Ordering soon, need some help!

Fanaticjam

Fanaticjam

Fanaticjam

Associate
Joined
25 Sep 2011
Posts
510
Hey there,

I'll probably order in a few days, once I'm certain of getting a rig that won't blow up!

I don't have a real budget, it's mostly cutting into my student loan which I'll need to earn back over the next few months :P but I'm trying to keep it below £750.

I've got a thermaltake armor case that I think I'll salvage from my current rig for this rig.
http://oranges-world.com/data_images/thermaltake-armor.jpg

Also two hard drives - 1 TB and 320GB that I intend to bring over.
And keeping all my peripherals aswell.
Also, I should be able to get win7 for free from a friend.

So, first thing I'd like help with is with the rig, I've made a few ones but I'm not totally sure what to go for...

I'd prefer nvidia graphics and intel naturally. A BR player would be nice, but not totally necessary, need a new dvd drive at any rate though. Same for modular PSU, would prefer to have one. I'm also drawn to the tracer RAM, might find myself getting it either way, plus it's got super low latency. I'd like a PSU that can handle at least 5HDD's (inc ssd), as I'm likely to add another when they get cheap again. I'd say allow for 2GPU's too, but the mobo in my cheaper spec doesn't support SLI.
I intend to OC to 4.5~ so need a decent cooler.
Parts need to be in stock as I'd like to order soon, although I might wait until 12th~ January it it'd be beneficial

So, my first spec totaled £830, which is more than I'd like to spend, unless I come across a pot of gold.
http://oi42.tinypic.com/148dv5u.jpg

My second spec came to £700~ but the ram possibly isn't that great and it's really just trying to use cheapest parts.
http://oi41.tinypic.com/2egbqyu.jpg



So, other questions I have:
1:Should I order now or wait till mid January?

2:Can I just stick the old HDD's in new rig or will I need to reformat them first? (I need the data on them)

3: Should I use the Thermaltake Armor case? I'm not overly fond of it, but I don't see much reason to upgrade, it's got 4 medium/smallish fans and a 20cm fan on the side too, so it should be fairly cool...

4:What to do with old parts? I was thinking of selling them individually or building a low budget rig with them and ebaying it.. Or building a small rig to use as a game server, when I have a bit of money spare. Are they worth selling?

Current Build:
E6600 2.4ghz @ 3.15ghz on stock cooler
2GB DDR2 Ram (Think it's 800mhz)
7600GT 256mb
Thermaltake Armor Case
EVGA 680i SLI Mobo
320GB HDD
1TB HDD (Fairly new)
Antec PSU 600w maybe..

Thanks in advance!
 
What is the PC going to be used for?

Gaming? General Office/Browsing?

I would get a 460 over the 550Ti

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=gx-160-ea&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830

comparison of the two:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/chart...compare,2664.html?prod[4831]=on&prod[4977]=on

HDDs are very expensive at the moment so if you have spares that are Sata II then use them, get another drive when the prices come down a bit more.

If the rig is for gaming then I would use the HDD money to get a beefier GPU.

AMD 6950 is best bang for £200 but if Nvidia is a MUST then go for a 560Ti both are much better than the 550Ti.

550Ti < 460 < 560Ti - comparison of the 460 and 560Ti:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/330?vs=313
 
Thanks for the responses, good to know madsin!

The PC will be used for tons, gaming, video and photo editing, a bit of 3D work, lots of internet browsing and use as a media center.

I'm not worried much about how noisy it is, for example, as I have music playing 24/7. etc.


I need a new HDD, the 1TB I have is full and the 320gb is almost full, plus I don't trust either drive as I have numerous problems with my current system and I think old age has almost take the 320 into the next life, and I'm having errors with the 1TB, but I don't have the technical knowledge to discern what is causing the issues, so a new HDD is an absolute need.
I do photography and don't have any back ups of the hundreds of gigs of photos I have on here, so don't want to risk loosing them any longer than I need to.
 
I'd get:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £113.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) £109.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT064M4SSD2) £87.98
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £81.38
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BluRay ROM / DVDRW DL & RAM Lightscribe SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £54.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £47.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £766.28 (includes shipping : £10.00).



As above, the 460 is better than the 550Ti.

Your old HDDs will be fine, assuming they are SATA?

I'd keep your case, it's something you can change at anytime if you need to. I'd get good core components first.

As for when to order, that is up to you really. There are different offers on each week, so look out for them (the PSU in my spec is on offer for instance).

Old parts. Not sure but I think you'd get most for selling them separately.


EDIT: obviously you can get just a DVD drive instead of Blu-Ray to save some money.
 
Depends really. This one will still allow a good OC. I guess it mainly depends if you'll ever SLI. Personally I prefer having 1 fast card. The GTX460 is a decent card, but it's possibly better to replace it in the future, rather than SLI? But that's up to you. If you want the option then maybe it's worth the money!
 
I can't imagine it'll come up against anything it can't handle, especially since I'm still using a 19" 4:3 monitor, I reckon I'd be better off buying a new monitor first hah.
 
Yeah, shall have a look.

Any advice on what SSD to get?

9krm8l.jpg


The corsair looks best to me, but it's out of stock, anyone know likely eta on this sorta item? As I'm planning to use ssd for win7 I can't really let it come last :P
 
the crucial m4 is the preferred ssd here, but up to you.

we can't answer the when something will comeback in stock(unless I can find my crystal ball in all my junk ;), you'll have to contact ocuk.
 
Yes it is amongst the fastest. I believe somewhere on the forums they tested a load of SSDs. But more importantly it's one of the most reliable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom