New Core 2 Duo build spec check please :)

Shamikebab · 29 Nov 2006 at 18:25

Ok i've been researching this new computer build (my first one) on this forum since before the summer and im finally ordering it next week. This is my final spec give or take (few componants i could do with advice on)

CASE Lian Li v1000+

PSU Seasonic M12-600

MOBO Abit AW9D-MAX Intel 975X OR ?

MEMORY G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit

VIDEO CARD EVGA GeForce 7900 GT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV-Out/Dual DVI OR ?

SOUND CARD Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi?

DVD RW NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver)

HARD DRIVE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache x 2 OR Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache x 2

MONITOR NEC MultiSync® LCD20WGX2 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver

SPEAKERS Logitech Z-5500 THX® Certified 5.1 505 Watts Speakers

PROCESSOR Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GH

CPU FAN Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler

So is there anything i should change? the three points im most undecided on is motherboard, sound card and video card. The Abit has been recommended to me by a friend who has it and is delighted with it but I plan on getting a TV card at some point for my computer, are all TV cards PCI or are there any PCI-E ones yet? The other mobo i was considering was one of the Asus ones, but i've heard some horror stories about them.

Video card wise im looking for one to tide me over for about a year until DirectX 10 is in full swing, is the 7900 GT the best one to go for in that price range? (up to 250), either Nvidia or ATI are both fine with me.

Sound card wise could someone please explain the differences between the various X-FI's? because im really confused, The two in my price bracket are the xtreme gamer and xtreme music, whats the difference as they seem to have pretty similar features?

Also which out of the hard drives i've chosen is the best? i've heard things about the noise of the seagate 7900.10's being really loud. Hitachi have been CPC's hard drive of choice for a while.

For reference this machine will be mainly for gaming and I'd like to give overclocking a go as i've never tried before.Oh and if anyone thinks my spec is rubbish, my budget is 1,500 not including the monitor which is my xmas present.

GAMEfreak · 29 Nov 2006 at 21:09

whats your budget? i have a budget of a grand for my 1st build, and this is what i'm thinking of getting. you could probably get a DS3 instead of the mobo ive chosen ( cheaper) and i reccommend the GeiL as everyone has been sayign great things about it.i wonder worry much about getting a sound card, on-board is more than enough in my honest opinion. otherwise pick up a sound blaster live card and forget about an X-FI as the price just doesnt justify it in my honest opinion. for everyone whose reading this i wouldnt mind finding out if people have any suggestions for this spec? i don't wanna go anymore over the price though as i stretched from £650 already! :rolleyes:

The monitor: Belinea 1925S1W 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver £119.99

The cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £13.99

the DVD burner: Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £18.99

The motherboard: Gigabyte GA_965P_DS4 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £99.99
(£117.49)
The Case and PSU:Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU £66.99

The Keyboard : Saitek Eclipse 2 Illuminated Keyboard - Blue/Red/Purple £28.99

The gfx card :HIS ATI Radeon X1950 XT ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (RX1950XT-256ICEQT) £179.99

powerful enough, and nice and quiet

The harddrive :Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A33423)
£46.99
good hard drive.
CPU :Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £107.99
overclocks v.good, and e6600's extra cache aint worth the extra money except for encoding video files etc.

RAM :GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £164.99
v.good overclocking ram.

MOUSE :Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 - Retail Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 - Retail £19.99
nice mouse on offer this week only

Ye Olde Sound System :Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers (Black) £69.99
good reviews

Sub Total : £938.88
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £24.95
Vat : £168.67
Total : £1,132.50

*stares at post count* 666, the devils number :O,

Shamikebab · 29 Nov 2006 at 21:17

Shamikebab said:
my budget is 1,500 not including the monitor which is my xmas present.

Hamoodii · 29 Nov 2006 at 22:44

Shamikebab said:
Ok i've been researching this new computer build (my first one) on this forum since before the summer and im finally ordering it next week. This is my final spec give or take (few componants i could do with advice on)

CASE Lian Li v1000+

PSU Seasonic M12-600

MOBO Abit AW9D-MAX Intel 975X OR ?

MEMORY G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit

VIDEO CARD EVGA GeForce 7900 GT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV-Out/Dual DVI OR ?

SOUND CARD Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi?

DVD RW NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver)

HARD DRIVE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache x 2 OR Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache x 2

MONITOR NEC MultiSync® LCD20WGX2 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver

SPEAKERS Logitech Z-5500 THX® Certified 5.1 505 Watts Speakers

PROCESSOR Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GH

CPU FAN Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler

So is there anything i should change? the three points im most undecided on is motherboard, sound card and video card. The Abit has been recommended to me by a friend who has it and is delighted with it but I plan on getting a TV card at some point for my computer, are all TV cards PCI or are there any PCI-E ones yet? The other mobo i was considering was one of the Asus ones, but i've heard some horror stories about them.

Video card wise im looking for one to tide me over for about a year until DirectX 10 is in full swing, is the 7900 GT the best one to go for in that price range? (up to 250), either Nvidia or ATI are both fine with me.

