Spec check - this is sitting in my basket ready te be bought...

Moley

Moley

Moley

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But I'd just like an expert to pass their eye over it before I place the order.

I'm not to bothered about overclocking, this will be my new games machine.

Thanks

Jamie.

cheaperpc.bmp
 
gazzer_21 said:
I would get a 8800 gts instead of the 2900.
make do with the mouse or key board you have and put the money to a Q6600.
just my view.
Click to expand...

Would be an improvement, but i assume there is a budget and keeping it close to that would really be a priority.

Matt.
 
A few points about your spec:

8500 ram is a waste of money.

You can get the 5300 ram of crucial ballistix and it will overclock the same as the 8500.

But personaliy i would say get OCZ or geil. They both ovreclock to 950mhz and are a lot cheaper. You dont need that fast ram. The difference between 800mhz and 1000mhz only ever shops in bench marks. You wont notice it in gamse or decoding.

4gb of ocz or geil is like 80-90 quid. You could double the amount of ram. Dont waste your money on the 8500. Also crucial balistix is very unreliable in the sence there is a good chance of it dieing every 3-5 months when running at fast speeds. No matter how well it overclocks its not worth it.

The seagate hard drives are the fastest and arn't much more. But you can get unlucky and get quite a loud one.

The Antec 900 case is a dust sucker. It sucks it up like a hoover and is loud when those fans are turned up.

I personally would get the Gigabyte board. But dont get the DDR2 &DDR3 one because by the time ddr3 is main streem youll need a new board probably anyway. DDR3 wont be mainstream for at least a year.

If you can strech to a Q6600 its definitly worth while. Get the OEM q6600 and a Turniq tower and if you want some artic silver and it will ovreclock very well and last you many years. games like alan wake are being designed on the q6600 already. I think that game will hit duel cores hard

O and id suggest a Corsair 520w powersupply.
 
Agreed with Dave, as i pointed out, the Ballistix are overkill, and you said your not overclocking and for under £50 you can get 2GB of XMS2. I prefere the Gigabyte boards also, (as linked). I like my Antec 900, but it does collect a lot of dust and the fans have speed controls on them. The CPU will be fine in games and as you stated, your not planning on overclocking so the stock cooler will be fine, but it would be beneifical if you could push to a Q6600.

Matt.
 
Well i've respecced, taking into account some of what you guys have said, admittedly a bit more expensive but should last a while.
This is the spec now:

cheaperpc2.bmp
 
I'd agree with the above.

Out with the ballistics, it's overclocking ram designed to allow very high FSB's
Geil or OCZ would be fine. If you're on a budget stick to 2GB for now, one of the few things you can easily add later.

The e6550 isn't great value, the e6750 is only a little more for a faster chip but ideally a Q6600 is where you should be aiming.

The 2900 Pro is a very good DX9 card but as yet hasn't matured in DX10

Unless you really need to buy a card now I'd hold off for a few weeks as there is likely to be so EOL selling.

OCUK are clearing stock of the 2900 hence the ~ £15 price drop.

AD
 
Only thing 'd say is maybe wait a few days to see what the 8800 GT is like. Also i hear most people would say the 640mb GTS is a lot better for 22".

- Pea0n
 
yeah the 640mb GTS is going to really help you in games like crysis and alan wake. Wait for the new GTS's to come out and the old ones will be sold off cheaper;)

Get two sets of this ocz ram. its cheaper and will run faster if you ever did deside to ovreclock and really you should :p

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-072-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813

Or save a bit and get geil. Both will do exacly the same but i beleive ocz rma is a bit better. But ims ure youd rather save the money so you could get 2 sets of theese:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813
 
Well I placed my order this morning for a Saturday delivery.
After reading all the advice and playing with the budget a little, I've opted for:

Product Name Price Qty Line Total
Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse - Retail £29.99 1 £29.99
LG L226WTQ 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver £163.99 1 £163.99
Logitech G11 Gaming-Grade Illuminated Keyboard - Retail (967929-0120) £33.99 1 £33.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99 1 £14.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £135.99 1 £135.99
Asus DRW-1814BLT 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - Retail £19.99 1 £19.99
Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99 1 £64.99
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-5400C5 Dual Channel Vista Upgrade Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2VU6674GK) £94.99 1 £94.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500630AS) £63.99 1 £63.99
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £61.99 1 £61.99
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £57.99 1 £57.99
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £219.99 1 £219.99
City Link Parcel Next Day (Saturday Delivery): £36.95
VAT: £174.97
Order Total: £1174.80


Roll on saturday so I can build my new toy!

:D
 
Why the artic freezer and 2x2gb? 4x1gb is cheapre and overclocks a lot better. 2x2gb wont overclock at all.

I hope you dont have a dusty room also. While that case is amazing cooling ti does suck up dust.
 
Have a freezer on my existing PC and its great. Read that the turniq tower can be a pig to install. Not too bothered about overclocking.
 
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