New PC Advice

paul_smith

paul_smith

paul_smith

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25 Jun 2009
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29
Hi, I need a new PC and i want to buy the parts from Overclockers but im not very good with hardware. Can someone please advise what parts i should buy with the following specs.

Intel Core i7 quadcore 3.2GHz or above
6GB 1600MHz ram or above
Support for 8 monitors
HDD only needs to be 40GB (wont be used much)
DVD RW drive
Im hoping to use this case http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-102-AN&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=160
No monitors needed (i have those already)

I would like a full list of parts i need to buy if possible including any cables that arnt included with the parts.

Im willing to spend upto £1,500

Any help would be greatly appreciated
 
Its going to be used for quite a lot. Web development, windows programming, gaming etc.

The core i7 is what you just linked to but i want something a little faster
 
paul_smith said:
Its going to be used for quite a lot. Web development, windows programming, gaming etc.

The core i7 is what you just linked to but i want something a little faster
Click to expand...

Is 4 GHz fast enough?

You may notice that uses the same cpu that valdai recommended, these chips overclock like bats out of hell. The 920 chips are basically the same as the more expensive ones, but with lower multipliers, giving lower total clock speeds. As the motherboard can increase the speed without altering the multiplier - much larger clockspeeds are easily and safely attainable. You can do this yourself or get that bundle I linked to and it will be done for you.

8 monitors? Wow - thats some NORAD stuff going on there. This motherboard may be worth a look to support all the graphics cards you will require. I have no experience with PC setups with so many monitors, so the following is based on my best guesses, anyone with more experience please feel free to correct me:

I'm assuming its OK to get 4 graphics cards and plug two in to each card. However, if you want to game I'm guessing that the card plugged into the primary monitor should be much more powerful (if you intend to only game on one monitor), not sure about all monitors playing game at once.
 
4GHz is acceptable ;) lol. I dont think its a good idea for me to overclock anything myself. I hear its easy to break things and i dont know much about hardware so the bundle would be a better option.

Would 4 Gcards really work? I was told i need SLI so i can only have 2 cards (4 monitors on each). I want all graphics cards to be exactly the same. I would only be gaming on 1 screen but someone told me all Gcards are limited by the slowest one so having 1 thats faster wouldnt make any difference
 
Someone at work recommended this graphics card (before i was told i could only have 2) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-168-AS

That motherboard you linked to says "not only supporting up to three graphics cards in a 3-Way Geforce SLI or CrossFireX configuration but also supporting up to four dual-GPU graphics cards". Im not sure what the difference is but does that mean it can handle 4 of those graphics cards? Also, would they fit? (that fan looks pretty big on the Gcard)
 
Breaking things while overclocking is technically possible but, aslong as you do a bit of reading beforehand, extremely unlikely.

The i7 chips are very simple to overclock, and you will likely only need to change a few settings(eg BCLK, VCORE and memory divider), if you remain unsure after a bit of reading then that 4GHz bundle I linked to before will have it all done for you.

That 4850 graphics card is a medium/good performing card in normal situations (2 or less monitors) not sure about more than that. I'm not an expert on this, but is it possible to get 4 monitors powered by 1 card? I always thought it was 2 (due to the 2 DVI ports). Am I simply a luddite and have not encountered some sort of splitter?

As for that motherboard and graphics cards - they are dual slot coolers, but four should fit fine in that board. Also, I believe that 4 of those cards would function properly in CrossfireX, so that could be route to go down.
 
I have seend graphics cards that support 4 monitors. They have 1 big socket on them and you use an adapter to split into 4 VGA sockets

Someone told me the other day that Xfire is for AMD and SLI is for Intel. Ive just spoken to someone on MSN and he said that mobo will allow 3 cards with SLI or 4 cards without SLI. He also said that SLI would only give 1 output but use all 3 graphics cards together to make that output. In this case would it be best not to use SLI?
 
As far as multi GPU, multi monitor support goes - AMD seems to be ahead of Nvidia (NVidia only recently released the ability to use mulit monitors while using SLI, AMD had the same options much earlier).

As far as crossfire goes, I believe you can use all 4 cards linked together using CrossfireX and that Asus P6TWS motherboard. Not sure if you can link more that three Nvidia cards together.
 
Ok, after talking with you, someone on MSN and some people in a chatroom ive come up with the following list of components

Asus P6T7 WS Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM
Corsair XMS3 12GB (6x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Triple Channel
CoolerMaster Real Power 1250w Power Supply
Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB TV-Out/HDTV/HDMI (PCI-Express)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
Pioneer DVR-217FBK 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM

It seems that it would be simpler to not have SLI or Xfire. I dont need cards to share resources, i just need the 8 outputs.

1 thing i know is missing is a heatsink for the CPU. I want to get it overclocked (hopefully to the 4GHz if possible). Aparently i need a good heatsink for that but nobody can recommend one.

Is there anything else missing? What about cables? Do either the mobo or the drives come with SATA cables or do i have to buy those seperately? Are all those components compatible with each other? (they look it to me)
 
Those graphics cards should work fine for your monitors, but if you want to do some modern pc gaming they will not be powerful enough. I'm not sure this is important for you, but I thought I should mention it.

As for heatsink the prolimatech megahalems just got listed on ocuk and it is a great cooler. Add a noctua p12 fan or two and you should have some great cooling.

All the cables you need should come with your motherboard and psu.
 
Oh, i forgot to mention. I wont be playing these huge games. Most of the stuff i play runs on my existing Gcard (Radeon *something* 256MB) even if its not great. Those cards i mentioned should be more than enough
 
The graphics card says "Outputs: VGA, HDTV, Dual-Link DVI". I only see 3 outputs on the image. 2 of them are DVI. Would this card come with DVI to VGA convertors? If not can i buy those from OC? Ive searched but i cant find any.

Im not going to upgrade my monitors just yet and all of them still use VGA
 
A after market cooler is a must for overclocking.
If your not planning to use water cooling id suggest:

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-060-TR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=
Prolimatech Megahalems Performance CPU Cooler
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-000-PL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

or you could go with the Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir which is what OcUk use in there 4ghz i7 920 bundles so it's proven to handle it and the cheapest out of the lot as it comes with a fan for starters. All three of these with some good fans will be able to handle that sort of overclock.

i belive you should be able to get a dongle adapter to run your monitors.
 
That titan one looks good. It does say "Fan Connector: 4-Pin (PWM)". Ive never seen a 4 pin fan connector before. Does that mobo have a socket for it or do i need something extra?
 
The fan connectors are fine, will slot into the CPU_fan socket with no problems. The Titan fenrir is a fine cooler, just a bit noisy at full speed.

The megahalems indeed is the one you linked to. It
may not show it on the picture but it comes with
metal dan clips to mount one 120mm fan, I'd reccomend getting a noctua p12 with it.

Also, as technics said, you can get dvi to VGA converters.
 
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Oh, ive never heard them called dongles before. I know they exist. I have 2 already but can i buy them from overclockers? It doesnt look like they sell them but i might have just missed them.

Noise isnt really a problem for me. The titan one looks simpler to use so if it does the job then i think ill go with that.

This PC is looking good and its well under my budget. Thanks for all your help :)
 
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