IT overhaul

[collisster]

I Havent got a budget at the moment but what I need are:
24" ocuk screen
an external HDD
aego speakers
decent computer spec
laptop

the computer we've got at the moment is running really slow its crammed full of games photoshopping files and CAD drawings

we were thinking of putting all files (pictures and drawings) onto the external HDD my dad needs a laptop for his business and I need the computer for general use, gaming and photoshopping so it needs a decent spec,
my dads use of the laptop will be microsoft project, excel etc and autocad but and needs a decent hdd so it wont get bogged down when he's got quite a lot of files on it. + it needs to be pretty slim.

so can you have a crack at all of that for me please and try and keep it as cheap as possible, as the price of things liek the screen and speakers are set.


cheers
collisster

 

[aproctor]

laptops - just look for the fasted cpu, biggest hdd, memory etc....tbh the more you pay the better, check for battery life problems, tbh your in the wrong forum for that http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=111

and hdd as long as its at least usb2 and not a maxtor everything should be fine.

 

[semi-pro waster]

This would give you the basis of a fairly solid system, how much better you get it depends on how much you want to spend really.

Samsung SH-S203D/BEBN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£16.44) £13.99
(£16.44)
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502IJ) £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £113.99
(£133.94) £113.99
(£133.94)
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS Extreme 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £119.99
(£140.99) £119.99
(£140.99)
Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case - EarthWatts 500W PSU £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Sub Total : £497.92
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 : £89.05
Total : £597.92

 

[collisster]

cheers semi
another thing to put in my spec is pc7+ and I've got a hiper 580w type R thing but I dunno if it'll cut the mustard

 

[semi-pro waster]

Should still be fine, the case is pretty decent and if your PSU has lasted this long then I can't see it struggling particularly, the parts are all relatively efficient considering the power they provide.

I'm afraid I can't help on the laptop question though.

 

[collisster]

cheers semi I have posted in the laptop forum now,
I think I'll be on about 600 pounds for a spec of lian li pc7+ case and the rest except a psu and a cd drive,
should I be going ati or nvidia?
are there any new releases coming soon that will cut prices elsewhere or be good for in my price range?
whats the situation with ddr3 atm?

cheers
collisster

 

[semi-pro waster]

From what I've picked up ATI should be coming out with some decent mid-range solutions (£100-200 area) so they are likely to be what you will be looking at, I don't know how they perform yet but some time in June is the slated release date.

DDR3 is slowly getting cheaper but still seems to offer no compelling advantages over DDR2, while prices are somewhat reduced it is still significantly more expensive (you can get 4gb or even 8gb for the same price as 2gb DDR3 sometimes) and the latencies are worse. It will improve but at the moment I'd take advantage of the cheap price of DDR2 and accept that you will just change the motherboard and Ram later if necessary.

 

[collisster]

thanks semi

I've been playing with a spec

#I dont know which motherboard to go for but either will take me under budget looks to all work together. is there anywhere that I can change things to reduce the price further without skimping on performance?
With the ram will I have to mess with the voltages to get it to work or will it all run straight out of the box?

cheers
collisster

 

[semi-pro waster]

I think the Asus is the more forgiving of the two about boot voltages so it should be fine with the OCZ, if you want the Abit (the Raid capability for instance) then this Corsair TwinX 4gb would do and costs the same.

It isn't going to lower the price but if you want to game on a 24" monitor I'd be strongly considering the 8800GT, if this is simply a bit of a stopgap measure until the new cards come out then the 3850pro should be ok.

 

[collisster]

right ok so the 8800s are better than the ati's? I'm not going to be buying the best ever components because the price of new gfx cards are too high, so maybe when the new cards come out the 8800gtx price will go down and I'll get one of those. what about the new p45 chipset is that worth a look at or should I stick to p35?

cheers
collisster

 

[collisster]

Lian-Li PC-7B PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black
Lian-Li W-65B PC-60/PC-7 Window Side Panel - Black
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD2500AAKS)
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz SLI-Ready Edition Low Latency Dual Channel DDR2
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) OEM
Asus P5K Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

comes to 587 pounds

will that all work, just plug it all in and switch it on?
collisster

 

[semi-pro waster]

That should just all plug together and work as far as I am aware. I'd probably just stick with the P35 as you have there, it is a solid chipset and well tested by now.

 

[collisster]

ah good thanks I think I'll have another fiddle around, should I be able to overclock fine on that board too?
my current spec is
amd 3700+ san diego
1 gb geil ram
6800 gt
asus a8n premium sli

it was good at the time!!
dont think there is anything I can salvage,
maybe make the hdd a slave and use the psu and the cd drive. the mobo i have selected has ide on it right? or I need a new cd drive

 

[collisster]

I've ordered the laptop, dell vostro 1500, 3gb ram, 2.00 ghz C2D processor and got him the highest res screen with the ultrasharp etc, should be good.

on the desktop side of things should i wait until the new ati cards are released as they are meant to be mid price range? I'm looking at spending like 100 pounds on a gfx card

 

[Ben M]

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Why would you buy a graphics card which is about to be two gens old? (three if you count the 9800 range as a gen)

yes, wait for the new ati cards. if nothing else it might push down the price of the 8800GT(S)

 

[collisster]

cheers ben, this is my latest revision of the spec

 

[collisster]

the ati seems to knock the 8800 gts out of the water on the spec but as you say I think I'll wait untill the next gen come out if they are around that price

 

[collisster]

would I be better going with the e8400 rather than the q6600 as not many games use all four cores? is that memory stable to overclock because thats what Id be looking to do with it. but I still want it to all just fit together and work first time, that is my main concern as I don't want to be going to and from overclockers loads.