Spec a Base Unit for £2K

blangs

blangs

blangs

Associate
Joined
22 Mar 2004
Posts
106
Right that time of the year again for a new PC.

I have a Hi-Def monitor, already so im only requiring the unit. Mainly used for Media apps and Engineering Deisgn. Hardly ever on the gaming front, no time:(

brief outline is future proofing is a must, quad core and lots and lots of hard drive space 2-3TB?


Thanks
 
Just a rough/quick attempt...



Left out GFX in case you want a proper CAD one. If not, ATI 2400, 3600 or NVIDIA 8500 series will do ;)
 
Here's the inevitable Skulltrail 8-core spec:

Skulltrail.jpg


The RAM is there for completeness sake's but it's Apple Mac FB-DIMMS so you'll need a different set (not found on OCUK).

The 1GB graphics card, I'm guessing, is good for rendering in something like 3DS-MAX, although I doubt you need it, so just remove if necessary.

The spec above mine is more practical and better, just thought I'd post this here anyway.
 
Chimerical said:
Here's the inevitable Skulltrail 8-core spec:

Skulltrail.jpg


The RAM is there for completeness sake's but it's Apple Mac FB-DIMMS so you'll need a different set (not found on OCUK).

The 1GB graphics card, I'm guessing, is good for rendering in something like 3DS-MAX, although I doubt you need it, so just remove if necessary.

The spec above mine is more practical and better, just thought I'd post this here anyway.
Click to expand...


Skulltrail for sure, also get 8gb ram for sure.

Save cash on PSU, all you need is 600-650w, and enermax are expensive as hell. Get some good PSU for 70-80quid and it will be more than fine.


And get urself something from the ATI FireGL series for the GPU, will be a lot better, if not then just grab a cheap 3850 and it will be fine.
4870 1gb wont help there and is just waste of money.
 
Intel's processor prices for quads will drop very soon (next week possibly).

Also, if you truly want future proof then realistically current C2Q equipment will be superseeded next year with the integrated memory controllers on Nehalem. Can any current boards cope with that?

Matthew
 
As 'future proofing is a must', you probably ought to go with a DDR3 setup. Personally I still think it is overpriced though and the best option is to get a nice 8gig DDR2 setup and then upgrade in a couple of years as required once prices on new tech have fallen.

'Future proofing' is a bit of a fallacy where computer hardware is concerned anyway as normally whatever you buy will get dated after a few years, even if it is still compatible. E.g. say you buy some mobo sporting dual cpu, ddr3 etc, chances are in a few years that chipset will be either very slow by future standards or won't support the latest cpus properly anyway.

Likewise buying up loads of HD space on day1 may be waste of money if you don't anticipate using it all up within the next 6 months - no doubt 1TB drives will drop in price slightly and indeed larger drives could come out at an affordable price in the future.
 
Last edited:
How hardcore CAD are you going with? i have done a fair ammount of 3D cad work for my degree. i wouldnt imagine you would need a FireGL card, i would go for maximum CPU power to cut down rendering times especially in 3dsmax, my architecture friend would kill for a octocore skulltrail.
 
PhoenixUK said:
Save cash on PSU, all you need is 600-650w, and enermax are expensive as hell
Click to expand...
Expensive for a reason. I wouldn't spend 2k and let just any PSU power/feed it all. Agree he doesn't need 850W but something (reputable) around 500-650W should do.

Have to agree that Skulltrial spec is good. Note RAM has to be Fully Buffered type. You'll also need a case that can fit eATX standard (Akasa Omega, Lian Li PC-A70, V1010, etc).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom