Ideas for new RIG

FlashGameMaker

FlashGameMaker

FlashGameMaker

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Joined
12 Mar 2008
Posts
46
Hi,

First post here!

Over the coming months I want to put together 2 PC's. Ones for me ones for the wife :), probably same spec but what I learn from building the first might effect how the 2nd one.

I'm hoping I can get some advice here on the spec I want, possible prices, hiccups and any new hardware I should wait for on the horizon.

First the spec.

The work we do is pretty graphics intensive (including video editing), and I like to play the occasional game now and again without it slowing to a crawl!

So I'm thinking..

775 motherboard, wth headers for front USB and firewire sockets, and SLI. - Budget about around £140

Not sure if I should have either a AMD or Intel processor, whatever fits best with the rest of the system I guess and gives me the most bang for my buck. - Budget around £120

Memory, 2GB - budget around £60

Graphics card, ideally I'd have 2 running in SLI, but I'll go with 1 if its going to end up giving me more power and I can add an identical one later one to get them running in SLI. - Budget around £200

PSU/Case/DVD Writer/Hard Drive, all of those would be the best I can get within a budget of £200

Total Budget - £720

Questions about the above are..

  1. is that a setup that's going to last me a few years?
  2. Will it play the latest games?
  3. Is there any part of that setup that I should wait to put in because theres going to be something better just around the corner to use?
  4. Are there any technical issues that I should be aware of with the above setup?


I'm a first time builder so a bare bones system that I can just plug the graphic cards into might be a better option, but I'm not afraid to get my fingers dirty and do it all from scratch if its going to save me a fair bit of money.

Thanks for any advice!! I'll report back here with how it all goes!
 
Welcome to the forums. I'm not entirely certain that you could fit SLi'd cards into the Zen but other than that the specification should be pretty solid.

Asus P5N-D nForce 750i SLi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £89.99
(£105.74) £89.99
(£105.74)
Point of View GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (8717344966320) £144.99
(£170.36) £144.99
(£170.36)
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-6400C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ) £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £139.99
(£164.49) £139.99
(£164.49)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£18.79) £15.99
(£18.79)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case - No PSU £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
Sub Total : £600.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £107.08
Total : £718.95
 
Thanks for the info, couple of questions.

  1. So its better to have 1 powerful GTX then 2 lower spec cards ?
  2. If I went with the 1 card I would definately want to put another in at sometime in the the future, so knowing in advance that they can both fit into the case would be important! :), if they wouldn't fit into the Zen is there another case you know for sure they could both fit into?
  3. Regarding the memory, does it have to have the kit? are there motherboards that are already setup for dual memory that don't require a kit? or you need a kit either way?
  4. Does that MOBO have headers for front facing Firewire and USBs?
  5. Is that a barebones setup or I would have to buy the parts and assemble them?
  6. Was that taken from a site selling PCs? be interested in the link if it was :)

thanks.
 
It's prices from overclockers.co.uk i believe

Pretty much breaks all the rules posting competitor info.

they see it as worse than killing small animals it seems.
 
FlashGameMaker said:
Thanks for the info, couple of questions.

So its better to have 1 powerful GTX then 2 lower spec cards ?
Click to expand...

I'd aim for one decent card rather than two of a lesser specification as it is less hassle and usually performs at least as well without requiring any driver profiles or the like.

FlashGameMaker said:
If I went with the 1 card I would definately want to put another in at sometime in the the future, so knowing in advance that they can both fit into the case would be important! :), if they wouldn't fit into the Zen is there another case you know for sure they could both fit into?
Click to expand...

The Antec P182 or Akasa Eclipse are two that should allow for SLi'd card easily enough but I'm sure there are plenty more.

FlashGameMaker said:
Regarding the memory, does it have to have the kit? are there motherboards that are already setup for dual memory that don't require a kit? or you need a kit either way?
Click to expand...

It is simply easier (and frequently cheaper) buying a kit rather than individual sticks and hoping they work together in dual channel - in many cases they probably will but this removes the doubt.

FlashGameMaker said:
Does that MOBO have headers for front facing Firewire and USBs?
Click to expand...

Pretty sure it does but you might want to check the manual on the Asus website if you want to be 100%.

FlashGameMaker said:
Is that a barebones setup or I would have to buy the parts and assemble them?
Click to expand...

That is just a collection of parts that fit the requirements, building a PC from them is pretty easy, there are plenty of guides available on the internet and if you get stuck there is usually someone on here who can help out further.
 
I've just found this spec

Bundle ASUS P5N-E SLI Socket 775 (Intel® Core™2 Duo E4500 Dual Core 2x2.2GHz 2MB cache, CoolerMaster Elite 331 with 700PSU, nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB, Samsung 4GB (4x1GB) DDR2 800MHz) (Fully assembled and tested) Price £444.80

Is that a good price? I don't think the memory is dual channel though, and is the processor ok? finally is that setup cheaper here at OCuk? :)
 
My current PC is running a old setup of SLI 6600GT's I think, and it's worked well over the past 5 years so I was thinking of at least having the SLI option again, but the spec above allows me to have SLI and includes 4gb of memory. I'll probably go with a single card to start off with this time though.

I was just wondering if the spec I posted above was a good one for the price, and if there was any other issues with it, like its using 4x1gb sticks which I don't think it's using dual channel.
 
FlashGameMaker said:
My current PC is running a old setup of SLI 6600GT's I think, and it's worked well over the past 5 years so I was thinking of at least having the SLI option again, but the spec above allows me to have SLI and includes 4gb of memory. I'll probably go with a single card to start off with this time though.

I was just wondering if the spec I posted above was a good one for the price, and if there was any other issues with it, like its using 4x1gb sticks which I don't think it's using dual channel.
Click to expand...

Most games dont use SLI well and its more true in Vista as of Nvidia drivers.

1 Top Card is always where it will be.

All modern Mobos that have 4 slots and dual channel will run dual channel if you use 2 sticks or 4 sticks.
 
I was hoping to stick with XP as well, I've heard and read too many scare stories about vista and I'm not sure i'm willing to risk it. I need a stable system! which is not going to be bogged down just due to the OS it's running.

What kind of Processor do you think is wise having? I want something thats going to be good for at least 2 years.
 
Your asking Q's that I cant answer, how long is a piece of string ? :p

There is countless threads here with same boring Q about Dual V Quad, its about what you use the PC for and how long you want to keep that CPU.

You mention games but not encoding movies, well faster Dual is better but you want to keep it 2 years and games may use Quads more then so hard to say.
 
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