Help Required - New or Build or Semi Build

ShaggyRS6

ShaggyRS6

ShaggyRS6

Associate
Joined
11 Jan 2009
Posts
981
Location
Kent UK & New Jersey USA
Hi everyone,

I have been an OCUK customer since they got going back in the day and have been entirely happy with the service recieved.

My last full system, the one which I am still using today is/was the "Ultima" AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (400FSB) System. I have been having some problems of late, and if you will let me, I will give a detailed overview of where I am.

Now i used to know what i was talking about when it comes to PC's in fact i used to review bits and bobs for various mags, those days are long gone and it seems i know nothing nowadays, so I need some help :)

The system comprises of the following:

AMD Athon 64 FX-60
Asus A8R-MVP Mobo
2 x 1GB Corsair Memory 200Mhz DRAM
2 x ATI x1900 Crossfire Video Cards
Asaka Case
Plextor DVD Writer
Sound Blaster Fatality X-Fi Platinum Soundcard

Not a bad system from back in the day you will agree. I have really been noticing a slow down in its performance. I had to replace the 2 Raptors and cos money was tight got a Seagate 7200RMP drive, its horrid and slow, but I have managed to live with it. I guess this all came to a head when I started to play Microsoft FSX and to a point Warhammer. The machine is just not enough to handle FSX and it just about manages Warhammer. I like to have the GFX settings high and have as much detail as poss, but I am just not able to do so.

Sometimes Crossfire wont enable, not sure if thats one of the cards on its way out or not. I also have an older OCUK system that my son uses. thats given up the ghost so I want to maybe pass this one down and get something that will handle FSX and Warhammer.

Now, like the rest of the world I am skint and going through a seperation, so funds are tight. Normally I would have just bought the £4k system on the OCUK site. That is not not gonna happen ATM, so I am asking a bit of advice on what the best option is to satisfy my needs.

1. Could I upgrade the components in the machine I have? Is that a real viable soloution?
2. Should I build a new machine from scratch? If so, could you help me with the components?
3. I see the Dominator is at a good price http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-023-OE , would it be any cheaper or less hassle to get that, its a lot of money I dont have, but if needs must.

Any help and advice you can give would be very much appreciated.

Lee "Shaggy" Shand
 
Youre not going to be able to salvage much of what you've got I'm afraid, you're going to need a new build
No problem helping with the spec, but what sort of budget have you got in mind? What are the main uses going to be? just gaming? or other things as well? And what about what monitor you have/what resolution you use? and are you planning on upgrading this anytime in the near future?
 
Hi mate, thanks for the quick reply. I dont need monitors. I have 2 Samsung Syncmaster 226BW from OCUK last year.

The PC is just for games and photo editing. I use a Macbook Pro for email word processing.

Budget, well as cheap as I can go without doing away with quality. At a push i would probably take that Dominator PC as it looks ok? But if poss could build it myself if it came in cheaper.
 
This you could build yourself and would be better and cheaper than the dominator, more RAM, much better gfx card and you can OC the processor to run just as fast, hows it look to you
i7system.jpg

I've included the Blu ray player/DVD re-writer but if you werent fussed about the blu ray you can knock another £60 off

To give the dominator the same RAM/gfx/case/OS would make the dominator 2430.95, youre saving over £700 building it yourself
 
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Thanks. I assume this will be up to playing FSX? It looks as thought it is. Also I note there is no sound card. I assume I can use my Fatality?

Thanks for taking the time. Mucho appreciated.
 
You can, tho the mobo will come with built in sound which nowadays is enough for most peoples needs
Sufficed to say this will handle anything you throw at it, anything
 
Shady youre right but the 920 (and 940) only supports 1333, to use the 1600 you'd need an extreme chip, which is silly expensive, though there'd certainly be nothing wrong with getting this RAM it just wouldnt actually run faster
 
All the i7 range officialy only support 800Mhz & 1066Mhz ram the 965 can support 1333Mhz (this is from Intels specs on there site) but that does not stop you running it.I have my i7 920 with 6GB of corsair dominator ram running at 1600Mhz on the Rampage Extreme II & the bios includes options for 800,1066,1333 & 1600Mhz.
 
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The OP might consider cutting a few of those expensive corners off:

A single 280GTX is very cheap at the moment compared to the 4870 X2, and will run FlightSim X extremely well.

The BlueRay drive is superfluous unless you have a definite need.

The Noctua is good but the cheaper Akasa Nero (as fit by OcUK themselves) is more than good enough even for enthusiastic OC'ing.

That's another 200 quid off in total (if the GTX280 is still going cheap!) for little reduction in ability.

Gets the cost below 1500 anyway, and there are other things that could be shaved if needed. Better option than the Dominator I think
 
Yeah the Blue Ray I would not need. I may watch 2 DVD's a year on my PC. Where I dont wont to scrape is GFX cards, i want something that will be a little future proof.

I dont care what the case looks like, its only me that looks at it. Something that's easy to work in would be nice as I am all fingers and thumbs.
 
So guys, any more refining before I submit an order? I assume I will need artic silver and the like.

Anything else?

Im wondering about the deluxe version of the Mobo, that gives 7.1 sound
 
I've never used onboard sound on any PC. They work for sure, but if sound quality means anything to you then you'll upgrade later. Plus - something like an XFi will offload some of the processing from your CPU so games run better. I'd stay with the standard if that''s the only reason for changing.
 
FSX itself is not a problem, it's when you add endless scenery files and other addons (some of which are poorly written) that things start to go wrong. I was always round a friend's house trying to fix his FlightSim setup - he had everything, hardware stuff and insisted on installing every software addon he could lay his hands on. PITA.
 
Well its ordered. I changed the Blue Ray drive to just a normal DVD Multi Writer (Samsung SH-S223)

I changed the memory to the G.Skill as advised.

I will take the Fatality out of the old system and put that in, i can then take the Soundblaster card i have in my boys system which is dead, and put that in my old system and he will have sound.

Cant thank you guys enough for your help.

A big thanks to Phil firstly for remembering me and secondly for great customer service as always.

If you have tip on building it, pls let me know. It should arrive tomorrow.
 
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