£1250 spec check please

rOAdeh

rOAdeh

rOAdeh

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Hi guys,

This is a long term upgrade for me - my previous build of a X2 4400+ has lasted me pretty well but its now lacking in gaming ability (BCBF2).

I don't play many games so the 5850 is sufficient, the STX is a requirement (unless someone knows why the ST is better) but everything else is flexible. The PSU is definitely overkill, but I'd like the option of Xfire in future and the 850W is only 7 quid more than the 750W.

i5 is definitely an option, it just seems to only be about 100 quid premium to go with i7 and get another 2GB RAM plus more processing power, which might be utilised in the longterm? The one thing that is paramount for me is quietness though, I've tried to spec components so that they won't be pushed to load, or are at least the quietest they can be.

I've got an Akasa Eclipse case at the moment, with plenty of HDDs, fans, optical drives and a monitor so don't need them, but if anyone knows of any fitting issues with the Eclipse that'd be handy.

Thanks
 
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£150 on a sound card seems excessive.

Asus xonar DX is £59

The rest is good to go.

The ram will return to its normal price in the morning.

Will the H50-1 cooler fit in the eclipse case? It needs a 120mm fan mount.
 
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Yes but it doesn't have an inbuilt headphone amp, that's the only bit of my spec that I'm sure about.
 
Hmm yeah I'm trying to decide if I want to rush into ordering it in the morning or wait and see if I change my mind on some other parts of the spec...

Yes Eclipse has 120mm mount but thanks for checking.. how flexible are the pipes? the CPU socket is pretty close to the main exhaust currently.. not sure how the new mobo is laid out in relation

True about the PSU; I heard modular PSUs didn't give as stable a supply though? Plus the blue LED is putting me off.. having said that, fighting masses of cables isn't much fun either :/
 
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I honestly don't have a clue about the flexible pipes.

It looks like they have an anti kink outer layer.

Maybe type it into youtube for reviews and user experience, you should get an idea of how bendy they are.
 
If CAT-THE-FIFTH was here he would be going on about how the psu is made by seasonic and has all japanese capacitors!

So I will utter the same comments! Its a fantastic psu.

The 650w version won the custom pc roundup review.

The cables are very long!

I got a 650w version!

P.s there two versions of the 750w for sale, one with, one without the blue fan.
 
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IMO Skip the soundcard and wait for the Creative X-Fi Titanium HD which has a headphone amp and better features.
 
st is better than stx because it's got better clock curcuit, so technically it sounds better but i'm not sure if it's significant or audible.

+ id get air cooler for cheaper and better temps (for example ifx-14)

the rest looks good :p psu is great i got one myself

bhavv said:
IMO Skip the soundcard and wait for the Creative X-Fi Titanium HD which has a headphone amp and better features.
Click to expand...

dont wait for that, creative hardware sucks and their drivers suck even more
 
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Now I know not a lot about this headphones amplifier thing.

What's it do?

When I put my headphones into my soundcard, turn the desktop volume icon up, they get louder.

What's the actual difference?
 
good headphones need a good amp to be able to drive them and fully utilize their drivers (basically to sound better), especially high impedance ones. If you got good headphone, sure it ll sound ok if you plug it into the motherboard input, but it's like having a 5970 and playing at 1024x768.

and by good headphone i mean expensive stereo headphone, brands like grado, sennheiser, audio-technica, beyerdynamics etc, not ****ty razer or creative crap
 
Personally I'd ditch the sound card for a much better and half the price E-mu 0404 PCIe soundcard which is pro 24bit (one of Creatives Pro Audio Range cards - same company, just different name for audio production).

I'd also get 2x Radeon 5770 Vapor in crossfireX with the money saved on soundcard (the best bang for your bucks - so to speak).

Lastly I'd drop the kiddy water cooler for 2x Sharkoon Silent Eagle 1000s in push pull on a megalathon for about the same price. Which means in future you have the capacity to cool down a 6 core Gulftown which the Corsair watercooling will not be able to do if overclocking. (Then you are future proof)
 
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I got the STX and it does have a built in amp, its definetly the best sound card on the market now as I moved from the creative xfi fataility and it is miles better. Be aware though you will need really good headset to notice any significant differences but with the STX you wont regret it

With the amp and a pair of hifi headphones you can make them a lot louder by turning the gain up
 
Hi guys, thanks for comments.

Yeah I have a number of good heaphones that I will be using - buying the ST(X) is actually a saving for me as it means I can sell my current headphone amp.

Crossfire is something I'm not that bothered about now, but like the option to upgrade cheaply in the future - as I said I don't game much but currently have got an X850XT, so anything will be a nice upgrade!

I don't see me clocking much past 4GHz, firstly, the i7s run hot and I hate noise so I'd like a quiet cooler. Secondly, I am quite wary of the weight of these CPU coolers - the layout of my room means the comp is quite awkward to lift and I don't want to put more strain on the socket than necessary. The H50 is kiddy watercooling admittedly, but it does seem to be both small (relatively) and quiet so I feel it suits me. Maybe the RAM is overkill given the fact I won't be clocking that high then?

I don't feel I need more than 40-60GB for the SSD but the Intel everyone raves about; is there a cheaper alternative?
 
Drake22 said:
st is better than stx because it's got better clock curcuit, so technically it sounds better but i'm not sure if it's significant or audible.

+ id get air cooler for cheaper and better temps (for example ifx-14)

the rest looks good :p psu is great i got one myself


dont wait for that, creative hardware sucks and their drivers suck even more
Click to expand...

Arghh don't get me started on Creative, did you hear about the time they pulled those 3rd party drivers that made older sounds compatible with Vista? I've never forgiven Creative for that and you right driver updates from Creative are few and far between and their Linux drivers are a real pain to install as well.

I to was looking at getting that sound card (until I got made redundant) as it was a dedicated 2.1 stereo card with no gimmickry surround sound crap and pair it up with a set of Sennheiser HD515/HD555's what do you think about that combination or is the sound card overkill for those models?

As for the build personally I think you should ditch the SDD and get a 1tb Samsung Spinpoint F3 which are very quick in there own right and buy a HD5870 instead.
 
Its hard to say really - getting a decent source is a good step regardless as it allows you to upgrade in the future. I now have Shure 530s, Alessandro MS2s and Denon D-2000s, the latter of which is my main at home cans.

As I said I'm not that big a gamer so would probably just save my money rather than upgrade to the 5870. The SSD is something I'm tentative about.. I've heard really good things about responsiveness but not sure whether it justifies the £200 price tag! It would be nice to have one though as things would really fly :)
 
This week special offers are now updated.

i7 920 is £199.99
Ram is same price

Time to update your basket.
 
Just want to say that 2x Sharkoon Silent Eagle 1000s in push pull on a megalathon is more silent than the kiddie cooling Corsair H50 and cools much better.

Don't be fooled in to thinking that pump is quiet simply because it is water cooling (also you know it has a fan anyway?).


Also as I say the setup I mentioned means more cooling for future CPU upgrade.

I am a music producer and silence is golden.

As previously said by Freddie1980 - Creative are ***********. I would never touch there producets ever again after they screwed us all over Vista x64.

E- Mu 0404 is under the same company umbrella, but never screw over there customers. Gaming sound cards are crap and sell at silly prices. Get a Pro Audio card & for half the price.
 
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