Check my new rig please

Dist · 28 Dec 2007 at 03:30

Little bit of info about my choices, I went for the WRT54GL router due to the ablity to use custom firmware, hopefully once thats installed ill have enough room for a IRC proxy.

The CPU may not be the fastest but i dont intend to spend money on a realy good CPU now when the penryns are just a couple months away, which is also why i choose this motherboard, for the penryn support. Same deal with the graphics card, i dont intend to SLI, nor spend out on a 1 year old 8800gtx for slightly better performance when the 9 series cards should be within 3-5 months away, which should also hopefully be supported on this motherbaord due to PCI-express 2.0

HDD and PSU was a hard choice as there are a few decent ones out there, but 500gb is enough for me as i also have a 120gb IDE drive i can use if i even run low on space. Some may suggest to me a lower watage PSU, but seasonic is a good brand from what i hear, and 700w future proofs me a bit for penryns and the 9 series geforce cards.

Vista home premium is a gamble im willing to take, i feel if im going to upgrade i may as well plan for the future, i know it has issues with some things but im hoping that will be improved on, and its cheaper then xp profession. (Also, i have checked a comparrison and home premium is what i want, i dont need the ultimate features like bitlocker, but i do want the extra features that home basic lacks)

As for the ram, after reading reviews it seems to be great ram, running at amazing timings for 2x2gb sticks, and overclocks well. My main concern is that there may be some issues with the heatsink possibly hitting long cards, like a 8800 GT, or possibly conflicting with the tuniq tower heatsink.

Linksys WRT54GL 54Mbps Open Source Wireless Cable Router
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail
Asus DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black/Silver) - Retail
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)
Lian-Li PC-A70B Aluminium Tower Case (Black)
Seasonic M12 Modular 700W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
Asus Maximus Formula Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz ReaperX HPC Enhanced Bandwidth Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPX800EB4GK)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788)
Scythe Kama-Meter Multi Functional Controller

Sub Total : £885.88
Shipping : £12.95
VAT : £157.30
Total : £1,056.13

jak731 · 28 Dec 2007 at 03:35

maybe get a e2180 and OC it to 3+ghz, then have more money to get penryn later?

seasonic are a good brand so i say stick with the PSU if you can afford it.

Dist · 28 Dec 2007 at 03:39

jak731 said:
maybe get a e2180 and OC it to 3+ghz, then have more money to get penryn later?

seasonic are a good brand so i say stick with the PSU if you can afford it.

A E2xxx cpu was infact my first choice, for the reason you mentioned, but im a bit worried about its ability to cope with vista. Also would a E2xxx be ok for gaming, like COD4 and crysis untill penryns come out? the 8800GT should hold out fine till the 9 series, as my current monitor only supports 1280x1024 max (its a realy old CRT).

jak731 · 28 Dec 2007 at 03:42

there will be little if any difference in vista, difference may appear when encoding but not in vista.

Dist · 28 Dec 2007 at 03:47

ok, ive updated my original post for a E2180. saves a bit of money, i hope they will work well when overclocked as i havnt paid a great deal of attention to the OC potential of cpus other then the Q6600 and the penryns.

jak731 · 28 Dec 2007 at 03:49

the e2180 reaches 3+ghz quite easily due to its 10x multiplier, and is the most highly recommended dual core CPU on the forum at the moment.

Dist · 28 Dec 2007 at 16:07

well i just placed an order for the case and router, as the case was down to 1 remaining, and the router is now down to just 2 (was 7 at start of the day). It was a right pain tbh, much worse then my previous orders. Both me and my fathers card did not work when ordering online, it came up with something about denied by payment processor or something. In the end it had to be a phone order, which realy sucks as i now have no info if the order is successfull (as the case shows as out of stock, and im not sure if thats because i took the last remaining, or some1 else did) and i have no idea of delivery/order status.

Because of this im starting to question wether i should order the rest of my stuff here at OcUK, or take my money elsewhere. This is a lot of hassle to go through just to place a order, and trying to order a ton of parts, like the ones i will need, over the phone will be time consuming and annoying. Not to mention i refuse to give my card details over the phone so my father will have to place the order for me with his card.

Dist · 30 Dec 2007 at 13:16

Ok im going to start ordering the parts today/tommorow, any chance i could get a few more people to look over my spec please and see what you think.

Dist · 31 Dec 2007 at 15:04

Well today i recieved my case and router, and unfortunatly, the case was damaged, and thanks to it being a rare case in this country, and last in stock (both here at OcUK and at competitors) i have no choice but to live with it or put by build off for a month or 2, which is not possible as i need the computer for study work.

The extend of the damage is that the front panel is dented inwards at the top and to the right, It being an aluminium case i managed to bend it back so its hardly noticible, but even so, its not perfect, and its unlikely the drives will sit flush to the front pannel.
Also, one of the blanking plates that covers empty drive bays was sevearly bent inwards, now this isnt realy a big problem as i dont need all the plates, as 2 of them wont be needed due to drive bays being there, but this dramaticaly lowers any resale value should i decide to sell the case on in later years.

The box itself seems un damaged, just lots of packing tape around the sides, and some slightly damaged corners but nothing that wouldnt be expected from a heavy box being transported. On the inside though, the foam material used to hold the case in place was destroyed on one edge (the edge where the front face was damaged).