Quick spec check please!

Faffer · 2 Dec 2006 at 13:06

Hi

The motherboard on my old Athlon XP 1800+ system has died and I thought I'd take the opportunity to build a new system. Having been out of the hardware loop for a few years, I did a bit of quick research on the forum and have come up with the following spec:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 XT 256MB
Maxtor Diamondmax 21 320GB SATA-II
Turiq Tower 120 CPU cooler
OCZ GameXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming case

Firstly, are there any obvious bottlenecks in this spec? I will be running at 1280x1024 resolution so I'd guess the graphics card should be OK.

Secondly, I intend to overclock the CPU and possibly the RAM. Will my choice of PSU be sufficient to power this lot, along with all the fans in the case?

Lastly, is there anything in the spec that I am possibly spending too much on and can get away with a cheaper component with little to no loss in overall performance? Or any upgrades that offer a decent performance boost at little extra cost?

My budget is around £800-£850

Thanks in advance!

GazD · 2 Dec 2006 at 14:02

If your only gaming at 1280x1024 then I'm sure the X1950 XT this week only @ £178 would be enough, and you would save £100, you could even drop it down to a X1950 Pro and save some more cash for a DX10 Card next year. You could also get a Seagate 7200.10 HDD instead of the Maxtor as these drives are nearly equal in performance to WD Raptors.

The PSU should be plenty for OC'ing and ther fans in the case, although I have never used OCZ they seem to get great reviews on here. That RAM Mobo and CPU is a great overclocking base, read some of the threads on here, should be easily able to get over 3Ghz.

hp7909 · 2 Dec 2006 at 14:19

Nice spec there. But like mentioned I'd change the HD to a Seagate 7200.10

Also PSU, maybe the Corsair HX 520W* or the Corsair HX 620W if you plan to go CrossFire

*more than enough for that spec :cool:

GazD · 2 Dec 2006 at 14:24

hp7909 said:
Nice spec there. But like mentioned I'd change the HD to a Seagate 7200.10

Also PSU, maybe the Corsair HX 520W* or the Corsair HX 620W if you plan to go CrossFire

*should be more than enough for that spec

I myself have the 520w Corsair, cant fault it at all.

Faffer · 2 Dec 2006 at 15:20

Thanks for the feedback! Swapping out the Maxtor for the Seagate.

Would the 520W Corsair PSU be better than the 600W OCZ? I won't be going crossfire, but I do have a DVD-RW and possibly a couple of extra hard drives going in at some point too.

Thanks!

hp7909 · 2 Dec 2006 at 15:22

Faffer said:
Thanks for the feedback! Swapping out the Maxtor for the Seagate.

Would the 520W Corsair PSU be better than the 600W OCZ? I won't be going crossfire, but I do have a DVD-RW and possibly a couple of extra hard drives going in at some point too.

Thanks!

The Corsair are getting good reviews & are made by Seasonic. Also like I said 520Ws is more than enough!

Faffer · 2 Dec 2006 at 17:00

Just put my order through, stuck with the OCZ PSU though, as it would sit at the bottom of the case and the Corsair's fan is at the bottom too.

Thanks for the feedback