*****THE OFFICIAL "SPEC ME" THREAD*****

[Fire Wizard]

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Hi Gummidge and welcome to the forums. First of all, make sure you read the FAQ so you don't get into trouble for doing something that is against the rules which you weren't aware off.

Moving onto your specification. The first specification includes a top of the line graphics card which will mean you will be able to run the majority of games on extremely good settings at the native resolution of the Samsung SM-2233BW Cream 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor. Since this specification includes a Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 Core 216, there wasn't enough money to get say for example a Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600. However, since the majority of games that are out and also upcoming release will be mainly GPU limited and the fact that you will be gaming at a fairly high resolution anyway, you will be far better of getting a better graphics card as opposed to a slightly better CPU.

Having said that though, once you have overclocked the Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200, gaming performance won't be that far off an similarly clocked Intel Q6600 providing that particular game doesn't take advantage of more than 2 cores which at the moment is very far and few between.

Just one little thing I will point out with regards to the graphics card. If the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 280 is still available which is currently selling for £229.99 which can be found here by the time you come to purchase your system, then go for the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 280. If they are all gone though, the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 that is already in the specification will be fine.

Specification 1:

This second specification is really for if you are into photo editing, encoding and are a heavy multitasker. It doesn't include such a powerful GPU, though the ATI Radeon 4850 is certainly not a walk over, but does include the Intel Q6600 which will help if your system will be mainly used for the things that are mentioned above.

Specification 2:

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Hi Alrik, the specification you have done looks absolutely fine. The only component I would think about changing is the CPU to the Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600. As you can see here, the performance difference of a dual core clocked around 600MHz higher than a quad core is very small and in my opinion it doesn't warrant losing the extra two cores because of this.

There aren't a lot of games that take advantage of more than 2 cores as of yet. However, this is likely to change and if for example a game does come out later in the year where running a quad core CPU does significantly boost the performance then you are already one step ahead.

I have also included the Thermalright TRUE Black 120 CPU Cooler which is exactly the same to the standard Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler but it includes a extra set of fan clips which means you will be able to add an extra fan in the future and slightly better thermal paste.

 

[Fire Wizard]

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Hi XShido, some of the hardware components that you have listed are unnecessary and in which you could get components that are better value for money without sacrificing performance.

For example, the EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI Socket 775. I'm guessing the reason for choosing that particular motherboard is because it supports a SLI configuration. I personally wouldn't worry to much about SLI since at times, it can be rather troublesome. To get the extra performance, it requires you to run games that take advantage of running a dual graphics card based system which admittedly, the majority of games do get some sort of boost of running dual cards. Though, this performance increase isn't always double just because you are running two cards instead of one.

However, you would honestly be much better sticking to a single card solution since one of the top of the lines graphics cards at the moment such as the NVDIA Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 will run the majority if not all games at very good settings at your desired resolution. By the time it starts to struggle, you would get much more consistent performance if you were to sell your existing card and then get the next high performance GPU as opposed to if you were to just add another of the same graphics card.

That particular motherboard also supports DDR3. DDR3 is only really worth getting if you are looking at a full platform upgrade such as moving to the Core i7. The performance boost of DDR3 over DDR2 using a socket 775 platform is unnoticeable but costs around 3 to 4 times more.

The graphics card you have chosen is once again based on SLI. Now, whilst the Nvidia Geforce 9800 GX2 is actually a very good graphics card, if you were to for example get a NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 Core 216, you will get a lot more consistent performance in games whilst still remaining around the same performance level of the 9800 GX2.

Just one little thing I will point out though to do with the graphics card. If the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 280 is still available which is currently selling for £229.99 which can be found here by the time you come to purchase your system, then go for the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 280. If they are all gone though, the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 that is already in the specification will be fine.

Moving onto your CPU choice. The Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale is a great CPU. However, I would personally look at getting the Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 since even though is clocked 600 MHz slower, in terms of gaming performance, the difference is actually very small as you can see here. As it currently stands, not many games take advantage of more than 2 cores. However, if a game comes out later in the year that sees a significant boost in performance by using a quad core CPU, then you are already one step ahead.

Regarding the power supply unit you have chosen. The Antec TPQ-850 TruePower Quattro 850W is a very good power supply. However, you honestly won't need a power supply that large. A good quality 600 - 700 wattage unit will be absolutely fine and will leave room for any upgrades that will require the extra power.

I haven't chosen a case since the one that you have listed, I can't seem to locate on the Overclocks website and a case is purely personal preference. All the cases you can get from Overclockers are located here.

