Final Spec checks

Tunez

Tunez

Tunez

Associate
Joined
1 Jun 2007
Posts
258
Came up with this spec for a new build, the main priority being future proof on a budget of around £650 to £750. Decided against upping my budget to include i7 as this pc will be mainly used for games and the odd bit of music production (got a mac for that mostly). Just checking that everything is compatible or if you can make any improvements.

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £149.98

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 XT 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (Includes Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.) £139.99

Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £107.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (66I-03525) £99.99

Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) £71.98

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3P13334GK) £46.99

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £44.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £37.98

Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99

A few questions:

What will the processor overclock to?
Will this max out everything in the games market at the moment?
Is there any need for 8gb ram?

Thanks, hoping to order this tomorrow morning and advise would be greatly appreciated.
 
there shouldn't be much need for 8GB, but I would really advise you to ditch vista, and download windows 7, you won't regret it mate.

aside from that looks good
 
Spec looks pretty good :)

Overclock, you will be limited by the stock cooler, but not sure what max overclock is.

The setup should runs games at good frame rate but that will depend on what res your running at.

Stick with 4gb, you can always add some at a later date.
 
Minato said:
there shouldn't be much need for 8GB, but I would really advise you to ditch vista, and download windows 7, you won't regret it mate.

aside from that looks good
Click to expand...

How would I go about installing windows 7 on a new build? Are there any major known compatibility issues with windows 7?

I thought there wouldn't be a need to overclock in the near future, i'll add a different cooler when the time comes.

Also do I need that PSU or could I maybe go for a "OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Moular Power Supply"?

Thanks

Edit: I am currently running vista on my current computer, however it is the large manufacturers oem copy of vista. If I put this hdd in the computer until windows 7 comes would that work?
 
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Tunez said:
How would I go about installing windows 7 on a new build? Are there any major known compatibility issues with windows 7?
Click to expand...

You shouldn't have any major hassles installing/using win 7.

Here's the direct link for Win 7 64 bit - link (once it's downloaded burn the image to a dvd and your ready to go)

However, you must right click the link and choose save as - if you left click the link it will redirect you to the W7 homepage.

And these are the 64 bit keys that you need - any will do:

Code: 
MT39G-9HYXX-J3V3Q-RPXJB-RQ6D7
P72QK-2Y3B8-YDHDV-29DQB-QKWWM
MM7DF-G8XWM-J2VRG-4M3C4-GR27X
9JBBV-7Q7P7-CTDB7-KYBKG-X8HHC
KBHBX-GP9P3-KH4H4-HKJP4-9VYKQ
MVBCQ-B3VPW-CT369-VM9TB-YFGBP
C43GM-DWWV8-V6MGY-G834Y-Y8QH3
6F4BB-YCB3T-WK763-3P6YJ-BVH24
MVBCQ-B3VPW-CT369-VM9TB-YFGBP
GPRG6-H3WBB-WJK6G-XX2C7-QGWQ9

EDIT:
Tunez said:
Also do I need that PSU or could I maybe go for a "OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Moular Power Supply"?
Click to expand...

I would, personally, stick with the Corsair for it’s quality and reputation - but if money is tight then the OCZ will do the job just fine.
 
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Lol - nice spec. I've just built something very similar.

Re future proofing - if you potentially plan to Crossfire remember that the UD4P's first PCI-e is 16x but if you add a second it will be x8. For dual 16x you would need the UD5P or the MSI or Asus deluxe AM3 boards.

Agree that W7 RC 64bit is the way to go. No real point in paying double the £50 initial W7 offer price (15 July-) for a few months Vista usage...
 
Is the msi a bit overkill for my needs or is it worth it? Ill never use 4 pci-e x16 slots... but if its still worth getting ill get it.
 
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