Spec check for a mate.

[NachT]

My mate is about to buy a new computer. Before he hits buy I said i would make a thread for him to see if there's anything he can change etc for better value / performance.

The PC will be used for gaming. He already has a graphics card, and will be adding another one later down the line. He also has a monitor.

 

[lunarwolf]

why vista ultimate? home premium is enough

what use is PC for? encoding, gaming both

what gfx card is going into this?

 

[NachT]

GPU = ASUS GeForce 9500 GT TOP is going into this.

Use is for gaming.

 

[muon]

You serious? A 9500gt for gaming and will add another one down the line?

I recommend Home Premium OEM edition (save £100), A p45 motherboard (save £40) and a 9800gt/hd4830(cost £90) or 9800gtx+/hd4850(cost £130).

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-009-ZT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1009 - Zotac 9800GT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-117-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938 - XFX HD4850
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-280-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1155 -Asus P5Q Pro

 

[ro55o]

A 9500gt is not a gaming card, considering the amount of money getting spent on the rest of the system. Even adding another in SLi would be a waste of time. If he really wants a gaming PC, look at cards like the 4850, 4870, 9800GTX+ and the GTX 260. Tell your mate to sell the card, I'll put a spec together for the same amount you have there and include a decent graphics card .

 

[ro55o]

The above is a gaming PC. The 4870 is a fantastic card, 100x better than the 9500gt.

If the PC is purely for gaming then a fast dual core is the one to go for. The E8400 is a great chip and will overclock well (I've put in an aftermarket CPU cooler), I've currently got mines at 3.8ghz and could definitely go further.

I noticed you put 2 750gb hard drives. I've put a 1tb and 320gb in my spec. Use the smaller one for the OS and games etc. The larger one you can use for extra storage.

As it's been said vista ultimate isn't needed for a gaming PC, home premium is more than enough, the oem version is also cheaper than retail.

The asus P5Q pro supports crossfire, so maybe down the line your mate could add another 4870 if he feels he needs a bit more power.

The above would definitely be better for gaming and would beat 2 9500gt's in Sli quite easily. Also if your mate isn't a fan of Ati (I don't see why not though), you can swap the 4870 out for the GTX260, they perform on similar levels. Like this one

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-008-ZT