A little build help for a 1st timer

Koncept_1

Koncept_1

Koncept_1

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Joined
6 Nov 2007
Posts
29
Hi guys,

I could do with a bit of advice. Basically, i'm looking to build my own system as it will be cheaper than buying a new one and i'm supporting my partner who is studying for her PGCE.

I'm in a bit of a dilema whether to go SLI graphics or one single GPU. I want to future proof my system as much as possible so was thinking that SLI might be better as I can imagine that more and more games will use it in the future, but then, it would be more expensive to get another GPU.

I've got about 950 - 1000 to spend in total, it will be used for gaming and also music production.

Anyway, i've come up with the following build. I've got a few questions about each component which i've put in red.

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) This Ram was pretty cheap. Is this a good brand or would I be better going with Cosair? Please recommend any other RAM which might be better

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM Can these be set up in RAID format as this is quite important? In RAID would 3 - 80gb drives run faster than 2 160gb drives?

Coolermaster Real Power 700w Modular Power Supply £74.99 This looked good, any thoughts on this? Would it be better for to have a 540w supply as i'm not using 2 cards?

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)

Samsung SH-S202JBEBN 20x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer (Black) - OEM

EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB Superclocked "Crysis Edition" GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (512-P2-E802-AR-CrysisUK)

Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Wasn't to sure on which motherboard to pick? Are there any better ones that this?

CPU Cooler - Please suggest one.

Total is about £850.

Any help with this would be really appreciated.

Thanks
 
Memory seems good
The RAID question is completely dependent on what RAID system you want to use...but in general they all increase performance in some form.
Good motherboard......rest seems ok

Tuniq 120 siuggestion on CPU cooler agian
 
Basically, i need a RAID setup due to music/video production. I've heard that its a lot quicker for file transfers and reading/writing. Regarding the type of system.. are they mirroring, striping and error correction?
 
As above the RAM is just dandy.

Those hard disks are crusty and old. The Seagate 7200.10 250 GB will be quite a bit faster. In RAID 0 you'd be looking at between 160 and 190 MiB/s sustained transfer. Regarding RAID operation, speed comes from striped arrays, the simplest being RAID 0. You need to be sure to back up important data though since using this configuration doubles our chances of data loss. Adding more disks to the RAID 0 array further increases the chances of data loss while increasing speed.

I'd get a SATA optical drive rather than that PATA one. New motherboards have very few PATA ports and an abundance of SATA ports. The drive's performance will be the same but the cables aren't huge and ugly and it will last into future builds. :)

The graphics card is a good choice, especially if you were going to buy Crysis anyway.

The IP35 Pro is an excellent choice if you're overclocking. If not, I suggest the IP35-E. It'll do the same job but will cost significantly less.

If you're not overclocking you don't need an aftermarket CPU cooler, the retail one will do just fine. If you don't want to use the retail one for whatever reason you should get the OEM version of the CPU since it doesn't come with a cooler. As for a cooler I quite like the Tuniq Tower.

-BTI

P.S. Red text looks really bad on the forum's blue background. Yellow is a more readable choice. ;)
 
Thanks for advice so far. I thought the red looked nice :)

Regarding the hard drives, can you post me a link to the seagate ones you are talking about?

I've not overclocked yet, but i'm thinking about giving it a go when i've got it all set up. I know I won;t be able to upgrade any of the parts for a while so need to try and get the most out of whatever I get now :)

Jsut to recap.. i need to get the OEM CPU if i want to overclock the processor?

Also, i take it that its possible to have 2 drives set up in RAID format and then another as a backup storage unit? Can you do that?
 
Well in the OEM you dont get a cooler or the thermal compound. In the retail you do.
But yes you do need a good cooler like the tuniq if you wish to overclock
 
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