Sound card wise could someone please explain the differences between the various X-FI's? because im really confused, The two in my price bracket are the xtreme gamer and xtreme music, whats the difference as they seem to have pretty similar features?

Also which out of the hard drives i've chosen is the best? i've heard things about the noise of the seagate 7900.10's being really loud. Hitachi have been CPC's hard drive of choice for a while.

For reference this machine will be mainly for gaming and I'd like to give overclocking a go as i've never tried before.Oh and if anyone thinks my spec is rubbish, my budget is 1,500 not including the monitor which is my xmas present.

dump the 7900gt and get an X1900XT 256MB or a 7900GTO

Shamikebab · 29 Nov 2006 at 22:53

ok is the 7900 GTO worth the extra 60 quid? X1900XT is about the same price so if thats as good i'll probably get that. Anyone have any answers to the other questions? or would it be better if i posted those on their respective sub-forums?

Shamikebab · 30 Nov 2006 at 12:12

Someone must be able to help? :confused:

Alexrose1uk · 30 Nov 2006 at 12:28

So is there anything i should change? the three points im most undecided on is motherboard, sound card and video card. The Abit has been recommended to me by a friend who has it and is delighted with it but I plan on getting a TV card at some point for my computer, are all TV cards PCI or are there any PCI-E ones yet? The other mobo i was considering was one of the Asus ones, but i've heard some horror stories about them.

TV cards are mostly PCI Im afraid. I havent seen any PCI-E ones. ABit can be a pain, but there boards are generally pretty good when you get the fully going, although not as good as there old Nforce2/AMD XP offerings.
If you dont mind a smaller board, I've also heard very good things about the Asrock 945G-DVI motherboard, they're cheap, have onboard all sorts if ever needed, and they're meant to be rock solid at stock, with some room for clocking, although thats not thier speciality.

Video card wise im looking for one to tide me over for about a year until DirectX 10 is in full swing, is the 7900 GT the best one to go for in that price range? (up to 250), either Nvidia or ATI are both fine with me.

In that price range, the X1900XT/X1950XT is the fastest, they also have better IQ.

Sound card wise could someone please explain the differences between the various X-FI's? because im really confused, The two in my price bracket are the xtreme gamer and xtreme music, whats the difference as they seem to have pretty similar features?

Xtreme Music is the most basic AFAIK. I believe the higher models either have A) More Optional Stuff with them B) Support More features IE EAX4/5 or C) Have X-RAM.
If you're not sure, just go for a basic one, they ARE better than any mobo sound I've heard, even if its a subtle difference - I can hear small sounds in stuff I simply couldnt before etc.

Also which out of the hard drives i've chosen is the best? i've heard things about the noise of the seagate 7900.10's being really loud. Hitachi have been CPC's hard drive of choice for a while.

Hitachi Deskstar Drives are very good, no complaints there. I have one, and its the fastest drive I've owned, its also not too noisy with all audio acoustic stuff off. I'd say go for the pair of Hitachis. You get more space for your buck, and if you get a board with SATA RAID, you could raid for a backup hd, or increased speed.

For reference this machine will be mainly for gaming and I'd like to give overclocking a go as i've never tried before.Oh and if anyone thinks my spec is rubbish, my budget is 1,500 not including the monitor which is my xmas present.

Your spec looks fairly good IMO, aside the above points. GSkill and Geil are both good as long as your motherboard supports them, my old system used Geil, and my current uses G.Skill ZX, as you can see, for old DDR1 that cost me £140, 2GB @ 240Mhz [email protected] is NOT bad. They're both decently clocking RAM manufacturers and have many fans. Im afraid I cant offer much advice on screens, or speakers anymore, as I've not been so worried about them for a long time, having got a decent CRT, and having a hi-fi amp and speakers reproducing my sound!

Shamikebab · 30 Nov 2006 at 12:43

Thanks very much for the reply, i'll stick a X1900XT in there and go with hitachi hard drives then.

ronsplooter · 30 Nov 2006 at 13:21

ok is the 7900 GTO worth the extra 60 quid?

I've got a 7900 GTO and have to say it's an awsome GFX card. Easily overclocks to 7900GTX speeds and above.

I'm running mine at 700/800 at the moment

GAMEfreak · 30 Nov 2006 at 13:28

ok is the 7900 GTO worth the extra 60 quid?

i notice the guy above didnt answer your question. and simply put the answer is no. get a 256mb 1900XT

ronsplooter · 30 Nov 2006 at 13:40

i notice the guy above didnt answer your question

Hehe fair point GAMEfreak...just wanted to show off

I didn't realise that the GTO was now going for £199 and at that price your probably better off with the X1900XT.

They were only £153 not so long ago and are a bargain at that price for the performance you get.

Shamikebab · 30 Nov 2006 at 13:43

Ok thanks for the advice guys, X1900XT it is

harris1986 · 30 Nov 2006 at 13:50

one thing i've noticed is that you have a modular psu, not sure if the cables will reach in that case? just something i'd check

Shamikebab · 30 Nov 2006 at 13:52

ah, well i could always get the non modular S-12 600, will these be long enough?

Anyone happen to have this case and PSU combo?