New Computer Build - What do you think?

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WhySoSerious?

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I've scowered the internet to find some cheap components, and was wondering what you thought of the build so far. Any advice would be appreciated. Also, if you know where I can get cheaper prices, please tell me!

Motherboard
ASUS P5N-E SLI - £60 - £70 (Have yet to find the cheapest price.)

Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 - £64 (Overclockers.com)

RAM (Either...)
OCZ Platinum XTC DDR2 800Mhz, 4GB - £45 + (Have yet to find a price)
OCZ 4GB PC2-8500c5 - £63

- Would I benefit from DDR3 memory? Is the RAM compatible with the Motherboard?

Graphics Card
Gainward GeForce 9800 GT Green Edition 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £64 (Overclockers.com)

I will be using the computer solely for gaming. Do you think this setup would be powerful enough to run the latest titles; Empire: Total War, Modern Warfare 2, Bad Company 2?

Thanks in advance!
 
It would be more future-proof if you got an i3, they're just like the Core 2 series but newer, faster, cooler (temperature-wise) and use the same socket as the i5 quads, so that leaves you with upgrade options. And it will allow you to have DDR3, which is starting to become cheaper than DDR2.

It'll be pricier but then you'll be saving money in future by allowing yourself to upgrade.

Though I'm not entirely sure on current prices. Might still be a bit too expensive.
 
I agree i3 would be a better money saver in the long run, but apart from that it sounds pretty cool. More or less what im building at the moment. Anyways goodluck!
 
I've scowered the internet to find some cheap components, and was wondering what you thought of the build so far. Any advice would be appreciated. Also, if you know where I can get cheaper prices, please tell me!

Motherboard
ASUS P5N-E SLI - £60 - £70 (Have yet to find the cheapest price.)

Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 - £64 (Overclockers.com)

RAM (Either...)
OCZ Platinum XTC DDR2 800Mhz, 4GB - £45 + (Have yet to find a price)
OCZ 4GB PC2-8500c5 - £63

- Would I benefit from DDR3 memory? Is the RAM compatible with the Motherboard?

Graphics Card
Gainward GeForce 9800 GT Green Edition 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £64 (Overclockers.com)

I will be using the computer solely for gaming. Do you think this setup would be powerful enough to run the latest titles; Empire: Total War, Modern Warfare 2, Bad Company 2?

Thanks in advance!
Looks ok to me and it should be able to push the games, at least on Meduim GFX settings. Yes your RAM (highlighted) is compatible.
Edit: DDR3 is not compatible with that board.
It would be more future-proof if you got an i3, they're just like the Core 2 series but newer, faster, cooler (temperature-wise) and use the same socket as the i5 quads, so that leaves you with upgrade options. And it will allow you to have DDR3, which is starting to become cheaper than DDR2.

It'll be pricier but then you'll be saving money in future by allowing yourself to upgrade.

Though I'm not entirely sure on current prices. Might still be a bit too expensive.

I'm a bit confused. I understand what your saying with the i3 compared to the Core 2. But in order to use an i3 over instead of Core 2, won't he need a new board? Searched up his board on newegg and it seems to have a LGA 775 socket...I wikied the socket and it's not compatible with i3 nor i5. Is there something wrong wit my research?

Newegg.com - ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Edit: Unless you're suggesting a new board entirely?
 
yea, that's what he meant :p
Well I was confused
sigh_v3_emote_by_budgieishere.gif
but at least I know now. I had to read it twice to see what I missed lol.
 
I've done a little bit more research and found this build for a similar price.

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X2 940 - £106

Motherboard:
ASUS M4A785-M - motherboard - micro ATX - 785G - Socket AM2+ - £48

RAM:
Corsair memory 4GB TwinX XMS2 6400 DDR2 Kit (2 x 2048MB) RAM - £69

Graphics Card:
MSI ATI 4850 512MB DDR3 PCI-E GRAPHICS CARD - £40 (I'm unsure if the DDR3 card will be compatible with the motherboard...)

Hopefully it will be more powerful than the previously mentioned build.

Thanks for all your help so far!
 
From what I saw and read, the motherboard/RAM/GFX is better than the previous build. May not be so much powerful though since the parts are around the same. Not sure about the CPU though, may be someone else can give a review on the build.
 
i would get an am3 cpu instead just so that if/when you decide to upgrade again to a straight am3/ddr3 build, you'll be able to reuse the cpu.

the x4 940 is am2+ cpu but you should be able to find an am3 cpu like a x4 945 or x4 955 for a pretty close price.

and no, there will not be a problem if the mobo and gfx card use different types of memory.
 
i would get an am3 cpu instead just so that if/when you decide to upgrade again to a straight am3/ddr3 build, you'll be able to reuse the cpu.

the x4 940 is am2+ cpu but you should be able to find an am3 cpu like a x4 945 or x4 955 for a pretty close price.

and no, there will not be a problem if the mobo and gfx card use different types of memory.

What benefits are there to AM3 CPU's?

Also, if I were to get an AM3 CPU, would I have to buy a different MOBO?

The MOBO that I've chosen is AM2+...

Thanks for the help.
 
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