Full system spec

Mortah

Mortah

Mortah

Associate
Joined
17 Apr 2006
Posts
149
Hey guys,

Just looking at buying a totally new system, it's been a while since I last performed any upgrades so I'm a little out of date on what's the best and where things are going. Also finding it a bit hard to find out whats going on as there are more and more options for each component!

So, I've scouted around and I think the following is best suited to what I want (gaming performance mainly)

AMD X2 3800+ £169.95
2x Maxtor MaxLine III NCQ 250GB £117.90
G.Skill 2GB CAS2 £129.95
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT £169.95
Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire £64.95
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Sound Card £15.95
Zalman Reserator1-Plus £152.95
2x OcUK Silentmaxx Aluminium Hard Drive Enclosure £59.90
Lian-Li PC60 case £69.95
Asus DRW-1608P2 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter £26.95
Enermax UC-A3FATR2 £10.95
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular £69.95

Total inc. vat: £1,244.68

So, few questions:

1. Does this look like a reasonable setup? Have I missed anything major / is there something conflicting

2. Do I need the hard drive enclosures? Has anyone used the maxtor drives and found they are quiet enough already?

3. Will I still need some fans in the case? Most of the heat will be getting taken out by the water cooling so I'm thinking that I probably need 1 fan running low-powered (hence the fan controller) in the case still just to take out extra heat.

3b. Is that water cooling compatible with what the graphics card?

4. Is that motherboard OK? Anyone know whether it has on-board sound or not? (Or can suggest an alternative that does!) Bearing in mind I want crossfire support for if I decide to add another card some time in the future.

5. I find that my current DVD drive makes the computer hellishly noisy when it gets going, any suggestions on quiet DVD drives? (Or ways to make them quiet!)

6. I already have a sapphire graphics card which I like. However, I'm curious as to whether or not anyone can suggest a better card than the sapphire one I've selected but still at about the same price (or cheaper)

7. Is the PSU I've selected the quietest I can get? I have a tagan at the moment and I like it, but can't tell how noisy it is due to the hard drives being really noisy in this machine. I don't like PSUs that vary the fan speed as I find I can switch off to constant noise but having them suddenly get noisier really bugs me!

Thanks for any advice :-)

Mortah
 
Welcome to the forums, all the parts are basically fine although I've little doubt you will be advised against the Maxtors. I'd save up a bit extra to get the 512mb X1800XT especially if you may be playing at high resolutions. I'd also change the DVDRW for either an NEC 4551 or a Pioneer 111.

2. I use 200gb Maxtors and other than when seeking I don't find them noisy but Samsung drives are supposedly quieter overall :)

3. My system has no fans other than the PSU and what is on the CPU and graphics card and I have no heat problems so you can probably run it fanless if you choose.

3B. Not a clue, sorry, if it includes fitments for an X1800XT then probably yes.

4. It has onboard sound(and quite a decent setup if memory serves) however some people have had issues with Crossfire motherboards, hopefully it is more teething issues than anything else.

5. Don't know, my NEC 3500 seems pretty quiet or maybe that is just it being drowned out by running a film from it.

6. The X1800XT cards are about the best value around at the moment.

7. Not totally sure, Seasonic have the reputation for being quietest but noise can be subjective i.e. what I can put up with you might not find acceptable.
 
The only manufacturer that seem to make the 512mb X1800XT are PowerColor, are they good?
Is it worth an extra 50 quid for the 512mb Powercolor one when compared against the Sapphire 256mb one?
 
Powercolor are a major ATI partner so the quality is good, 512mb is worth it particularly at high resolutions but if you don't want to spend (too) much on a graphics card then with the X1800XT 256mb you will still have a 7800GTX beater :)
 
I keep on thinking that myself when looking at it... but then I remember I'm putting water cooling on it (The Zalman) so have no need for a heatsink :-)

I think I'll be going for the Samsung spinpoint drives as they are cheaper and better in quite a few benchmarks!

I'm not actually going to be buying this for another four or five weeks (got exams to deal with first), I'm just planning ahead. Can anyone see anything changing (apart from price) in the next four or five weeks?
 
semi-pro waster said:
That is what the Reserator is there for :) I don't know what the Enermax thingy for ~£11 is though.
Click to expand...
oops, didn't see that. :o
That's a enermax fan controller and temp display.
 
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