracked open the block they found that it was all flat on the inside instead of having a nice pattern to stir up the water with...but at least the block really is made of copper...maybe if i manage to open the block up without destroying it, i might carve my own pattern into the bottom of its chamber to get some turbulence... still, i like the elegance of the whole thing, the southbridge doesnt seem to need that much cooling , so it gets the heatpipe treatment, instead of just having passive cooling or sapping flowrate away by having a waterblock on it... all im going to do is remove the stock thermal paste and replace it with better stuff, but apparently removing the northbridge heatsink/waterblock from the block risks taking the entire northbridge with it, because the stuff asus used was a better adhesive than a thermal conductor, hence the dental floss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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