Rate my build

ciaron454

ciaron454

ciaron454

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Joined
7 Oct 2008
Posts
46
Hi guys,

So i've built this comp entirely by myself for gaming and all the other stuff and i'd like you to rate it and suggest what i should upgrade and really what you think of it.

This is my first ever solo build, Had help from Where?wolf, not sure if he's on this forum but if he see's this he knows who he is and thanks so much man.

So yeah it's the sort of thing im looking into doing as a career when older (building computers and selling them) And without further hesistation i shall proceed

Intel Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz (Will overclock when i feel i need to)
ATi Radeon Powercolor 4850 512mb
Artic Cooling Freezer Pro 7
4GB 800Mhz Well known branded ram (will find out if requested)
Gigabyte GA-VM73-S2
Corsair 650W Power supply
Antec 300 Case (with all fan spaces filled)
500GB Samsung Spinpoint 7200RPM Hard drive
20X Samsung Lightscribe DVD Dual layer Rewriter
Creative Fatal1ty Headset
Logitech X-140 2.0 Speakers (they actually pack a massive punch and when the headset is connected via them they go really loud and have massive base)
Belkin 54MB Usb wireless network adapter (i use ethernet)
Dell e771P Monitor
Windows Vista Home Premium x64
Windows Works 2007 (i think, its one of them anyway)
Microsoft Wireless Keyboard Multimedia 1.1
Microsoft Wireless Mouse 2000

As of yet, Nothing is overclocked as i havent had any need to

Call if showing off if you wish but that is not what i am trying to do, All i want is people's opinions

So to sum it up what i want from you guys is

A) a X/10 Rating as of how this is for a gaming computer
B) How well of a job you think i did for my first self built computer
C) What needs dire upgrades (I ran out of cash when i got to the monitor so yeah)
D)How much would you pay for this setup? If you would buy it at all (if you was looking for a new gaming build / computer and it all came assembled for you)
E)Do you think i have a chance in this competitive industry?


So thanks so much for your time and i look foward to all your replies
 
You're probably better off in a computer maintenance career, rather than building & selling them and trying to compete with massive companies. You could probably start a small eBay business or something. However, now is probably not the right time to start any sort of business (unless it's debt collecting)

You haven't posted any pics so I can't rate how well you did in terms of building it.

I'm not going to give it a mark out-of-10 because that can only be judged by you. You are the one who has to play the games and do everything else on it. Saying that, it's a Quad-Core, 4GB RAM, decent gfx card, ample storage, and good peripherals = Decent. But like I said, YOU are really the only one who can rate it.
 
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spitzoid said:
You're probably better off in a computer maintenance career, rather than building & selling them and trying to compete with massive companies. You could probably start a small eBay business or something. However, now is probably not the right time to start any sort of business (unless it's debt collecting)

You haven't posted any pics so I can't rate how well you did in terms of building it.

I'm not going to give it x/10 because that can only be judged by you. You are the one who has to play the games and do everything else on it. Saying that, it's a Quad-Core, 4GB RAM, decent gfx card, ample storage, good peripherals & software = Decent.
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haha, Yeah about the bussiness thing, i didnt mean right now as i am only 16, more like sometime in the future when we are out of recession but the small ebay thing sounds good i may have to look into it

No camera to take any pics >.< but its all secured down and tidy. just a little bit of dust haha

Fair enough, but i meant a x/10 for a gaming setup - what you feel it deserves and such, oh i cant explain it but hopefully you will know what i mean


Thanks :)
 
OK then you twisted my arm, 7.5/10. Is that fair?

Good luck with any future business/career in IT (remember though, I will want a 20% discount on any products & services for these comments)
 
ciaron454 said:
Hi guys,

Call if showing off if you wish but that is not what i am trying to do, All i want is people's opinions
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I don't want to burst your bubble, but not impressed in all honesty, since that is what you ask and you want to make a career out of it.

I don't rate it very highly (5/10 max on a scale of gaming computers obviously), maybe a bit better 2 years ago but still nothing exceptional.

1. quad (+2year old at that) is really not ideal for gaming since most games don't use all cores, better off with a regular dual core with higher clock - I'd say 3ghz+ (OC or stock) for todays top games. Go for a E8400 or maybe a cheaper E5200 that you OC if you want to improve your margin ;)

2. that motherboard is outdated nforce610 board with onboard CineFx and only two ram slots. how well does it OC? somehow I don't think that this is a real winner, I could be wrong. You are much better off getting a P43 or P45 board imo (even a cheap second hand P35), or at least a 680 if you want a nvidia board, but with a ATI card I don't see the point

3. ATI 4850 is mustard for a 17" CRT; however most of us now have bigger flat widescreens (nowdays not sure people looking to buy CRT) and I wouldn't use that GFX card on anything above 22" for high spec gaming. Even at 22" I could it see start to show it's limit with AA all settings max on some of the most demanding games.

