1g spec check if you please

Slap

Slap

Slap

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24 Nov 2003
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925
Location
London
Good morning all. I'm looking to make a major upgrade in a month or so after many years out of the loop. I've been reading up on various bits of hardware etc...Things have certainly moved on some since my last build...Ram is so cheap, motherboards are so tweak-able, cpu's and Gpu's are powerful etc. Very exciting I must say:)

Budget is around the £900 to £1100 mark and system will be used for gaming/flight sims and general all round use and require a fair degree of future proofing ( so that I can ad another GPU or upgrade to next gen GPU for example) as this will be my last big upgrade for some time due to being fundingly challenged. I'm fairly comfortable in overclocking and tweaking to get that extra bang for buck.

My current system specs is (please no sniggering in the back! :D ):
Opty 146 @2.7 (1.4 Vcore/on air)
Thermalright SI-128 Cooler/Akasa Ultra Quiet 120mm Amber fan
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC4000 Dual Channel Platinum Series EB-DDR CAS3
Asus A8V Deluxe mobo (AGP)
OCZ PowerStream 520w Power Supply
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 250GB SATA 16MB Cache
Radeon X1950 Pro (AGP)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Sound card
Dell 24" LCD (1920x1200 native res)
Coolermaster ATC-110 Case
Windows XP Pro 32-bit

I'm thinking that I could keep the case,sound card and monitor

Here is my initial OC spec (slightly over budget I know, but I got another month + to go and the way I see it is that prices will inevitably drop and with your advice I might be able to save a few sovs):

myspec.jpg


Many thanks!
 
have a look at the Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) kit, or Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-12800.

if your current hard drives are ok i'd keep them, as there sata, and get a larger ssd, have a look at the crucial m4 128gb

also get the 2600K version as the plain 2600 will NOT overclock, although if your only gaming, it would be worth going for the 2500K, unless you use software that would make good use of the hyper threading on the 2600K.

if your dvd drive isn't a sata one, you'll need to get one.
 
That RAM will foul your CPU cooler. Like MP suggest the Hyper X grey or Ballistix sport are great RAM kits.

This is what i came up with; if you could get Win 7 cheaper (student) it would help you out a lot.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 OC WINDFORCE 3X 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £259.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £179.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £154.99
1 x MSI Z68A-GD65-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £149.98
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-04649) £114.98
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 750W Quad Rail '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £76.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £68.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £1,079.88 (includes shipping : £10.00).



EDIT: I included a HDD on this spec. I suggest you use the ones you already have as they are SATAII. This will bring you bang on budget. :)
 
Thanks Doomedspeed! Nice configuration m8.
Unfortunately I am not a student (an old-ish gardener.) when it comes to Windows 7 and my DVD drive is not a SATA one.
 
Have to reduce my budget to 800 sovs, manage to pick up Win7 Pro Retail. Thinking I could possibly skimp on the graphics card and go down to a GTX 560 (increased memory though) for now and get something better in June when I get more dosh.

What do you think on the specs/graphics card option?

ocsystemcheck.jpg


Thanks
 
CPU?

Edit..And that Antec Kuhler wont fit in your case as it only has 80mm fan mounts?
 
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Ah yes the CPU stulid....:D Damn damn and triple damn! I thought it looked rather good value. Many thanks for info/specs and I will check out my fan mounts; might have to get the old axe-saw out, or opt for standard cooling solution/use my current one if it fits.


Just checked and yes you are right stulid, they are 80mm fan mounts on my case.
 
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Another question if you please:

Will my existing Thermalright SI-128 Cooler fit on the i5-2500K(specs of my fan say fit's an AMD/Intel 775,1156, 1366 processor)?

Thx
 
Slap said:
Have to reduce my budget to 800 sovs, manage to pick up Win7 Pro Retail. Thinking I could possibly skimp on the graphics card and go down to a GTX 560 (increased memory though) for now and get something better in June when I get more dosh.

What do you think on the specs/graphics card option?



Thanks
Click to expand...

Looks like a great spec, everything will go nicely and no bottlenecks should appear.
Enjoy :p
 
Thx sehcure and certainly looking forwards to it...it's been a very long time :).

Anyone on my current cooler? Ok to use on new system? Worth using considering I will be OC it?

Thx again
 
G'mornin'. I finaly bit the bullet and ended up ordering some of the parts that where on last weeks special offers yesterday and got the rest today on this weeks one's (2500K and OCZ PSU) which came in handy.
My new build will be this:

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
OCZ ZX Series 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM
LiteOn IHAS324-32 24x DVD±RW ReWriter SATA (Version B - with new Firmware)
Asus P8Z68-V GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black
x2 Akasa AK-191-BL Blue Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan 3 Pin
BeQuiet SilentWing USC 140mm Fan
OcUK Professional 2.5" to 3.5" SSD Adaptor Plate
Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Compound (4g)

Total cost worked out to £987 inc vat, so over my £800 budget, but I tell myself I saved money, got some half decent components and can sleep well at night knowing I have a least a good two months of future-proofing :D

I felt happier investing in a little more wattage/efficiency on the PSU for not to distant future GPU upgrade possibilities, kept the SSHD to 128gig to cover windows7 and a few choice games/sims etc, kept the larger faster SATA HD for a one-storage hassle-free solution for my other stuff (mainly photos, music, downloads etc). Also thought I would get the BitFenix Shinobi case (I know it's no way near the quality and build of my old brushed aluminum Coolermaster ATC-110 Case but I must say I do like the look/sound of the BitFenix with it's multiple/size fan configurations options,general layout and value for money. I work in a Japanese garden so I can relate to being a "Shinobi"...:) Also fed up with brushed Alu tbh). I'll hopefully be able to sell off my current AGP system and put a few quid back in the pot or maybe pass it on to a friend.



Thanks again for all the help and advice and I'll report back when I get things up and running.
 
Cheers beejjacobs and will do. Noticed your case in sig, you happy with it? Anything to report?
 
I love it, good cable management and generally well built. Hard drives being the way round they are isn't ideal, but it doesn't really bother me! Terrible pictures, but here's my build:

JTTFB.jpg

twMyT.jpg

3AOOj.jpg
 
Great stuff, simple and neat looking, I really do like internal design of the case, thx for the pics. Also impressed with the extra depth of space , routes and tie-offs for cables; makes it all very neat and roomy for air to circulate. I went for a couple of 140mm silent-ish fans for top exhaust and by the look of the mobo, cpu, layout they should serve well I think. Really chomping at the bit now :)
 
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