check spec + a few questions

firestrike · 2 Jan 2009 at 00:12

So im nearly ready to order my new system, as below. I was just wondering if the people of overclockers would mind having a quick look at it.

I still have a few questions running around in my head:

1. is it worth me getting anouther drive to put the OS on?
2. is it worth getting faster ram
3. will this be I good setup to overclock the cpu (never OC'd before ^^)
4. will the PSU be sufficiant (I was specing a 4850 but that has problem with some of the programs I use)

thanks for any help you can give me.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler

Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800Mhz/PC2-6400 Memory GOLD DUAL CHANNEL Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-18)

Gainward GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

Corsair 450W VX Series PSU - ATX12V v2.2

Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB Hard Drive SATAII *32MB Cache* - OEM

Samsung SH-S223F 22X DVD±RW/RAM/DL Serial ATA Black Bare Drive - OEM

Cooler Master Elite 334 PC Case / Black

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit

total ~£650

vincent1989 · 2 Jan 2009 at 00:20

firestrike said:
So im nearly ready to order my new system, as below. I was just wondering if the people of overclockers would mind having a quick look at it.

I still have a few questions running around in my head:

1. is it worth me getting anouther drive to put the OS on?
2. is it worth getting faster ram
3. will this be I good setup to overclock the cpu (never OC'd before ^^)
4. will the PSU be sufficiant (I was specing a 4850 but that has problem with some of the programs I use)

thanks for any help you can give me.

looks good, i'd personally up the PSU, just to be on the safe side, a good quality 500-550.

of course it's worth getting faster ram, or an extra HDD if you consider the cost to be acceptable, i'd say yes for the HDD (just get a 30GB or something cheap) but the RAM is more than enough

and it should be fine for overclocking but i'd consider a noctua heat sink/ tuniq tower or others as opposed to the freezer 7, just for that extra bit of cooling.

95thrifles · 2 Jan 2009 at 09:06

Yeah look OK, agree you should up your PSU if you can, I wouldnt worry about the 2nd HDD personally, but the RAM you should go for, its dirt cheap at moment anyway. It should be fine for OC'ing though if you want a good OC you'd prob benefit from a better case with better airflow. If you can afford it go for the 260, dont know what your budget is though.

vincent1989 · 2 Jan 2009 at 09:11

95thrifles said:
Yeah look OK, agree you should up your PSU if you can, I wouldnt worry about the 2nd HDD personally, but the RAM you should go for, its dirt cheap at moment anyway. It should be fine for OC'ing though if you want a good OC you'd prob benefit from a better case with better airflow. If you can afford it go for the 260, dont know what your budget is though.

i disagree, 4GB is MORE than enough RAM, heck, 2GB is more than enough for most people, but having a single hard drive that size for everything is going to slow it down a lot

linktoinsanity · 2 Jan 2009 at 09:18

I disagree with vincent when it comes to getting something cheap as your primary OS drive, because cheaper drives are usually slower, so loading times will be higher and performance in windows may well suffer. However, getting a seperate hard drive for your OS is a good idea as if one drive fails, you don't lose everything. With regards to everything else, yeah looks good, maybe a more powerful PSU (as vincent says) would be on the safe side.

95thrifles · 2 Jan 2009 at 10:28

I wasnt suggesting more than 4gb of RAM, I was suggesting PC8500 as opposed to PC6400, should have been more clear maybe

vincent1989 · 2 Jan 2009 at 11:33

Mattf121 said:
I disagree with vincent when it comes to getting something cheap as your primary OS drive, because cheaper drives are usually slower, so loading times will be higher and performance in windows may well suffer. However, getting a seperate hard drive for your OS is a good idea as if one drive fails, you don't lose everything. With regards to everything else, yeah looks good, maybe a more powerful PSU (as vincent says) would be on the safe side.

i wasn't saying get a crap one, but more the a smaller (and therfore cheaper) hard drive would be good for the OS to boot from.

firestrike · 2 Jan 2009 at 23:48

Thanks for the help everyone! I have one last question, is the motherboard up to scratch, or rather is the chip as I see most people spec'ing p45 chips rather than the 43's or does it not really matter at this level.

95thrifles · 2 Jan 2009 at 23:53

The P45 would give you better OC ability but theres nothing wrong with the board you've chosen and in fact having just checked you can get a P45 one cheaper than that one so yes definately, the asus P5Q is good or if you prefer to stick with gigabyte go for the GA-EP45-UD3L, similar price to the asus

TerminatorUK · 2 Jan 2009 at 23:59

I'd definitely get a higher wattage PSU (best to always have too much than too little) but otherwise, it looks good!