4. rest of spec looks fine -

All that said I am sure you will be able to game with it very comfortably on a 17", so no real reason for upgrade if you allready have it. But if you want to sell this as a gaming computer today, I am not sure that this spec is really competitive today. That said anything is sellable (many people don't know anything about computers) but what price would you sell it at ;) and make a profitable carreer. If you plan on selling here at OCUK MM I doubt you would find a potential customer and make a profit.

food for thought:
- Pimp it to look "gamer edition" and don't sell on OCUK MM ;)
- maybe a bling case (window and lightshow) like a cheap NZXT or Thermaltake (I don't like them but then again I wouldn't be your target audience) for a gamer
- PSU is very good but is overkill for your spec and you could use a 400w cheaper model and make more margin. OCZ with lights could do the trick for some
- flat screen tbh. i'd say 20 or 22" widescreen
- throw in one of those Saitek Eclipse color keyboards, think that is better than wireless for a gamer. same for mouse, no need for wireless.
- speakers you chose are cheap and probably don't sound very good, you may as well get a cheap set with a subwoofer that should help the little speakers with bass ;).

anyway just my opinion m8 (not saying I am right), it's your call at the end of the day.

You are right to ask for different opinions, that is good marketing ;) need to know what customers want/expect

Good luck with your venture
 
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ciaron454 said:
Call if showing off if you wish but that is not what i am trying to do, All i want is people's opinions
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Everytime I see posts like this on OCuK I can't help but think your some other infamous bunny from the forums - apologies if you ain't :rolleyes:

On topic, I honestly can't see why anyone would think your showing off as its just a mediocure build, nothing special at all. Few things popped out:

- Just googled that monitor - 17" CRT? - Maybe a few years ago, but you can get Full HD resolution TFT's now for ~ £150.

- Again, due to your poor choice of monitor, that gfx card is total overkill imo.

- Not sure you'd need such a good psu either

- Maybe it lack of experience as you said you ran out of money, but that's what you'll need to do - E.g. work/build to a budget and plan - something I don't think you did. Now say I gave you £500 to build me a decent mid range system and ended up with a dated 17" CRT, I'd be less than happy :)

Depedning on how much you'd charge for this all in, it would have to pretty competitive, esp when you considor what you can get pre-assembled for around the £500 mark nowadays (have at look at what OCuK offer, granted they have no monitor, but its still a good guide).

I imagine you'd have no problem selling it an auction site for a small profit (E.g. people not in the know looking for a computer), but anyone else you'd struggle (based on this build of course).

Good luck anyways.
 
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Think lunarwolf has been a little hard on you mate. He's right about many things, but the Q6600 isn't as bad an idea as he's making out. OK sure its not as good at stock as a decent duo, but the Q6600 pushes to 3Ghz with ease and no volt tweaking normally. I'm very happy with mine, and find it better for day to day work than E8500.

Thing you definately need to look at though is that motherboard.... As lunarwolf said. It is very out dated and I would be surprised if it overclocked much at all. It's designed as a budget motherboard for low entry computers. You might be good looking for a 2nd hand motherboard with you're budget - I know I used to when I was 16. Something like a 650i, 680i or P35 would be good.

The graphic card is total overkill for the 17" CRT, maybe look for a 2nd hand 19" wide or maybe 22" if you can find one in your budget.

If I was selling this I would definately list on ebay or local advert, keep away from talking about the motherboard. Put the emphasis on the Quad, GFX, memory and relate it to gaming, again as lunar said, any gaming case - clear window a cathode could get you more as it attracts people who know a little less. I'd take the PSU out, put in something cheaper then sell separately or keep. (or split the lot - cheapest and probably best option)

For your first time its not bad. You didn't state your budget, but from a guess I'd say you did well and only really made a mistake on the motherboard and I would have probably got a better board and cheaper graphics card as you won't notice its real potential on the 17"
Gaming wise if you can get it to 3Ghz on a stable overclock- make sure it is! Then you should be able to get some good gaming out of it. I'd give it 5/10 currently with the potential for 7/10 for current games (I am not rating this on specs)

As for career. I'm 23 and when I was 17 thought that building computers would be a brilliant idea for a career. It was for friends and family, but you are competing against a HUGE market and the most important thing in most peoples minds is warranty and support, something that you need to be able to provide. As I am often moving it was not something I could really offer.
I have since done a degree in Computer Systems and Networks which gives me job prospects in many areas including computer maintenance, network management, support, software. Wasn't the best degree ever, way to spread, but good overview.

I'd look ahead for maybe a job in a local shop to see how you find it and get an idea of the business side, maybe just a holiday job or weekends?

But saying all that, selling on ebay can be great, but the prices are often low so you wouldn't go throwing brand new components of high quality and putting it on ebay, you just wouldn't make money.

