Spec check please ~£800 budget

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30 Aug 2007
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Hi all

Intending to build a quad core for video editing, GPU computing and some graphics rendering ~£800 budget.

A couple of questions:

RAM - I'd like 4GB (yes I know I've spec'd 32 bit Vista, but the 4GB is for Linux) should I go for the 4x sticks of 1GB RAM or 2x sticks of 2GB? I popped for 4x 1GB as it seems a fair bit cheaper.

Case - I am really not sure. The Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case and Antec Solo seem nice. I am tempted by the Antec P182. Would stretching the £20 for the P182 save me a world of pain? (re installation, air flow, temperature - I like the 3x 120 mm fans standard on the 182 - and may consider buying another for the front).

Cooler - I think the Tuniq Tower will fit in the cases and on the motherboard I mentioned. Any dissenters?

Graphics - interested in using the card for Nvidia CUDA computing experiments. Should I wait for the November release pf the next Nvidia cards?? At the moment stuck in cheapish 8800GTS.

Here is what I came up with:

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £139.99
(£164.49) £139.99
(£164.49)
Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS) Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS) £43.99
(£51.69) £43.99
(£51.69)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £5.99
(£7.04) £5.99
(£7.04)
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £27.99
(£32.89) £27.99
(£32.89)
Samsung SH-S203NBEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM Samsung SH-S203NBEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £37.99
(£44.64) £75.98
(£89.28)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00715) Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00715) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £154.99
(£182.11) £154.99
(£182.11)
Sub Total : £658.89
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £117.05
Total : £785.89

Does this sound OK??
 
Can't criticize your spec in any way seems perfect as for case i'd stick with the lian li pc7+II there is no advantage the antec p182 holds over it
performance wise or in the looks department.There are new cards later this month the 8800 gts with 512mb and the 8800 gt the difference between these and the current cards
it would seem is going to be minimal as stated in another post it seems to be more a test run for their new chips expected some time next year.
 
Last edited:
It all looks good, is there any particular reasoning behind the 32bit Windows? As I understand it the compatibility of 64bit Vista is pretty good now. :)

I was going to ask this as well.

I recently bought 64bit Vista against the advice of most of (well actually all of) my friends and have found it to be a lot less trouble than I was led to believe. I think secretly they're disappointed that my system is as stable as it is :p
 
Re 32 Bit Vista

It's a fair point - I went for 32 bit for the perceived general compatibility issues, but confess I am probably a bit behind the times in this respect. Anyway, good call - I'll have a look at some of the components in relation to this and reconsider 64 bit.
 
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