new build - ordering tomorrow - comments please!

Andric · 16 Aug 2007 at 22:56

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £125.71
Akasa AK-ICR-01 Internal Card Reader £11.74
Asus DRW-1814BLT 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - Retail £21.14
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black) £85.76
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £68.14
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £91.64
Asus Blitz Formula Special Edition Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £170.36)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit £140.98
OcUK ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT SILENT Heatpipe 1024MB GDDR4 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £311.36

I chose the 1024mb x2900 as i am planning to get a 30" screen sometime soon & would like to add a 2600 in crossfire mode to hgelp drive a possible HD setup.

The RAM - I have Vista Ultimate 64bit from my MSDN subscription and 4gb is desirable when I'm working especially running some virtual machines for testing. Is the chosen ram overkill/just right/better options?

I havent included cooling as 'phase 2' is to get water cooling in - Im not intending to overclock until thats inplace/systems settled in.

I'd very much appreciate critiques/suggestions but please leave out any ati vs nvidia stuff

- I have decided to go the x2900 route with crossfire in mind in in a future upgrade.

The above build come out at around £1042 incl, prices above are inc VAT. Budget is £1100 give or take a few pounds

The machine will be my primary development and gaming machine. I am into MMORPG such as eq2/lotro and have beta tests for some of the very demanding ones in development.

thanks in advance for the input!

mp260767 · 16 Aug 2007 at 23:38

memory wise should get you within budget have a look at :

OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 £187.99

Andric · 17 Aug 2007 at 00:41

mp260767 said:
memory wise should get you within budget have a look at :

OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 £187.99

would that be ok with the 1333 fsb? was looking at this memory but wasnt sure on that

mp260767 · 17 Aug 2007 at 09:03

Andric said:
would that be ok with the 1333 fsb? was looking at this memory but wasnt sure on that

couldnt confirm that it would be able to run for that tbh, sry.

Wiggins · 17 Aug 2007 at 09:11

Excellent choice of Mobo

Either memory will be fine, although if you get the 8500 there wont be much room for overclocking.

If you get the 6400 you can push the memory to 900+ and the good thing with the Blitz is that you can unlink both memory and processor speeds to avoid bottlenecks so it gives you more headroom for overclocking to a stable setting once you have your cooling sorted.

melbourne720 · 17 Aug 2007 at 09:13

CPU: e6750 is a waste tbh. Either get an e2160 or an q6600.
Mobo: Overpriced tbh. A P35 like the DS3/4 range or the IP35 will do just fine, you won't miss the extra features on the blitz, and they'll clock about the same.
GFX: The 1GB 2900 is waste of money, the 8800 GTX is much faster and about the same money, especially for hi res monitors.

Other than that, good spec.

DavidB · 17 Aug 2007 at 09:26

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andric
would that be ok with the 1333 fsb? was looking at this memory but wasnt sure on that

Click to expand...

couldnt confirm that it would be able to run for that tbh, sry.

Tis simple, the fsb of the ram is 800mhz, 400mhz effective, and a 1333mhz processor is 333mhz effective. It would be enougth to theoretically overclock a quad too 3.6ghz with the ram on stock settings.
And id suggest the quad over the dual core anyday, itd also however be enougth to get that dual core to ~3.2ghz.

I agree the mb is a bit of a waste, your paying extra for the word "blitz" in the title. Go for aAbit pro

mp260767 · 17 Aug 2007 at 09:30

DavidB said:
Tis simple, the fsb of the ram is 800mhz, 400mhz effective, and a 1333mhz processor is 333mhz effective. It would be enougth to theoretically overclock a quad too 3.6ghz with the ram on stock settings.
And id suggest the quad over the dual core anyday, itd also however be enougth to get that dual core to ~3.2ghz.

doh sry about that, still on my first coffee of the day

i'd go for the ocz then over the ocuk.

Wiggins · 17 Aug 2007 at 09:31

DavidB said:
I agree the mb is a bit of a waste, your paying extra for the word "blitz" in the title. Go for aAbit pro

Eh!!!!!!!

Its got one of the most advanced Thermal Solutions available and with the op using Water Cooling at some point you will be able to hear a pin drop.

clocka · 17 Aug 2007 at 09:59

melbourne720 said:
CPU: e6750 is a waste tbh. Either get an e2160 or an q6600.
Mobo: Overpriced tbh. A P35 like the DS3/4 range or the IP35 will do just fine, you won't miss the extra features on the blitz, and they'll clock about the same.
GFX: The 1GB 2900 is waste of money, the 8800 GTX is much faster and about the same money, especially for hi res monitors.

Other than that, good spec.

i agree. ds4, 8800 and 4gb cheaper ram.

truebluecfc · 17 Aug 2007 at 10:29

melbourne720 said:
CPU: e6750 is a waste tbh. Either get an e2160 or an q6600.
Mobo: Overpriced tbh. A P35 like the DS3/4 range or the IP35 will do just fine, you won't miss the extra features on the blitz, and they'll clock about the same.
GFX: The 1GB 2900 is waste of money, the 8800 GTX is much faster and about the same money, especially for hi res monitors.

Other than that, good spec.

My thoughts exactly.

Darg · 17 Aug 2007 at 10:51

Wiggins said:
Eh!!!!!!!

Its got one of the most advanced Thermal Solutions available and with the op using Water Cooling at some point you will be able to hear a pin drop.

There's nothing wrong with the IP35 cooling solution. Works perfectly well. You're paying for some fancy bits of copper that aren't needed. Save almost £100 and get the Abit IP-35 or IP-35 Pro.

I'd go with the Pro and a 2900XT 512mb gfx card. That way in the future when 2900XT prices drops you can throw in a second one for some damn good XFire

tbh you don't need more then a 2900XT now or for the next year or so. Unless Crysis surprises us all by being poorly optimised.

Andric · 17 Aug 2007 at 13:22

thanks for the input.
will go with the 4gb 2x2gb fro ocz.
will drop to a sapphire x2900 and go crossfire later.
MB - want the excellent sound as well as the watercooling parts. maybe a bit of a waste but not to much imo with the reportedly excellent control it gives.
going for the quad processor

comes out with shipping at almost exactly £1100 inc

//edit
ordered - with sat dlivery £1129

Darg · 17 Aug 2007 at 14:13

Good choice on the 2900XT. They're really showing their moneys worth with the latest drivers. I experienced an almost 80% increase in FPS going from 7.7cats to 7.8cats in an openGL game I play. Keep up to date with the drivers to get the most out of the card.

Fair enough if you're going the watercooling route I guess it's cheaper then buying all the parts seperately. Can't wait to see what clocks you get it up to.

Wiggins · 17 Aug 2007 at 15:21

Andric said:
thanks for the input.
will go with the 4gb 2x2gb fro ocz.
will drop to a sapphire x2900 and go crossfire later.
MB - want the excellent sound as well as the watercooling parts. maybe a bit of a waste but not to much imo with the reportedly excellent control it gives.
going for the quad processor

comes out with shipping at almost exactly £1100 inc

//edit
ordered - with sat dlivery £1129

Good Luck!!!!!!

Give us all an update as to how it went once you have your baby assembled