New Build Advice

Monty83 · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:29

Am looking to build myself a new PC, Built all the PC's i've ever had so got not any problems with the assembly etc. My problems are that i haven't really kept up to date with the latest bits and what is best so after reading many post here i thought i'd post what i'm thinking to see if i'm going over board or if there are better things i could be using.

I will mainly use the PC for Gaming and Photo Editing with a small amount of Video Rendering.

Budget it around £900 - £1,000

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 - Retail
Asus P5Q-E
Sapphire HD 4870 1GB
2 x AKASA 120mm Amber series 3pin Ultra quiet case fan
2 x OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory Platinum Performance CL5 (5-4-4-18)
Antec EarthWatts 650W PSU
Sony DRU-860S 22X DVD1RW DL & DVD-RAM Serial ATA Black Drive
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English
Antec 300 Case

I already have hard drives, monitor, speakers, sound card and keyboard and mouse.

What do people think if the spec? So far buying the bits from a number of places it comes to around £850.

RJC · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:32

I would look at an Intel I7 setup for that money, should be a grate help with photo and video.

Monty83 · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:35

What would people recommend as an I7 setup?

RJC · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:38

Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail£249.54
(£216.99)£249.54
(£216.99)

Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £209.29
(£181.99)£209.29
(£181.99)

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 4890 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £198.00
(£172.17)£198.00
(£172.17)

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939)£91.99
(£79.99)£91.99
(£79.99)

Samsung SpinPoint F2EG 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SI)£82.79
(£71.99)£82.79
(£71.99)

Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK)£78.99
(£68.69)£78.99
(£68.69)

Corsair XMS3 6GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel DDR3 (TR3X6G1333C9)£63.99
(£55.64)£127.98
(£111.28)

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU)£50.59
(£43.99)£50.59
(£43.99) Sub Total :£947.09Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout)Shipping :£13.75VAT is being charged at 15%VAT :£144.13 Total :£1,104.97

How does above look £100.00 ~ over but a few things can be changed and includes 12gb of RAM.

Monty83 · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:45

Looks great, Many Thanks. Don't need the hard drive so that would bring the price down cloer to my budget.

Also is 12GB of RAM really going to be fully utilised? I was thinking the 8GB would probably be more than I would need.

Kennysevenfold · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:46

Product NameQtyPriceLine Total

Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail£249.54
(£216.99) £249.54
(£216.99)

Foxconn Renaissance Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard£167.99
(£146.08) £167.99
(£146.08)

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail (21133-04-20)£160.99
(£139.99) £160.99
(£139.99)

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939)£91.99
(£79.99) £91.99
(£79.99)

Coolermaster Real Power 620w Modular Power Supply£79.98
(£69.55) £79.98
(£69.55)

Corsair XMS3 6GB DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz (3x2GB) Triple Channel DDR3 (TR3X6G1333C9)£63.99
(£55.64) £127.98
(£111.28)

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD6401AALS)£60.00
(£52.17) £60.00
(£52.17)

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU)£50.59
(£43.99) £50.59
(£43.99)

Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM£17.99
(£15.64) £17.99
(£15.64) Sub Total : £875.68Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout)Shipping : £13.75VAT is being charged at 15%VAT : £133.41 Total : £1,022.84

RJC · 12 Apr 2009 at 15:57

Monty83 said:
Looks great, Many Thanks. Don't need the hard drive so that would bring the price down cloer to my budget.

Also is 12GB of RAM really going to be fully utilised? I was thinking the 8GB would probably be more than I would need.

Intel boards use tripple channel memory so you can remove one set which leaves 6gb of RAM.

Sorry, forgot about the HD.
With 6gb of RAM and HD removed price drops to £956 ~.

Monty83 · 14 Apr 2009 at 17:32

Thanks to both of you for your quick replies. I know the retail processor comes with a heatsink and fan, will i need some thermal compound? (i've always bought OEM in the past)

I'm not looking to overclock just yet but will probably look to do it in the next 6 months to a year, would it be worth buying an OEM processor and then buying a heatsink etc now?

Cheers

siumatfung · 14 Apr 2009 at 17:57

yes it is and buy a third party thermal paste aswell tho most HSF come with it now

Monty83 · 14 Apr 2009 at 18:01

ok, what would be a good heatsink to get and also what thermal paste do most recommend / use?

RJC · 14 Apr 2009 at 18:54

Arctic silver 5 paste or MX2.
Heatsink would be the Noctua - Clicky or the Akasa - Clicky

Monty83 · 16 Apr 2009 at 13:24

Just looking on the this week only deals and they have the following .....

Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (OCZ3G1600LV6GK)

Would the motherboard and memory be a good buy? I know the processor is the one i want and that i'd need a heatsink for it as it's OEM

Also there is this power supply OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply would this be suitable for my system?

Cheres