Few questions about my new comp.

kashaf · 5 May 2009 at 21:48

Hi! These are my computer specs:

£164.99 - AMD Phenom X40 3.0GHz Black Edition Processor
£29.36 - Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme CPU Cooler
£44.84 - Gigabyte GA-MA790X DS4 Motherboard
£43.98 - GeIL 1066MHz 4x1gb DDR2 Black Dragon Evo Memory
£99.99 - Coolermaster HAF 932 Case
£123.77 - Hiper 880W Black 5K880 TypeR II 85% Efficient PSU - 8x Integrated USB Ports
£69.99 - 2x 500gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache on RAID-0 Configuration
£54.99 - 1x 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
£224.45 - HIS HD 4890 Fan TURBO Edition 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
£199.99 - Samsung T240 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor
£19.99 - 20x DVDRW +/- Lightscrive IDE Drive
£76.99 - Logitech Z Cinema Advanced Surround Sound System
£34.99 - Microsoft Wireless Laser 3000 Desktop (Keyboard + Mice)

First of all:
1. What do you think about the system. Anything you would have done different?
2. What do you think about the power supply. Specification wise it looks excellent. I'm a bit concerned since I couldn't find any reviews on it on the net so I don't know its pros and cons. It is 950w with everything you ever need including PCI-E connectors etc and its modular. Best thing it was only just over £75. Here is the manufacturer link but it doesn't seem to help much. http://www.compucase-hec.co.uk/psu_arctic_power_950.htm
3. What do you think about the CPU cooler? It looks beastly. Any better ones around which are worth it. What about a LCS, which would you recommend?
4. Are there any good keyboard/mouse around for media/gaming which are affordable. I've alread spent too much. The most annoying thing about thyis desktop set is that I can't forward/rewind a song. This set is more office oriented.

siumatfung · 5 May 2009 at 21:54

PSU is overkill

Kennysevenfold · 5 May 2009 at 21:55

siumatfung said:
PSU is overkill

And a crap brand

satriani1412 · 5 May 2009 at 21:56

Welcome

Looks decent, as for doing anything different it depends on what you use it for.
And your sig is a wee bit big

jak731 · 5 May 2009 at 21:56

not gone with the seagate 7200.11 history of bad firmware and lots dying

satriani1412 · 5 May 2009 at 21:57

+

Is it just me or is the grille on that PSU bent on the picture?
reeaaaaaaally reassuring is that :rolleyes:

Never heard of the brand either tbh

RJC · 5 May 2009 at 22:00

I use the following keyboard and mouse

The PSU seems far to cheap for a 950w, a good brand psu with 520w ~ would be enough.

satriani1412 · 5 May 2009 at 22:02

RJC said:
I use the following keyboard and mouse

The PSU seems far to cheap for a 950w, a good brand psu with 520w ~ would be enough.

that keyboard is just.....which way do i f'ing look at it RJ :eek:

take it its comfortable?

RJC · 5 May 2009 at 22:06

satriani1412 said:
that keyboard is just.....which way do i **** look at it RJ
take it its comfortable?

Very comfortable, that's what I thought

Did use the Saitek Eclipse 2 which I did not like at all, mum has that now.

satriani1412 · 5 May 2009 at 22:14

I reckon id get some sort of vision sickness using that. The crazy ergonomic keyboards when i was at college were nice to use though, really curvy getting towards vertical on the left hand.

Would you recommend the one youve got?

RJC · 5 May 2009 at 22:32

satriani1412 said:
I reckon id get some sort of vision sickness using that. The crazy ergonomic keyboards when i was at college were nice to use though, really curvy getting towards vertical on the left hand.

Would you recommend the one youve got?

I would, had mine for about 6 months ~ looking at the picture it seems to over compensate on the curvy-ness

satriani1412 · 5 May 2009 at 22:44

:O that looks pretty cool actually, only 6 months though?
What have you replaced with?

RJC · 5 May 2009 at 22:48

satriani1412 said:
:O that looks pretty cool actually, only 6 months though?
What have you replaced with?

Sorry, just read what I posted above, I'm still using it as my main keyboard

Been using it for 6 months and still enjoy typing on it

Doctor_Zhivago · 5 May 2009 at 22:59

Cherry keyboard's are the best, they made in Germany not some communist slave shop in china of 13 year old boys

satriani1412 · 5 May 2009 at 23:01

I couldnt care if carefully trained caged animals made them as long as it works

I dub this thread: Few questions about my new comp and general peripheral discussion

StevenRaith · 6 May 2009 at 00:12

Doctor_Zhivago said:
Cherry keyboard's are the best, they made in Germany not some communist slave shop in china of 13 year old boys

I'm having difficulty working out if this is a politically charged statement, or nothing less than pure sarcasm - every piece of Cherry hardware I have used has been nasty and cheap. Mind you, last one was a few years ago.

There again, currently typing on a Hiper alloy keyboard. Previously enjoyed the MS Natural keyboards, and I like the look of the one RJ posted.. So maybe I'm just nuts.

kashaf · 9 May 2009 at 13:10

Well I've upgraded a few things and thank you all for your suggestions. Here are the changes.

- The new Hiper 880w PSU is f*ing awesome. It has 8 USB ports at the back and is part modular and comes in a very cool tool box.

- Upgraded the processor to 3.2GHz AM3 Boo Ya. Upgraded the Motherboard to ASUS AM3 but its still a 790GX

.

-Got rid of the hard drives and got a 2tb Western Digital 64MB CACHE (woah).

- got rid of HIS GFX card but got powercolor one instead. its like 50 pounds cheaper.

- with am3 i needed ddr3 memory so i got OCZ reaper 2x2gb.

- the logitech z-cinema speakers are awwwesome and go really nicely with the black samsung t240 24" monitor.

Check out the specs in my signature. What do you guys think now? any comments or suggestions?

Cristian · 9 May 2009 at 13:47

it's not like the hiper psu isn't gonna last a lifetime or that it doesn't look good,it's just
1. you don't need that much power
2. you could have gotten better stuff for that money

rest of the spec looks ok.
I'd never spend that much on those poor logitechs, but I will admit they look good and heck if you're happy with them then just enjoy.

kashaf · 9 May 2009 at 14:12

do you know any alternate speaker system which are better that the logitech z cinema for around 75 quid?

about the psu i went crazy hehe

Cristian · 9 May 2009 at 15:46

Well I'd honestly look for a second hand Cambridge A1 and some decent bookshelves.
But if you want to stick to computer speakers I'd try to push the budget a bit and get these.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-000-AE&groupid=702&catid=22&subcat=
very popular. I know they're a bit more, but £75 is a bit of weird budget, meaning that you won't find much improvement compared to £50 speakers, but spending 25 more definitely makes a difference.