£1000 Spec Check

monkeysmith · 15 Feb 2007 at 22:49

I've been saving for a while now for a big upgrade, reached the limit or there abouts with my current pc.

I've been through the forums having a look, and priced up this system, can you have a look, any recommended changes. Also, will the PSU supplied in the case manage this?

Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU - 70.49

MSI 975X Platinum PowerUP Edition (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - 126.89

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - 204.44

2 x OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel ATI Crossfire Series DDR2 (OCZ2A8002GK) - 270.22

HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (H195PRQT512DD-R) - 155.09

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) - 16.44

Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - 101.02

Creative Inspire T6100 5.1 Speakers - 46.99

Total including VAT and Shipping = £1,006.80

I've always been a AMD / ATI fanboy, but reviews speak for themselves with the intel chips. I'm happy to switch to SLI if thats better. Not sure I want/need to go crossfire/sli right away, I'm pretty sure the system could handle all current games on high res.

Any idea what the onboard sound is like, I was tempted by the X-Fi cards, not sure though. Speakers are just there really to replace my yellowed harman 2.0 speakers.

Current system:
Athlon 2600xp, 1gb pc2700 ram, Ati x800 Pro 256mb.

Thanks for your thoughts, views, changes.. all helps.

mishima · 15 Feb 2007 at 23:06

Any reason why that case? Get an Akasa Zen from OCUK and you could then afford a BFG 8800 320MB with the money saved that way you got more bang for buck

That case is quality btw.

You will need a PSU though which would cost you around £60 - something like this would be suitable:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-062-AN

Ronaldo · 15 Feb 2007 at 23:08

well i would change the gfx card to 8800GTS 320mb u can get them cheap as 185inc Vat

Hen_Dawg · 15 Feb 2007 at 23:11

A high quality PSU is a very good idea, not something provided with a case

artaxerxes · 15 Feb 2007 at 23:40

Ronaldo said:
well i would change the gfx card to 8800GTS 320mb u can get them cheap as 185inc Vat

++ this is ludicrously such a good idea and matches the top end nature of everything else you have listed.

I would consider a seperate PSU (and hence a different case) but the bundled Antex will be entirely functional.

Why that motherboard? I am just interested in the thought process I have no argument against it.

monkeysmith · 16 Feb 2007 at 00:05

I wanted a smart looking case, cool to look after the parts, and nice design for fitting. Had a look at a few reviews on the piano, but I do like the look of the Zen. Will go for that one and the separate psu.

Also going for the 8800 gfx.

I picked the motherboard from a couple of things. First was a review on toms hardware (link ), secondly, used MSI a fair bit and happy with them. Moving over to Intel, I didn't have a clue about boards, sockets and such, so looked for what's recommended. Although, now I'm going for the 8800 gfx, will need to change boards for the SLi, or am I wrong?

Thank you all very much for the replies.

Edit: Am I correct... SLI graphics don't need any special motherboard bits like Crossfire? All built into the cards, therefore the motherboard above will be fine if one day I wanted to get another 8800. Cheers.

mishima · 16 Feb 2007 at 00:09

Good decisions! Much better value for money and performance. Are you planning on running SLI?

You could opt for a cheaper board that overclocks well like a Gigabyte DS3 for £80. They are extremely good boards!

waso_dude · 16 Feb 2007 at 02:45

if you want SLi compatability in the future go for the Asus 650i board - seems a awsome clocker too

masslac · 16 Feb 2007 at 02:52

Add a 520W Corsair PSU when they're back in stock, and more RAM as needed.