Spec Help

Atomic

Atomic

Atomic

Associate
Joined
27 Jan 2005
Posts
830
Looking to build another pc, and just need a spec check and could this spec be better for less money and is it all compatible. The budget is around this figure in spec with room for adjustments. ALso not sure to go with the six core option that AMD have to offer. That does sound appealing.

For:
Gaming: Command and Conquer Games, Total War, Football Manager. Not Crysis.
Work: Photoshop
Media: HD playback of video files and things.
Gaming resolution: 1680 x 1050 - already have monitor.
I will only need one GFX card.
I want to raid hard drives for performance.

All hardware must be x64 compatible. I already have Win 7 - awesome O/S

Overclocking to around 4ghz per core on air:

Now I do have a speaker setup with external decoder via spdif to PC and optical to the PS3, so I think I will keep speakers for now.

GX-215-SP_60.jpg
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
(£204.25) £239.99
(£204.25)
CP-314-IN_60.jpg
Intel Core i5 660 3.33GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail + Napoleon Total War £171.98
(£146.37) £171.98
(£146.37)
MY-129-OC_60.jpg
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (OCZ3G1600LV6GK) £132.99
(£113.18) £132.99
(£113.18)
CA-022-CS_60.jpg
Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650HXUK) £98.99
(£84.25) £98.99
(£84.25)
SC-000-AS_60.jpg
Asus Xonar D2 7.1 PCI Sound Card (90-YAA021-1UAN00) £92.99
(£79.14) £92.99
(£79.14)
MB-209-GI_60.jpg
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £87.98
(£74.88) £87.98
(£74.88)
CA-065-AN_60.jpg
Antec 900 Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £69.98
(£59.56) £69.98
(£59.56)
HS-010-NC_60.jpg
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan Quiet CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £54.99
(£46.80) £54.99
(£46.80)
HD-206-SE_60.jpg
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)

+ thermal compound.
 
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Triple channel ram doesnt work with those chipset its made for 1366 chip set so you would need a i7 and different mobo.

I would get something like this it cost £983, dropped the sound card you wont really need it I think and bumped it up to a I7 which should give a nice performace increase with photoshop and HD encoding if you do that.

 
I've already got a DVD drive in current rig that's ATA, so am happy to use that.

Why the need to drop sound card, is on board sound that good?

Is it also worth getting second hard drive for performance increase?
 
Atomic said:
I've already got a DVD drive in current rig that's ATA, so am happy to use that.

Why the need to drop sound card, is on board sound that good?

Is it also worth getting second hard drive for performance increase?
Click to expand...

Well for most people the on board works just fine, unless you have an expensive sound system I dont think you would really see much of a difference and save you 100£, if you get 2 HDD you could put them into raid and it should speed things up abit.
 
Can you recomend a cheaper motherboard? Think will go the I7 route, but just wondering if a cheaper but good quality alternative is avaiable that will do a good OC to 4GHZ on the 930 chip.

Only need one GFX card slot on the mobo too.

Quite happy to change to change RAM, but I do want the 6GB or 8GB of RAM. That may cost bit more in dual channel, but offset it with cheaper mobo a bit.
 
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what Fallen god has suggested is one of the best i7 motherboards out, especially at £157
 
GX-004-HS_60.jpg
HIS iCooler V ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £232.99
(£198.29) £232.99
(£198.29)
MB-235-GI_60.jpg
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £156.98
(£133.60) £156.98
(£133.60)
MY-151-OC_60.jpg
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) £128.98
(£109.77) £128.98
(£109.77)
CA-116-AN_60.jpg
Antec TruePower New Modular 750W Power Supply £96.98
(£82.54) £96.98
(£82.54)
CA-145-CM_60.jpg
Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator Case - Black £60.99
(£51.91) £60.99
(£51.91)
HD-206-SE_60.jpg
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £34.99
(£29.78) £69.98
(£59.56)
HS-009-TI_60.jpg
Titan TTC-NK85TZ/V2 Fenrir CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366) £32.99
(£28.08) £32.99
(£28.08)
AC-000-AC_60.jpg
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)

I already have DVD drive, monitor and am going to get the 920 chip from elsewhere. Is this a good spec?
 
Slightly updated spec. Do dust filters come with the case in this spec, and is this a quiet spec. I don't want to go watercooling, but want to his 4GHZ and be as silent as possible:

GX-004-HS_60.jpg
HIS iCooler V ATI Radeon HD 5850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £232.99
(£198.29) £232.99
(£198.29)
CP-318-IN_60.jpg
Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - OEM £221.99
(£188.93) £221.99
(£188.93)
MB-235-GI_60.jpg
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £156.98
(£133.60) £156.98
(£133.60)
MY-151-OC_60.jpg
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) £128.98
(£109.77) £128.98
(£109.77)
CA-196-CM_60.jpg
Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £80.99
(£68.93) £80.99
(£68.93)
CA-032-OC_60.jpg
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £73.99
(£62.97) £73.99
(£62.97)
HS-011-NC_60.jpg
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM2) £66.99
(£57.01) £66.99
(£57.01)
HD-206-SE_60.jpg
TWO! Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £34.99
(£29.78) £69.98
(£59.56)
FG-001-FD_60.jpg
Fractal Design 120mm Silent Cooling Fan £9.99
(£8.50) £9.99
(£8.50)
AC-000-AC_60.jpg
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £6.99
(£5.95) £6.99
(£5.95)
CB-022-AK_60.jpg
Akasa 8-Pin 30cm PSU Extension Cable
 
Yes,you get dust filters with that case.I have one,and i wouldn't call it quiet,but get some decent fans/fan controller.
 
I would swap the two Seagate Barracuda's for two Samsung F3's.

My F3's in Raid0;

f3raid0.png
 
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What's the chance of me getting a 4ghz OC on this spec? Still not sure whether to go for the I7920 or 930 - I will be using air. Could use the H50 if that fits in the case.

Also, how will this spec handle FSX? Will the GFX card be okay?
 
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*bump*

Bought a 920 D0 stepping.

Yes, will my CPU be better with the Noctua or H50.

Do I need power extender cables for my psu in the case that's in the spec, and I'm having second thoughts about PSU. I want it to be as silent as possible, modular but not to costly.

ALso has to handle webcam and couple more attachments like joystick :)
 
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