A little help with a build..

Yesam

Yesam

Yesam

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Joined
19 Jun 2007
Posts
95
Location
Midlands UK
Hey Guys,

I'm after a new computer, this will be my first build.. Currently using a Vaio laptop as my main machine!

Usage will be heavy development, Visual Studio / Photoshop / Video / Minor 3D. So more focus on RAM and CPU?

I would like the option to play the latest games (DX10) not at the best spec, so i'm trying to find the sweet spot of the GPU's atm.

Oh.. And I like black cases too! Any recommendations on a nice black simple case would be great (nothing to big as it will be moving with me quite a bit). Something stylish..

Don't need monitor / Keyb / Mouse.. but need an OS. (For GPU recommendations.. monitor is a 22" Samsung, also would like the option to connect to my HDTV).

Budget will be ~£1100 flexible if the performance gain is worth it!

Any help would be great!


-------------------------------------------

Here is my attempt.. (Any compatibility problems here?)

spec1ju0.jpg
 
Do you need 500gb?
I would sometimes suggest running two 250gb drives mirrored, this will give you some peace of mind that all of your work is safe (ish) ie if one drive dies you will be notified and you still have your data. You also get a little better performance in read speeds.
 
hi there i think what you have chosen looks a very good spec ....the only thing i would change is the memory i would look to get 4gb in a 2 x 2gb kit so you still have spare memory slots for futre upgrade if required
 
get some arctic silver 5.
no floppy?

consider the enermax infiniti 650w.

can't really recommend crucial at the mo as there's a few ppl locked in an endless rma loop of dying sticks, though it seems it's more the 5300 affected?

have the same mobo here with 4x geil ULL 6400 running sweet as :D

check out the akasa eclipse 62 case but the lian-li is lovely too.
 
dunker said:
{snip}no floppy?{snip}
Click to expand...
What for?

Apart from the Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition, everything else looks good & compatible. Suggest you research around if that version of the OS is fully compatible with all hardware & software you'll be running!
 
yeah i'm back with xp, my vista64 experiance was a bit of a disaster, it killed my xp install (my own fault) and then my x-fi would only produce hiss :( oh well back with my trusty xp till creative get their driver act together.

you could lose the vista64 and use what you save on a xl black t-shirt err i mean a bfg 8800 640meg oc :D
 
brendy said:
Do you need 500gb?
I would sometimes suggest running two 250gb drives mirrored, this will give you some peace of mind that all of your work is safe (ish) ie if one drive dies you will be notified and you still have your data. You also get a little better performance in read speeds.
Click to expand...

Probably not actually (i do need allot of storage for backup purposes of all my work but i generally have Externals at around 765GB combined), would it be a wise move to do put RAID in this setup, with say 2x ~350GB?

MADEinSTOKE said:
hi there i think what you have chosen looks a very good spec ....the only thing i would change is the memory i would look to get 4gb in a 2 x 2gb kit so you still have spare memory slots for futre upgrade if required
Click to expand...


Hey, I can't seem to find many 2gb sticks, are they generally quite hard to come by? The choice seems not as easily available.. and the price varies allot.

dunker said:
get some arctic silver 5.
no floppy?
consider the enermax infiniti 650w.
can't really recommend crucial at the mo as there's a few ppl locked in an endless rma loop of dying sticks, though it seems it's more the 5300 affected?
have the same mobo here with 4x geil ULL 6400 running sweet as
check out the akasa eclipse 62 case but the lian-li is lovely too.
Click to expand...

I've seen that about the crucial but it is popular, and given their RMA rep i think i'll take the plunge with them - always had crucial RAM.

I realised about the AC5 after i submitted! i'll probably add a floppy for memtest though, overlooked that! Cheers.

Also as you have that mobo, is their suitable clearance for the tuniq? I've heard it can be difficult if there is to much height on the mobo.. also what cooler have you got?

dunker said:
Very stylish.
Click to expand...

I do like the look of the akasa actually, i think ill go hunting for some real life pics, do you have this case?
 
hp7909 said:
Apart from the Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition, everything else looks good & compatible. Suggest you research around if that version of the OS is fully compatible with all hardware & software you'll be running!
Click to expand...

I think (most will be) i've done a bit of checking around. I have considered doing a dual boot on this till Vista matures a lil, perhaps dual boot with XP x64? Would i need 2 licenses for this? Surely not?
 
Yesam said:
I do like the look of the akasa actually, i think ill go hunting for some real life pics, do you have this case?
Click to expand...

I was being sarcastic :p it isn't a very nice looking case IMO but it does a good job.

EDIT : thos pics do make it look quite nice actually, still would never match antec/lian li for style though.
 
Yesam said:
Damn that looks nice, also i see you've got the akasa fan controller.. How do you find that? Also - picky but i take it the wheels are easily removable?
Click to expand...

the fan controller works as it should, have it running 3x scythe s-flex 1600rpm fans, also comes with 4 thermal probes you can stick on anything but i hav'nt got around to doing that yet.

the case comes without the wheels attached but included + screws. if i did'nt have it on the floor and wanted a case to sit on my desk i'd be very tempted by the lian-li prolly but get whichever case you like the look of the most cos you gotta live with it and do search google for reviews on them too.

if you do get a floppy don't forget to get a round floppy cable, don't want a huge ribbon cable messing up your airflow.
 
Yesam said:
Probably not actually (i do need allot of storage for backup purposes of all my work but i generally have Externals at around 765GB combined), would it be a wise move to do put RAID in this setup, with say 2x ~350GB?
Click to expand...
Raid is a good move if you can budget for it, hard drive reliability is still very so-so due to having moving parts. regardless of size, try to pic the drives with fastest access times and a decent sized cache.
 
I will look into the antec as well, the reason i originally went for the Lian-Li was due to it being at a bargain price. I dont want to sacrifice on build quality though..

Going back to the x64 vista, if i was to dual boot with 32 XP to cover me on both basis would i need two product keys? Any opinions on dual booting would be good to.. :)
 
can't really offer any opinions on dualing vista as i messed mine right up and i'm not sure what happened either, best advice is back up everything you wanna keep first.
 
Is there any specific reason for going 64bit? for home use and compatibility reasons i'd stick to 32bit vista. I ran the beta 2 of 64bit for around 6 months but it just wasnt ticking all the boxes to warrant a full version.
 
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