i5 Spec Check

numnutz · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:04

Just ordered the following and wanted a spec check. Machine is for my Dad, and won't do any gaming on it, hence lack of dedicated graphics card.

Opinions fully welcome, I've not built a machine in a while so I might have missed something obvious!

Cheers

Ross

stulid · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:09

That will work, I also think the shape of the fan guard around the cooler will clear the ram.

You could have got a Win7+hdd bundle

numnutz · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:10

Thanks stulid, noticed hadn't ordered some thermal compound so just added in some AS5, I remember when it was original Arctic silver back in the AMD K7 days!

Surveyor · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:11

Without knowing what your dad uses the PC for it's difficult to say.

If all it's for is browsing the web, watching videos etc. then it could be overkill.

stulid · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:12

There is also a Fractal 1000 case available for thirty quid.

numnutz · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:14

I thought the Fractal 1000 build quality was pretty poor.

My dad's plan is to keep it 5 years or so, so wanted to overspec now rather than worry later. I plan to overclock the 2500, maybe 4ghz.

fowler002 · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:20

you don't need thermal paste as the arctic freezer 7 pro comes with pre-applied paste, I have that cooler and thinking about getting 16gb(2x 8gb kits) ripjawx for ~£73 but wasn't sure about the fins(also will be upgrading the cooler in the future so unsure if I should risk it or not).

not sure if this would have been better, 310 cheaper.

stulid · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:20

The Define range have suffered a bit (maybe courier damage) but never heard of the lower end having issues.

Reaper 392 · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:21

its certainly true for the fractal XL, but for other fractals im not so sure. i cant see why the quality control would be any different between cases though, so i couldnt personally recommend you get one

numnutz · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:28

fowler002 said:
you don't need thermal paste as the arctic freezer 7 pro comes with pre-applied paste, I have that cooler and thinking about getting 16gb(2x 8gb kits) ripjawx for ~£73 but wasn't sure about the fins(also will be upgrading the cooler in the future so unsure if I should risk it or not).

not sure if this would have been better, 310 cheaper.

Didn't like the fact it only hooked upto a display over HDMI whereas the Z68MA-D2H does DVI/HDMI

Jony27 · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:37

if theres no gaming how about going for a non-K chip and use the onboard graphics on a H67 board?

numnutz · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:40

Jony27 said:
if theres no gaming how about going for a non-K chip and use the onboard graphics on a H67 board?

Didn't think there would be much cost saving over a Z68 board, and like the idea of a bit of overclocking, can this still be done with a non K chip and H67?

stulid · 4 Sep 2011 at 17:47

No it can't.