Critique my spec please...

666weasel

666weasel

666weasel

Associate
Joined
30 Oct 2008
Posts
5
Hello all, first post here I know, but I have been lurking for a while before signing up and I am about to order parts for my first ever build, will be upgrading from an old pentium four 3.2ghz with a single Gb of ram and a truly poor video card runing XP SP3.

The machine I have specced out will be for Vista 64bit this time as I wont have money for a newer computer for a long time to come after this, my budget is £700 max though, haha, I can be persuaded to go up to £800 for something reasonably futureproof and special! Not a gamer really, GTA Vice City is the last PC game I bought, though a rig that can handle some light gaming would encourage me to get more into it.

The PC needs to be all things to all people, some video encoding but no need for a quad core monster, lots of photoshopping, want to run twin monitor setup for online text based gaming and various other apps that use screen real estate. Music and watching video will also be on the menu. I will be interested in experimenting with overclocking so hopefully my spec isnt too terrible, I am open to any suggestions you may have if you would be so kind.

My budget also includes mouse mat, keyboard and mouse and a decentish budget monitor, I am not really into the most perfect of graphics, viewable is good enough, the latest is too expensive and will most likely go underused, my budget also needs to include shipping.

Whew, writing a book here, sorry, heres the spec!

Antec Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case (£38.76)

Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU (£49.34)

Abit IP43 Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£70.49)

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB) (£58.74)

Arctic Cooling Freezer XTREME CPU Cooler (£31.71)

2X OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (£75.18)

HIS ATI Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Turbo 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) (£64.61)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache (£38.76)

Pioneer DVR-216BK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (£19.96)

2X Xilence XPF120R Red Wing 120mm Quiet Fan (£14.08)

2X Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable (£9.38)

Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 (£25.84)

Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Surface (£11.74)

Logitech X-210 2.1 Speaker System (£23.49)

Samsung SM-2253BW Aqua 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor (£152.74)

Total : £710.05
 
Last edited:
Swap the OCZ for a Corsair AX450 PSU.

Any reason for the the Hiper 120mm case fans - OCUK stock better & quieter fans for less (yate loons for example.)

Artic cooling Freezer 7 is OK but the fan is noisy at high speed, I'd get a cooler with a 120mm fan if you are planning on overclocking.
 
It looks a pretty good value build to me. In fact its very similar to my new build. Like the previous post said, a Corsair PSU would better. Ive been looking at the 550w Corsair VX Series. //edit. Is that price right for the OCZ RAM?
 
Last edited:
I modified the psu, cooler and extra case fans in line with Grimleys kind advice, can anyone see a problem with my mobo and graphics card choices, they are my main worries now down to a lack of experience, and yes, the ram comes in 4gb kits, I am ordering two, the quoted price in my spec list is for both, incredible value no?
 
Sorry, didn't see the x2. :) If you spend another £43 you can get a Samsung SM2253 BW Aqua 22" Screen at around £152 on TWO.
 
That monitor seems incredibly good for the price so I updated my spec to have that instead.

Loving the advice, looking to order it all by tomorrow night, so if anyone wants to offer an opinion or a tweak on this spec still I would be very appreciative, getting excited to have the bits ordered and get it built now!
 
Last edited:
Are you planning to overclock?

You could get the E8400 CPU and upgrade the GFX card to an ATI 4850 and still keep it under £800.
 
Ok I have arrived at a final spec, last chance to tell me I'm making a mistake :)

Antec Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case (£38.76)

Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU (£49.34)

Abit IP43 Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£70.49)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) (£123.36)

Arctic Cooling Freezer XTREME CPU Cooler (£31.71)

2X OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (£75.18)

Asus GeForce 9600 GT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) (£82.24)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache (£38.76)

Pioneer DVR-216BK 20x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (£19.96)

2X Xilence XPF120R Red Wing 120mm Quiet Fan (£14.08)

2X Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable (£9.38)

Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 (£25.84)

Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Surface (£11.74)

Logitech X-210 2.1 Speaker System (£23.49)

Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset (£22.31)

Samsung SM-2253BW Aqua 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor (£152.74)

Total : £814.87 including shipping

That should more than take care of my needs and not grow obsolete too quickly I hope!

The rig I have specced should be fine for overclocking, multi-tasking and gaming at the level I participate right now....I might even buy a copy of CoD4!

If I get more into gaming perhaps the rig will get a graphics upgrade in a while, but for now I have more than blown my budget, so please tell me I'm not making any massive boo boos and I'll get it ordered tonight!
 
beefybarn said:
You shouldnt need the sata cables as you should get them supplied with the motherboard.
Click to expand...

a tenner saved is a tenner earned, cheers beefy!

EDIT : Actually I'm having a bit of a wobble before ordering now, for best futureproofing at the level of power Intel chips can currently provide once OC'd will I be better off with the E8400 or a Q6600 in this build, changing nothing else? Like I said the machine will be doing some of everything and graphiocs will be upgraded mid next yeat so thats all sorted...

Honest, thats my last question, if someone would be so kind as to convince me I shall order within the hour at last... :)

EDIT (again!) I see the 8400 is probably a better choice for now, when newer quads come down in price a little I may make the leap, thank you to everyone that convinced me to part with more cash :) the advice was invaluable and this forum very informative if you read enough threads!
 
Last edited:
Excellent :)

I think the E8400 is the most sensible choice IMO. The E8400 will run cooler, use less energy, is cheaper and can overclock very well.

Enjoy it. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom