New PC specs

prodda

prodda

prodda

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Joined
5 Jan 2009
Posts
7
Hi all

I’m a newbie to this forum but have built 3 or 4 systems down the years so have a basic understanding of what’s what. My last build was about 3 years ago (AMD64 San Diego 3700, MSI K8T Neo, FX5900XT, etc) which I’ve regularly upgraded but it has now ‘died’ on me.

I need to replace my last PC but don’t have the time to build it myself so am thinking of buying/customising a basic system (such as they do at OC) and would be grateful for some advice.

The new system will be used for some gaming (CoD World at War etc), photo editing, home office, internet, web design, etc, and I have a budget of £1,000 but would be happy to spend less if possible (Don’t need screen, keyboard, etc).

Can anyone recommend any customised systems with the right sort of specs (I’ve seen a few but to be honest since I built my last PC I haven’t kept up to date with developments).

Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated

Phil
 
Hi prodda and welcome to the forums. First of all, make sure you read the FAQ, just so you are aware of the rules.

Moving onto your specification. To be able to get the best possible system for your money, we really need to know what sort of resolution you will be using. Otherwise we could be putting a specification together for you with a top of the line graphics card but if you are only going to be using a monitor that supports a low resolution, then it is kind of a waste. :)
 
Thanks for getting back so soon. Forum rules duly noted :)

I currently have a Dell 19" monitor at 1280 x 1024 but will look to upgrade it if I can get a good spec with money lwft over from my £1000 budget.
 
Hi prodda, the first specification that I have done includes a very high end graphics card which is actually a bit of an overkill for the resolution that you will be gaming at. However, if you are looking at upgrading your monitor any time soon then I would personally stick with the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 since it is a fantastic graphics card and will be great when using a monitor that is capable of outputting a fairly high resolution. Gaming will be absolutely brilliant. It also includes an Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 which will help with the other things that you will use your system for.

Specification 1:

Specification-24.jpg


The second specification includes a monitor but I had to downgrade the graphics card to come within budget. Though, if the systems primary function is multitasking and doing things such as photo editing then the Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 will be much better than say a top of the lines graphics card.

Specification 2:

Specification-29.jpg


The third specification includes a monitor but also keeps the Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 which will go well with the native resolution of the monitor that's included in the specification. However, I had to downgrade the CPU to a fairly cheaper dual core CPU. Please don't get me wrong though, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 and once overclocked, the performance in games won't be that far off a similar clocked Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 providing that particular game doesn't take advantage of more than 2 cores. Though, not many games utilise the power of a quad core CPU just yet.

Specification 3:

Specification-32.jpg


If you are willing to wait until you have enough funds to get a nice monitor, then specification 1 will be absolutely fine. As said though, the graphics card is a bit of an overkill for the monitor that you currently have but since you will be looking to upgrade it soon, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If you are looking for a system which will be mainly for multitasking, a bit of gaming but includes a monitor, then specification 2 should suit your needs just fine.

If you are looking to get a system that includes a monitor and gaming is going to be the main function, then specification 3 will be just right. Since you are going to be gaming at a fairly high resolution of 1680x1080, then you will be GPU limited, not that you aren't in the majority of games anyway but even more so since you will be gaming at a fairly high resolution of 1680x1050. As said though, to get full performance out of that system, then overclocking the CPU will help a lot. :)
 
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Firespecs systems are good, and you will get more bang for your buck building it yourself
Its not that complex and shouldnt take too long either, the only time it does is if something goes wrong, normally having to RMA faulty part, but the advantage of doing your own system is you then only have to RMA that one part, not the complete system
If however you did insist on getting one built for you, this complete system includes 22" monitor and a 4870. but is slightly over your budget
Click here
 
Hi Fire Wizard, thanks for your specs - very interesting. On balance, I think I'd edge towards spec 2. It will be a multi-tasking PC but with a bit of gaming - The 4850 should be capable of playing CoD World at War?

I hear that ATI cards run hot so would the Akasa or Liane-Li be the better bet (or the Antec 300)?

Also, I've no experience of 64-bit OS - does it have serious advantages over 32-bit?

Thanks for all your help
 
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ocuk65.jpg


Just a different variation on firewizards spec.

I prefer using a modular PSU, less mess and easier to work with. 600W will definitely be more than enough for this build. It's very quiet aswell, got one in my PC.

The 4850 is more than enough for a 22" monitor, should see most games at max detail. Plus having the p5q pro means you can add a 2nd 4850 down the line for some extra power. If you can stretch the budget a bit more, you can go for a 1gb 4870 or gtx260, will give you some headroom and allow maximum detail on pretty much any game.

The viewsonic monitor has a different resolution from the sammy, 1920*1080, brilliant for HD movies, but games will scale better on 1680*1050. It depends on it's main use, although im sure it'll still work well with games.

