Help with spec.

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Joined
23 Jun 2004
Posts
21
Hi guys,

I'm looking for a little help with a new spec. I'm looking at building something to replace my existing 2 year old P4 2.?GHz machine. It will be used for everything from Dreamweaver & Photoshop to MS Visual Studio to WOW, Stalker, etc. My priorities are stability then noise (or lack of) then games performance. I'm not bothered about squeezing the best possible FPS out of it if it means it will crash during something crucial. So I doubt I will overclock it.

I already have a LCD Monitor, HIS 1900XT and a SATA 250GB HDD I'll use. But looking to replace everything else. Price isn't too much of an issue as long as I'm getting value for money e.g. No QX670s at £560 but I'm not limiting myself to £50 processors and 512mb ram, etc.

So...

Processor: E6600 seems to be popular, thatl'll do. Should I consider anything else?

Motherboard: 975X or 965P? Whats the big difference between motherboards costing £60 and those costing £130? I'm not planning on using SLi or Crossfire if that makes any difference.

Memory: I'd like at least 2GB. Will I see big differences with 4GB? I must admit I'm a little confused by all the choices available.

Graphics: The 1900XT I already own. Will possibly upgrade this if/when I need a DX10 card.

HDD: Will use my exisiting HDD as a data/games drive so looking for a new fast drive(s) for windows and apps. Will I benefit much from RAID or is this a little overkill nowadays?

DVD: Whatever cheap SATA DVD-RW is in stock at the time of order.

PSU: ????

Case, fans, etc.: Looking to keep it as quiet as possible. Suggestions?

Anything else: Anything I've forgotten?

Thank in advance guys.
 
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-062-GI
Gigabyte GA_965P_D...

^ Motherboard. DS4 is 965P, which is the newer chipset, but is the "mid range" supposedly, rather than the 975X which is "high end". TBH it depends on the features you want. I'd go for the DS4 because I like the way it's cooled, and its on board sound is pretty good. Also has firewire iirc.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-128-IN
Intel Core 2 DUO E...

^ good processor, decent speed even if not overclocked

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-072-OC
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) ...

^ good ram with low latency, although that special offer price stops on thursday

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-062-LO
Liteon DVD-8900 16...

^ jup. bog standard dvd-rw

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-054-LL
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS ...

^ good reputation from people with this case

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-000-SB
Tuniq Tower 120 CP...

^ This cooler will keep your processor much cooler than the stock one will, and will be quieter

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-001-NC
Noctua NF-S12 1200...

^ You could put one of these fans in the cooler to silence it even more. Maybe buy a couple more for your case too.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-005-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=823
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)

^ a PSU which has a good reputation :)


if that isn't the most annoying layout to spec someone with, I don't know what is :p dragged and dropped the links... I'm feeling lazy today.
 
paulb567 said:
Whats the big difference between motherboards costing £60 and those costing £130? I'm not planning on using SLi or Crossfire if that makes any difference.

Overclockability, SLI/xFire support, integrated features eg. wifi/firewire/raid, solid capacitors, cooling solution, included accesories...etc.

CPU: Yes the E6600 is very nice, don't need to look further.

CPU cooler: Tuniq Tower / Scythe Ninja / Noctua NH-U12F / Freezer 7 Pro

Motherboard: P5B-E Plus / DS3P, don't need to look further than this if you are not overclocking. For something cheaper get P5B/DS3 or even the S3 which is in clearance.

Memory: 2Gb OCZ Platinum XTC / Geil PC6400C4 are the all-time favourite around here. Don't really need to look at 4Gb or the expensive PC8000 kit at all IMO.

DVD-RW: Samsung SH-183LBEBN SATA

PSU: Corsair HX520 / Seasonic M12 500W / Tagan TG530-U15 / Enermax Liberty 500W / Antec Trio 550W

HDD: Would personally get the WD Cavier Special Edition 250Gb SATA2 16Mb cache for £38 from B-Grade section.

Case: Antec 900 / Antec P180 / Akasa Eclipse / Lian-Li PC7

Fans: Akasa Ambers or Noctua NF-S12 1200RPM. All above case should have fans included apart from the Eclipse.
 
Last edited:
P180 for low noise, IMHO. All the other suggestions (steve258 and furnace) seem spot on.

I can recommend the Samsung SATA DVD drives, Win XP SP2 recognises them for install so no problems there.
 
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