Any Comments on Spec of £2,500 machine?

achitophel

achitophel

achitophel

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Hi

With apologies in advance (but I have checked and can't see any other threads sufficiently similar), I've also listed the spec for my new build below and any comments would be gratefully received.

Some general background:-

I have about £2,500 to play with (done a deal with the missus - she gets £2.5k to spend on new curtains! :) )

I leave my very old rig (2500+ Barton etc) for her to WP on etc, so I need a brand new PC, no parts available other than a spare DVD writer I already have lying around.

My general thoughts are to get a really good expandable rig now, spending money in areas like HDs, mobo etc, but go light on the CPU and GPU, and wait for quad-cores and G80s respectively to come out.

I generally am quite cautious when it comes to overclocking etc, since I tend to have more free money than time and so anything which can cause problems which takes time to fix or maintain generally isn't worth it for me - that said, a simple 2-3hrs spent at the start to get a decent performance uplift is something I'll spend time on (I also enjoy building machines from scratch occasionally, so the whole assembly bit isn't really much of a chore).

I really do like a quiet PC, and so overclocks that are loud or any parts generally that are load I'll avoid.

Bits I'm unsure on:-

PSU - could have gone for a more powerful one, but just not sure at this stage how much I'll need in the future, so tempted to wait until the power consumption of the next gen CPU/GPU becomes clearer. Could

WD Raptors - I intend to get these in Raid 0, but am a wee bit concerned about the noise they might make - anyone used these and found them very noisy. Most of the reviews say they are thereabouts with the 7200.10 for noise, and that I can tolerate.

Dell monitor - torn between this and the NEC MultiSync LCD20WGX2. Also considered a 4:3. Any views on how widely supported 1600 x 1050 is as a native resolution in games?

X1900 256MB - will this be powerful enough to run current crop of games in native res of 1600 x 1050 with most of the eye candy options enabled?

Proposed Spec

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £139.99
Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £269.99
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £97.99
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £164.99
Asus P5W64-WS Pro Intel 975X (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £159.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
£12.99
Western Digital Raptor X 150GB WD1500AHFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM £140.99 x2 = £281.98
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £44.99
Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU £61.99
Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU £69.99
AcoustiFan DustProof Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-005-AF) £15.95x2 = £31.90
Artic Cooling Accelero X2 Cooler (X1800/X1900 Series) £13.95

Subtotal £1,366.73
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £24.95
VAT £243.55
Total £1,635.23
 
Ok I'll bite, with £2,500 to play with you are way under budget, this can be fixed easily ;)

I'd probably suggest going for a 24" monitor assuming you have the space for it. In fact I'll just re-do the whole thing with what I'd go for. :)

Reasonings - you get a 24" monitor, the case you wanted, a very high quality(and quiet) PSU, the same Ram as before, a motherboard that works well with the faster chip, the graphics card is capable of running that monitor at native resolutions, the CPU cooler can potentially(I believe) be run passively. I've gone for Seagate 7200.10s as they aren't far off Raptor performance, offer far more space and I wouldn't bother Raiding them, it adds an extra layer of complication for what is not usually a huge benefit. I still haven't impinged on your budget that much so you can go for Crossfire if you feel the need.

MO-009-DE Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey (MO-009-DE)
£477.99 £477.99
CA-005-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU (CA-005-AK)
£69.99 £69.99
CA-004-CS Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) (CA-004-CS)
£99.99 £99.99
MB-152-AS Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS)
£134.99 £134.99
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
£164.99 £164.99
GX-050-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1950 XT-X SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR4 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-050-CO)
£249.99 £249.99
CD-044-NE NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-044-NE)
£19.99 £19.99
CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
£191.99 £191.99
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B Heatpipe CPU Cooler (478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA755) (HS-003-SY)
£29.99 £29.99
HD-078-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE)
£62.99 £125.98
Subtotal £1,565.89
VAT £274.04
Total £1,839.93
 
I have a 150GB Raptor and it is great, no noise at all. I tried to make my PC quiet, I have the Antec P180 case, A very quiet Seasonic PSU and the big Zalman CPU cooler and it is on 24/7 in my room.

I would wait for the new G80 and get a Quad Core CPU for best performance, no need to SLI, you can always add another at a later date (buy the wife some cushions). I have the Dell 2007WFP and it is amazing, with your budget the 24" is the best option.

