"Titan Raptor"

[pupsta8910]

Is the pre-built system on OCK good?

I am still waiting for some my money to clear b4 ordering as i was specced a PC in my other thread. But i have noticed this which is a bit more money but include the 5870 graphics card which is an expensive £300+ card??

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-199-OK&groupid=43&catid=1445&subcat=

"Titan Raptor" AMD Athlon II X4 620 2.60GHz Quad Core DDR3 System

Graphics Card Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Case Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black
Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Memory Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C9 1333MHz TwinX Dual Channel
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AMD 770 DDR3 Motherboard
Optical Drive LG GH22NS40 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Power Supply Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply
Processor AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 2.60GHz
Processor Cooler AMD Quad Core Approved CPU Cooler
Sound Card High Definition 7.1 OnBoard Sound Card
Warranty 1 Year Onsite Collect & Return Warranty


Would you say this is a good system? Either way i want it pre-built even if i call and arrange a deal. BUt would anyone buy this or think for the money u could build something better?

Again i will be purely gaming and casual browsing.

 

[LeeKeery]

Could you link your other spec?

I would say this is a "good" build. However, for that money I believe you are mostly paying for the card as you say it is 300+.

This build is certainly be more than capable, if you compromise on the GPU a little you could get an overclocked bundle with case, psu, gpu etc around that price range.

 

[pupsta8910]

Thanks

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18107228

I want to spend a little as possible but i wont be ugrading for quite a while so wud rather get a good system now. Wnat to play games like Call of Duty Modern Warefare and Battlefield BC 2 on high settings.

Played BC2 on ps3 n it was rubbish tbh but hopefully PC version will rock.

Top wack is £800 but would prefer to spend about £600 - £700 if possible. That would including any "install fee" / delivery

was thinking of ordering the AMD one on 2nd page but perhaps upgrading graphics card to 5850

 

[LeeKeery]

Ah some nice suggestions in that thread. Its hard to know, its down to personal preference really.

I would recommend, Mid-High range mobo, oc'ed CPU& decent cooler. tri channel 6gb ram. Bundle maybe. Modular SLi compliant PSU and what ever case you fancy.

As for GPU, my 4890 can run all my games maxed out atm. Arma2, MW2, L4D2, Grid, Crysis. Gta4 almost maxed but not quite. Im not sure how demanding BFBC2 will be tho. if it is very demanding there will always be the possibility of Xfire'ing another 4890.

I dont think you will need a high end 5*** series card, there are plenty of more than capable alternatives.

Again thats just my advice, it is all down to your own preference!

 

[Ast3r]

Here is a rig for that price that will definitely run that game on max settings with good fps.Also you can save a bit if you go for the normal CM 690.

 

[Audigex]

If you're looking for max bang-for-buck, build it yourself. Even with OcUK you're paying a 20% or more premium on the basic price of the components for someone else to build it. From other shops the increase can be much higher. You also get full control over what you're spending on each component.

Ast3r's spec is excellent all round, I can't see a single flaw with it unless you need a lot of storage space.

 

[pupsta8910]

thermal paste required?

I know how to fit certain parts etc, the main worry for me is fitting the CPU & any cooler. Never done this b4. Just dont want to ruin it.

I work in IT so im not whats what but never fitted a motherboard / cpu b4.

Read the guide here but a little bit worried about the CPU n thermal paste connecting.... perhaps im worrying 2 much

 

[EnderXi]

I can testify to the build quality and excellent attention to detail that OCuk do when building their machines, I have ordered two machines from them for customers of mine at the IT company I work for and both of them have been very satisfied.

The cables are assembled in a very tidy manner and all sheathed and out of the way to improve the air flow of the case.

In regards to building your own the only thing i can advise (from experience) is to check, recheck and check again before you turn everything on, take your time and dont rush on the build, the old addage check twice cut once is always worth using.

 

[LeeKeery]

All depends on the cooler, usually you just need to put a backing plate onto the motherboard then screw the cooler into place from above. Some have the plastic clips which can be tricky. A pea sized blob of paste in the center of the cpu will be sufficient. Just make sure all clips/screws are pushed down into mobo and that where the cooler meets the cpu is a good tight seal.

P.S. mount the cooler after you have screwed the mobo into your case, for support.

Or get OCUK to pre-build ur order.

 

[wakayoda]

that processor may bottleneck the gpu a bit

 

[pupsta8910]

just called in the OCUK team and asked a rough guide to how much on top of the components to "build" the machine. and was quoted around £100. (normally).

That is just a guide so could be a lot less or more, but i think i will be building my first ever PC.

Only question b4 i order. When i install the motherboard do i need to manually set up all the settings like clock speed n things like that? Or is it all automatic. or is it a case of "install" fire up and just change the BIOS boot order etc.

 

[DisrupTor75]

Personally i couldn't bring myself to part with £300+ notes on a graphics card, no matter how good

 

[Tiamat21]

^Plug and play with most of there built systems from what I've heard.
£100 for them building it really?! For the goliath after I added it all up it worked out ~£30 extra for them to build and clock it. Which to me is worth it, cause people keep prasing OC for their pro cable jobs.

 

[pupsta8910]

ok thank you all for the advice. Im going to give it a stab n build it myself taking my time. Could somoene double check my build list and advise if this is a good setup?

Thank you. Was not sure on cooling so copied the previous post.

but changed the thermal paste.

 

[JonJ678]

Bit weird matching a slow quad core to a powerful graphics card, it'll leave you with a system that can't do anything particularly well. In games you'll be processor limited, outside of games your graphics card won't do anything.

I'd want a fast dual core for gaming, or possibly the amd tricore. Vapor-X cards normally carry a significant premium, I wouldn't like to guess if that version is worth the extra. A 5770 with a crossfire capable motherboard seems a popular choice these days.

Don't forget an operating system!

 

[pupsta8910]

i didnt think that quad core would be slow? from reading other threads i thought it was best for quad core rather than dual core? . I am after gaming so perhaps u may have corrected me. anyone else got opinion on that b4 i order?

p.s i got Windows 7 64bit ready in hand ta

 

[JonJ678]

Games are very gradually coming around to using quad cores. However PC games have to be aimed at the "average" market, which aren't using quad cores, and a lot of them are "console ports" which just aren't that hard to run. I may see if I can track down some benchmarks for you.

My point is mostly based around the 620 being a very slow quad core, argument is less applicable if buying a better amd.

Anandtech appear to be trialling a database, take a look here. I don't know a great deal about gaming, however as far as processors go the intel options are just faster. Arguments in favour of amd revolve around "fast enough" for less money, at which point the question "what is fast enough" rears its ugly head and it all gets a bit rhetorical.

 

[DireEmblem]

As above^^ Most games out at the moment are/were written to run on "average machines", hence a lot right now dont take advantage of the full 4 cores.

Your choice of 955 imo is decent, as being a fairly fast quad core, is essentially more future proof.