Spec Me £1400 - ish :D

*Chris

*Chris

*Chris

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Joined
1 May 2007
Posts
1,659
Location
London
As the title says really.
Do not need screen.
Does need soundcard + possibly headphones (good ones please :D), gaming mouse, keyboard (a niceish one, nothing fancy), mouse mat and then everything else that's generally required (case, 500GB HDD, etc. etc.)

For the moment I would like a core 2 duo / quad core with overclocking potential (cooling included as well please :P), with vista being a possibility in the near future. A super graphics card is basically a must :D

My problem is that I keep overspeccing with unnecessary components such as mega power supplies and overly expensive sound cards.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers lads :D
 
you will have to be clear what you want a tower some headphones and what else if anything?

bevasue thats what i have at the moment for your spec

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00838) £109.99
(£129.24) £109.99
(£129.24)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Soundcard - Retail £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink £30.99
(£36.41) £30.99
(£36.41)
Pioneer DVR-112DBK 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £33.98
(£39.92)
Western Digital Caviar RE2 500GB 5000YS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £66.99
(£78.71) £66.99
(£78.71)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £161.99
(£190.34) £161.99
(£190.34)
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £127.99
(£150.39) £127.99
(£150.39)
SpeedLink Medusa SL-8793 5.1 ProGamer Edition £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £56.99
(£66.96) £113.98
(£133.92)
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Sub Total : £922.86
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.95
Vat : £164.12
Total : £1,101.93
 
How about this? Around £200 spare to get headphones, mouse mat and Operating System (I'd go home premium or business, I don't really see what many if any people need from Ultimate edition of Vista).

spec3.jpg
 
thanks for that super, but i have a couple more questions :)

Will the 2GB be enough if i want to go vista in the future?
Will the PSU be enough if i want to go SLI in the future?
Should i get a 680i mobo for SLI capabilities?
Is the Tuniq tower the best air cooler around? I would very much like to get 3.4GHz out of the E6600 (I know not all chips are good clockers, but I'd like to have the best cooler anyway :P)
Should I think of going quad-core, or stick with the well established E6600?
Please excuse the ignorance, the last time I checked up on computer parts was when I built the system I'm using now over a year ago :P

@ Bailey: Again, thanks for this, similar spec to most around, but I think I'll be needing a 8800GTX, and an operating system is not required :) + Yes it will be a mega tower computer. Any ideas what the best 500GB HDD available is? I'd rather have an impressively quick one for 20 quid more than the cheap as chips stuff.

Thanks again for your time, I really appreciate it.
 
2gb will technically be enough for vista but 4gb would be preferable
the psu will be fine for sli
if you youre planning on getting another 8800 in the future then why not?
and the tuniq is one of the best if not the best coolers around so that'll be fine for the overclocks youre going for
 
*Chris said:
thanks for that super, but i have a couple more questions :)

Will the 2GB be enough if i want to go vista in the future?
Will the PSU be enough if i want to go SLI in the future?
Should i get a 680i mobo for SLI capabilities?
Is the Tuniq tower the best air cooler around? I would very much like to get 3.4GHz out of the E6600 (I know not all chips are good clockers, but I'd like to have the best cooler anyway :P)
Should I think of going quad-core, or stick with the well established E6600?
Please excuse the ignorance, the last time I checked up on computer parts was when I built the system I'm using now over a year ago :P

@ Bailey: Again, thanks for this, similar spec to most around, but I think I'll be needing a 8800GTX, and an operating system is not required :) + Yes it will be a mega tower computer. Any ideas what the best 500GB HDD available is? I'd rather have an impressively quick one for 20 quid more than the cheap as chips stuff.

Thanks again for your time, I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

2GB would be enough, if you wanted 4GB I'd buy another set of the Ballistix, that stuff overclocks like a beast. Of course the full 4GB would only be recognised by Vista 64, so unless you're planning on installing that straight off, I'd stick with 2GB for now.

The PSU has been demonstrated running SLI'd 8800GTXs with watercooling as well, shouldn't be a problem. Of course, the pros/cons of SLI are for a completely separate thread!

If you want to clock well, you can't go far wrong with the DS3P, and the Tuniq/Noctua/Thermalright are all pretty much on the same level really, best air coolers around, pick one of those three and you can't go far wrong!

As for quad cores vs. dual cores, I doubt you'll need more than a 6600 overclocked.

As for 500GB disk drives, the spec above has 2x320GB drives, should be plenty of space, if not, grab the 500GB drives that are on this week only - I think they're the Spinpoints.
 
Paul - why the 8500 Ballistix RAM? Seeing as the 5300 reaches those speeds easily, why throw away what looks like £100?

Also, the mouse isn't good for gaming, and the board is double the price of a DS3P, for what exactly?
 
the board is the best for quad core its the only 680i that overclocks well also its an nvidia chipset they will support sli and your ds3p wont will it?
why would anyone want a non sli board when they are thinking about crossfire?
this ram will run 1250mhz 5,5,5,15 the 5300 wont
look in the forums there is loads of ppl atm saying this mouse is better ect and over 50% use a microsoft intelimouse and ime one of them also no wire to get trapped
 
Last edited:
Lovin paul's spec. + the way it comes to £1399, very tempting to order tomorrow :D
I was originally thinking of the BFG 800W PSU for £105ish, you guys think this is a bit overkill then? :P
As for that mobo, would i only need one of those if i wanted to really push the chip? Could I achieve 3.4GHz+ with a cheaper mobo, spendin the spare cash on a better sound card, or is it really worth going with the best? (or is that for another thread? :))

Thanks again guys, advice really appreciated :)
 
check my sig i have that psu and i will be getting sli and ive also just orderd another 2gb of ram (8500 balistix)
 
well ive got an asus board here and ill be on an evga 680i as this only has 8x sli and unlike before when 8x didnt matter with the 8800 cards it makes a huge diffrence
if you want the best pc for the budget using the best components this is what id go for in my personal preferance. also the p5n-e sli has known issues with 2 ram slots making 4gb of ram tricky
 
RaiderX said:
thats a great spec for the price, just change the case to the antec 900, it looks better ;)
Click to expand...

its in stock too lol
the pc 7 isnt.. but case is 99% down to looks tbh.. i have a 900 and loved it only reason i got rid was for dual loop water cooling.
 


Total : £1,321.65

Includes mobo & psu, incase you wanted to go sli as you said.

Top cooler with a top fan for your overclock on the E6600.

Added the deathadder since it's by far the best mouse i have ever used, and i have gone through plenty.
 
-Perhiperals-

Razer Copperhead Chaos Green 2000dpi High Precision Gaming Mouse - Retail
£27.99 (£32.89)VAT

Saitek PZ30AU Eclipse Illuminated Keyboard - Red
£21.99 (£25.84)VAT

-Case-

Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - (Black or Silver your choice)
£49.99 (£58.74)VAT

-Hardware-

LiteON DH-20A1P-45C 20x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer (Black) - OEM
£14.99 (£17.61)VAT

Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
£59.99 (£70.49)VAT

BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
£314.99 (£370.11)VAT

EVGA nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£144.99 (£170.36)VAT

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
£127.99 (£150.39)VAT

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA804)
£99.99 (£117.49)VAT

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
£59.99 (£70.49)

-Cooling-
Scythe Infinity Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 775, AM2, 754, 939, 940)
£26.99(£31.71)VAT

Sub Total : £949.89
Shipping : £12.95
Vat : £168.50
Total : £1,131.34

Hope that helps, i included no sound card as the motherboard already has a good sound system built into it unless you are able to make audiable differances an X-FI card can be included at a later date, you can upgrade the a 620w if you plan on adding another GTX at a later date other than that if you stick with 1 beefy graphics card then 520w is fine.

If you want to cut the price down on the motherboard then go for a gigabyte DS3 which is a lot cheaper but wont support sli but is still an extremely good overclocker.

the case lian li is an excellent cooler with 2 120mm fans included for great cooling one of which is located at the front and one at the rear.

500gb hdd which you specified, really i dont know how you will use up all of that space unless you are encoding videos and such, if you are just going to be gaming i would down it along with the price for a 250gb hdd which another 250/320gb hdd can be added at a later date, and if you want a fast hdd then you can stripe one.

Core 2 duo because i know you are going to be using the pc for gaming, quad core is pointless unless you are utilising 4 monitors, video encoding or folding etc (also if you want the take a bit of the processor price you can get the e6420 which is the 2.13ghz version, overclocks very well)

I have an old version of the razer mouse (diamondback) and they are pretty solid mouses, i had no trouble installing drivers, included software and its still performing well after about 3 years, keyboard is really nice for the late night gaming sessions as the back of the keys are luminated so you know what you are pressing without having to tun on the lights (scary games :D)

RAM is pretty solid best going atm for a good price, it can be changed for 5300 but this is still pretty solid ram, i use it and hasnt failed yet.

gl with whatever you choose, sinny. =)
 
sli is totally stupid when you think about it in real terms, unless you game on a 30inch dell, you could come up with a much better spec if you go for a single card route
 
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