New Build Advice Needed Please

Big Kev

Big Kev

Big Kev

Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
17,713
Location
Ashburton Grove
My old system is over 5 years old now and that was built with a second hand mobo and cpu. I tried installing an X1950 pro and 2g Geil PC3200 ram, but it couldn't handle it, so it's time to upgrade.

I mainly use the system for browsing, watching films and playing a few games, which was becoming very difficult over the last few years.

I've been out of the loop for a while, but have read some threads on here about the cpu I've selected being well overclockable and I hope the ram may help as well.

Will the X1950 be capable of playing games at a decent level, or would an 8800GTS be a big improvement.

Would the Abit IP35 be a better choice, my current NF7-s has served me well over the years.

I have a Coolermaster CM201 and I hope it will be good enough to cope, if not, please let me know. I also have a monitor, keyboard, mouse and Xtrememusic.

OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £84.59
Seasonic M12 Modular 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply - £105.74
Western Digital WDSC50RCW Secure Connect Serial ATA Cable - £7.04
Pioneer DVR-212D 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM - £21.14
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM - £46.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) - £17.61
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) - £64.61
Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail - £56.39
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA663) - £66.96
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard - £84.59
TOTAL (Inc delivery) - £567.35


I know I've probably made a couple of mistakes, hence my request for you knowledgeable people to help me out.

Many thanks,

Me
 
I can't see any particularly obvious flaws there although you don't really need the SATA cables, your motherboard will come with all the cables you need since it is retail. You can drop the thermal paste as the Freezer 7 comes with MX-1 paste pre-applied which is pretty good in its own right.

Your existing case should be absolutely fine, the 8800GTS is a fairly hefty step up from the X1950pro but the X1950pro is still a pretty good card and considering what you are going from it shouldn't be any sort of issue.
 
I've changed the psu and dropped the sata cable, apart from the WD, which might be worth keeping.

I think the X1950 pro should do for now and I didn't know the Freezer 7 comes with already applied thermal paste, which is a bonus.

The only things is with the ram, is it compatible with the mobo?

Cheers chaps.:)
 
The Ram is absolutely fine, in fact it is normally very good for overclocking - 1000mhz+ is not uncommon or to put it another way you will probably reach the limit of your CPU before you do on the Ram.
 
semi-pro waster said:
The Ram is absolutely fine, in fact it is normally very good for overclocking - 1000mhz+ is not uncommon or to put it another way you will probably reach the limit of your CPU before you do on the Ram.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, I think that's the only questions I had left.:)

PGdude said:
I'm no expert but I think the Corsair HX620 would do you fine and save you a few quid too. I hear they're all the rage :D

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-CS
Click to expand...

I'd read elsewhere that some people were having problems with the Corsair, so I think the Seasonic would be the safer option.
 
Hi Big Kev,

I'm looking to buy something very similar, in fact it's almost identical, to your spec and wondered how you'd got on.

I do have a two concerns with GFX and memory which you may be able to help me with.

How noisy is the X1950 I've read it can get a bit loud while they fan is at full speed and do the Ballistix still clock well?

Thanks in advance
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom