This is the epitomy of what i have recently been working for. If you dont understand please bear with it for a short time ill explain
CPU e2160 Intel
umart $99
GPU 8600GT Albatron
umart $129
RAm 1GB 800mhz DDR2 Patriot
umart $89
HDD samsung 160GB
umart $59
Mobo Gigabyte p35-ds3
umart $135
Antec sonata III
umart $179
Total $557
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Well actually, its pretty easy.
We have all known about overclocking for some time, most of us always overclock aiming often to get our computer systems somewhere between 10-30% faster in clockspeed which can often cause the pc to work 50% faster in certain applications, including games.
Now that you understand the background, you will understand this. The central part of this computer is the 3.0-3.6ghz CPU Dualcore.
Intel have a large variety of computer chips in its range. They appeal to different segments. They make different ones for different applications, for example, gamers want fast cpu's and dont care about power usage. However Corporations dont need fast computers, they need decent computers with energy efficiency, did you know that over a year, your pc will add somewhere between 300-600 dollars onto your power bill depending on how many disk drives you have and how many monitors and type of monitors you run? Its true. Corporations with a few hundred of these computers want to reduce that.
Intel have the interesting problem of designing several differnt types of chips. When you consider the research and development costs that go into ONE type of chip comes to billions of dollars (okay slight exaggeration, usually millions because they are mostly baby steps). To double the cost of R and D makes little sense. Instead they make one type of chip and then they change it for different applications. They change it in several ways, one of the ways they can change it is the clock frequency (mhz) the other is the clock multiplier (x7 x9 etc) and the third variable way they can change it without LARGELY affecting manufacturing process of the silicon is the CACHE size.
I would like now to introduce to you three identical CPUs with different cache and clock settings:
Intel E6850 - 3.0 ghz 4mb cache (x2) $332
Intel E4600 - 2.4 ghz 2mb cache (x2) $169
Intel E2160 - 1.8 ghz 1mb cache (x2) $99
These are all the same core. Their internals are basically the same. They have removed cache and changed clock frequencies or multipliers.
Lets go back to my overclocking point: In overclocking we can increase core frequencies and sometimes multipliers. However we can never get back cache. In essence, we will buy that $99 computer part, and make it as fast as the $332 dollar part.
It all sounds very simple, and to be honest, it is. One thing ill let you know is though, a E6850 at 3.0ghz will be faster IN GAMES then a e2160 at 3.0ghz. This is because the cache is large enough to help processing times for files. Is that performance worth $233? No. From online benchmarks of systems comparing the two I can say I would be lucky to have seen a performance increase of greater then 10% and on average it was lucky to even get 5%.
One great thing about LOSING cache is this though, because the cache dissipates heat, the cpu with the lesser cache runs colder. Which is funny if you think about it. So what has been my max stable clock of the e2160? 3.6ghz. I can tell you now, that was only limited by my motherboard too. The p35-ds3 is a fantastic board with very precise and stable voltage controls, but it actually runs out of voltage after 1.6V on the VCORE. Thats probably a good thing anyway, the Vcore probably shouldn't have much more then 1.5v even when overclocking in my opinion.
Okay time to justify my parts selection:
- Motherboard
I chose the ga-p35-ds3 because it is a very solid motherboard. "Its the most expensive part of the build" you yell at me. Well yes, and there is good reason. When overclocking you need to make sure that the parts you have run stable. Ill be honest, the motherboard is the single most important part of this build after the CPU. Its voltage is dead stable and customizable to 0.025V increments to 1.6V. Thats fucking hot.
- RAM
Patriot is the second best ram manufacturer in the world. Thats my honest opinion of them right now. They arent first to the market, they sit back and wait for market response and make their shit to actually be perfect. The only better manufacturer is OCZ in my opinion.
- CPU
I already talked this to death
- PSU
Earthwatts PSU is cheaps as dirt and is so horribly stable that i cant fault it for that price. Not only that but other similarly powerful PSUs dont hold their rails so stabily, and when overclocking you want stable voltage.
- Video card
To be honest, this was picked as a budget point. Albatron is a well respected brand name long lasting video card maker in the graphics card department. Most gamers find that Nvidia x600 series (eg 6600 7600 8600) are well priced and good enough for gaming at resolutions up to 1680x1050. This card will do that for most games, and games it wont do it for you can still play at 1280x800 and get a good fps. Its $129 a card and you can game with it. what the hell else do you want? But to be honest, a gamer should really change this card to suit his needs. But for the love of god, dont buy ati unless its their new x3670 which seems to be well priced for a dx10.1 card.
The 8600GT is also dx10 so with settings dropped you can somehow get some benefit from DX10 in all those games... that dx10 have... like.. uhh crysis i guess.
Price?
Mobo - Most expensive, but needs to be perfect to handle the overclocking options.
RAM - 2gb at $99 for the second best brand ever? sure
PSU - Its so cheap how can you ignore it?
CPU - well i talked this to death once already...
GPU - Actually like i said above <$130
Case - Its fucking sleek sexy and subtle...