Anything wrong with this spec?

MrScott · 27 May 2008 at 17:52

Hi all,

I'm doing a partial-rebuild of my 3+ year old (!) machine and have come up with the following. Its main exercise will be photo editing in photoshop / lightroom, hardly any gaming at all. I am planning to clock it, but just to get some extra ooomph for my money rather than for benching / willy-waving so it doesn't have to be mental. Will be re-using my SATAII Hitachi Deskstar + 7800GT.

Also the cooler probably isn't the best but I chose it because it's quite flat - this is fitting in a desktop case and I have 10cm ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM height above the board to play with.

Anything wrong you guys can come up with? Anything which could vastly improve it without increasing price?

Ta, Scott.

sushi_fiesta_57 · 27 May 2008 at 19:02

It might be worth the extra £40 for an E7200, especially if you're not going to be overclocking. Also, I noticed that the motherboard you've picked is out of stock so if you want to get this in a rush you'll have to look at something else. Maybe one of the Abit IP35s or Asus P5Ks.

Ben M · 27 May 2008 at 19:09

If you want to buy now, I'd get an abit ip35-e

PhoenixUK · 28 May 2008 at 00:31

ye, get modular PSU and C4 ram.

MrScott · 28 May 2008 at 10:04

Hey guys thanks for the comments. Budget is pretty tight but I've managed to shift things around to come up with this:

The RAM I've replaced because the OCZ has the same timings etc but is cheaper, and I can't afford 4GB of C4 memory. I also decided I probably won't need more than 500W of power (right?) so I saved enough on the PSU to be able to upgrade to the wolfdale chip.

So, last couple of questions:

1) Anything wrong with OCZ PSUs I should know about?

and

2) Should I be able to get a a moderate (500Mhz+) clock out of that setup?

Ta, Scott.

semi-pro waster · 28 May 2008 at 10:28

1) I personally wouldn't put OCZ PSUs in the top tier but there is nothing inherantly wrong with them. If it fits the budget then go for it.

2) It will partly depend on the airflow within the case I'd guess but the parts are all capable anyway.

You may however want to check the voltage the Ram and motherboard boot at.

Wayne~ · 28 May 2008 at 11:47

I have the 600W version of that PSU and it works a treat, hardly any noise at all either

MrScott · 28 May 2008 at 11:52

Excellent, all looks OK then.

Just one thing I've noticed, I'm not sure if the Zalman will fit on that board - the Zalman is 120mm diameter and the chipset heatsinks on the board are pretty tall / fairly close to the socket. Anyone know for sure if it'll fit?