Good luck
 
I think that some of you are being a little harsh, it's a good first time build and will cope with games very well up to a certain resolution. :)

I don't think he's showing off either, he genuinely wants some feedback.
 
icey_haj said:
I think that some of you are being a little harsh, it's a good first time build and will cope with games very well up to a certain resolution. :)

I don't think he's showing off either, he genuinely wants some feedback.
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... which is why people are giving him feedback. I'm sure he didn't post expecting every post to say 'amazing build'.
 
I didn't mean to sound harsh, just giving him constructive feedback since he wants to sell the stuff. As I said for personal use it's fine for gaming, however it just isnt competitive in terms of selling it and making a career out of it. If you think I am tough, buyers will be ruthless.

You need to offer more imo than just assembly to stand a chance. How can you compete with bigger player that buy the parts cheaper than you.

Ideally some added value would place him in a niche where he could hope to make some cash, still no guarantee. Probably doing some cool original mods would be easier way to stand out from competition. For example, look at some of the PCs that www.murderbox.com, that guy definitely has something SPECIAL to offer that can't easily be replicated, if at all ;)
 
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Yeah, I wasn't disagreeing with you on the making and selling part - the market is too competitive. It was just the way you gave it a 5/10, it's a bit low and that he chose quad over dual. There isn't that much difference between them when they're both clocked to high speeds. Also, if he doesn't upgrade often it will be good for him as more and more games will begin to utilize quad core technology.

I would give it a score of 6.5-7/10
 
I think lunar's 5/10 is reasonable. If he upgrades the motherboard it could be a 7/10 but that think will be limiting the system in terms of expansion and overclocking. Wouldn't take more than £40 odd to get a 2nd hand motherboard and he'll be happy for some years to come still gaming on it.
Plus he could then sell the current board on ebay for £30? Some n00b would pick it up.
 
Guys!

Some of you are saying some of the guys were a bit harse, Well i think the opposite, I Wanted YOUR Opinion and if thats your opinion on what i've done im happy you gave it and so i thank you :D

should have said it was a budget build, I dont know how much i spent on it as well because i built it over time using Xmas and Bday money, Basicly starting with cheapo componants and building up as i went. Hell i even started with a Galaxy 3 case using its PSU.

The monitor thing yeah, Every now and then i plug it all into the 37" LCD in our front room, Hence the wireless keyboard/mouse and overkill GFX card.

So Thank you all for your reviews and i know its not the best in the world (never claimed it to be) just wanted to know how it rates up compared to current computers, which i now do So thanks

I do have one more thing to ask, Which someone hinted on with their post involving the words "if he doesnt blow it up" is what to upgrade next and which ones to get so yes, I am asking for a bit of buying advice

You all say get a new monitor - Which one?
New Motherboard - Which one?

And so on, over time id like to make it good enough to play anything i throw at it and flawlessly. Big dream i know :)
 
could get a P45 board since you have an ATI card. Asus P5Q Pro Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard or if your budget can stretch it, a Asus P5Q deluxe (one of the best p45 boards) Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
NB they all have gone up in price :(, maybe you can get one second hand since they are quite popular boards, must be some floating around to be snapped up ;)

P45 OC better than p43 and also have a second GFX slot so you can add a second 4850 in crossfire if you ever feel the need down the road

as far a monitor, the Samsung 22" are quite good Samsung T220 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor (LS22TWHSUV) or equivalent
 
Thanks Lunar i will keep those in mind!

I do have a second dilema now and that is whether to get computer upgrades or other stuff

My options are 1. Get a second Ferret, 2. Get computer monitor (i feel i need this more than the motherboard) 3. Get a new airsoft gun and equipment 4. Get a new chair (full wood dining room chair does not help back!)

So yeah im really confuddled :S

On a side note, What about http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-013-AS&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat= as a monitor, It has the same 2ms response time but also 1920 x 1080 resolution or is 8000:1 extra contrast ratio outweigh both the cheaper price and higher resolution capability?
 
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the Asus is a fine monitor too, and I wouldn't worry about contrast ratios nowadays (overhypped marketing blah blah http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/contrast-ratio.html) good screens will give truer blacks, you need to see them in the flesh tbh. LCD anyway is no plasma Kuro, but no Kuro exists at 22" ;).

my only problem with that screen is the resolution which is gretaer than the Samsung. This means more stress on the GFX card. This will lower your FPS in games coz higher res, I think the 4850 will struggle on all max settings in the most demanding games. Will be fine for CoD4 on max but may start to show some strain on Far Cry 2 on max settings. On the other hand, being 1080p and having HDMI, the Asus is a True HD screen which if you don't have another HD display could be important in your decision making.

Both screens are good quality, so each monitor has its' advantages. End of the day up to you and what is most important to you.

PS if your motherboard allows you to OC your quad @ +3ghz then no need to change it tbh

PSS sorry to hear about the dining room chair, get some pillows while you shop for a new one. Probably a new chair is where I would actually start, although I am no ferret lover so not a priority for me.
 
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