I have also added a nice 24 inch screen into the specification which will make gaming that much nicer.

The operating system you have chosen is fine. However, to save a bit of money, you could go for the "Home Premium" edition which should meet all of your needs. It's only worth choosing the "Ultimate" edition if there is a certain feature that you require that's included in it. Take a look here to compare all of the Windows Vista editions with each other.

Finally, you mention that you won't be doing any overclocking. Overclocking is an extremely good way to get extra performance and is actually fairly easy and straight forward. A lot of people are put of by overclocking due to the fact that it reduces the life span of your components. Whilst it does reduce the life span of the components, in reality, by the time the components die, you would have changed the system for a brand new one anyway so it really is nothing to worry about.

If you would like to enter the world of overclocking, then feel free to create a thread here and people will be happy to help you out. One of the first things you will need though is an aftermart CPU cooler since the stock cooler won't be able to handle the extra heat the CPU will produce whilst running it at a faster speed and given the extra voltage you will need to give it to run at that stated speed.

A good aftermart CPU cooler to get you started is the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler . Since it doesn’t come with a fan, you will need to buy one separate and one that is highly regarded is the Noctua NF-P12. Which I have added both items into the specification below.

I have just done a revised specification for you. If you have any questions about any of the components I have chosen, feel free to ask and I will be happy to explain why I have chosen that particular component.

Unfortunately, I couldn't fit the price in but it all comes too £1,252.18 which includes delivery. Remember though, I haven't included a case since that is purely personal preference.

 

[Fire Wizard]

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Hi Aman, sorry for not doing a specification right away but to be able to get the best for your money, we really need to know what sort of resolution you will be using?

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System A.

Hi gee3000, I have just done a specification for both System A and System B. If you have any questions regarding any of the components I have chosen, feel free to ask.

I'm not quite sure if you will need such a big hard drive on both of the specifications but one of the reasons for choosing it is because of the 16mb cache as opposed to the lower capacity drives which only have an 8mb cache.

System B.

 

[Fire Wizard]

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Hi Kami, am I right in thinking you already have a processor, the Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 but you will be needing a motherboard that supports that processor and also supports a quad core processor, memory and a power supply?

Would you also like me to include an operating system into the specification?

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Hi big_treacle and welcome to the forums. First of all, make sure you read the FAQ so you don't get into trouble for doing something that is against the rules which you weren't aware off.

Moving onto your specification. I have just put a specification together for you which should meet all your needs.

Just one little thing I will point out with regards to the graphics card. If the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 280 is still available which is currently selling for £229.99 which can be found here by the time you come to purchase your system, then go for the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 280. If they are all gone though, the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 that is already in the specification will be fine.

Regarding overclocking. Overclocking is an extremely good way to get extra performance and is actually fairly easy and straight forward. A lot of people are put of by overclocking due to the fact that it reduces the life span of your components. Whilst it does reduce the life span of the components, in reality, by the time the components die, you would have changed the system for a brand new one anyway so it really is nothing to worry about.

If you would like to enter the world of overclocking, then feel free to create a thread here and people will be happy to help you out.

If you have any questions regarding any of the components, feel free to ask.

 

[Aman]

I'd be using a 19" wide screen at first, eventually upgrading to the dell 24"

 

[blueskin]

First wanted to say hi to all and what a great forum, "search this thread" should be on every forum!


BUDGET: around £600

Processor: yes
Motherboard: definately
Memory: have 2x1gb corsair so... yes
Graphics Card(s): yes
TV Card: no
Hard Drive(s): have several IDE's will that be a problem?
Optical Drive(s): no
Cooling: yes
Water Cooling: no
Cable(s): if i have to
Sound Card: yes but cheap
Controller Card(s): what?
Case: no, got a much loved one
Power Supply: yes, only have 450W atm

Keyboard: no
Mouse: no
Headset: no
Speakers: no
Monitor(s): no
Operating System: no

Uses: gaming although not that bothered maxing anything new (would be nice though) futureproof as much as possible, mainly mobo-wise
Overclocking: yes to an amature level, bios flashing, non stock cooling etc


Think thats about it, sadly i've not bought anything except a Radeon x850 to keep me ticking over for 5 long years, so my knowledge of the difference between dual vs quad core, SLI? and how to future proof my mobo is virtually nil.

Thanks in advance, any details or links to good info posts massively appreciated.

 

[big_treacle]

Hi big_treacle and welcome to the forums. First of all, make sure you read the FAQ so you don't get into trouble for doing something that is against the rules which you weren't aware off.

