Upgrade Time........WoooHoooo :)

pug180

pug180

pug180

Associate
Joined
25 Sep 2005
Posts
40
Location
Near Nottingham
OK chaps/gals,

Like the title says i'm looking to build a new pc. I've been doing this for years but as pc have been getting more powerfull in comparision to what software actually needs the last time i did this was about 4/5yrs ago.

My current system is a:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+, 256 MB ATI 9800XT Classic, 1 Gig of Ram, 19" VX912 Viewsonic LCD screen (1280x1024), Lian Li 6085 Aliuminium Case, 160 GB SATA Drive, 250 GB SATA Drive, Logitech G15 Keyboard, Logitech G5 Mouse, Creative Inspire 5300 5.1 Speakers

So from the above i will be using

19" VX912 Viewsonic LCD screen (1280x1024), 160 GB SATA Drive, 250 GB SATA Drive, Logitech G15 Keyboard, Logitech G5 Mouse, Creative Inspire 5300 5.1 Speakers

Not sure about the Lian Li 6085 Aliuminium Case (will it be big enough) ?

I have a few question before i spend my cash.

1) Graphics - I want to get a 8800 card but due to the max res of the viewsonic will i be wasting money getting a 8800 GTX ? What do you recommend. btw i wanted a 8800 because its DirectX 10.

2) CPU - I'm going to get a Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 for the cpu and i've been reading up about motherboards. I have never been the one to buy the cheapest of anything but like to justify what i spend if you know what i mean. What the crack with the chipset these days ? I mainly do FPS gaming online so performance is my main priority. Would i be right in saying the Nvidia chipset boards provide the most stable/overclocking potential ? What would you advise on getting ?

3) Power supplies - I used to always buy Enermax psu's but there are that many to choose from. I was thinking about something like a 600/700 watt ? Which psu's come with detachable cables or is that a useless feature ? What would you advise on getting ?

4) Case - I've always been a fan of the Aluminium case look, would my current Lian Li 6085 be ok for a new system or is it on the small size ? I've been looking round and seen the new design that inverts the mobo/powersupply location. I would consider a black finished case also. What would you advise on getting ?

5) Hard Drives - I watched the gadget show the other week when they tested the PC against the console for gaming. One of the things they mentioned was using a Raptor hard drive for increased performance. Would this be just on the drive the operating system is on or the location where the games are installed or both. Or was it a load of bull ie not that great a performance increase ?

What i was looking to spend was about £1200 to add to my existing equipment so any recomendation would be great.............Sorry if i went on to long ;)
 
Last edited:
I don't know specifically about the Lian Li but if it can accomodate a full ATX sized motherboard then it should be fine, however that might not help too much with some of the graphics cards you get nowadays.

I'd probably suggest a 320mb 8800GTS as being better suited to your needs than an 8800GTX.

Chipset-wise I'd go with either Nforce 650 or the 965P chipset so the motherboards I'd pick would be the Asus P5N-E 650 SLi or the Gigabyte DS3P.

PSU - I rather like the Corsair HX 520w and 620w, they are modular which is a useful feature in terms of keeping the case tidy but it isn't entirely necessary if you are careful about routing the cables.

Case - I'm not too sure about, maybe take a look in the Cases sub-forum as they can offer better advice than I can. I assume the inverted motherboard PSU location you are talking about is the BTX standard which hasn't really taken off (yet).

Hard drives - Raptors are quick but you pay a lot for the privilege of having a 10k rpm drive. I'd go with a Seagate 7200.10 or Western Digital AAKS drive as they aren't much slower but are significantly cheaper and offer much more space. :)
 
Hi there. I just made the same move as you and it was a good one. I also have a lot of the recommended components on here. Cheer's guys. :D

1. A 8800GTS 320mb is fine for 1280x1024. It's the same res i play at and i have'nt found anything that does'nt run smooth as silk with everything maxxed out yet.

2. Why get a 6600 when a 4300 :D , 6300 or 6400 will overclock to over 3ghz with the right motherboard. My 4300 cost me £99 and is happily running at 3.4ghz permanently with no problems. It even boots into windows at 3.6ghz but i have'nt tested with Orthos yet.

For a motherboard the Gigabyte 965P DS3P is a superb board. I had the Abit 650i before it (briefly), but it was so buggy it got rapidly returned and i got the DS3P instead. Superb board and is the easiest clocking board i have ever had. I also got mine for a bargain £75. :D If you must have a Nvidia chipset board then the Asus P5N-E 650i Sli is a decent one at the budget end, or the P5N32-E Sli NF 680 in the mid price range, or the Striker Extreme at the top.

3. For power supplies you can't go wrong with Corsair or Seasonic. The Corsair HX's are highly thought of on here. Personally i can't comment as i don't have one, but everyone seems happy with them. I have a Seasonic S12 650w Energy+ which is very stable and is also silent.

4. As Semi-Pro says, you are better off checking the case forum for that one.

5. Raptors are way overpriced. Get yourself a Seagate 7200.10 as Semi-Pro say's. They are very good and quite quiet as well. I have a 320gb one and it really is the quietest drive i have ever had. 5 year warranty as well.

You will also need new memory. I can recommend the Geil Ultra PC2-6400 C4 2gb dual channel kits. I really don't use mine to it's full potential with the 4300 but it is very good ram with very few compatiability issues with other components.
 
if you can reach out a bit more money such as only £30-35 could get you a 640MB GTS which is not nessicary but in the long run will be more powerful.. and you don't want to regret not getting one.. you could have that extra money back in no time...
 
PSU - Enermax my experience from Overclockers and Enermax has been outstanding. I got in touch with overclockers who provided me my receipt after me being a complete tool lost my receipt. They faxed to my work being the good chaps that they are and I got in touch with Enermax direct, I did recieve a DOA replacement but they were very embarrassed and got a delivery asap to collect my old one and replace with a huge amount of fuss from them to make sure I was happy. It has been the best experience from a company I have ever had.
 
Thanks for all your replies.......slowly getting there. So far looking at this lot.

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (£176.24)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - (£260.84)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) - (£99.86)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) - (£111.61)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB ST3500630AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM - (£88.11)

Is the stock cooling ok with the cpu's ?

Also does the Gigabyte 965P DS3P mobo support SLI......i can see it says crosfire ?
 
Stock cooling is fine for anything up to mild overclocking, beyond that you are better with an aftermarket solution - after all the retail fan is only intended to be ok at the rated speed.

The DS3P will not support SLi. Crossfire and SLi are obviously the competing technologies and aren't interchangable as such (I am aware that sometimes bios hacks/flashes exist but not really worth discussing here). I'd stick with the DS3P since it is a good motherboard and SLi or Crossfire mostly aren't worth it except if you have an absolutely huge monitor. :)
 
Thanks for clearing that up for me......was just thinking about later life but as things are changing all the time you end up doing what i'm doing now and thats replacing the whole lot. :D
 
pug180 said:
Thanks for all your replies.......slowly getting there. So far looking at this lot.

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (£176.24)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - (£260.84)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) - (£99.86)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) - (£111.61)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB ST3500630AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM - (£88.11)

Is the stock cooling ok with the cpu's ?
Click to expand...

All good, just slap something from Tuniq, Scythe or Noctua on that CPU. I say tuniq, semi pro would probably say Scythe and Mish would say Noctua, and we're all right ;)
 
Just looking at the Tuniq Tower 120.....What size is the fan controller ie where does it fit ?

tuniq_cooler_tower120_r15_c4.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom