New System - component selection

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30 Nov 2005
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507
Location
London


Hi All,

My 4870x2 died a couple of weeks ago meaning my planned upgrade has been brought forward.

I have been saving for a long long time to replace my age old system and want a quality PC with quality components. I'm not made of money so I want to be
sure that what I have chosen is going to serve me well. Now I'm not really an overclocker but when the components start to age it is something I may tinker with.
I'm reasonably computer savvy but no expert and would like some feedback on the kit I have considered for a build.

GPU
Is this GPU overkill if I'm not going to be clocking it? I just want an powerful card as I like to game at 1920x1200 with high settings and good frames 60-70+ (online MP). Games such as RO2 and BF3.
Reviews seem to point at this card being aimed at enthusiasts etc. Is it still a decent top end card regardless of the clocking features or should I aim at saving a bit of dollar and get something a little cheaper.
I like the idea of having plenty of VRAM for AA. Even at 1920 res/ I like to set it on at least 2x.

Motherboard
Is the board a bit overkill for my purposes? I have read reviews that it is a very fast, quality board. Have always used ASUS and they have always been rock solid.

Memory
I still need to drop some RAM in the system and looking for some decent Dual Channel DDR3.

Storage/Drives
I have opted for the Velocirator as I have a Raptor and a Raptor-X drive (150 GB). Been very happy with their performance. These will be used for storage (design work).
The 300gb Velociraptor drive is solely for my steam folder really. I won't require huge TB drives.

The 120GB SSD is for my OS and running the odd non-steam game. BF3 and other games.

So if you could give me some constructive feedback as to whether the money I'm spending could be better spent on other components or if what I have chosen is decent enough. I would really appreciate it.

Cheers

Benny
 
thanks for the feedback. With Regards to RAM I think 16GB is a bit OTT for me.
Defo a great deal but think 8GB is more than enough for my needs.

Been looking at this little package.. although not available on Overclockers.

8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Dominator GT, DDR3 PC3-14900(1866),
NonECC Unbuffered,9-10-9-27, DHX, XMP, 1.50V

I thought the OCZ ranged had a few issues on them but not the corsair ones.
Sounds like the crucial SSD's require a firmware update before they reach their full potential.

As for the GPU the clock speeds are higher on the lightning for a 3gb card. Guess I need to decide whether the extra
cash is worth the extra performance really. The EVGA cards certainly do loook pretty damn fine.
Plus a 10 year guaratee is certainly something to sway me. After the loss of my current card I was gutted to find it
only had a 1 year warranty. :/

I have swapped over the DVD drive, overlooked it being OEM.

Still looking over motherboard reviews at the moment. I have heard great things about the ASROCK boards but want to stick with ASUS really.

Cheers

B
 
I don't reallyjust like things to work straight outta the box. have anything against firmware updates. Just that I haven't done it previously. Somebody has placed a step by step on the HDD section of the forums and it seemed pretty straight forward. I just want things to work straight out of the box. As does everybody. Thanks for your reply KD.

B
 
thats a decent build actually R088ie. Thanks for taking the time to knock it up. Been thinking about the crucial SSD and will defo be going with that. Not sure about swapping out the Raptor though. It makes sense to use a 256gb SSD for STEAM and a 60GB SSD for the system. Just a lot of dollar. I guess I could some less expensive elemtns of th build and divert the funds towards the SSD's

Motherboard is still something I need to decide on really. The ASUS Matrix was a card I had been looking at but wish it came with 3 gig or Memory. Do you think 1.5 is adequate? I have noticed a lot of the 3 gig cards have lower clock speeds than the 1.5 versions (obviously brand dependant). So may end up going for it in the end. I need to have a burchers at some more reviews/benchmarks.

As for the silverstone case that was a consideration and seems a top case although I'm not sure what to do now. All my carefully layed plans appear to have been scuppered.

As for the saving I was forced to, I got robbed and they nabbed my first Build PC. So been stowing away the pennies ever since.
Been hard work considering I have two other hobbies hustling me for money.

Cheers

B
 
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