New build help pls

Nic Miller

Nic Miller

Nic Miller

Associate
Joined
18 Mar 2007
Posts
161
Hi guys

This will be my first build, so hopefully someone can cast their eyes over my suggested spec and check that everything will be compatible and that the chosen components are suitable for their aim - a high speed games rig. It will also be used for the usual MS Word applications, photo management and the internet.

My list of components at the moment - subject to your comments is as follows:

CPU - Intel core duo E6600 Conroe c£200
CPU cooling - Arctic cooling 7 Pro CPU cooler (sockett 775) - c£15
Motherboard - BFG nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - c£175
RAM - 4 Gb Ram - Tean Xtreme (TXddr2048M800HC4DC) PC-2 6400 800 Mhz 4-4-4-10 timing - c£320
HDD - 2 x 150Gb - WD 150 Gb Raptor in RAID 0 - c£320
Graphics - NVidea BFG 8800 GTX - c£400
Sound - Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Soundcard - c£30
Optical - Pioneer DVR-112DBK 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - c£25
Monitor - Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey - c£560
Case - Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate gaming case - c£75
Power supply - Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) - c£100
Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse - c£45

Logitech G15 Gaming-Grade Illuminated Keyboard - c£53

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - c£75

Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student 2007 - c£94

FDD - £5


Total - c£2,492

+ Cables etc.................

Is there anything I have forgotten? What cables/tools etc will I need?

Few questions:

Don't know much about motherboards - is the one I have gone for pretty decent?

RAM - Ideally want 2x2Gb modules, but they seem stupidily priced - is 4x1GB OK? Getting 4Gb to future proof a little bit as I know it may not be immediately needed.

OS - Should I go with Vista from the off or get XP and wait for drivers etc? If Vista, do I go 64 bit?

Are the Raptors in Raid 0 worth the money?

Any monitor come close to the Dell?

Is the Antec case a decent one? Any other suggestions?

620 watts enough??

Thanks a lot guys

Nic
 
Ok first off, cables etc, should come with everything you need and if I was you I'd buy Artic silver 5 and use that as your thermal compond
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=AC-000-AC&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27

secondly, 4xgb is absolutly fine on those intel platforms

thirdly, If you want your comp to run a fast as possible get xp pro, see this link for comparions
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2007/01/30/xp-vs-vista-uk/index.html

fourthly, The raptors are fast and if you want hte very best perofrmance go for them BUT I dont think they are worth the money, get 2 x seaget and put them in Raid 0 and they will be pretty much as fast, see this thread for hdd benchmarks and you'll see the difference

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17696862

Fifthly, 630w is absolutly fine

sixthly, your case is good if a bit bright for my liking

seventhyl, I haven't read any reviews of the dell but on paper it is good. If the system is going ot be used for serious gaming the only other thing I could recomend is the samsung, a bit smaller but has a twice as fast responce time, maybe an option.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-050-SA&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

eighthly, that motherboard is good but i'd go for something like this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-150-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=565

a bit cheaper but very good. either that or go for the 975x chip but i don't like them, mainly personaly preferance. possibly something like this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-016-IN&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=174

hope thats of help.

Oh and everything else in the system is good. Tho i'd change your cpu cooler to the tuniq tower.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-000-SB&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=821
 
Hi there,

I have come up with this spec based on some of the components you obviously want but giving you the best performance and value for that budget. I have managed to save some money but given you better overclocking ability:

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Soundcard - OEM £21.99
(£25.84)
Samsung SH-W183 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£21.14)
Logitech G15 Gaming-Grade Illuminated Keyboard - Retail (UK Layout) £44.99
(£158.58)
Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £74.99
(£88.11)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £339.99
(£399.49)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £99.99
(£234.98)
Asus Commando Intel 965 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £129.99
(£152.74)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £169.99
(£199.74)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £84.99
(£99.86)
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink £30.99
(£36.41)
Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £479.99
(£563.99)
Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse - Retail £37.99
(£44.64)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00838) £109.99
(£129.24)
Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student 2007 - Retail (79G-00007) £79.99
(£93.99)
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £55.99
(£65.79)

Sub Total : £1,969.82
Shipping : £54.95
Vat : £354.33

Total : £2,379.10

(To save another £100 I would suggest downgrading to 2GB of RAM, 4GB isn't really required at the moment and would be a waste of money.)
 
Last edited:
mishima, have you managed to put 3x G15s into the budget? It seems rather expensive adding the VAT otherwise. :)

Apart from that the system looks pretty good, I wouldn't bother with the Commando myself as it is very expensive for a 965 based motherboard and there are cheaper motherboards which offer much the same potential but if you want the best I guess you have to pay for it.

