A Spec Challenge

shadowake · 11 May 2009 at 19:24

I need a computer for between £700-£800 (excluding delivery) that must have the following:

---
2 x 2GB sticks of fast RAM preferably DDR3
A processor better than a Q6600 (Either AMD or Intel)
A motherboard that supports tripple/three way SLI or Crossfire
A suitable power suply to support tripple/three way SLI/Crossfire
At leat one GPU better than an 8800Ultra
At least one (preferably two to RAID) 7200 SATA drives with 32mb cache.
A nice (black) case, (NZXT Tempest/Coolermaster 590/Antec 900 or similar)?
CD-RW Drive.
---

I'm strugling on this one myself, I can go slightly over 800 but really don't want to!

Oh and I don't need OS/periferals or monitor.

The challenge is set, the winner gets a happy smiley!

RJC · 11 May 2009 at 19:34

My spec below, if want SLI & Crossfire on the same board then I think only the X58 boards can dp this:

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + Far Cry 2 Game £241.98
(£210.42) £241.98
(£210.42)

XFX Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £199.99
(£173.90) £199.99
(£173.90)

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (21133-04-20) £149.49
(£129.99) £149.49
(£129.99)

Corsair TX 850W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850TXUK) £118.98
(£103.46) £118.98
(£103.46)

OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) £61.99
(£53.90) £61.99
(£53.90)

Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD5001AALS) £50.99
(£44.34) £50.99
(£44.34)

Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£15.64) £17.99
(£15.64) Sub Total : £731.65 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £111.32 Total : £853.47

shadowake · 11 May 2009 at 19:37

RJC said:
My spec below, if want SLI & Crossfire on the same board then I think only the X58 boards can dp this:

Oops meant to but SLI or Crossfire :rolleyes:

Not bad but you forgot the case!

reygjabla · 11 May 2009 at 19:57

Wrong post :rolleyes:

D D Danneh · 11 May 2009 at 20:02

With some left over for a case. Not sure whether that mobo supports triple GPU's, but it has 3 PCI-E slots.

Edit: Just thought, swap that 260 for a 4870. That mobo won't support tri-sli, so you'll want an ATI GPU. Also, after looking up Foxconn's site, it'll support three way crossfire, but the GPU's will run at x16, x16, x4. Probably not a HUGE problem, but I reckon it will affect performance.

psychas · 11 May 2009 at 20:28

ddr 3 motherboard and ddr 2 ram huh ? ^

shadowake · 11 May 2009 at 20:29

D D Danneh said:
With some left over for a case. Not sure whether that mobo supports triple GPU's, but it has 3 PCI-E slots.

Not bad, best so far! I'm leaning to an all AMD system for price though ATM.

RJC · 11 May 2009 at 20:35

2nd go:

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 945 3.0GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £195.99
(£170.43) £195.99
(£170.43)

Asus AM3 M4A79 Deluxe AMD 790FX (Socket AM2+/AM3) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £152.94
(£132.99) £152.94
(£132.99)

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (21133-04-20) £149.49
(£129.99) £149.49
(£129.99)

Corsair TX 850W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-850TXUK) £118.98
(£103.46) £118.98
(£103.46)

Coolermaster Centurion 590 Case - Black (No PSU) £54.04
(£46.99) £54.04
(£46.99)

Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD5001AALS) £50.99
(£44.34) £101.98
(£88.68)

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (KHX8500D2K2/4G) £47.99
(£41.73) £47.99
(£41.73)

Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£15.64) £17.99
(£15.64) Sub Total : £729.91 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £111.36 Total : £853.77

D D Danneh · 11 May 2009 at 20:35

Any leftover for your case.

psychas said:
ddr 3 motherboard and ddr 2 ram huh ? ^

Didn't read it, I just clicked the "recommended items".

Take a look for yourself:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-015-FC&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1050

shadowake · 11 May 2009 at 20:39

RJC said:
2nd go

Looks good RJC, I noticed you put DDR2 on a DDR3 board as well?

I guess I could use the AM2+ 3.0GHz black processor and clock it to shave a few quid? Apart from that it looks good.

What power would I need for 3way crossfire and Quadcore?

Would this do:

OCZ StealthXStream 700w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

RJC · 11 May 2009 at 20:45

shadowake said:
Looks good RJC, I noticed you put DDR2 on a DDR3 board as well?

I guess I could use the AM2+ 3.0GHz black processor and clock it to shave a few quid? Apart from that it looks good.

The board is DDR2

http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=2764&l1=3&l2=181&l3=896&l4=0

D D Danneh · 11 May 2009 at 20:50

shadowake said:
What power would I need for 3way crossfire and Quadcore?

Would this do:

OCZ StealthXStream 700w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

Not sure if 700W would suffice. I included the Be Quiet in mine because I have a 750W one, and there are enough connectors and adapters for tri-sli. Not sure about any other brands. This is where a modular PSU really would help though. I don't know if 750W is enough juice for 3 GPU's, so I put an 850W in the build I specced.

Audigex · 11 May 2009 at 20:53

Those phenom II BEs clock well - just ramp up the multiplier and they're happy as elves in a toy factory. My x3 is at 3.6 from 2.8 and I haven't even started to push it yet.

shadowake · 11 May 2009 at 20:57

RJC said:
The board is DDR2
http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=2764&l1=3&l2=181&l3=896&l4=0

Oops, so it is! My Bad!

D D Danneh said:
Not sure if 700W would suffice. I included the Be Quiet in mine because I have a 750W one, and there are enough connectors and adapters for tri-sli. Not sure about any other brands. This is where a modular PSU really would help though. I don't know if 750W is enough juice for 3 GPU's, so I put an 850W in the build I specced.

I guess I'm only starting with one card and upgrading later. As I add a third card I could always buy a better PSU then. But the again if I spend a bit extra now, it will save in the long run...decisions, decisions!

Audigex said:
Those phenom II BEs clock well - just ramp up the multiplier and they're happy as elves in a toy factory. My x3 is at 3.6 from 2.8 and I haven't even started to push it yet.

That's what I was thinking, for the £50-£100 saving.

shadowake · 11 May 2009 at 21:03

How about this (a bit of a mix from your sugestions):

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 940 Black Edition 3.0GHz (Socket AM2+) - Retail + Battleforge Game £159.99
(£139.12) £159.99
(£139.12)
Asus AM3 M4A79 Deluxe AMD 790FX (Socket AM2+/AM3) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £152.94
(£132.99) £152.94
(£132.99)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (21133-04-20) £149.49
(£129.99) £149.49
(£129.99)
NZXT Tempest Crafted Gaming Tower Case (No PSU) £83.94
(£72.99) £83.94
(£72.99)
OCZ StealthXStream 700w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply £61.99
(£53.90) £61.99
(£53.90)
OCZ Blade Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Low Voltage Dual Channel(OCZ2B1066LV4GK) £50.99
(£44.34) £50.99
(£44.34)
Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD5001AALS) £50.99
(£44.34) £101.98
(£88.68)
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£15.64) £17.99
(£15.64)
Sub Total : £677.65
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £103.41
Total : £792.81

D D Danneh · 11 May 2009 at 21:26

shadowake said:
How about this (a bit of a mix from your sugestions)

Looks good. You've got everything there, 4GB RAM, RAID HDD's (although I'll just say, 32MB cache doesn't mean much), good CPU and GPU, room for GPU expansion, and an AM3 compatible mobo for an AM3 CPU later, and the case you want, all within your budget. I think you've outspecced us all.

As you say, you can always add a better PSU in later when you add your 3rd GPU.

widdyst · 11 May 2009 at 22:26

HOW ABOUT THIS i7 rig

3 way sli and crossfire compatible

psu wont do 3 cards but your budget wont run to it sorry
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM £224.99
(£195.64) £224.99
(£195.64)
MSI X58 Pro (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £172.49
(£149.99) £172.49
(£149.99)
OcUK Value GeForce GTX 260 "Core 216 55nm" 896MB GDDR3 Dual DVI (PCI-Express) + Mirror's Edge £139.99
(£121.73) £139.99
(£121.73)
OCZ StealthXStream 700w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply £61.99
(£53.90) £61.99
(£53.90)
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) £61.99
(£53.90) £61.99
(£53.90)
Coolermaster Centurion 590 Case - Black (No PSU) £54.04
(£46.99) £54.04
(£46.99)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £40.24
(£34.99) £40.24
(£34.99)
Akasa AK-967 Nero Direct Contact Heatpipe CPU Cooler (AM2/AM2+/939/LGA775/LGA1366) £26.99
(£23.47) £26.99
(£23.47)
Sub Total : £680.61
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £103.97
Total : £797.08

ooops no cd drive ....oh well its another 18 quid thats all