Spec check for lean gaming rig please.

MMD · 14 May 2008 at 13:43

Hi everyone. I'd appreciate some quick views on my new rig i'm trying to piece together. I'd like a lean gaming rig for around £500 all in. Would like reasonable overclock from the system (on air).

I have an old cheiftec atx case that i'll house this in, unless anyone thinks airflow has particularly improved since this:

?

Questions;
1) Any updates to this rig:

2) Any opinions on 2GB 32bit XP vs 4GB 64bit Home Premium Vista? I had Vista on my laptop, but i'm trying to weight up the pros and cons for this rig, can anyone help sway me either way?

Thanks in advance.
Martin

semi-pro waster · 14 May 2008 at 13:50

Cases have moved on I believe but that is still big enough for it's own ecosystem so I wouldn't be too worried.

Other than that it looks fine. If you already have Vista then I'd use that, if you have XP then I'd probably just try that initially with the 4gb and accept you will lose about 0.5gb of the 4gb installed due to the limitations of a 32bit OS.

MMD · 14 May 2008 at 13:53

I don't have either OS at the moment. Good point about the size of the case, I went to move it the other day and forgot to warmup before hand - bad idea.

gt_junkie · 14 May 2008 at 13:53

Looks like a good spec. I'd probably go for 4gb and vista64 personally. Plus, as waster mentions, 4gb is fine for XP - you'll just lose half a gig or so.

Also, have you considered spending a little extra on the HDD and getting something a touch bigger? For £17 more the 500gb samsung f1 is a nice drive: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-058-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=940

gt

PhoenixUK · 14 May 2008 at 14:16

Looks cool apart from that you should get C4 memory and I would get some good CPU cooler.

redeye_uk · 14 May 2008 at 14:22

PhoenixUK said:
Looks cool apart from that you should get C4 memory and I would get some good CPU cooler.

I thought cas timings weren't 'that important' for intel setups?

pingwing · 14 May 2008 at 14:24

I second the better cpu cooler (the stock wolfdale one is piddly) you could save a tenner and get the OCuk P35 board http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-003-OK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913 as its basically the same as the Abit one, just a different brand.

Would also recomend 2gig sticks of ram as it can be slightly cheaper (thus allowing for the cooler and maybe a slightly bigger hdd)

MMD · 14 May 2008 at 15:05

Thanks for the replies. It seems I wasn't a million miles off, but thanks for the recommendations!

I think I will go for a bigger HDD (I like the reviews of the samsung f1's too) and a better cooler. Also i'll double check the 1gb/2gb pricing.

Cheers.