a new build ... comments appreciated.

orange_smurf · 19 Apr 2009 at 11:18

All. Thought I would treat myself to a well deserved upgrade. Would appreciate suggestions on the spec below. I'm looking for a good gaming system and enough grunt for applications like photoshop, premiere etc.

I'm not a heavy overclocker, probably push to 110% performance max when the system starts to struggle in games.

i7 is slightly out of my price range - limit £800.

Parts salvaged from my current pc:
Antec NeoPower 480W PSU (is this is enough)
WD Raptor 74gb (OS)
WD Raptor 36gb (Swap Drive)
PCI Wireless G Card
Keyboard/Mouse/Speakers
NEC 24WMGX^3

Cheers,

OS

orange_smurf · 19 Apr 2009 at 13:23

Thanks for the input guys...

Thinking about it, ill drop the X-FI and make do with onboard for now. Should be able to take optical digital feed into my hifi and let that do all the work. If the Neo480 fails ill have enough cash to get a decent PSU.

Cant really justify an i7 athough its just within budget. It means getting a sub-standard mobo and losing the lian-li which i cant bring myself to do (and yes I agree its overpriced but should last me 2 to 3 system builds!). If I get good kit now, i can replace mobo, chip and ram when i7 is affordable.

Question: seeing as the orignal build is AMD, is it worth getting an ATi GPU? I've read something about "dragon platform" and how AMD + ATi are a better combo. Not sure what to make of this?

Ta,

OS

orange_smurf · 19 Apr 2009 at 18:29

Well, seeing as this is supposed to be a treat.....

How about this at the absolute maximum i'm willing to spend (we are in a recession after all).

And yes, the Lian-Li case is staying on the list!

orange_smurf · 19 Apr 2009 at 19:12

Thanks again for all your comments...

looking at review sites the Be Quiet 650W seems quite popular. I will take a look but its not in stock @ OC's right now.

Oh, finally, is it worth risking B stock as the Lian-Li v1010 is availble for £144?

Ta,

OS

orange_smurf · 19 Apr 2009 at 21:11

That's what I was orignally going to do!!

In a year, if I sell used x3 720 BE, Mobo and RAM I can topup £300 and have better picking's from i7 range or maybe the i5.

But, as I have the money right now, i'm going to take the plunge and commit to i7.

orange_smurf · 30 Apr 2009 at 17:25

It's alive!!!

Thought I would share a couple of pictures of my final build...

Lian-Li was a breeze to use, ample room for upgrades!! The bequiet PSU was a great recommendation too...

... my "rig"

Thanks again to all who helped spec me a system...

OS

orange_smurf · 30 Apr 2009 at 17:40

icey_haj said:
That looks great smurf, now you need an aftermarket CPU cooler.

all in good time my friend!

orange_smurf · 30 Apr 2009 at 17:42

hmm... that means you have a 260 going spare..... interesting.....

orange_smurf · 30 Apr 2009 at 19:44

Audigex said:
I nearly **** myself when I saw the second photo (box under the table) - I only saw the top half of the photo at first and didn't realise that was part of the unit on the left... the PS3 looked very precarious

.... i was actually thinking about getting a 360 for the right of my desk to add to the symmetry??? no???

orange_smurf · 30 Apr 2009 at 19:54

AcidHell2 said:
Very nice indeed, but an insane amount on a none custom case.

yep, i agree. but when it comes to cases im really picky - i spent ages looking at all the best cases and this was the only one that I really liked... saying that, the Lian Li x500 and Silverstone Temjin TJ10B are nice too but they are waaay too expensive.