custom again or pre built :S

Dave85

Dave85

Dave85

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18 Jan 2004
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After building several of my last pcs custom from ocuk parts and having nothing but trouble eg, motherboard that was doa and a x1800xt that was also doa im starting to wonder is it realy worth it?

After having a look at the dell website which I never in a million years thought I would contemplate I see the xps range and they do indeed seem very high spec but a tad overpriced.

I recently recieved £1500 from insurance for a new pc so can someone look over my proposed specs below and advise if

A. they will all work together as in compatible and right ram etc.
B. are there any know issues with x1950xt and asus boards as I think im jinxed

Or should I be a scared noob and go buy a pre built dell and know its going to work when I take it out the box lol.

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1950 XT-X SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR4 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM
Lian-Li PC V2100 PLUS Silver Aluminium Full-Tower (No PSU)
Hiper HPU-4M670 Type R 670W ATX2.2 PSU - Black

Total £1,292.80

So leaves me some change for another a lcd widescreen :D
 
I would definately go for a custom build everytime. Does OCUK not have an 'assembled' option for customers that do not want the hassle, like u talking about. It may cost a bit more, but at least it will work first time. As far as your spec goes, id drop the wd hdd and go for the 320 seagate 7200.10. The only other thing i can think of that might give hassles is the soundcard, but someone whos got one might be able to give details
 
custom mate !
there are a couple issues with OEM X-fis, id start to ponder the retail version if i were you.

and do you need soem kind of extra bezzel for the CD drive in that case? im really not sure if you do or not, just somethign that made me click.
 
cheers guys, moneys burning in a nice hole in my acount, al go for the retail version of fatality soundcard instead :p

Also shall get the seagate aswell. any other suggestions? with regards to the bezel the case has a big door so dont know if al need a bezel ?
 
Since you've got the cash I'd agree with the above suggestions but I'd also change to a different PSU, you could get an Enermax Noisetaker 600w, an FSP Epsilon 600w, a Seasonic S12 600w or a Corsair 520w for about the same sort of price and all would be better PSUs I believe.

I'd also consider spending the £25 or so extra on the Geil PC6400 as it has better timings.
 
Yeh was looking at psu and was thinking of tagan 700 watt is it a better psu or is the others u have listen better, never touchin an antec again lol
 
DAvE18 said:
retail version of fatality soundcard instead
Click to expand...

Good choice. You've got the x-ram with that too so you can't really lose out.

I think you would be better off going for a 80 or 120 gig seagate for your OS and another drive of around 200 gigs or more (sticking to seagate) for your downloads etc. I'm always pulling files about and its nice to keep the fragmentation free from the OS drive, plus if one drive dies at least part of your data is protected.

I've had very good experience with seagate baracuda's, have had 3 of them infact. One of which is getting on a bit now but still runs quite happily in my xbox.

Remember to keep reciepts and send off any warranty forms you can and you'll be better supported than any Dell out there.

Not much else I can really think of tbh.. have you allowed for keyboard and mouse and possibly sound too (as in speakers)?
 
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I quite like Tagan PSUs but I have heard that quality recently is a bit variable and that they are built by Topower so I didn't suggest them because I wasn't sure how much better than the Hiper they would be. :)
 
Was thinking al go for the 600watt enermax gets great reviews. also with the hard drives would I be better going for a 74gb raptor just for windows etc and then just keep all my other hard drives seperate for storage.
 
DAvE18 said:
Was thinking al go for the 600watt enermax gets great reviews. also with the hard drives would I be better going for a 74gb raptor just for windows etc and then just keep all my other hard drives seperate for storage.
Click to expand...

The raptor is a matter of preference. It'll certainly be speedy for the OS, but by no means a neccesary expenditure. I say get a 7200 rpm and put the rest towards accessories or a nice screen.
 
Thats it all orderd, should be here tomorrow :D :D had to get soundcard elsewhere out of stock on ocuk :(
 
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