Is this System Spec any good?

Richchad · 8 Sep 2007 at 09:09

Okay I am new to this forum, looking to buy a good high spec PC, I have put together....
It would be good to hear any comments about it...

Processor
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q6700 (4 X 2.66GHz) 1066MHz FSB/8MB L2 Cache
Memory
2048 MB CORSAIR XMS3 DDR3 1066MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY
Motherboard
ASUS® P5K3 DELUXE/WiFi: DUAL DDR3, S-ATA II,2 x x16 VGA, 3 x PCI
Operating System
WINDOWS® VISTA Home Premium (inc Genuine CD & License) (£59)
USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
RAID 1 (MIRROR)
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer + Lightscribe (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
Graphics Card
768MB GEFORCE 8800GTX PCI Express (Special Offer!)
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic 7.1: £48
Floppy Disk Drive
1.44MB - 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case
Silver Neon Bubble case + front USB & front Lights
Power Supply & Case Cooling
800W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£109)
Processor Cooling
ASUS SILENT KNIGHT II PURE COPPER ULTRA COOLER (£36)
Firewire & Video Editing
2 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE ONBOARD (1 in back + 1 on board)
TV Card
DIGITAL TV CARD (Watch Freeview on PC) £29
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® MX Revolution Cordless Laser Gaming Mouse (£55)
Monitor
My own existing Samsung Syncmaster 930BF
Speakers
CREATIVE INSPIRE 5.1 T6100 SPEAKER SYSTEM (£39)
Office Software
Microsoft® Office® 2007 Basic Edition (oem) (£119)
Price (including VAT)
£1897.00

Teaf · 8 Sep 2007 at 09:14

Please remove the name of the competitor from your first post.

The system itself is great, but not for £1897 and that's not even with a monitor. The processor is overpriced, £100 - £200 more and it's only slightly faster than a Q6600. It's got DDR3 as well, price

erformance is gash compared to DDR2. If you can't build your own system because you don't have to the experience then I would recommend getting something else. Take a look at the Ultima system from OcUK for example:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-005-OC

Better priced chip will little or no performance drop, but you gain a ton of performance because OcUK pre-overclock it for you and guarantee it with a warranty which is excellent. Memory is DDR2 so much cheaper, and not a great performance hit. The only things you lack is a secondary hdd which can be purchased and installed, and also I think a sound card. You could probably even ring OcUK and ask them to install the 2nd HDD for you in a mirror stripe and they most likely will. Then just buy a seperate keyboard and mouse like you already listed.

Total savings?... About £500 - £600 quid! That's like a weeks holiday abroad

If you really wanted to go with the competitor though, drop the Q6700 and get a Q6600, also drop the DDR3 and just get regular DDR2.

Richchad · 8 Sep 2007 at 11:48

Thanks for the reply flibby, didn't think it would hurt to post competitors name as we all know they exist :rolleyes:

anyway have edited it out.

I thought I might be going over the top with my spec, I was just trying to build in a bit of future proofing.

I did originally specify the same spec with a Q6600 and 2GB of DDR3 and an Asus Blitz Extreme MB and it came out at £1690

The same spec but with Q6600 2Gb DDR and a Asus P5K SE MB is £1548

I have had a quick look at the Ultima OC 8800GTX System and have to admit it does look quite good. However the price inc vat after adding keyboard etc to match like for like it will cost £1576 which is a similar price to the lower spec of you know who.

So are you saying it will perform better or as well as any of the systems I mentioned above?

Teaf · 8 Sep 2007 at 12:13

Richchad said:
Thanks for the reply flibby, didn't think it would hurt to post competitors name as we all know they exist anyway have edited it out.

Heh no probs, just a rule in the forum stuff that we aren't allowed to name competitors

So are you saying it will perform better or as well as any of the systems I mentioned above?

Yeah it will.

They systems are not that far apart in price, but you get the Ultima pre-overclocked with a seriously nice overclock (and warranty covered), that will boost it's performance and will make it ahead of the one you linked, or even the alteratives that you could get that are similar priced. The board is better on the Ultima I find also, I prefer that board much more than the Asus as do many, it does DDR2 which is really enough for what is needed (the problem with DDR3 is it's FAR too expensive at the moment and will be for a while, also not a large performance boost).

Just really giving my honest opinion, I don't work for OcUK or anything

and if that original system was better I'd tell you so, but I can't help but recommend the Ultima for it's performance

rice and the parts that it has inside compared to the system from the competitor. If you had the experience though, and the ability to do it, I would further recommend building one yourself as it will work out even cheaper.