(Another :) PC spec thread.

chaosophy

chaosophy

chaosophy

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(Another :) PC spec thread. - Ordered, built, now with pics!

Hi all!

I've been putting it off for ages but I think it's about the time I took the plunge and ditched my aging 754/AGP rig and got myself a bit more up to date. I've also realised I'm never going to build the several grand super rig I want, so want to build something fairly decent with a few good upgrade opportunities.

At the moment I'm thinking something along the lines of this...

Asus P5B Deluxe (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£103.99(£122.19)

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
£5.99(£7.04)

Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink
£30.99(£36.41)

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
£159.99(£187.99)

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
£109.99(£129.24)

PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 XT Extreme SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
£134.99(£158.61)

Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM
£88.99(£104.56)

Western Digital Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM
£125.99(£148.04)

Akasa Rounded Ultra ATA133/100/66 IDE Cable (0.9m) - Black
£5.50(£6.46)

Akasa SATA-2 60cm Silver Data Cable
£4.49(£5.28)

Enermax Infiniti 650W EIN650AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
£99.99(£117.49)

Sub Total: £ 884.37
Shipping : £ 9.95
Vat : £ 156.51
Total : £1,050.83

The spec is mainly me going through all the sections and picking bits I like the look/sound of, a bit of reading the forum and seeing what's talked about and a bit of google-ing.

But I am more than open to comments and suggestions, my reason for being here.

I'm also wondering if it is worth looking at raid? Was thinking ditch the 76GB for two 36GB in raid0 or get two slower 80GB disks in raid1? Basically I want around 80gb I can split for dual booting XP 32 and 64 and then at least one other spare partition for testing stuff out on.


I also plan on bringing over the following from my old system...

19" TFT - native res is 1280x1024, which is enough for me atm and so is the res all my gaming will be done at.

Win XP 32/64 - dual boot

X-Fi Elite Pro

DVD - atm I have 1xDVD IDE, 1xDVDRW IDE and 1xDVDRW SATA. Not sure if I'll use 1 or two drives

HDD - atm I have a 80GB SATA and a couple of larger IDE disks that I may put in for extra storage. Not too sure.

Front Panel card reader, with usb, f/w etc.

k/b+m

I also want the option to be able to upgrade bits at a later time to keep up to date and bump the performance up as and when needed. Things like...

Bigger/newer GFX card. Want to go DX10 later in the year when the games are out for it. Will probably be interested in the new AMD/ATi cards when they hit.

2nd GFX card is a possibility.

New CPU. - Though not sure what's coming up for this socket (cheaper quad core?)

Physics card, maybe.

Separate NIC.

Vista. Will have to move to this for DX10 :(

Maybe bump up the mem to 4GB.


My main goal is to build a fairly good system for the price but still give myself some room for upgrades down the line. I wanted to keep it under £1,000 but the extra few quid to go that bit further kept adding up! I still can squeeze it under £1,000 but I'm not sure the cuts I'd make would do me any favors later on. (slower HDDs, cheaper mem, lower watts PSU, cheaper mobo)


The only thing missing is a case I like the sound of the new P182 but still waiting for it to hit and see what people make of it. Other than that I want something fairly plain, quiet, cool, easy to work on. All the normal things really. Something without a door would be good, or one with a door that can be removed and still looks ok. I like the look the Silverstone TJ09B-W but it's not available here and I'd like to do the order in one big hit from one supplier if possible.


I will be doing some overclocking, dabbled a bit in the past, but I'm not looking to break any records or spend ages trying to squeeze out that last little bit of performance. Just looking to get a nice stable decent oc that I can use full time without worrying.

Thanks in advance.

M.
 
Last edited:
Your spec looks excellent.

The only comments I would make are: the PSU is bit more than what you really need. A Corsair 520W would be plenty, and may well be quieter too. The Raptor is only slightly faster than most modern large-capactity drives such as the Seagate 7200.10, and the Raptor is a hell of a lot louder. If you can live with paying the premium for having slightly quicker loading times and more noise then fair enough, but personally I'd pay less for a bigger drive.

With the money saved from the above changes you could go for an 8800GTS.

For cases I'd suggest the Akasa Eclipse/Mirage, Tj09, PC-A16, PC-A10, or V1000. Whichever case you decide on, make sure it's got enough drive bays for all your drives. :)
 
chaosophy said:
Asus P5B Deluxe (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£103.99(£122.19)

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
£5.99(£7.04)

Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink
£30.99(£36.41)

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
£159.99(£187.99)

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
£109.99(£129.24)
Click to expand...

Looks good, so far taken out the Raptor's are they are IMO overpriced and can beaten by cheaper larger drivers in RAID from Seagate and WD.

