Spec me a machine please

Scuzi · 6 Mar 2007 at 20:10

Hello folks, it's been a while since I last strayed in here

For the past 2 years or so I have been confined to the use of laptops, mainly as I was moving house every few months, it was just handier. My laptop at the minute is a decent spec but I need a more powerful desktop to handle all my photoshop work and some games too.

Some requirements I'd like to stick to:

Dual core processor, not fussed on whether it's AMD or Intel.
2Gb RAM
250Gb of HDD space or more, I'd rather have a faster drive than uber storage space
A decent graphics card capable of running all the latest games smoothly
Standard Dual layer DVD-R drive should do the trick
The system must be quiet - Absolute silence isn't necessary but would be nice
A good case, nothing flimsy, preferably with room for an extra couple of HDDs

I have the OS, monitor, keyboard and mouse sorted so that isn't an issue yet.
Now, the important bit. Could I get all that for about £600? I don't want to skimp too much but I also don't want to go crazy with the £££.

And of course it goes without saying, it all has to be from the fine establishment that is OcUK.

Thanks

semi-pro waster · 6 Mar 2007 at 20:15

I'd probably suggest something like this. It is over the budget but I think the extra spend is well worth it, if you really can't stretch then get an X1950pro instead of the 8800GTS however it is nowhere near as fast and doesn't support DX10 (as/when that actually becomes useful). As for the rest, there is nothing else that I'd really suggest cutting back on.

Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £163.99
(£192.69) £163.99
(£192.69)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
NEC AD7170S Serial ATA 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.99
(£22.31) £18.99
(£22.31)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £89.99
(£105.74) £89.99
(£105.74)
Antec NSK6500 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W PSU £58.99
(£69.31) £58.99
(£69.31)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £101.99
(£119.84) £101.99
(£119.84)
Sub Total : £550.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
Vat : £98.15
Total : £659.03

masslac · 6 Mar 2007 at 20:16

Scuzi · 6 Mar 2007 at 20:23

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

Are the Intel Core2Duo chips a better base than the AMD offering? With regards to the Ge-Force vs the ATI, I will probably plan to upgrade in 6 months or so, so the absolute best isn't really necessary at the minute.

masslac · 6 Mar 2007 at 20:31

C2d is definitely the way to go for a new machine atm, plus they overclock to hell.

Edit - If you're upgrading in 6 months, the BFG 7600GT might be the best bet for a graphics card atm tbh.

Scuzi · 6 Mar 2007 at 20:36

Cool, I'll stick to that then.
With regards to the motherboards, is the Asus P5NE SLi board compatible with the ATI X1950. Would I be able to run it on one graphics card at the minute and maybe add another at a later stage?

VeNT · 6 Mar 2007 at 20:39

get the OEM 6300 and a good cooler

semi-pro waster · 6 Mar 2007 at 20:48

VeNT said:
get the OEM 6300 and a good cooler

Thing is that last time OcUK had OEM versions in that they weren't priced any differently to retail but you didn't get the cooler and didn't get the 3 year warranty otherwise I'd suggest the same. As it is I'd recommend the retail version and a different cooler if the budget permits.

Scuzi, you could run the X1950pro (or any ATI graphics card) on a Nvidia chipset based motherboard, however you cannot use them in a dual graphics card solution. SLi (Nvidia's offering) and Crossfire (ATI's) require their own specific motherboards so if you wanted to go for Crossfire I'd suggest the Gigabyte DS4.

Realistically though I'd suggest ignoring SLi/Crossfire (and just get the best motherboard for you) unless you play at very high resolutions and have a lot of money. Most people are much better advised to simply upgrade to a new single graphics card when they need more power. Additionally you will probably need a quality PSU with a minimum of around 600w before even considering a dual graphics card setup.

melbourne720 · 6 Mar 2007 at 21:29

Congrats on your Don-ship, Scuzi. semi-pro waster's spec looks good, but I would suggest the addition of a aftermarket cooler for the CPU. Tuniq Tower, Scythe Ninja or the Noctua one are all good (obviously money permitting).

An 8800 GTS is certainly worth spending the extra money on.