New build

Captain_Slick · 31 Dec 2008 at 22:29

Hi guys, I'm looking to build a new system. Sold my old one to my brother so I've been stuck with my Mac Mini since, which is fine and dandy but not really good for gaming.

My budget is around £500 for all the internals, since I've already got a case (Lian Li PC A05), so here's what I've come up with.

Any thoughts?

Conan257 · 31 Dec 2008 at 23:49

I'd go for a DFI P45-T2RS if you can get hold of one for a good price... Other than that it all looks good.

Angst · 1 Jan 2009 at 00:43

dont you need a bigger hdd

95thrifles · 1 Jan 2009 at 11:54

Yeah Id get a bigger HDD too, also go for a bigger PSU, the 650 is same price and the 750 only £6 more - the one youve chosen will do but a more powerful one will allow you more room in future for upgrades
Do you need a new OS too?

Captain_Slick · 1 Jan 2009 at 12:30

I have a RAID setup through FreeNAS, I don't need a bigger hard drive or a new OS.

I'd rather keep it modular. The Lian Li PC-A05 hasn't really got the space for hundreds of unused connectors, which is what I'd end up with if I went with the TX series of PSU.

Kennysevenfold · 1 Jan 2009 at 13:11

95thrifles said:
also go for a bigger PSU, the 650 is same price and the 750

why.? that spec wont draw any more than 300watts load...

Captain_Slick · 1 Jan 2009 at 16:00

Went with a slightly different spec in the end, because it was from a competitor but slightly cheaper.

E5200, 8GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 CAS5, Gigabyte GA EP45 DS3, Xigmatek HDT 1283 HSF, Coolermaster Silent M Pro 600W PSU, same hard drive, same dvd-rw.

Gonna overclock that E5200 as much as possible. Vista x64 should run like silk with all that RAM.

Just gotta wait for more funds to get the graphics card next week.

Which is better, 1GB HD4870 or 896MB GTX260 (216 or whatever)?

The Radeon is slightly cheaper, and all the benchmarks I've seen put it around the same or slightly infront. Thoughts?

Should be here on Monday, so I'll take some pictures when it's all together in the case.

Next month - another 24" monitor so I can run my Mac Mini and Windows at the same time. KVM switch or maybe just another keyboard/mouse.

celliott · 1 Jan 2009 at 16:04

I would reccomend a 320GB Drive WD/Samsung, as they have higher platter density and will be much faster than your 80GB HDD.

Captain_Slick · 1 Jan 2009 at 16:21

Good idea.

I've just emailed the competitor asking to change the Samsung hard drive to a Western Digital Blue 640GB, the one with two 334GB platters.

I'll partition it so that I've got 320GB for my OS/programs, 320GB for data and then I can use my spare 320GB Maxtor as a backup drive for it.