New Build advice

scrowe

scrowe

scrowe

Associate
Joined
18 Dec 2005
Posts
24
Hi there,

Am looking for advice on new build. Daily Home and Office Use.

I'm not looking to overclock, just run at stock speeds, and I want to be able to play the odd game, though don't get the time so much these days.

I want to go for Energy Efficient where possible

This will be running Vista Business 64-Bit, but may dual-boot a HackinTosh

I'm torn between sticking to £500 budget for the new base unit, or just going for the best of the new technology, at double that. This PC will likely do me for next 3-4 years based on previous 3-4 home builds down the years

Any comments on the following :-

£500 Budget

Case Antec Sonata III £92
CPU Intel Q6600 £155
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3 £95
Memory Corsair 4Gb XMS2 PC2-64005 £40
Hard-Drive Western Digital Green 500Gb £47
Graphics Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4830 £108
DVD-RW Sony AD-7201S £16

Above is circa £555

£1,000 Budget

Case Antec Sonata III £92
CPU Intel Core i7 920 £237
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 £218
Memory Gskill 6Gb DDR3 £160
SSD Drive OCZ 60Gb £115 (For Operating Systems)
Hard-Drive Western Digital Green 500Gb £47 (x2 in Raid1 for Data)
Graphics Sapphire ATI HD4670 £67 (x2 in Crossfire)
DVD-RW Sony AD-7201S £16

Above is circa £1,065

Some thoughts are :-

Always loved Gigabyte boards and Antec Cases, I really like the look of the Sonata III, and has 500W EE PSU already.

I always like to make use of the latest technology, as long as it's not too outrageous in terms of price

So any comments or tweaks anyone can suggest within the 2 budgets above?
 
Only that in your 2nd i7 build you'll be better investing in one decent gfx card rather than 2 lower spec ones for x-fire, you can always add another later, look at the 4850's
 
Case Antec Sonata III £92
Fan Antec 120mm TriCool Fan £9
CPU Intel Core i7 920 £233
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 £213
Memory Corsair XMS3 1333 6 Gb £135
SSD Drive OCZ 60Gb £115 (For Operating Systems)
Hard-Drive Western Digital Green 500Gb £47 (x2 in Raid1 for Data)
Graphics HIS ATI HD4850 ICEQ £135
DVD-RW Sony AD-7201S £16

Delivery £15

Total £1,057

OK I've revised the top-dog build and shopped around for price, although tempted to reduce the SSD drive to 30Gb as it's slightly experimental
 
Case Antec Sonata III 500
Fan Antec TriCool 120mm Double Ball Bearing 3 speed fan
CPU Intel i7 920, Socket 1366
Board Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 iX58
Memory 6GB (3x2GB) CorsairXMS3, DDR3 PC3
Bracket Adapter Kit to Mount 2.5" HDD in 3.5" Drive Bay
Hard-Drive 500 GB Western Digital Green
Hard-Drive 500 GB Western Digital Green
SSD Drive OCZ Core V2 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Graphics 1GB Gigabyte HD 4850, PCI-E 2.0

Final spec above now ordered, for a shade under £1,100

Don't think it will all be here by the weekend, but hope it all fits together smoothly when the time comes
 
Hi all,

Just had a friend comment that the 500W PSU that comes with the Sonata III case may be not enough for this rig.

Any comments? I've searched around and feel it may be OK, but borderline.

Shall I go for a 650W instead, and eliminate the risk? Perhaps sell the 500W model on.
 
Great, I'll stick with the 500W Earthwatt that comes with the case then. Seems to have had good solid reviews, when done as a standalone PSU, and I think Antec have a reputation for quality components
 
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