The Nvidia Drivers and the Dell work nicely as it does 1:1 pixel mapping so if you can't run it at native res you can have at running at any other res you like with borders but some games look ok streched anyway. Also HDCP support for when you get a Blu Ray Drive as will the graphics card.
 
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2407 £600
E6700 £300
HIS IceQ X1900 Master + Slave £600
2Gb of uber mem £300
800+W PSU
P5W-DH E160
Coolermaster Stacker £150
TUniq Tower £40
150Gb Raptor = £200
320Gb Storage = £80

Hmm, what else... :p
 
semi-pro waster said:
Ok I'll bite, with £2,500 to play with you are way under budget, this can be fixed easily ;)

I'd probably suggest going for a 24" monitor assuming you have the space for it. In fact I'll just re-do the whole thing with what I'd go for. :)

Reasonings - you get a 24" monitor, the case you wanted, a very high quality(and quiet) PSU, the same Ram as before, a motherboard that works well with the faster chip, the graphics card is capable of running that monitor at native resolutions, the CPU cooler can potentially(I believe) be run passively. I've gone for Seagate 7200.10s as they aren't far off Raptor performance, offer far more space and I wouldn't bother Raiding them, it adds an extra layer of complication for what is not usually a huge benefit. I still haven't impinged on your budget that much so you can go for Crossfire if you feel the need.

MO-009-DE Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey (MO-009-DE)
£477.99 £477.99
CA-005-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU (CA-005-AK)
£69.99 £69.99
CA-004-CS Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) (CA-004-CS)
£99.99 £99.99
MB-152-AS Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS)
£134.99 £134.99
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
£164.99 £164.99
GX-050-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1950 XT-X SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR4 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-050-CO)
£249.99 £249.99
CD-044-NE NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-044-NE)
£19.99 £19.99
CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
£191.99 £191.99
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B Heatpipe CPU Cooler (478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA755) (HS-003-SY)
£29.99 £29.99
HD-078-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE)
£62.99 £125.98
Subtotal £1,565.89
VAT £274.04
Total £1,839.93
Click to expand...

Seriously, you cant fault that spec! Go for it!
 
semi-pro waster said:
Ok I'll bite, with £2,500 to play with you are way under budget, this can be fixed easily ;)

I'd probably suggest going for a 24" monitor assuming you have the space for it. In fact I'll just re-do the whole thing with what I'd go for. :)

Reasonings - you get a 24" monitor, the case you wanted, a very high quality(and quiet) PSU, the same Ram as before, a motherboard that works well with the faster chip, the graphics card is capable of running that monitor at native resolutions, the CPU cooler can potentially(I believe) be run passively. I've gone for Seagate 7200.10s as they aren't far off Raptor performance, offer far more space and I wouldn't bother Raiding them, it adds an extra layer of complication for what is not usually a huge benefit. I still haven't impinged on your budget that much so you can go for Crossfire if you feel the need.

MO-009-DE Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey (MO-009-DE)
£477.99 £477.99
CA-005-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU (CA-005-AK)
£69.99 £69.99
CA-004-CS Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) (CA-004-CS)
£99.99 £99.99
MB-152-AS Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS)
£134.99 £134.99
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
£164.99 £164.99
GX-050-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1950 XT-X SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR4 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-050-CO)
£249.99 £249.99
CD-044-NE NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-044-NE)
£19.99 £19.99
CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
£191.99 £191.99
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B Heatpipe CPU Cooler (478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA755) (HS-003-SY)
£29.99 £29.99
HD-078-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE)
£62.99 £125.98
Subtotal £1,565.89
VAT £274.04
Total £1,839.93
Click to expand...

as youve still got about 650 to play with add another 2 gigs of ram
(for xp64bit or vista) and get another dell 24 ultra, they would look
great together
 
Just a few ideas..

Another HDD and/or NAS to back up data especially with raid 0?
A bigger screen or if using it like a conventual (ie desk sitting) dual screens?
A nice water cooling setup is pretty cheap (£150-250) make it a bit quieter as well?

Good idea to not spend it all..
 
Wow! Well, thanks for all the feedblack guys

Some follow-up questions then if I may...

Semi-pro recommended the P5W DH Deluxe WiFi mobo - I did have a long hard think about that, but thought that the P5W64-WS Pro looked like the VRMs and 8-phase power might be a better long term bet, especially as I don't see myself using the bundled media stuff that comes with the P5W DH. Any other views on this?

Semi-pro also recommended the Scythe cooler - a very good option I'd completely omitted to consider. Only concern for me is 640g of metal hanging off a very expensive mobo, with an expensive CPU and GPU in the immediate vicinity. Anyone had these sort of problems with a really heavy cooler?

Someone also recommended watercooling - issue for me there is time and risk; I'm pretty useless with a dremel etc and am already considering getting the Allendale to tide me over till the quadcore comes; so is this a realistic option, given I may change both CPU and GPU (and maybe move to a crossfire solution anyway). Is there a decent watercooling option for around £150 - 200, designed for the clueless DIYer, easy to set-up and change over?

Lots of recommendations for the 24" TFT - I'd love it and do have room for it, but I was already concerned about running games at 1600 x 1050. What sort of hardware will I need to run stuff at 1900 x 1200, and is it feasible to go down this path if it means I'll need to be on a continuous upgrade cycle to ensure the latest games are playable at native res (more concerned about time spent messing about with hardware than cash, but both are a factor)

Finally on the HD - mixed views on the RAID 0 Raptors, iamgud, you mentioned that it is quiet - do you have much other noisy hardware like Delta fans on an aircooled massive overlock for example :). The alternative I was considering was a RAID 0 configuration using 2 samsung 250GBs, and maybe a RAID 1 config of 2 more Samsungs to back them up :)

Thanks again for all of the helpful comments to date, it really has been useful :D
 
It is an Opteron running at FX60 speeds. 2.6ghz on each core and the Zalman is very quiet, I have a 7900GTX that is also very quiet. the raptor is quieter than an old Maxtor 60GB IDE drive I have in there so yeah it really does seem fine, I wouldn't worry.

I went for the 20" because I can't afford SLI, if you were to buy that rig though you could easily just put another card in and make it SLI for the higher resolutions if you felt it was needed but all games work great on full graphics on this baby anyway.

I am looking at setting up Raid but it will be in a seperate Raid 5 box with 4 (or is it 3)500GB hard drives. :D i wouldn't bother Raiding the Raptors.
 
Personally I'd go for:
E6600 w/ Sythe Ninja (Overclock it like hell :D)
eVGA 7950GX2 (That way you can use the stepup program to upgrade to a G80 as you suggested)
Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Or the P5W64-WS Pro)
2GB Geil ultra low latency (Or 4GB if your planning to get Vista)

And personally assuming you want your PC to last a long time that 1920 x 1200 resolution is going to be hard to keep up with after a few years so I'd rather buy 2x2007WFP (That way you can just use the one monitor when your playing games - while the other is used for MSN etc. but when using the desktop you get advantage of two monitors 3300 pixels).

Thats only a personally opinion though and I have no experience of either so dont quote me on that. For 1920 x 1600 you almost certainly need SLI/Xfire.
 
I disagree with TopGun (sorry m8ty); my advice is to invest in a good quality wide-screen large monitor what ever you do; IMHO, a 20" widescreen does not cut the mustard (to small, especially with the budget you have). If you go WS, go for a 24" . The Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" is a good monitor and will drop down a couple of resolutions and look fine (you can pump up the AA/AF a tad if need be).
Maybe you could do a little research on it and others in the Monitor forum and get some feedback on what the users are saying. A quality monitor is about the only thing in a system that gives the most pleasure and tends to stand true through upgrade cycles...Your eyes deserve it. :)

I would say that it looks like graphic cards are now catching up with the latest game releases with all bells and whistles turned up...The hardware seems to be catching up with the software.

I also think it would be wise to wait for the a few weeks and see what the next gen DX10 ready graphic cards a saying.

Good luck either way

S!ap

PS
May I ask what you intend on using this new PC for(Games/sims/photo editing/admin etc)?
 
With that kinda budget to spend, Id almost expect to see a couple of raptors raided =D Not to mention a possible x-fire solution?

Edit: Just remembered that dx10 cards are coming out soon....scratch what I said about x-fire soultion :p
 
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Get the 24" monitor! I've got the Dell 2405 and I'm running it at native res in all my games using a 6800GT and A64 3500. With the specs you have there I don't think you will have any trouble in the forseable future running at 1920x1200 and full detail.

Panzer
 
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