I'd also personally do without Office 2007, I now use Open Office which is free for non-commercial use and offers almost all of the functionality of Office 2007, at least I haven't run up against anything I can't do with it that I could in Office XP anyway. Then I'd probably put all the money saved towards a quad-core CPU but that is mainly because I want to skip the whole dual-core revolution entirely. ;)

//edit oh and welcome to the forums Nic Miller. :)
 
semi-pro waster said:
mishima, have you managed to put 3x G15s into the budget? It seems rather expensive adding the VAT otherwise. :)
Click to expand...
LOL didn't even realise that, I had clicked on the keyboard and it didn't add the basket and I clicked again. It must have gone through without me noticing, good job I'm not buying from that basket!! Well spotted :)
 
Nic Miller said:
Thanks guys

Mishima - can you give me a bit of guidance of why you have changed certain components and what was wrong with my original choices? Thanks
Click to expand...
Sure no worries, I will go down the list of each component:

DVDRW - I have chosen a SATA one here because they are the same price as IDE and are faster, and will free up space getting rid of ribbon cables out of your case.

HDD - The spinpoints are super quiet and very fast, if you are going to be backing up I would use some other method that RAID. Like backing up via DVD-RW dual layer. Simple, fast and costs less than a RAID HDD (raptor) would.

RAM - I altered that because the GeIL and OCZ currently at OcUK is extremely cheap and runs on tight latencies which are extremely low too. They are highly overclockable when coupled with the right motherboard. You can go over 1000MHz with these babies, much cheaper in cost also.

Motherboad - Like Semi-pro waster says there are some cheaper P965 boards available like the P5N-E SLi and DS3 but I have seen some excellent reviews on this board and its overclocking potential, it also has some great features such as the cooling system on the board and high quality capacitors.

CPU Cooler - I personally reviewed this cooler (see sig) and have been extremely impressed with it, I have tried to recommend it to as many people as I can because its not in the main-stream lineup with the TT and the Ninja and its the underdog. Really is very quiet and the results on it are high up there with the top air coolers.
 
Nic Miller said:
These large coolers ie tuniq and Noctua - will these fit inside the Antec 900 gaming case? What size is this case? Is it up to the job?

Thanks

Nic
Click to expand...
Akasa Zen - 200 x 450 x 500 (WxHxD mm)
Antec 900 - 206 x 468 x 493 (WxHxD mm)

The Noctua fits in my Akasa Zen no problems so it should fit in the Antec Nine Hundred perfectly :)
 
Getting closer to a final spec so just thought I'd update you and ask a few more questions! Thanks!

Have decided to change the motherboard for the Asus P5N32-ESL - is that a good choice of motherboard? Essentially I want fast, overclock potential, quadcore ready and SLi ability should I need it.

Have chosen on the Tuniq Tower cooler - going with the masses here! Is this cooler compatible with this mobo? Does it come with all the necessary attachments? Will this cooler fit in the Antec 900 gaming case?

Will go with this RAM - GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) - Can someone confirm that there is no issue with this RAM and this motherboard?

Will swap to the Samsung DVD drive.

Will get the new G5 mouse with two thumb buttons!

Have decided to get Windows XP for now and 2Gb of RAM until drivers and other issues are sorted - wise decision? and probably upgrade to Vista after SP1.

Thanks in advance for your answers - getting closer and getting excited !

Might push the boat out and get the 27" Dell :)
 
Any further help guys?

Have since heard a few bad comments about GeIL memory. Would the OCZ be better memory? The timings are 4-4-4-15 compared to 4-4-4-12 for the GeIL - have no idea what these timings mean but understood that the lower the better?!

Cheers

Nic
 
The GeIL is superb RAM, the ultra low latency stuff is very good and highly overclockable. There were a so called 'dodgy-batch' end of last year but all products go through bad lots. The GeIL is as reputable and reliable as any other RAM available on the market. Low, tight latencies are ideal for gaming, giving you better performance.
 
OK cheers......i have no experience of any RAM - my current PC is an Athlon 1900+ with 512Mb ultra-slow RAM !

My graphics card is going from 64Mb to 768Mb !!!!! What's that all about!

Any help with my other queries mate?

Thanks

Nic
 
The board you mentioned: Asus P5N32-ESL what does the ESL mean? I haven't heard of that. Theres only an SLi version and a Plus version of that board I think. Both are very good.

Tuniq I have no idea about.

I think personally its wise to stay with XP at the moment whilst other people might think its silly I am waiting for a SP too before I make my move to Vista. Feel more confident to do this.
 
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