New PC Spec Advice

Wizardskills · 24 May 2007 at 01:43

Hi All

I am looking to put together a new system for myself after i finish university in June. The PC will be many used for gaming, 3D modelling/animation and photo editing (More or less in that order). My budget is £1800 max. I'm quite technically minded (Doing a Computing Science Degree) however i have never built a computer before and i am not 100% sure what comes with all the components. Will i have to buy extra cables to fix everything up?

My initial spec is below

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

I already own a mouse and a set of speakers so there is no need to include these in the set-up.

Many Thanks

Wiz

PS First post, so "Hi" to everyone

*Waves*

shine · 24 May 2007 at 01:51

Hi and welcome to the forums... and claimed.

Do you need an OS?

I wouldn't but the Ultra - get the GTX there is little difference so you may as well save the cash.

Edit: Bear in mind Intel's Price cuts when buying - by waiting an extra month you be able to save yourself some significant cash.

Also do you plan on overclocing? If so consider this RAM instead:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-088-CR

Again save you cash without impacting performance.

Final advice if you decide to make the above cost savings consider replacing the monitor for either the NEC 20WGX2 or Dell 2407WFP.

Wizardskills · 24 May 2007 at 01:55

shine said:
Do you need an OS?

Oppps, should have mentioned that i have that covered

shine said:
I wouldn't but the Ultra - get the GTX there is little difference so you may as well save the cash.

Even if it is overclocked?

shine · 24 May 2007 at 01:57

Wizardskills said:
Even if it is overclocked?

Yep - this thread may shed some light on the reasoning.

Jaffa_Cake · 24 May 2007 at 02:03

Not stealing your thread here shine but.

The 8800's were the first DX10 cards. Give it a year there will be new cards that will beat GTX's in SLI.

Buying the very latest hardware is not always a good idea and this is true with the ultra cards. Saw an article when they first came out and its something stupid like 6 FPS difference.

shine · 24 May 2007 at 02:13

Jaffa_Cake said:
Not stealing your thread here shine but.

The 8800's were the first DX10 cards. Give it a year there will be new cards that will beat GTX's in SLI.

Buying the very latest hardware is not always a good idea and this is true with the ultra cards. Saw an article when they first came out and its something stupid like 6 FPS difference.

Steal away, I've already got my claim in.

masslac · 24 May 2007 at 10:19

NZXT cases are horribly tacky. Look at something like an Antec P180. Also, I would change the HDD to a Western Digital.

Wizardskills · 24 May 2007 at 11:16

masslac said:
NZXT cases are horribly tacky. Look at something like an Antec P180.

Is that the build quality or there apperance, cause i quite like how it looks and from what i can find the Lexa has recived good reviews.

masslac said:
Also, I would change the HDD to a Western Digital.

In terms of western digital, a few of my freinds have had problems with them and i have been advised againts getting them

After doing some re-juggleing, i have removed the OZC ram and put in 4Gb of Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz. Removed the 8800 Ultra and put in a BFG 8800 GTX OC2 and swapped the screen with a Samsung SM-215TW 21" Widescreen. The total is just over £1800 but that is ok.

Are there any extra cables that i will have to buy to get this system working? (Sorry im such a n00b at building PC's)

strudey · 24 May 2007 at 11:28

Nope all cables should come with!

JamesU2005 · 24 May 2007 at 11:42

Not sure about the PowerSupply.

But agree ditch the Ultra.

mp260767 · 24 May 2007 at 12:26

have a look at the lian li pc-7 PLUS case and the corsair 620 modular psu.

stick with the samsung hard disk

unless you have a 64 bit o/s dont think theres any point having 4gb, if you can get 4 gb go for 2x2gb like the OCZ PC2-5400C5 Dual Channel Vista Upgrade Gold Series.

if you;'re going to overclock may be worth looking at something like the Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink.

Jaffa_Cake · 24 May 2007 at 13:00

mp260767 said:
stick with the samsung hard disk

unless you have a 64 bit o/s dont think theres any point having 4gb, if you can get 4 gb go for 2x2gb like the OCZ PC2-5400C5 Dual Channel Vista Upgrade Gold Series.

if you;'re going to overclock may be worth looking at something like the Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink.

The samsung hdd's are slightly slower than the competitors but they are very quiet. Personally I prefer the seagates but thats just my opinion.

I would highly recommend 2x2gb for 4gb if you REALLY want it. 1gbx4 doesn't run in dual channel and it does make it slower.

Agree with the Noctua.

mp260767 · 24 May 2007 at 13:15

Jaffa_Cake said:
The samsung hdd's are slightly slower than the competitors but they are very quiet. Personally I prefer the seagates but thats just my opinion.

just shows each to their own and luck, my samsung is quiet but my recent seagate is a fair bit noisier

.

not really noticed any speed difference but i dont run hdtech or anything against them.