Also just get the 8800 series from Nividia, will beat the 1950XT

The benchmarks from the R600 are only slightly better then the current Nvidia cards, besides Nvidia will release something better at the same time.

Sli/Crossfire is cack, not worth it...

Cheap Quad core is an options, not worth it presently same for the Physics card actually slows down the games which support...but then again none support it anyway the GPU can do psychics rendering anyways...

No point having a seperate NIC onboard is fine...

If your getting Vista 4GB is fine

As for the PSU Corsair 620w is ace

The cases you suggested would fine

The C2D's clock like beasts and are very stable once you fine tune the settings
 
Thanks for the input guys, exactly what I'm after.

re: HDDs.

How about something like x2
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
£26.99(£31.71)
in raid0 for the o/s partition(s).

And a
Western Digital Caviar RE 160GB 1600YS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
£35.99(£42.29)
for apps/games.

I'll probably use my older IDE and/or external USB for media storage etc. Was going to set up my old rig as a media storage server but it looks like it's going to my nephew.

though I really do like the look of the 10k rpm drives :-)

With the raid/hdd stuff would I be better using one controller on the mobo for the raid and then the other disk(s) on the other controller. Or just using the one for all of them and disabling the other?
That's the one annoying thing about the asus above is that the extra controller seems to be for one internal and one external disk. Mainly went for this board as my last two mobos where asus and the x3 PCI slots. The new PCIe slots on most boards seem a bit redundant to me and most seem to disable them if using a 2nd gfx card.


I'll take a look at the nVidia cards, just that I've always been an Ati man. No real loyalty to the brand per say but I'm used to them and the software, inc 3rd party stuff. Plus the DX10 is not needed at the moment and it gives me a cheaper buy now and another upgrade path later when I go Vista.

Any particular 8800 to look at? The current deal of the week one any good? Though it's due to change today?

The PSU I mainly went for as it says it has the new connector for the new GFX cards coming up, like the new ATi. But reading around it seems like there may be some confusion about that atm. The Corsair HX 620W was on my list as a possible and someone has asked the question at a forum linked on their site about whether there will be a new lead made available for the new connector.
Or am I just going the wrong way with this and there will just be a splitter lead, similar to what there is now for the 6pin ones?


Thanks again and keep it coming.

Almost ordered all this earlier this week as I'm off work but ended up doing to much reading and confused myself. :(
Might order next week to build next weekend.
 
Any reason why you're going for such small drives? Could go for a couple of 500gbs and partition?

It'd be better than buying 3 drives to start off with anyway IMO.
 
fen739 said:
Any reason why you're going for such small drives? Could go for a couple of 500gbs and partition?

It'd be better than buying 3 drives to start off with anyway IMO.
Click to expand...


Only really to keep the cost down and no real need for huge amounts of storage over what I all ready have. I have a fast internet connection and download too much as it is with out ever getting around to actually using it and end up just deleting stuff!

And hopefully a bit more performance?


p4radox said:
For cases I'd suggest the Akasa Eclipse/Mirage, Tj09, PC-A16, PC-A10, or V1000. Whichever case you decide on, make sure it's got enough drive bays for all your drives. :)
Click to expand...

Just been looking at those cases. The Lian Li's look loverly! Really like the look of the V1000 but a couple of review mention issues fitting the PSU and possible cabling problems. Think the V2000 is a bit too big. PC-A16 has gone on the list as a possible.
Akasa Eclipse is another. Like the sound of the extra width and the front mounting PCI bracket. But not quite as sexy looking as the others. :)
 
oooh! I can't stop fiddling with the spec!. :D

Would this mem be worth the extra £100 if I'm saving money on the HDDs?

Kingston HyperX 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 SLi Approved Dual Channel Kit (KHX8500D2K2/2GN)
£199.99(£234.99)

Mainly looking at it as the asus page for the mobo mentions it.

edit:sorry for all the questions btw.
 
Nope, the highest speed RAM you'll realistically need is PC6400. With an E6600 you don't need such high bus speeds to get a decent overclock. If you max out the FSB to the speed of some PC6400 ram (400MHz) then your core speed is 400*9 = 3.6GHz.

The numbers mean little anyway, you can get high spec PC5300 ram such as the Crucial Ballistix PC5300 which will outperform most PC6400 ram. :)
 
Cheers. I'll stick to looking at the 6400 stuff then.

The Geil ones I mentioned in the first post seem to be popular here but just been reading about possible issues on Asus boards over in the memory forum.

Would it be worth looking at spending a bit more and going for something like..

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX (2x1GB)
£129.99(£152.74)

or any of the others listed between that one and this...