Moving onto your specification. I have just put a specification together for you which should meet all your needs.

Regarding overclocking. Overclocking is an extremely good way to get extra performance and is actually fairly easy and straight forward. A lot of people are put of by overclocking due to the fact that it reduces the life span of your components. Whilst it does reduce the life span of the components, in reality, by the time the components die, you would have changed the system for a brand new one anyway so it really is nothing to worry about.

If you would like to enter the world of overclocking, then feel free to create a thread here and people will be happy to help you out.

If you have any questions reagdring any of the compoents, feel free to ask.

Thanks - that looks great I might delve into overclocking - I have some knowledge of how the stuff works (I work in systems engineering) just not a lot of knowledge about actual components: eg. which cooler vs how much overclocking for a given component. I'd hate to build a nice new system & blow it up straight away! I'll have a nose through the overclocking threads & see what's what.
Cheers

 

[Accoutre Sunk]

BUDGET £300

current spec
Gigabyte DS3R
4gig mix/match ram
1800xtx
core2 2160 @2.53ghz
no name power supply

system wont boot any higher than 2.53ghz stably (have tried with a matched pair of ram modules 2x1gb running within spec (think crappy power supply)

where would you sink 3-400 pounds into this system?

 

[deathwalker666]

Hi guys.

Thinking it's about time I upgraded my old AMD 3500 system, and as I've been away from the PC building scene for a while, I'd like some opinions on this little build I threw together. My price range is £600 - £650, so it fits in there nicely.

I'll mainly be using the computer for Photoshop, Flash (Dual screen 1920x1200 and 1600x1050) and gaming (mainly RTS and RPG's, with the occasional FPS).I already have a TFT, speakers, mouse and keyboard so I dont need to worry about that. I have a Gigabyte 3D Aurora case, which is ok, but I wouldnt mind upgrading it....

Spec is as follows -

BUDGET: 600-650

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.00GHZ (1333FSB) - Retail - £172.49

Motherboard: Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £105.79

Memory: OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR10664GK) - £80.49

Graphics Card(s) :Asus GeForce 9800 GTX+ "Dark Knight" 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (C1CLQO-JOUAY002) - £160.99

Hard Drive(s): Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) - £39.09

Optical Drive(s): Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM - £19.54

Case: Suggestions? Needs to be quiet and very cool (My little room is like an inferno!) .

Power Supply:OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply - £45.99


Total - £624.37

Uses: Photoshop, Flash (Dual Screen), Games (RTS, RPG)
Overclocking: If possible, but not hardcore!



Would like any opinions, recommendations and ideas...

Many thanks

 

[Fire Wizard]

I'd be using a 19" wide screen at first, eventually upgrading to the dell 24"

Hi Aman, the Nvidia Geforce GTX 280 graphics card is a slight overkill for the monitor that you currently have. However, since you will be upgrading to a 24" screen shortly, you will need something fairly powerful to run games at a native resolution of a 24" screen and the Nvidia Geforce GTX 280 will be perfect.

You said that you probably won't be doing any overclocking. Since a lot of games are GPU limited, it's much better to include a more powerful graphics card as opposed to a slightly better CPU. The Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 at stock speeds is fine. However, to get full performance out of the system, you would really need to overclock it to around 3.2 - 3.4GHz which can be quite easily done even on the stock cooler.

Overclocking is relatively easy and straight forward and you are basically getting a boost in performance for free and I would highly recommend having a go at it. If you are interested, it maybe worth creating a thread here just to get your started.

I have just done a specification which is slightly over budget mainly because of including the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 280. Though, at the price it is currently selling at is an absolute bargain. If you have any questions regarding any of the components I have chosen, feel free to ask.

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Hi big_treacle, just something I thought I would make you aware of is regarding the graphics card. There is one more brand of NVIDIA Geforce GTX 280 at a really cheap price which can be found here and in which, it would be slightly better getting that instead of the BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE 896MB but be quick, I'm sure they won't last long.

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Hi blueskin and welcome to the forums. First of all, make sure you read the FAQ so you don't get into trouble for doing something that is against the rules which you weren't aware off.

Moving onto your specification. To be able to get the best possible system for the amount of money that you have to spend, we really need to know the sort of resolution you will be using.

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Hi Accoutre Sunk, I honestly can't see a reason why your Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2160 is struggling to get past 2.5GHz. Have you tried upping the VCore a bit more?

Also, what's the speed of your memory and what sort of resolution are you using?

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Hi deathwalker666, what would you say the primary purpose of your system will be, gaming or the use of Photoshop and multitasking?

 

[blueskin]

Hi Fire Wizard, thanks for the reply, i am currently using a Dell 19" 1907FP, i will be stuck on this since i really can't justify buying a new monitor at the moment. I will ofc eventually get some sort of widescreen beast for a few hundred pounds, birthday would be a good excuse. One question, is SLI or crossfire better, seems a big decision essentially limiting yourself to one manufacturers cards.

 

[eGu_Ryan]

Hi there, I've been a lurker for a while, so this is my first post after registering have a great thread running here great to see you are putting so much effort in!


BUDGET: around £250-£270 May be able to creep up to £300

Processor: Yep, no preference, AMD or Intel.
Motherboard: Yes
Memory: Yes, would prefer 4gig.
Graphics Card(s): No, I have a Ati 4850.
TV Card: No
Hard Drive(s): Yes, 250gig should be enough.
Optical Drive(s): Yes
Cooling: Stock Cooling should be enough.
Water Cooling: No
Cable(s): If needed.
Sound Card: Onboards fine
Controller Card(s): No
Case: No, got a nice one.
Power Supply: Yes

Keyboard: no
Mouse: no
Headset: no
Speakers: no
Monitor(s): no
Operating System: no

Uses: Gaming mostly, maybe college work. Nothing much more.
Overclocking: Probably not, mildly if at all.

Thanks in advance.

//Ryan

 

[deathwalker666]

Hi deathwalker666, what would you say the primary purpose of your system will be, gaming or the use of Photoshop and multitasking?

Hi Fire Wizard, thanks for the response. I guess the most important task would be running Photoshop and Adobe Flash each in their on their own display. Gaming would be nice but not as essential, as long as it can run Dawn of War 2 at 1920x1200 then I'm happy

 

[Fire Wizard]

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Hi blueskin, one thing I forgot to ask is how many hard drives do you actually have. One of the new P45 chipset motherboards will be able to take up to 2 IDE devices. If you only have two hard drives than you won't have any problems. However, if you have more than 2 you may have a problem. Though, this would be an ideal time and it would make sense to move to SATA hard drives and do away with IDE completely.

The NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 is slightly overkill for your current monitor. However, since you are looking to upgrade soon then it's worth keeping so when you do purchase your new monitor, your gaming performance won't suffer.

I also haven't added a soundcard since the onboard sound on the ASUS P5Q Pro is actually very good.

I have done a specification for you below which should fulfil all of your needs. If you have any questions regarding any of the components I have chosen, feel free to ask.

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Hi eGu_Ryan and welcome to the forums. First of all, make sure you read the FAQ so you don't get into trouble for doing something that is against the rules which you weren't aware off.

With regards to overclocking. Overclocking is actually pretty easy and fairly straight forward and you would get a reasonable boost in performance if you were to overclock so it’s well worth looking into.

I have just done a specification for you which should fulfil your needs. If you have any questions regarding any of the components I have chosen, feel free to ask.

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Hi deathwalker666, since the main use of this system will be Photoshop, then a quad core will come in handy. However, this does leave limited funds for a graphics card. Whilst the ATI Radeon 4850 is a fantastic graphics card, it may struggle with some games when running at a resolution of 1920x1200. Having said that though, they should still run pretty well.

I have just done a specification for you which is slightly over budget but does include everything you need. If you have any questions regarding any of the components I have chosen, feel free to ask.

 

[BillHicksRIP]

BUDGET: 500ish

Processor: Am thinking of a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.83GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - OEM
Motherboard: Yes. Onboard GFX if it can do dual-display, and possibility of putting a gaming PCI-e card at a later date.
Memory: Need 8GB
Graphics Card(s): Dual-display required, that's all. Not for gaming yet, but maybe in the future.
TV Card: No
Hard Drive(s): 1TB or above
Optical Drive(s): No
Cooling: Yes. As quiet as possible.
Water Cooling: No
Cable(s):No
Sound Card: Onboard mobo would be fine
Controller Card(s):No
Case: Yes. Quiet as poss in black
Power Supply: Yes.

Keyboard: No
Mouse: No
Headset: No
Speakers: No
Monitor(s): No
Operating System: Have Vista x64 already.

Uses: Not using for gaming or overclocking. Will be running 24x7 as media centre, running multiple VM's (hence the 8GB RAM), and for watching films and stuff. Needs to be as quiet as possible and as low power as possible. Not sure if that CPU's overkill and the Q6600 Energy Efficient would be a better fit? May want to turn it into a gaming rig later down the line as it'll be better specced than my current one.
Overclocking: No

Any advice gratefully appreciated.

 

[blueskin]

Haha, i can feel my willpower ebbing away...

Realising I need need PSU, sata HD and ram has made me think I could accomodate those seperately, pushing my total up to around £700....

I would like to splash a little on both the mobo and CPU since I want to future proof to some extent with the mobo, and play X3:R which is heavy on the processor.

Will getting an SLI enabled mobo really pump up the price and will most games be SLI compliant in 2 years time when i will be needing my 2nd GFX card?

Also why is that GFX card so cheap compared to the EVGA GeForce GTX 260 "Core 216 Superclocked" 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express), is it because it is "SLI enabled" meaning it can be the master of the two cards? that adds roughly £100 to the price of the card? (ignoring the other small advances)

If i could ask in advance of your re-spec, what will be the limiting factor in the coming years, if you can tell the future of hardware development
Thanks again

 

[jbrings]

This one?

BUDGET: 1500 - 1800

Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz
Motherboard: MSI Eclipse SLI Intel X58
Memory: Corsair 6GB DDR3 XMS3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Triple Channel DDR3
Graphics Card(s): BFG GeForce GTX 295
TV Card:
Hard Drive(s): 6*Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB RAID 5
Optical Drive(s):
Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P SE1366
Water Cooling:
Cable(s):
Sound Card:
Controller Card(s):
Case: Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Power Supply: Thermaltake ToughPower 850W Modular Power Supply

Keyboard:
Mouse:
Headset:
Speakers:
Monitor(s):
Operating System:

Uses: Games and video edit
Overclocking: up to 4Ghz

is this good?

 

[gee3000]

Hi gee3000, I have just done a specification for both System A and System B. If you have any questions regarding any of the components I have chosen, feel free to ask.

I'm not quite sure if you will need such a big hard drive on both of the specifications but one of the reasons for choosing it is because of the 16mb cache as opposed to the lower capacity drives which only have an 8mb cache.

Hey thanks a lot man, that's of great help!!

I was wondering if you can help me choose a LCD monitor too?
We need 3 x 24" monitors to be used at work for basic graphic design etc. Nothing majorly critical, but colour accuracy is fairly important. We're not expecting miracles as our budget is only £300 +vat per monitor, but we don't want to be stuck with something completely shabby.
What's the best we can get around that price range (a little higher if needed)?

Your help is much appreciated!

 

[timtitan]

BUDGET: around £800

Processor: yes, preferably Q6600
Motherboard: yes, but capability for sli/crossfire not needed.
Memory: yes
Graphics Card(s): yes (one only)
TV Card: no
Hard Drive(s): yes, around 250GB, I will add more later
Optical Drive(s): yes, dvd, but not Blu-ray
Cooling: yes
Water Cooling: no
Cable(s): as needed
Sound Card: onboard sound is fine
Controller Card(s): no?
Case: yes, Hiper Osiris
Power Supply: yes

Keyboard: no
Mouse: no
Headset: no
Speakers: no
Monitor(s): yes, 19' is fine
Operating System: yes

Uses, for gaming, mainly wow and lan parties I suppose, simulations and work

any suggestions on best ways to keep the noise down would be appreciated

 

[acrebo]

Hi guys, I'm new here so any advice much appreciated... just try to speak English!

What I'm after...

BUDGET: £700ish

Processor: Must be Intel and I'm under the impression that a good Dual Core is often better than a slowish Quad...?
Motherboard: Yes - no idea what's good/bad!
Memory: 4GB Corsair seems to be the memory of choice?
Graphics Card(s): Won't be playing any graphic-intense games, but want it to be relatively future-proof. Obviously DVD's / hi-res video files will be played.
Hard Drive(s): Have a fairly old SATA HDD ready to go in, but would consider something around 160gb to 'top it up'.
Optical Drive(s): Not req'd - add if budget allows.
Cooling: Whatever needed?
Cable(s): Probably wise.
Sound Card: Will get a cheap 5.1 speaker setup, so an 'okay' card would be useful.
Case: Already have a budget case, so would only get a new one if it's worthwhile to help cooling space. Would be good to be fairly portable to bring down into the lounge and hook up to the TV...
Power Supply: Yeah, chuck one of those in.
Keyboard: Wireless please.
Speakers: 5.1 cheap...
Monitor(s): 19"-22" please.
Operating System: Windows Vista worth it, with 7 on the horizon?

Uses: Light gaming, media uses, based office functions, Internet...