Spec Check

Odin · 8 Sep 2006 at 15:39

OS-002-MS Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (E85-04026) (OS-002-MS) 1
£82.99 £82.99
CA-019-OC OCZ GameXStream 700w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply (CA-019-OC) 1
£89.99 £89.99
BU-038-OK Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6600 2.40GHz Retail / Asus P5W DH Deluxe / 2GB G.Skill PC2-6400C4 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-038-OK) 1
CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN) 1
MY-013-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ) (MY-013-GS) 1
MB-152-AS Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS) 1
£509.97 £509.97
HD-078-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE) 3
£59.95 £179.85
CA-060-LL Lian-Li PC-101 Aluminum Mid Tower - Black (CA-060-LL) 1
£119.60 £119.60
GX-113-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-113-SP) 1
£224.99 £224.99
AC-000-AC Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (AC-000-AC) 1
£5.99 £5.99
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE) 1
£19.95 £19.95
CC-004-HP Highpoint Rocket RAID 1640 4-Port SATA RAID 5 Host Adapter (CC-004-HP) 1
£64.50 £64.50
Subtotal £1,297.83
Shipping (Parcelforce Euro 48) £41.00
Total £1,338.83

*edit* Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM (SC-043-CL)
Price: £49.50
forgot this ^^ *edit*

I am not sure whether to buy this now or try to hold out and wait till christmas :S ?

Also can anyone please clarify what port the Raid Controller uses. The link for the full spec on the ocuk website is dead.

Any thoughts?

Admiral Huddy · 8 Sep 2006 at 16:00

Seems to be a good choice.. I just wonder if you are including VAT in that final sum?

Also, is it not worth buying the X1900XT and uping it to XTX speeds might save you a few £££s

but really nice choice..

semi-pro waster · 8 Sep 2006 at 16:04

You could probably save yourself some cash by going for XP Home unless you need the improved networking of Pro?

As the Admiral says you could get an X1900XT and overclock it just as easily to save £30 or thereabouts.

What sort of Raid array are you planning with the hard disks? Basically though I can't see any problems but there are a couple of areas you could save some cash if you wanted.

Odin · 8 Sep 2006 at 16:07

need pro for the improved networking. I dont pay VAT considering I live in Gibraltar ^^. I want to have 2 of the 300 gigs on raid 5. Although how would you cut down the cost a bit semi-pro waster?

The main question though is it worth spending on it now or should i wait ?

semi-pro waster · 8 Sep 2006 at 16:19

Fair enough on XP Pro, I just thought I'd ask as a lot of people will buy it even if they never use the networking at all.

You could purchase cheaper Ram, Geil PC6400 would save you around £20 and unless you are overclocking quite heavily you are unlikely to notice any benefit from the GSkill. A 700w PSU is probably slightly overkill as I'd think a good 600w would be easily sufficient. The case is a shade pricey but if you like it then that is a good enough reason to get it. As mentioned you could also get the X1900XT rather than the XTX which is basically the same card but pre-clocked a touch faster.

I don't know too much about Raid5 but you would need at least two drives for Raid0.

Odin · 8 Sep 2006 at 16:23

edited out the raid 0 that was a mistake. I have changed to the xt. Indeed it does save a few pounds. Only thing Im not sure about is what port the raid controller uses. Cant get through to anyone at ocuk.

Admiral Huddy · 8 Sep 2006 at 16:28

Odin said:
need pro for the improved networking. I dont pay VAT considering I live in Gibraltar ^^. I want to have 2 of the 300 gigs on raid 5. Although how would you cut down the cost a bit semi-pro waster?

The main question though is it worth spending on it now or should i wait ?

Lucky sod!!

Well that is the £1M questions isn't it? Buy now or later? but what are you hanging on for.. a better system? The fact is is that there is always a better system or components around the corner. So unless you have a bank balance bigger than your grannies commode, you will be just chasing your own tail.

My policy is to buy the best that's out now and review the system at selected periods. The system you have choosen will perform well for at least a few years. Yes, new CPUs and GPUs will come out but you really have assess then if an upgrade is really worth your hard earned pennies.

My opinion - gor for it