Spec check (as if there aren't already enough!)

hufggfg · 21 Feb 2008 at 16:21

Seagate Barracuda ES.2 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320NS) - (£93.99)
Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - (£129.24)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail - (£205.61)
Asus Maximus Formula Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - (£152.74)
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM - (£19.96)
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AL1065) - (£58.74)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT 512MB GDDR4 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail - (£152.74)
Asus DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black/Silver) - Retail - (£19.96)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) - (£17.61)
Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound - (£4.69)
Freecom DataBar 8GB USB-2.0 Stick - (£21.14)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00838) - (£117.49)
------------
Total - £993.91 (inc VAT)

Opinions/suggestions please!

Is my first full build so won't be overclocked to start with (hope to have a go on this machine at some point though).

Used as an allround machine gaming, music, movies etc

Planning to use the raptor to run the OS, and at some point it time put a raid5 setup of drives for all my music etc.

One question; mobo needs to be flashed to latest BIOS for the CPU (hence the usb pen) is it going to be ok to do this on first boot? or should i buy a cheap Celeron as well to do the first boot and flash the mobo?

Thanks!

slowrunner · 21 Feb 2008 at 16:38

Freezer pro should have thermal compound on it allready, 2 dvd-rw's?

hufggfg · 21 Feb 2008 at 16:44

ok, so i can scrap the MX-2.

I just don't see the point in not having 2 DVD-RWs... reason for the difference is one has lightscribe and other is faster for Dual Layer... and i guess i fancy seeing what the difference is like..

hufggfg · 21 Feb 2008 at 20:26

any other thoughts? hoping to order it tomorrow

jak731 · 21 Feb 2008 at 20:29

you planning on CF?

if not get a 8800GT its a faster card or the powercolor 3870 for less money maybe

lynchy6789 · 21 Feb 2008 at 23:35

Over the last week or so Overclockers seemed to have bumped up the prices of the 'wolfdale' chips. So to save an extra £30-50 i would buy it from somewhere else

. That's ashame as OcUk is my favorite website that is usually very competitive on prices

hufggfg · 22 Feb 2008 at 08:15

I'm hoping to get by with this card until the next gen of cards comes out and start to come down in price, but went with ATI so that if i want to CF i can (didn't want the powercolor as i have heard they are a bit noisey).

Do you think it would make sense to just get a 8800GT anyway?

thanks lynchy6789, i had noticed, there are several of the components that I will probably not purchase from OC (which is a shame, i would pay a small premium for the service, helpful community etc, but not the current premium, way too much).

thanks

hufggfg · 22 Feb 2008 at 18:47

any other thoughts, am just about to order this.

Particularly, am i going to be ok flashing the mobo on first start?

jak731 · 22 Feb 2008 at 19:18

the 8800GT is a better card in terms of performance, however it will mean you can not use dual graphic cards (SLi) unless you get a 7series chipset based MB, this may affect your OCing potential greatly.