CellShock 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit
£149.99(£176.24)

When you list all 6400s by price?
 
GSkill PK has identical timings to the Geil you specced and is a few quid cheaper. It's on This Week Only, which may expire some time today.

Personally I think that spending much more on more expensive RAM simply to get slightly tighter timings is a waste of time. If you've got money to burn buy a better graphics card, sound card or monitor.

If money's burning a hole in your pocket then I hear good things about the Team Xtreem PC6400 stuff.

You could also look into some Crucial Ballistix PC5300 from another site. A single 1Gb stick is available for £70. 2 of these would be my first choice - they clock like demons on slightly relaxed timings. Take a look in the memory forum.
 
The Cellshock Ram you mentioned is on this week only offer so that might be a good one to go for, heard good things about it. Lian Li cases are very good, as is the eclipse. Plenty of space in the eclipse too, and I really wouldn't bother with the raptor hdd's. They are noisey and not worth it imo. Definitely go for either seagate barracuda's or WD caviar SE's, both good drives.

Lastly, it would be worth considering the 8800, really good card that I am very happy with and even the 320mb 8800 will get the job done.
 
ok, been tweaking my order again. :)
How's it looking?

Asus P5B Deluxe (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£103.99(£122.19)

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
£154.99(£182.11)

Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink
£30.99(£36.41)

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
£5.99(£7.04)

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ)
£129.99(£152.74)

HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ICEQ 3 V2 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (H195PRQT512DD-R)
£124.99(£146.86)

Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (0A33435)
£44.99(£52.86)

Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 NCQ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32727)£24.99
(£29.36)(£35.24)

Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable
£3.99(£4.69) x3
£11.97(£14.07)

Enermax Infiniti 650W EIN650AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
£99.99(£117.49)

Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU
£79.99(£93.99)

Noctua NF-S12 1200RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin
£11.99(£14.09) x2
£23.98(£28.18)

Acousti Ultra-Soft Arrowhead Fan Mounts - 8 Pack
£3.49(£4.10)

Akasa AK-TK-01 Cable Tidy Kit
£3.90(£4.58)

OcUK Case Badges
£0.59(£0.69)

£844.83
£992.68 inc VAT

Shipping:£ 12.95
Vat :£ 150.11
Total :£1,007.89


Almost back to my original sub £1,000 budget.

Went for a lower spec 512mb card in the end as I'm fairly sure what ever gfx card I get it will be the first thing I'll end up upgrading when I go DX10 and Vista. It's basically the same card as i have in my AGP rig atm, so didn't want to go any lower.

Still not too sure on the HDDs and still might change to mem. comments?

Still really like the Silverstone case I mentioned earlier but I've done the measurements I think it's just that bit to deep for the space I have, plus can't justify the extra £80. The Eclipse is still pushing my space limit but I think I can make it just work and the case seems a good one.

Any comments, suggestions?

Really really getting close to ordering it this week if poss, though I'll probably need to pay the extra for Saturday delivery.

Couple of questions about that...

Are the next day weekday deliveries guaranteed before a certain time? If it's pre 10am that would help as I don't leave for work until then.

I might be able to get someone to take delivery most of Thursday but I'd rather be there myself.

If I do go for the Saturday delivery, should I order it now or wait until thurs/fri? If I order today but it doesn't ship until Fri do I get today's prices or the prices when it ships? Deal of the week bits etc?

I guess those are really webnotes based questions to OcUK direct but wondered if anyone knew?

Also anymore news on the rumors of possible CPU price cuts this month?

thanks again !

M.
 
Cheeky bump, as the forum seems a bit busier today. :)

Think I've pretty much convinced my self to go for the last spec I posted, still looking at the HDDs though. Might swap the 320GB for this...

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
£42.99(£50.51).

and maybe still swap the other as well. I mainly want fast drives but willing to sacrifice a bit of speed to avoid anything too loud.

M.
 
Cheers matty. Have been looking at those but are they the ones people have been getting duff ones of? All this talk of different glue colours and noisy drives is putting me off.
 
Right I'm going to do it, I think. :D

Going to have to go for a Saturday delivery so have until Friday morning to get the order in. Now wondering whether to order it now, as a couple of things are in the this week only offers, or wait and see what tomorrow's offers bring? Or leave it until the v.last minute to get the latest(lowest?) prices?

Other than that I think I'm fairly happy with the last spec I posted. Only things I'm unsure of and may change are the mem and HDDs. Though it looks like the GFX card i spec'd is currently out of stock. :( So may go for the Powercolor XT 256MB.

Help me OC-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!
 
Wait for the new 'this week only', make your mind up, order later tonight or first thing tomorrow, and have your new kit on Saturday! :D
 
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