need some help and advice fast

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hey all

ok jumping straight in, tommorow i am purchasing a new computer practically and its the first time i have built one with all custom components. i have a budget of roughly £900 or there abounce, the site i will be using to purchase these components is ******.com as i find them best value for money.

Here are the specs i am thinking of getting

Logitech Z5500 Speakers 5.1 Surround Sound 505W RMS (definatly)

Asus Xonar D2X Soundcard - 7.1 PCI-Express (to compliment the speakers)

Zalman CNPS9300-AT PWM Aero Flower Socket 775 Processor Cooler (obviously for the cpu overclock, any advice?)

CM Storm Scout Case - 120mm and 2x 140mm Fans Included

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache

either ASRock P45TS iP45 Socket 775 7.1 channel audio ATX Motherboard (any good)

or

XFX nForce 750i SLI Socket 775 (1333MHz FSB up to 1800MHz overclocked) 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard (advice between these two boards)

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Energy Efficient 95W edition Socket 775 (2.40GHz) G0 Stepping L2 8MB Cache OEM Processor (i have old b3 quad and want to clock this new one to to 3.0/3.2 ghz) (will this be possible?)

CIT 750W Dual 12V Rail 12cm Fan PSU - 2x SATA 1x PCI-E (enough power?)

Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 HyperX T1 Memory Kit CL5 2.2V (Ram Smile )

XFX GTX260 Core Edition 896MB DDR3 or a ati 4870 1GB or BFG GTX260 OC MAXCORE 55nm 896MB (D) Dual DVI PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card (cannot decide need help big time with this???)

in my current computer i have a xfx 9800gtx+, b3 quad on a p5b that wont go past 2.8ghz, also i am powering a new 42" lg hdtv tommorow.

So my questions are how does that some up and can somebody kindly answer the questions in brackets.

Will this rig overclock to 3.0ghz? and on a scale of 1-10 how good is this for a setup, Many kind regards well in advance.
 
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Hi there, I suggest that for that kind of money you look for an Intel i5 or AMD Phenom 2 X4 setup. Intel Core 2 is old tech now and not what you want when there are much better options available.

Are the Z5500 speakers an absolute lock? As this would knock the budget down to only £650 for the tower.

Here is a spec which is a tad over budget. I used some lower power, higher quality speakers instead:

935i5.png
 
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I agree with andi's suggestion, the Q6600 is outdated and would be a foolish choice considering that you can get an i5/7 series setup for within your budget.

If you wanted to save a bit of money though i would suggest replacing the 5850 with the 4890 which is more than capable with most of todays latest games.
 
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thankyou ever so much for the quick response guys i was looking at a i5/i7 but i may fork out for that next month, loving the idea of a 5850 and all the tech you have put up there , i am wondering if this site does next day delivery for a saturday in which case i will delge deeper into this, yes core 2 tech is old i completly agree. i have fallen in love with the coolermaster case i have listed , and the dvd drive can come off as i have one already to rip from my current comp.

unfortunatly the z5500 are a lock been craving them for a while now, they really damage the price. i really love the setup cmndr_andi has put up for me and i appreciate the time and effort you put into that. i5/i7s work on ddr 3 triple channel tech if i am correct right and that stings the price. i am totally lost now as that is a awesome price to tech ratio, can anyone tell me how good my setup listed is and if it will clock to 3.0ghz?

Any chance of some other setups listed as such?

thanks to every for there quick responses.
 
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Including your speakers and case, comes out at just over a grand, and yes you can get saturday delivery, but that being said they dont have this case in stock atm

basket-7.jpg


Edit: Oh and to answer your question, your spec above is ok yeah, it will run games, but I really wouldnt be dropping that sort of money on tech thats about 3 years out of date tbh, either find the extra hundred for this or you could prob do something around a tri core phenom build for 900
 
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hyperst thanks for the response, great community here thanks all. thats a little over my budget tho mate. £920 is the most i am willing to go for and for that i really need to include the z5500 and d2x and cm scout case so i guess that mess's my i5 set up big time.

95thrifles thanks for your response also i may be tempted to go with that setup its really pushing the budget but looks awesome can anyone tell me why everyone is suggesting i5 set up over a q6600 , i mean q6600 have great overclocking abilities and i have heard that the i5/i7s get very hot, i mean dont they both have the same potential?

Also dvd drives are not an issue as i have loads of blu-ray drives. Anyone could add a case to 95 rifles that looks stunning like the cm scout?
 
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Soldato
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That's fair enuf, some really meaty speakers are nice to have - I really should get some for my own setup. With this in mind i've put together a spec including these speakers and the coolermaster case. It will obviously not be as fast as the above i5 spec, but it will still be very nice. IMHO Core 2 is not worth looking at unless you want to go second-hand, with AM3 and i5/i7 chips there really isn't a price point where it makes sense, considering it is EOL. Here is the spec:

952x3.png


OCUK does indeed do saturday delivery, but you will have to order tomorrow morning at the latest and you pay a premium.

FYI, i5 and i7 Lynnfield use dual channel DDR3, i7 Bloomfield uses triple channel DDR3.
 
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ok a few more questions sorry guys lol.

i want to say a big thankyou to everyone who has posted screengrabs especially cmndr_andi (for his perserveriance) and hyperst.

ok i have worked this out as follows

THINGS from OC UK (What an awesome site)

20rjkgl.jpg




And obviously £16.25 for saturday delivery as i just cant wait and want my wages gone in one day which brings me to £540.25 correct :)

And then from ****** as these bits are a little bit cheaper on there

Logitech Z5500 Speakers 5.1 Surround Sound 505W RMS £232.50

Asus Xonar D2X Soundcard - 7.1 PCI-Express £83.95

CM Storm Scout Case - 120mm and 2x 140mm Fans Included (in stock and cheaper) £74.97

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM
£55.95

+ £5 which they quoted me today = £936.67, now i only have like £64 left to play with , for that i need a cpu cooler and power supply i have a ezcool 650w in my current comp but i have a feeling this wont be good for the mobo so can anyone finish off my cart for me , o and do the i5s overclock well as i have always dreamed of a 3ghz system, THANKYOU all

*** just noticed i had the £9.50 standerd charge and i want saturday so if anyone can kindly do the maths could save few pounds there (sorry its late here) also the d2x is like a fiver cheaper on here so can someone total it lol, Money saved is everything why pay for it higher if you can get it cheaper
 
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Soldato
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Looks very nice. I suggest using this RAM as it costs the same and is better. Also, the XFX 5850 costs the same as the powercolour but has a much better warranty (OCUK themselves replace the XFX card, so it's a much faster RMA). The only downside is that you may have to wait a few more days for the XFX card to come back in stock.

This cooler is a great price and actually very good, will hit 3GHz and then keep going. I'd suggest you set a target of 3.5GHz minimum :D

Just had a look at your current PSU, yea a £30 650W PSU probaly isn't what you want powering your brand new rig. I suggest looking at this one.
 
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right i think its best you lend a fifty quid from a mate and get the corsair 650w psu and arctic cooling freezer 7:D:D

edit, just noticed, you do know the 5850's arnt available yet
 
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ouch that leaves me with £34.65 can anyone find a cheaper psu that will do the job, its going to make all the diffrence to weather i live poor for the month or just get through. you have to rember ontop of that i need to pay £200 to finish off getting my 42" hdtv with 160gb inbuilt hd. basically my monthly earnings this month is £1327 and out of that i think the rig is pretty darn expensive so can anyone find me a alternative on the psu front? Also how long will this rig be future-proofed for?
 
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£35 isn't going to get you a PSU that can both power your rig and be of decent quality. With this in mind, I suggest leaving out the Asus sound card for the moment and get a corsair 550 or 650W PSU.

The rig will run fine with onboard sound, you can always get the D2X a month or two down the line, finance permitting.

Edit: As for "futureproofing" I wouldn't use the term as it implies something which is impossible. But in terms of "how long will it last before before not performing adequately in contemporary games/applications?" My guess would be 3-4 years, but it all depends what you want it to do in the future and what level of performance you will tolerate.
 
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Soldato
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Should do the job, but for the sake of an extra tenner I would definitely go for a corsair - far better power supplies.

Edit: You could cut the motherboard down to this, should allow you to overclock fine, but as it's only micro ATX, it isn't expandable as its full ATX brothers.
 
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what does micro ATX mean?

also i was looking at the ASROCK P55 PRO Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard which is a few quid cheaper and is not microatx (does this board have good overclocking abilities?
 
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okay so just to inform you all i went for the i5 with the Asus P7P55D LE Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard which i am happy about my last question is i am going for Arctic Power 700W PSU - With PCI-E, 4x SATA, 20+4, ATX12V, 8pin +12V Connectors - Retail Boxed , will this be fine working with the setup :)
 
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No idea if that PSU is any good, I can't find any proper reviews for it online. But considering the price and not listing the efficiency I would guess it is pretty bad. As with all things, you get what you pay for, the only difference is a bad DVD drive or HDD isn't going to fry your computer's main components - a duff PSU can. Hence why I suggest going for a known good one.

Also that PSU uses 2 x 80mm fans - considering it is 700w and the efficiency isn't listed then i'd guess that it will be a bit loud. Also it says "6 pin power adapter for PCI express", this does not fill me with confidence.
 
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drop the souncard tbh. with onboard audio being so good nowadays and connecting to your z5500's using optical, you won't notice the difference. i run mine from the onboard sound and their awesome.

if you don't think its good enough, get the soundcard later. that saves you £84.
 
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