Help with specs

FlippinEck

FlippinEck

FlippinEck

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Joined
8 Sep 2007
Posts
408
Hi chaps, not often posting but do browse the site more than I should, mostly dreaming of what I would buy if I had the money! Now however, Ive got myself a job and I shall have the required amount to spend by the end of July. Buying some parts now, eg HD, but I need to get some second opinions, if this is posted in the wrong section, I apologize

Basically, Ive put together this so far

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j266/flippineckgt/compsetup.png

- Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB
- Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB -- Bought
- Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 Pro CPU Cooler
- Lian-Li PC-7B Midi-Tower Case
- I went for this processor/ram/mobo bundle
- LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM

Total so far: £640

All I am missing is the OS and the graphics card and that is where I need some help (and any comments on previous components would be welcome)

I have about 250-300 left to spend for a graphics card for gaming and the like, if there is anything someone could suggest I would be grateful, and as I said above, if there is anything I have overlooked with regards to the other components please share.

Thanks in advance

Flip

edit: i just bought the HD
 
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First, that bundle already includes RAM. Unless you want 4GB RAM, then it will be cheaper to buy everything separately & go for this RAM sticks.

Second, that CPU cooler can NOT handle a Quad Core processor especially if OC'd. Get the 'beefier' Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro :)

£250-300 you should go for a 8800 GTX. But what size/res monitor will you be playing on?

OS, go for Vista Home Premium. Been using it (32-bit) now for over a year & most of the 'teething' problems have been sorted. Also, shouldn't run nicely on a new spec PC.
 
To be honest the new nvidia stuff apparently will be out fairly soon so waiting a few weeks of the card shouldnt be too hard, but it would probably be resonably good to save £50-£100 and get a 512meg 8800gts. Also heard a lot of badmouthing of the current(ish) Crucial Ballistix (i know supprising) so http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-136-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 could be a good choice (i brought the OCZ set thats £20 cheaper but corsair are very well reputed).
 
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I my opinion go for the Corsair HX620 PSU

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

I would personally go for the 8800GTX with its 384bit RAM BUS it eats through textures at high resolution! It is highly overclockable with a better fan than stock, I've fitted an Arctic Cooling one on mine

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-027-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787

I can overclock my 8800GTX to 638/1550/2040 with that cooler where at load its never above 55oC. It cuts through every game I play with 4 or 8 times AA and 16 times HQ AF at 1680 by 1050 (22inch Samsung Monitor)
 
hp7909 said:
First, that bundle already includes RAM. Unless you want 4GB RAM, then it will be cheaper to buy everything separately & go for this RAM sticks.

Second, that CPU cooler can NOT handle a Quad Core processor especially if OC'd. Get the 'beefier' Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro :)

£250-300 you should go for a 8800 GTX. But what size/res monitor will you be playing on?

OS, go for Vista Home Premium. Been using it (32-bit) now for over a year & most of the 'teething' problems have been sorted. Also, shouldn't run nicely on a new spec PC.
Click to expand...

NB don't get 4GB of Ram for Vista x32, it's overkill. only Vista x64 recognizes that amount of RAM.
 
so its a toss up between 2gb and 32 bit vista or 4gb ram and 64bit vista?

thanks for the psu reccs, i had been looking at them after seeing them being suggested in another thread, i can stretch to either as my budget is pretty much free flowing until the point where I have all i need! (thats no cause to go overboard though, i have to be reasonable whilst getting the best i can)

with that vga cooler that was reccomended, will i still need to purchase the CPU cooler, id imagine I would and id assume there would be no fitting problems with the case i have chosen, most of the reviews have been positive in terms of the space the case has

if its a case of going back to 2GB ram (or 3gb)

i see a few bundles with mobo, ram and a quad core and i am unsure wether to stay with my original from above :S
 
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FlippinEck said:
so its a toss up between 2gb and 32 bit vista or 4gb ram and 64bit vista?... if its a case of going back to 2GB ram (or 3gb)
Click to expand...

personally I would go Vista 64 and 4GB. If you want 32bit OS then get XP with 2GB.

would not recommend 3GB since you can't run in dual channel mode. best is even numbers unless there are 750mb or 1.5GB sticks out there, but I haven't heard of any.
 
cheers mate, vista 64 it is (y) I can overclock on 64 yes? there are conflicting reviews for it on the OC site lol...

im just wondering if i should go for this graphics card?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-052-EA&tool=3

then at another point get another and run sli? (im just worried about cooling solutions)

or keep the 8800gtx? (and sli that at one point?)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-099-XF

sorry if im being a pain in the erse, i just dont want to make a mistake and I know you guys can point me in the right direction

graphics will be the LAST thing i buy anyway so you dont need to answer :) wont be mid july until then. :P thanks for all the help and info guys
 
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No problem OC on Vista 64 (I have it), your CPU, RAM and mobo are the most important for OC (as well as a good aftermarket HSF) I think too many people rave and rant about Vista (mostly the ones who don't have it) Anyway I was never a big fan of XP, but was forced to abandon my beloved Windows 2000 Pro due to market trends. Vista wasn't as rough a change for me, than XP initially was.

Not a fan of 9800GTX personally, I love my 8800GTX and wouldn't trade it any other card in the market (maybe an Ultra). 8800GTX is better for higher res and AA. - in fact I think I am about to get another soon, just waiting to see what the new cards coming out soon have to offer first. Although SLI is a bit of waste, but I do love those 8800GTX so I might do something stupid :)

Considering you have a 8800GTX this is a no brainer.

To be fair, it may be a bit early to give a final verdict on 9800GTX since I am sure drivers will probably improve it as time goes by. (even if it does improve, I doubt it could be that much better than a 8800GTX) Anyway that card still doesn't interest me, if I change then it will be the new card depending on price/performance gain vs 8800GTX.

PS: not planning on doing any major upgrades until Nehalem comes out or some killer game requires one.
 
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those components sound good.

If you don't have a graphics card though you may consider 8800GT which is pretty competetive with 8800GTX and 9800GTX in terms of performance and at a fraction of the price.

In fact you could get 2 in SLI for about the same price as one of those cards, and that should be better.

Or just get a single 8800GT since that will handle just about any current game and wait for newer cards.

Anyway sounds like you have a nice build on the way and enjoy :)
 
I shall, cant wait for it to come together

LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Drive - Retail - £85
Lian-Li PC-7B PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black - £58
Crucial Ballistix Tracer RED 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664AR804) £82
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £145
Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £105
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £17
XFX GeForce 8800 GTX Extreme 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PV-T80F-SHE9) £235
Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU £58
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939) £71
Samsung SM-245B 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £300

Total : £1,177.17

edit: ive decided to get this bundle http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-101-OK

and i figured i could get another pair of the ram that comes with it but it says
** Please Note - Adding extra RAM or deviating from the guide in any way can cause instability **
Click to expand...
, :S
 
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yes it could since they have done the OC and have changed the settings, but this may not happen too. If it is unstable then you will have to go into BIOS and find the stable sweet spot (but if you can do that than don't get the bundle do it yourself, not that hard and plenty of help on these forums)
 
So do you reckon I can get away with buying ALL the parts out of that bundle seperately and an extra set of that ram, then I can get some help Ocing that all together here?
 
me again :P looking at Graphic cards and reading custom pc, is the only suitable way to keeping a GX2 at a reasonable temp, water cooling?

im probably being impatient when i should wait for new cards as i have a couple of months yet... when are they looking at being released? june or so?
 
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