IT overhaul

collisster · 27 May 2008 at 15:07

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

collisster · 27 May 2008 at 17:05

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

collisster · 28 May 2008 at 00:24

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

collisster · 28 May 2008 at 12:23

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

collisster · 28 May 2008 at 13:06

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 · 28 May 2008 at 13:10

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

collisster · 28 May 2008 at 14:53

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 · 29 May 2008 at 13:14

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

collisster · 30 May 2008 at 13:44

cheers ben, this is my latest revision of the spec

collisster · 30 May 2008 at 13:45

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 · 30 May 2008 at 15:16

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.