New Games Rig - Thoughts?

MiOB

MiOB

MiOB

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Joined
19 Aug 2008
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Location
Israel
Hey there mates, :)

What are your thoughts of the following rig? To be connected to a 19" screen (1440X900 NR), and mostly gaming and HD movies.
Budget-wise, I checked OcUK, it's about £500. (Since I'm changing from ILS.)

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CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 E0 3000MHz.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L.

Memory: G.Skill DDR2 4096MB 800MHZ Dual Channel 4GBPI CL4-4-4-12

Graphic Card: ATI HD4850 512MB.

HDD: Western Digital 640GB WD6400AAKS.

Case: Antec 300 OR NZXT HUSH.

PSU: Corsair VX450W OR SeaSonic SS-500ET.

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Any improvements? Would you change anything to optimise this rig?

Which of the cases would you recommend? NZXT's Hush or Antec's Three Hundred?
Same goes for the PSUs, any experience with one of them?

Cheers :)
 
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My personal choice would be the Corsair PSU and the Antec 300 case.
I'm not sure if the E0 stepping has been filterd through yet!
 
Antec due to the simple looks and dual front intake fans and large 140mm fan on top for plenty of cooling.
NZXT in my eyes looks tacky, also the front door may become nuisance I've changed my case from the Lian Li A10B to the A17 due to the fact the door come very annoying.

Corsair as I am using 2 at the moment and had no problems so far and five year warranty, Never used Seasonic I really can't comment on performance ect.
 
Next time I build a system for someone Im going to use a Antec 300, looks so smart and is a good price. Id go with the corsair PSU as well.

Just a thought, personally I would double up the RAM, what OS will you be running?
 
Antec three hundred is a brilliant case, using one now for my first build. Great cooling as well :D. If you go to the case central part of the forums and search around there are a lot of pics from people's builds.
 
J.B said:
... Just a thought, personally I would double up the RAM, what OS will you be running?
Click to expand...
I believe it will be a 64bit version of Windows Vista.
Having read a few articles on the net, which clearly showed a great increase in gaming & overall performance when upgrading from 2GB to 4GB, I did think of taking 4GB.
However, considering my low NR (1440X900), do you think having only 2GB of RAM will limit the gaming performance (FPS, loading times and such.) or the overall one?

Thank you all for your replies regarding the Antec 300, since it was my initial choice.
I happen to be offered a bundle of the Hush+Seasonic PSU for a great price, that's why I listed it too, but I guess I'll be passing on that one. :p

Any other opinions? :)
 
I'd notch the graphics up to a 4870 - this one's only £155

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-100-HT

I would also opt for a either a Q9450 with 12MB of cache or the superb Q6600 which is a baragin at £125.00.

Both can be easily overclocked past 3.0GHz and you'll bebfit for the additional 2 cores. There are those that will say that multi threaded apps and games aren't available and it's a waste of time. However, when they do, you'll be ready :)

The Corsair 620 and the Antec 300 case are both superb :)
 
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Admiral Huddy said:
I'd notch the graphics up to a 4870 - this one's only £155
Click to expand...
I thought of that. If you don't mind me asking (just for a better understanding.), why won't the 4850 be enough? I mean, will a 1440X900 resolution be "heavy" on a 4850?
In other words, will I not be able to play games on their highest settings with a 4850, while with a 4870 I will?

Also, I know all of cards are reference cards (except one or two.), but yet is there any difference between the manufacturers?
I've heard Palit is quite bad, while it's actually the cheapest one out of them all. What about Gainward?
 
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4850 will be fine for that res. Some people have the mantra of buy the best that you can, now. Gainward make good cards, thats why i have one.

The dual versus quad argument is often debated. I would get the faster dual core, others the quad. If you multitask / encode etc then maybe get the Q6600.
 
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You can play most games on full with 4870 getting 60+fps on ther latest games (crysis excluded)...4870 is about 15fps less. By the way this is totally generalising and will depend on the game...but on average..
 
@ACESHIGH:
No, I do not multitask, and I believe I never will. (At least in the near future... :P)
That's why I chose a Dual Core in the first place. :)

@Eggman:
Well, to be frank, I don't care much about this Crysis game. :D
I do plan to game, but, I'll not sob if a game doesn't run well enough. :)

Anyhow, this is my final spec:

==============================

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3000MHz.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L.

Memory: G.Skill DDR2 4096MB 800MHZ Dual Channel 4GBPI CL4-4-4-12

Graphic Card: Gainward / Palit HD4850 512MB.

HDD: Western Digital 640GB WD6400AAKS.

Case: Antec 300.

PSU: Corsair VX450W.

==============================

Anymore suggestions? In other words, what would you add / change / remove? :)

BTW, what about overclocking? Will this rig overclock well in your opinion?
Surely it depends much on cooling, but, hardware-wise, are these parts known to be good for overclocking?
 
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3000MHz. - overclocks well & you shouldnt have a problem with this cpu getting decent overclocks on good cooling. Though should still get some improvement on stock cooling.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L. - a good board purchased by lots of users, so no problems there.

G.Skill make good ram, so no problems with overclocking with above.

These new Western Digital 640GB hdds have the faster platter speeds i believe so another good choice.

Gainward / Palit HD4850 512MB - good choice, best bang per buck card. Gaiward are wll known and so is Palit. Palit cards are generally cheaper as they dont include extras or modifications to the cards often, but for the 4850's which are pretty much all stock manufactured it shouldnt be a problem.

Corsair VX450W is a good psu and should handle the above fine.
 
Thank you for the complete rundown! :D I'll purchase this rig today. :)

Also, peripherals-wise, I'll purchase a Logitech X-540 and a Logitech G7.
Any opinions regarding these two?

They both got many great reviews on the net, perhaps one of you will be able to give his personal one? :) (or, should I post on each specific child-forum?)

Cheers! :)
 
MiOB said:
Thank you for the complete rundown! :D I'll purchase this rig today. :)

Also, peripherals-wise, I'll purchase a Logitech X-540 and a Logitech G7.
Any opinions regarding these two?

They both got many great reviews on the net, perhaps one of you will be able to give his personal one? :) (or, should I post on each specific child-forum?)

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...
I cannot comment on the G7 but I have just returned a G5 for the Razer DeathAdder. The Razer is an excellent mouse and on paper appears to be a lower spec, but in use is far superior to the G5. It is not often that I am so impressed with something.
 
Why did you return your G5?
To be frank, I must use a cordless mouse, and I've read reviews, stating the G7 is the best cordless gamers mouse out there. Do you know of other cordless gamers mice?
Also, was the G7 discontinued? I can not find it on logitech's website.
 
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MiOB said:
Why did you return your G5?
To be frank, I must use a cordless mouse, and I've read reviews, stating the G7 is the best cordless gamers mouse out there. Do you know of other cordless gamers mice?
Also, was the G7 discontinued? I can not find it on logitech's website.
Click to expand...
I did not realize that it was cordless and you are correct from what I have read that it is the best cordless gaming mouse.
 
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