Spec check

Mr. Brightside · 18 Jul 2006 at 10:50

Chances are I won't end up buying a new rig but I've been playing around with the idea and come up with this spec;

MO-060-VS Viewsonic VX2235wm 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black (MO-060-VS)
£299.95 £299.95
WC-039-VP WaterChill Power CPU/VGA/Chipset Cooling Kit - Triple 120mm Radiator/Fans (03-L-1315) (WC-039-VP)
£199.25 £199.25
CP-127-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-127-IN)
£154.95 £154.95
MB-020-DF DFI Infinity 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-020-DF)
£129.95 £129.95
MY-002-PA Patriot Low Latency 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (PDC21G5300LLK) (MY-002-PA)
£59.95 £59.95
GX-061-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-061-PC)
£119.95 £119.95
CA-029-LL Lian-Li PC V2000B PLUS Black Aluminium Full-Tower (No PSU) (CA-029-LL)
£138.00 £138.00
CA-001-SS Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-001-SS)
£64.95 £64.95
Subtotal £1,166.95
VAT £204.22
Total £1,371.17

Hard disks, keyboard, mouse, and optical drive would be taken from current rig.

Couple of questions really. First off, how would this compare to my current rig? I mean in terms of game performance (Source based games), number crunching ability (Folding), and general Windows usage. Current rig spec:
P4 Prescott 3.0 (skt 478)
Abit IC7 Max 3
Powercolor Radeon 9800 Pro
Geil Ultra 512mB DC

Secondly, is the Seasonic 500w enough to power that or should I get the 600w?

Thirdly, am I better off getting the WaterChill Power CPU/VGA/Chipset Cooling Kit - Triple 120mm Radiator/Fans or Alphacool Cool Answer II 360 Watercooling Kit (WC-013-AC). Or would I not really benefit from 120.3 at all and be better off with a 120.2 kit in which case could someone recommend a suitable alternative?

Fourthly, I have no idea about current graphics cards. Is the X1800GTO there powerful enough to play games at 1680 x 1050 or would I need something more powerful (can't afford it but meh worth knowing anyway).

Fifth, any other suggestions and improvements are welcome if my choices are not the best (like I said, haven't really kept up with new hardware at all). Only thing I bothered researching for this was RAM bandwidth & timings effects with Conroe (and glad I did!).

Finally, before anyone mentions that monitor choice, I'm not even sure if I would get a new monitor at all, or keep my current one. I don't think I could afford a new one so that might be a later addition, and I'd wait until there are some reviews about before getting it. Infact, the Viewsonic VX2025wm 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black looks a very nice option too so might get that instead.

Thanks, null

fenderbass86 · 18 Jul 2006 at 11:00

I'd get the VX2025 instead of the VX2235. I'd also ditch the DFI Infinity, they don't seem to be as good as people thought they would be. I'd wait for the 965 boards to come out before purchasing any of this, they'll be cheaper than X975 boards too.

Try to get 2GB RAM, the G.Skill series are very popular on these boards at the moment. The X1800GTO will work on that big monitor but not with AA/AF/HDR.

The 500W Seasonic should be fine though.

Ender · 18 Jul 2006 at 11:14

i would get the x1800xt , its only 20 quid more then the gto, but far better. Either that, or get the 7600gt

Mr. Brightside · 18 Jul 2006 at 11:52

Ok it now looks like this:

CP-127-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-127-IN)
£154.95 £154.95
MB-020-DF DFI Infinity 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-020-DF)
£129.95 £129.95
CA-029-LL Lian-Li PC V2000B PLUS Black Aluminium Full-Tower (No PSU) (CA-029-LL)
£138.00 £138.00
CA-001-SS Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-001-SS)
£64.95 £64.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£136.95 £136.95
WC-038-VP WaterChill Power CPU/VGA/Chipset Cooling Kit - Dual 120mm Radiator/Fans (03-L-1311) (WC-038-VP)
£172.50 £172.50
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS)
£99.95 £99.95
Subtotal £897.25
VAT £157.02
Total £1,054.27

I haven't changed the mobo (for now) because like fenderbass86 advised I should wait for the 965 boards. However I have a question; what is the difference between the 965 and X975?

Also ditched the screen because I can't afford it.

Thanks for the advice people

fenderbass86 · 18 Jul 2006 at 12:11

The X975 boards are apparently the enthusiast boards designed for overclocking. However, the 965 boards are designed for Conroe and will be very good all round motherboards. The Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 will overclock an E6300 from 1.86GHz to 3.5GHz because of it's 500MHz fsb. Costs £111 on OcUK.

GhostRider · 18 Jul 2006 at 15:03

I wouldn't bother with the watercooler. The chips overclock very well on air.

With the money get an E6600 since these have 4mb L2 cache like the top range chips and the 6400 G.Skill 2GB memory. The chips come with a good CPU fan but the ninja is the best at the moment.

fenderbass86 · 18 Jul 2006 at 15:07

Or you could stick with the E6400 and get the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard. The Allendale's (E6300 & E6400) overclock better than the conroes on the 965 motherboards. You could easily get the E6400 to 3.5GHz on this motherboard.