PC Spec Check

TonySimpson1980 · 7 Apr 2007 at 10:21

Hi all.

I have finally come to the point I need a new PC being built, after several years with my old spec....

I plan to use it for both work and play. Some of the software I plan (not every week mind you!!) to run include Solidworks, Fluent, Catia. The engineering software needs quite a bit of number crunching.

Also plan to get a couple of computer games (to play more often!!) including RFactor, with a recommended spec of a 256Mb Graphics, a 6600CPU and 1Gb RAM. I know I don't need the full spec now but would like to have a system with some future proofing, well as much as you can in a PC.

So after reading up on build specs, and coming to a compromise of costs and spec, I have come up with:

Case: Antec Sonata II
CPU: Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 retail
Graphics Card: BFG 7600GT 256Mb
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA_965P (socket775) or A.N.Other
RAM: GeIL 2GB (2x1mb) PC5300 667MHz DDR2
Hard drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB SATA-II
CPU cooler: Artic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU
Artic silver Artic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
DVD Drive/RW LiteON DVD+RW (LH-20A1P-487C)

Everything there came to approx £560 inc VAT

I plan to spend £500-£600 on the spec, and plan to keep my Monitor (Hanns-G 19" widescreen) and mouse and keyboard. I don't plan to Overclock much at the moment, but will probably do in the near future. Also plan to use my present hard drive in the case, but as a back up drive that is not always connected.

I have a couple of questions (apart from is this suitable) and they are:

1) Is it worth getting an SLi capable motherboard, and is it worth spending this extra to 'future proof' the graphics side a bit more by having the SLi?
2) Does the motherboard come with the capablilty to run motherboard monitor (or whatever it is called now, sorry not kept up with specs that well....)
3) Is it worth putting in a case fan control unit, and a couple more case fans to aid cooling, and then reduce noise when not running the machine hard, or is it a luxury to have these at the moment unless I need to extra noise control/airflow.
4) Is the DVD drive going to be suitable enough or is there another make or model that would be better??
5) Is the Artic Cooling CPU cooler overkill with this system and case or should I stick with what comes out the box with the CPU??

Thanks in advance for any comments.

Tony

Jonny L · 7 Apr 2007 at 10:29

Hi TonySimpson1980, to be honest with you, if you are able to stretch to £600 it would be a good idea to get some cas4 PC6400. On the case front if it were me I would go for the lian-li pc7+ as it offers better cooling than the sonata, imo looks a bit cooler and its cheaper.

Everything else looks pretty good.

Jimmy1983 · 7 Apr 2007 at 10:33

Jonny L said:
Hi TonySimpson1980, to be honest with you, if you are able to stretch to £600 it would be a good idea to get some cas4 PC6400. On the case front if it were me I would go for the lian-li pc7+ as it offers better cooling than the sonata, imo looks a bit cooler and its cheaper.

Everything else looks pretty good.

Yup, ive just got the PC7 and its a lush finish to it :cool:

gamesaregood · 7 Apr 2007 at 11:11

I would say to upgrade the graphics card to something like a:

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

£111.61

As you can see from here:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html?modelx=33&model1=529&model2=607&chart=196

There is a large increase, although Half Life is an ATI game anyway .... but have a play with the comparison settings

Also the Cooler which you have selected is for AMD S939 / AM2

Its the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) which you want for C2D

Edit://

I would also consider the 250gb Seagate 7200.10 as its the later model and has 16mb cache compared to 8mb and is only about £8ish more

TonySimpson1980 · 7 Apr 2007 at 17:15

Thanks for those couple of tips, and the mistake with the CPU cooler..., lol

I would like to stick with the Antec case as it comes with a power supply (the Lain-Lo does not), and has been reviewed quite well in the past.

With the upgrades to the grpahics RAM and harddrive to prices comes out at approx £610.

I guess building a PC with the capability of two graphics cards is not viable unless you plan to game every night and need the power.

Jonny L · 7 Apr 2007 at 20:41

You could get one of the 650i chipset boards for around the £70 mark (some are below it), I am unsure, however, how well they overclock.

On the graphics card front, I would get the 7600gt like you have planned and replace it with one of the newer dx10 models later in the year, that way you save yourself a lot of money and tbh the dx10 cards out at the moment are just high end dx9 cards, the next gen versions will probably wipe the floor with them in dx10.