Complete PC Spec, advice please =)

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Hi there my first post is pretty demanding i know but i would really like some help :) I'm going to uni next year and need a new rig to see me through, here's what i'm thinking:-

Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS (£56.39)
Intel DP965LT Mo/Bo (£82.24) <---- least sure about
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (£215.01)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (£173.89)
HIS ATI Radeon X1950 XT ICEQ3 Turbo Silent Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 (£196.21)
Samsung SpinPoint T HD401LJ 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache (£85.76)
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro (£84.59)
LiteON LH-20A1P 20xDVD+-RW (£25.13 x 2)
OCZ ModStream 520W ATX2.2 Power Supply (£58.74) <---- big enough?

Any comments and suggestions are more than welcome and gladly accepted :) Do you think this rig will last 3 years at uni without significant upgrades? Many thanks
 
Welcome to the forums, what sort of resolutions do you play at and do you intend to overclock? Also do you have a good speaker system? If not then the X-Fi might be slightly wasted and the money better spent elsewhere.

Depending on the resolutions you play at and how high you have the settings then you could make it last I'm sure but how happy you'd be might be a different matter.

Final thing is that from what you have specified the PSU will have enough power. :)
 
will this involve gaming on it or jus studying :D if you do wants games and stuff then i think i should suggest up grading the gfx card to an 8800gts. normally i would say the card you have chosen would be fine it will play anything out at the momnet. how ever you have mentioned you dont really want ti upgrade anything significantly of wich the gfx is the priciest. and 3 years is a long time for gfx.
 
Aelred89 said:
Intel DP965LT Mo/Bo (£82.24) <---- least sure about
For that money I'd forget that board and get something a bit more poplar like the Gigabyte DS3 or DS4.

EDIT: I'd also look into getting an OEM CPU (it won't include a cooler) and using a high-quality, low-priced CPU cooler like the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.
 
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Atm i use a resolution of 1280x768, in game i use 1024x768 usually (my x600 cant handle much more :rolleyes: ) And i dont plan on overclocking for the time being, the main reason is that i dont know where to start! lol
Is the Gigabyte DS3/4 that much superior to the Intel?

EDIT: I'm going for the retail CPU as i want the 3 year warrenty as apposed to 1 year on the OEM. I'll get a different CPU cooler though :) Although, don't these C2D processors run pretty cool, so its not esential right away?
 
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Aelred89 said:
Atm i use a resolution of 1280x768, in game i use 1024x768 usually (my x600 cant handle much more :rolleyes: ) And i dont plan on overclocking for the time being, the main reason is that i dont know where to start! lol
Is the Gigabyte DS3/4 that much superior to the Intel?

EDIT: I'm going for the retail CPU as i want the 3 year warrenty as apposed to 1 year on the OEM :)

Get a new monitor. There are good 19" Widescreen monitors available.
 
The BIOS options offered by the Gigabytes are definitely worth changing the spec. The community around them is large and active and I think they'll have quite a fanbase for years to come.

C2Ds do run fairly cool but like any other CPU the heat goes up as soon as you start cranking up the vCore. An aftermarket cooler will run cooler and quieter than the factory one.
 
For £1,000 I think you can just about do it, the graphics card is totally overkill at present for the resolutions the monitor is capable of but in 3 years time probably won't be. I'd change to the OEM CPU and aftermarket cooler such as the Arctic Freezer 7 if considering overclocking, I don't think the warranty issue makes much odds personally as most components will fail in the first year or not for a long time in my experience.

Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £42.99
(£50.51) £42.99
(£50.51)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £244.99
(£287.86) £244.99
(£287.86)
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £105.99
(£124.54) £105.99
(£124.54)
OcUK Value Hanns-G HW191D 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver £124.99
(£146.86) £124.99
(£146.86)
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU £66.99
(£78.71) £66.99
(£78.71)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £147.99
(£173.89) £147.99
(£173.89)
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86)
Sub Total : £835.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
Vat : £148.55
Total : £997.42

//edit or slight re-jig to get a better PSU and a different but solid case.

Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £42.99
(£50.51) £42.99
(£50.51)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £244.99
(£287.86) £244.99
(£287.86)
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £105.99
(£124.54) £105.99
(£124.54)
OcUK Value Hanns-G HW191D 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver £124.99
(£146.86) £124.99
(£146.86)
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £124.99
(£146.86) £124.99
(£146.86)
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU £28.99
(£34.06) £28.99
(£34.06)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Sub Total : £834.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
Vat : £148.38
Total : £996.24
 
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Thanks for everyones input :) However my dad isn't too keen me taking an expensive PC up to uni :mad: I need to start a new post about upgrading my current rig :(
 
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