I feel £55 is a lot on a CPU cooler, unless you plan on a very large overclock. The tuniq will see the Q6600 well, I've got one paired with an overclocked E8400 and it keeps the temps nice and cool. The TRUE is probably the best you can get, but very pricey.

The antec 300 is also a great budget case, keeps everything inside very cool, especially if you add in a few extra fans.

The advantage with 64bit systems are you can use all of the 4gb of ram, XP will only show around 3.25gb. Plus in certain games you can use direct x 10.
 
prodda said:
The 4850 should be capable of playing CoD World at War?
Click to expand...

Hi prodda, the ATI Radeon 4850 may struggle with Call Of Duty: World At War at the native resolution of the Viewsonic VX2260wm 22" Widescreen True HD LCD Monitor which is 19200x1080. I'm actually going to go in agreement with what ro55o has just said with regards to the monitor. You would actually probably be slightly better of getting a 22 inch screen like the one ro55o has chosen that has a native resolution of 1680x1050 as opposed to 1920x1080.

I have amended my specifications which now includes a different 22 inch screen with a native resolution of 1680x1050.

I hear that ATI cards run hot so would the Akasa or Liane-Li be the better bet (or the Antec 300)?
Click to expand...

The Akasa Eclipse 62 Case is much more roomier inside than the Lian-Li PC-7B PLUS II. Though, there is certainly nothing wrong with the Lian-Li case, it's a fantastic case in my opinion. I actually have one. Fantastic build quality and great airflow and I am also actually running a ATI Radeon 4870 with no problems at all.

Either case will be absolutely fine.

Also, I've no experience of 64-bit OS - does it have serious advantages over 32-bit?
Click to expand...

The most well known advantage of a 64-bit operating system is it is able to handle larger memory addresses as opposed to a 32-bit operating system. The other advantages is that it will be faster in certain situations, it is securer and more stable. If you are interested in finding out more about this, you can read through a article published on the review website Bit-Tech called 64-bit: More than just the RAM. You may also be interested in reading through a post written by NathanE which can be found here, taken from this thread here.

A lot of people are sceptical about running a 64-bit operating system mainly because of compatibility problems. However, in this day and age, I would be extremely surprised if you were to come across any problems. :)
 
Still very much 'work in progress' but here's the latest thinking:-

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Akasa Eclipse 62 Case - Aluminium (No PSU)

Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU

Asus Xonar D1 7.1 PCI Sound Card (90-YAA0B0-0UAN00Z)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502IJ)

Thermalright TRUE Black 120 CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775)

Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)

Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

I've gone for an ATI 4850 at this stage because I'm thinking that I should be able to afford to upgrade to a good screen plus get anoth 4850 in a few months time. In the meantime, what gaming I do can be done at lower res (1280x1024) on my existing screen.

For another £20 I could get an IceQ4 4850 which appears to have better cooling - would this be a good option?

Does this look as if it will work well together and would I need additional cooling/fans etc.

Thanks for all your help and comments so far
 
prodda said:
Thermalright TRUE Black 120 CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775)
Click to expand...

This cooler doesn't come with a fan, it's just a passive cooler, to get it to work better you really need to get a fan aswell.

The standard 4850 is fine, if the temps get a little high just set up a fan profile in CCC for when it reaches a certain temp and it will turn up the fan speed. Mine is running on the stock cooler and temps are fine.

At that resolution you don't anymore than a 4850, it will max any game.

Apart from that everything should be fine.
 
prodda said:
I've gone for an ATI 4850 at this stage because I'm thinking that I should be able to afford to upgrade to a good screen plus get anoth 4850 in a few months time. In the meantime, what gaming I do can be done at lower res (1280x1024) on my existing screen.

Does this look as if it will work well together and would I need additional cooling/fans etc.
Click to expand...

if you're really going for a new screen get the 4870, dont go with dual 4850s.
 
Finally decided I didn't want to go through the 'trauma' of a new build (I know you guys say 'piece of cake' but I haven't built for quite a while) so have customised the Titan Pro as follows:-

- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic SP1 64-Bit OEM
- Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU
- Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter - OEM
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM
- HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 - Retail
- Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
- Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler
- Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
- Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

Does this look like a half-decent configuration?
 
Building it yourself would probablys workout cheaper & be more fun, provided nothing goes wrong but that looks great & should do everything you want it too with ease, go on hit the buy now button:D
 
Well, I've pressed the button and am happy with my choice!

A big thank you for all your advice - it's guys like you that make it easier for 'plebs' like me to decide which way to go.

A big thank you

Phil
 
No worries mate
You still got a very good system there, youre just paying a small premium to have someone else build it for you, suppose its like taking your car to car wash rather than washing it yourself, you still get same result though
Enjoy your new system
 
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