New system headaches, judge my spec and tell me what to do...

YouSir

YouSir

YouSir

Associate
Joined
31 Dec 2008
Posts
8
Spent the last week going through a thousand or so different configurations in search of the perfect one, slowly losing the will to live here but that's obsession for you. Anyway, rather than bang my head against a brick wall I thought I'd post here and let people who actually know what they're talking about pass judgement, so...

pcspecqi6.jpg


And cut off from the bottom of that is 4gb RAM, DVDRW and a keyboard, adding up to a grand total of £839.37 inc VAT.

It'll be a general use machine but for the first time since I started using PCs I'd like to be able to get into gaming without the constant worry that my comp won't be up to the job. Plus I'd like to be able to game and do whatever else I need to without too many concerns over specs for a few years to come and then spend a hell of a lot less than this on an upgrade. Which opens up a few more headaches, should I wait for the new AMD chips to appear? Should I wait for Windows 7? Are i7s going to come down in price any time soon? Gah.

Budget at the outset was £800, so I'm already a little over but as long as I don't go any further beyond the mark I can live with it. Anyway, thoughts, ideas, disdain..?

Thanks in advance.
 
Kennysevenfold said:
i wouldt change much mate, looks a really good build :p

what brand and speeds of ram is it your thinking of getting.?

and for an extra £3 i would recomend this power supply, OCZ can be a bit Iffy if you ask me.. Ohh and its modular..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...ermaster Real Power 520w Modular Power Supply
Click to expand...

:) Cheers, swapped around the PSU, really had no idea on that one so I just picked one that seemed fairly popular.

And for RAM: OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK) £29.99
(£34.49) £29.99
(£34.49)

It's a 'This Week Only' offer and seeing as I won't be ordering until next week it might be gone/more expensive, so there's probably some room for last minute fiddling.
 
You need the quadcore? - What kinds of games/genre you play/will play?

Overclocking/No overclocking?

Spinpoint F1's are popular, may out-perform seagate in some areas.
 
ahh nice :) wise decision mate.

ahh thats some good ram there, if you dont get it in th this weeks offers, there might be a new set in it or something like this mate and you cant go far wrong..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-136-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813&name=Corsair%204GB%20DDR2%20XMS2%20PC2-6400C5%20TwinX%20(2x2GB)

if your going to have a go at overclocking, that q6600 should easily hit the 3GHz mark which will be great for gamming, multitasking, HD movies, video encoding etc

but if your not overclocking, for the same price as the q6600 i suggest getting a higher clocked dual core for gaming mate. you will benefit a good bit more and wont bottleneck that graphics card :p

something like..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-192-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793&name=Intel%20Core%202%20Duo%20E8400%20LGA775%20%27Wolfdale%27%20%203.00GHz%20(1333FSB)%20-%20Retail
 
Sundance said:
You need the quadcore? - What kinds of games/genre you play/will play?

Overclocking/No overclocking?

Spinpoint F1's are popular, may out-perform seagate in some areas.
Click to expand...

No overclocking in the near future, may have a crack at it one day, but that's only a vague consideration. I thought the quad core would give me a longer lifespan as more stuff comes in to make use of it, although there's a good chance I'm wrong there. As for games, for the most part nothing too bulky, strategy stuff, but if I'm spending the money I want the chance to try FPSs and the like without too much hassle, plus Fallout 3, I've loved every one since the first, 'tis what's finally moved me to spend the money.

May swap to the F1, just don't want too push the cost any further until I've got the fundamentals decided.
 
Kennysevenfold said:
ahh nice :) wise decision mate.

ahh thats some good ram there, if you dont get it in th this weeks offers, there might be a new set in it or something like this mate and you cant go far wrong..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-136-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813&name=Corsair%204GB%20DDR2%20XMS2%20PC2-6400C5%20TwinX%20(2x2GB)

if your going to have a go at overclocking, that q6600 should easily hit the 3GHz mark which will be great for gamming, multitasking, HD movies, video encoding etc

but if your not overclocking, for the same price as the q6600 i suggest getting a higher clocked dual core for gaming mate. you will benefit a good bit more and wont bottleneck that graphics card :p

something like..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-192-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793&name=Intel%20Core%202%20Duo%20E8400%20LGA775%20%27Wolfdale%27%20%203.00GHz%20(1333FSB)%20-%20Retail
Click to expand...

So, overclocking aside, there's no real reason for a quad core then? Just a matter of saving a few quid? For some reason I'm hardwired into thinking that 4 must beat 2, ho hum.
 
To answer your questions -
personally I wouldnt wait for either, chances are windows7 will be very glitchy when it first releases, in my exerience all new O/S's are quite unreliable until the first SP comes out. And i7 is not going to drop enough to fit in your budget any time soon, not only are the chips and mobo's expensive you also have to fork out for expensive DDR3 RAM, so stick with the set up you've got, though I agree with Kenny re going for a faster dual core than getting the quad, but opinions are split on this, theres no right or wrong approach
Id also recomend you spend as much as you can afford on PSU (stick with decent make but try and get more (6-700) Watts as it will allow you to maybe add another gfx card later) The opinions on modular vs non are split as well but that case has a nice cable compartment to hide away any that arent in use so I'd say you dont really need modular myself, again just personal opinion though
 
95thrifles said:
To answer your questions -
personally I wouldnt wait for either, chances are windows7 will be very glitchy when it first releases, in my exerience all new O/S's are quite unreliable until the first SP comes out. And i7 is not going to drop enough to fit in your budget any time soon, not only are the chips and mobo's expensive you also have to fork out for expensive DDR3 RAM, so stick with the set up you've got, though I agree with Kenny re going for a faster dual core than getting the quad, but opinions are split on this, theres no right or wrong approach
Id also recomend you spend as much as you can afford on PSU (stick with decent make but try and get more (6-700) Watts as it will allow you to maybe add another gfx card later) The opinions on modular vs non are split as well but that case has a nice cable compartment to hide away any that arent in use so I'd say you dont really need modular myself, again just personal opinion though
Click to expand...


why 6-700watts.?

that system will NOT draw over 300.? even with and other graphics card in crossfire no way over 380-400watts.?

waste of money IMO
 
Cheers folks, switched over to the dual core and swapped the hard drive for a Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502IJ). Anything I've missed? Cables, will I need to get any seperately? Hard drive is OEM so, presumably, I'll need a connector for that right? And I'm guessing I won't need any extra cooling gear seeing as I'm not overclocking?
 
Cables should all come with your mobo and PSU so no need to buy any others. Nice looking spec :)

Edit: Bah Beaten to it :P
 
No you dont have to buy cables, they'll be in your mobo box
If you're really not going to OC then no you dont NEED to buy an aftermarket cooler, but that chip will OC well, especially with decent case like you have, and its quite easy to do, just read the stickied thred in the OC section if you havent done it before, it'd almost be a crime not to OC, lol
 
Heh, now that's efficiency for you, 3 minutes, 3 replies, much appreciated :)

And I may well have a crack at OC'ing, if it's that easy, but my budget is already rinsed out (plus a little bit more) so I'll give it a while longer before getting a cooler if I feel up to it. Thanks again for all the advice, really appreciated.
 
Seen that Antec 300 case at the i-series LAN parties and they are very good and a common sight which can only be a good thing!

I'd take the OCZ's PSUs 'silent' rating which a large handful of salt....I've had a 700w GameXtream version from them that was dubbed 'silent' but turned out to be anything but silent! In addition, the first one I had ended up being RMA'ed back to Europe as it failed the boot the machine the machine at all.

For me OCZ = great memory, poor PSUs....
 
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