Spec me a new PC please :D

Saul · 7 Jun 2009 at 16:55

Hey guys I'm usually up-to-date with all the computer hardware but haven't been looking that much over the last year.

It's time for me a get a new PC, and I'm a little unknowledgeable. My current PC is:
Antec P182
Core2 Quad Q6600 (G0, overclocked to 3.6GHz)
Asus P5K Premium
3GB (Was 4GB) of Corsair Dominator RAM, got a faulty stick!
XFX nVidia 8800GT

I want a new PC as: Graphics card / CPU is overheating and I'm lagging behind a bit for some new games. I cannot play L4D, map and program with VS2008 without blue screening.

Please recommend me some good cases, PSUs, graphics cards and CPUs (and memory

) that would suit my needs and have a budget of about £800. It would also be nice if you could estimate a price for my PC (18 months old, very clean inside)

Thanks so much in advance

hawker1986 · 7 Jun 2009 at 16:59

Well I would say there is nothing wrong with your current rig esp for the tasks you have mentioned. You should try and troublshoot your bluescreen.

Hawker

lamboman · 7 Jun 2009 at 17:11

Yeah, if you are playing L4D you certainly won't need a new system. THere is going to be a driver issue or something along those lines causing the problem, and you won't find anything that will be significantly better at all for the money you are looking at (you'll be looking at a similar spec really, just i7).

Try uninstalling the drivers, running DriverSweeper, and then reinstalling the latest ones to see if that rectifies the problem. Maybe a Windows install if the issues persist.

Spooter · 7 Jun 2009 at 17:40

Thats a good spec, if anything just get a new GPU.

evil-onion · 7 Jun 2009 at 17:45

What are the temps? you saying its all overheating?
what cpu cooler do you have?

The chip and m/b look fine, id consider new psu, cooler and graphics card.
Will come in considerably under budget too

Saul · 7 Jun 2009 at 18:16

evil-onion said:
What are the temps? you saying its all overheating?
what cpu cooler do you have?

The chip and m/b look fine, id consider new psu, cooler and graphics card.
Will come in considerably under budget too

CPU cooler is a Thermalrigth 120-Ultra
Stock GPU cooler and it's filled with dust but I can't get it out (no compressed air). PSU is... 600W but I can't remember what it is

Do you recommend a graphics card? FYI my case is full to the brim with Xilence 120mm fans, recommend any good fans / GPU coolers too?

Audigex · 7 Jun 2009 at 18:30

Sell the 8800GT on and get a 4870/260

Sort our your airflow - the TRUE should keep your CPU cool enough, so I'm guessing it's the GPU overheating unless your case is a spaghetti junction of cables.

Saul · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:57

Audigex said:
Sell the 8800GT on and get a 4870/260

Sort our your airflow - the TRUE should keep your CPU cool enough, so I'm guessing it's the GPU overheating unless your case is a spaghetti junction of cables.

Nope. Got all the cables tucked behind the mobo tray. It's very neat inside. I have:
1 fan in the PSU portion of the case (the most you can have)
2 fans blowing onto my graphics card
2 fans sucking out of the CPU heatsink

Saul · 13 Jun 2009 at 14:17

OK. Thanks to everyone who replied, I'm pretty darn sure it's my GPU that's overheating, so the Asus 4870 X2 should fix that

Well I'll cut to the chase and here's what I've got in the basket so far:

If you have any recommendations / changes, etc. don't hesitate to tell!

wbc1 · 13 Jun 2009 at 14:41

What's your current PSU?? I'd think a 650W-700W PSU would easily handle the 4870x2! That corsair is wayyyy overkill (and £180!!)

cmndr_andi · 13 Jun 2009 at 14:59

Do your self a favour - get this ram instead. £20 less - just as fast.

Agreed on the PSU - something like this would be ideal for you.

Mr.Nick · 13 Jun 2009 at 15:10

Your current spec looks find, would just upgrade it a bit, get a new cpu cooler if your cpu if overheating, then a decent Gpu and you should be flying.

wbc1 · 13 Jun 2009 at 15:16

In fact, are you on a 32bit system? Either way, why are you upgrading your ram? Hardly any real world performance increase from 3 to 4gb.

evil-onion · 13 Jun 2009 at 15:18

for psu i would recomend the corsair 650w, simply because 1; its on offer, and 2; i have one and itss great (and silent)

Saul · 13 Jun 2009 at 21:01

Mr.Nick said:
Your current spec looks find, would just upgrade it a bit, get a new cpu cooler if your cpu if overheating, then a decent Gpu and you should be flying.

I severely doubt my CPU is overheating as the cooler I have on it (Thermalright Ultra-120) is so tightly pressed against the CPU I was scared the motherboard PCB was gonna snap. But it's held up 18 months ;D Also I only crash when there's some stuff running and ONLY in game.
Crysis blue screens every five minutes, whereas my CPU can be at 100% load for hours and run fine.

wbc1 said:
In fact, are you on a 32bit system? Either way, why are you upgrading your ram? Hardly any real world performance increase from 3 to 4gb.

I'm not technically upgrading my RAM, merely replacing it with fixed ones. I have 4x1GB Corsair Dominator in my system, but one of the sticks is faulty so I've been running on Asymmetric mode for 6 months, and at 3GB (completely voiding my reason to be on 64-bit).

--

I have three questions I wish to ask:

I currently have 2 * Samsung 500GB Spinpoint-T hard-drives, one of which is clicking. Would I obtain performance gains by getting a 1TB F1/F2EG?
Is my current PSU, a 600W OCZ (StealthXStream I think) capable for powering my current machine?
Please could you kindly take a look at my updated basket and recommend changes once more? http://www.screencast.com/t/zfMTYvWGuTu

Thank you SO SO MUCH for the help again, OC'ers!

Microwave · 13 Jun 2009 at 21:05

I'll answer 2. Your psu is fine.

cmndr_andi · 13 Jun 2009 at 21:14

Aye - it doesn't sound like a CPU overheating problem, as you said - likely to be a hot graphics card.

Two sticks of RAM in dual channel should also give you better performance, even on a 32bit OS.

As for your questions:

1) Are those drives completely separate or are they in a RAID array? If not, newer, higher density F1s are definitely faster than what you have now. If your HDD is clicking so much that you can hear it - its probably a good time to get a new one.

2) That PSU should be fine with your setup - I read that particular PSU can actually go up to 700W but you will not need that.

3) Looks great. That cooler on the card looks fantastic and the kingston RAM is brilliant stuff, should be a nice upgrade

Saul · 13 Jun 2009 at 21:49

cmndr_andi said:
1) Are those drives completely separate or are they in a RAID array? If not, newer, higher density F1s are definitely faster than what you have now. If your HDD is clicking so much that you can hear it - its probably a good time to get a new one.

Completely seperate. Got one HDD to have 2 partitions: System @ 100GB and Games + Apps @ 400GB. The other HDD is Downloads and Media @ 500GB.

cmndr_andi said:
2) That PSU should be fine with your setup - I read that particular PSU can actually go up to 700W but you will not need that.

Thanks for the info

Thanks a bunch to everyone who replied-- I'm 100% sure what to get now ;D

Saul · 19 Jun 2009 at 21:49

Jeeeez. Forgot how painstakingly annoying upgrading is.

After I put all my new graphics card and daisy chained a load of molex's to it, the PC would boot, but no POST / beeps, no red lights on mobo, nothing. After putting everything back in again, I realised it was the RAM that was only half-in. Bad times.

And now as my GPU is taking up so much juice it seems my overclock is causing me to blue screen, removing the overclock fixed that issue (will re-overclock later on).

Thanks for all the help again guys, just waiting for 3dMark06 to load up in Windows 7 so I can compare scores from my old one!