Development machine spec

[S0rin]

Howdy,

I'm looking for a new PC for home use, mainly for software/website development but also some gaming.

At work (where I program software/websites) I use a brand new Dell duel core 2.66Ghz, 2GB ram machine where even that spec gets frustratingly sluggish with the amount of programs I end up running and I am looking to better than spec for my home machine.

I have searched the forums but most suggested specs seem to be aimed purely towards gaming so can anyone suggest a spec around the £650 mark for my requirements? Ive not noticed anyone suggest over 2gb of ram either which I am a bit confused at because thats the thing I think my work machine could benefit the most with because I end up running Visual Studio, SQL database + 3 other SQL related programs, a couple of web browsers and about a dozen notepads, then the usual mp3 player / instant messaging program.

Also I have no experience of overclocking but I would be interested in it.

Cheers in advance.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Welcome to the forums. Just about on the £650 mark, 4gb Ram, quad-core, reasonable graphics card and a fast 7200rpm drive plus a copy of Vista 64bit to access all the Ram. You could do a bit of overclocking but it is only on the stock cooler so you probably couldn't take it all that far without buying an aftermarket cooler.

OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Pioneer DVR-212D 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £17.99
(£21.14) £17.99
(£21.14)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) £56.99
(£66.96) £56.99
(£66.96)
Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £159.99
(£187.99) £159.99
(£187.99)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £36.99
(£43.46) £73.98
(£86.92)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS) £41.99
(£49.34) £41.99
(£49.34)
Sub Total : £538.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £96.23
Total : £646.09

 

[ByteJuggler]

Here's my suggestion:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) £56.99
(£66.96) £56.99
(£66.96)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £36.99
(£43.46) £73.98
(£86.92)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS) Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS) £41.99
(£49.34) £41.99
(£49.34)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £159.99
(£187.99) £159.99
(£187.99)
Samsung SH-S182MBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer LightScribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM Samsung SH-S182MBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer LightScribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Sub Total : £545.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £97.45
Total : £654.31

Chief different choices are:

Samsumg DVD writer instead of Pioneer, as it supports DVD-RAM in addition to the other formats, and also supports Lightscribe. To boot it costs a few quid less.

Gigabyte motherboard as it's also a proven clocker (so at least it won't stunt future overclocking attempts), and the particular model I list has firewire and e-Sata ports (the DS3R's don't have this) and 8 SATA ports and 1 PATA port. (The Abit IP35-E support only 4 SATA ports + 1 PATA, without IEEE1394 firewire.)

I would've preferred a slightly better case (with e.g. maybe Antec Sonata III 500W power supply minimum) but you should nevertheless be OK with that case. I would've possibly also preferred 2x2GB sticks of RAM as 2 sticks tend to clock slightly better than 4. But both of those wouldn't fit in the budget. (Note: Some of the items above are in "this week only", so you'd better jump if you want to get the system at that price.

 

[Teaf]

Welcome to the forums!

Those specs above are excellent. I'd personally go with semi pro's but I do prefer the motherboard that ByteJuggler has picked. If you got semi pro's with ByteJugglers motherboard choice you'll be at around £655 including delivery and should be very happy with that.

 

[S0rin]

Thanks a lot for the replys.

Think im will get the slightly better case as suggested by ByteJuggler as I can get vista free through Uni / Work.

Will get ordering in the next few days!