Yet another check my spec thread!

nantucket66

nantucket66

nantucket66

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I broke down and sold my old PC before Christimas last year.

Been happily using a laptop and haven't been gaming at all (other than the odd blast on the PS3).

However, I now have an itch I would like to scratch.

The following spec will be used for gaming only, general web browsing etc will be on my laptop. I don't need masses of storage as I have a 4 bay NAS with
4TB in it.

Planning to use the OCZ for OS and the WD for games.

capture1duz.jpg


Any c&c on motherboard, memory, graphics or PSU is welcome.

The only things I have left off are a mouse (already have a good one) and a monitor. I intend to get a 24 inch, either a Dell, NEC or Iiyama.

I want to game at 1920 x 1200 have things run smoothly with plenty of eye candy.

Is Crossfire (or SLi) recommended, or is it not worth the additional outlay?

I don't mind spending a bit more if something will give me a real benefit, but I don't want to go crazy.

Any thoughts?

p.s. If I get back into it the way I used to be I may end up watercooling, hence the large case.
 
That was the other mobo I was giving serious consideration to.

My only other query was of how much benefit the SSD was. They may be a no brainer, but I have not had any first hand experience of one.

Changing the mobo and ditching the SSD would save me £300.00 (3/4's of a decent monitor).
 
Good spec but is i7 really that neccesary there only real speed is in encoding and that won't core 2 be enough for gaming unless u have that budget!!
 
geowal19 said:
Good spec but is i7 really that neccesary there only real speed is in encoding and that won't core 2 be enough for gaming unless u have that budget!!
Click to expand...


true.. games aren't really making the use of the technology at the moment and it seems a lot of money.

As for the SSDs, it is personal choice. Value for money I'd stick to traditional HDDs and maybe opt for a RAID. However, people that have them have swore they won't go back to the mechanical HDDs. I think they are a great idea for hosting the OS but since you have a trad HDD, it sort of contradicts the whole thing really. Just my opinion.
 
Thanks for the comments, really appreciated.

So something like a E8500 Dual Core would be ok for gaming???

If I got one of those and changed the mobo, ditched the SSD I would save approximately £400.00 - which will pay for the monitor. I could dump another HDD in there and raid them.

Just because my budget seems ok doesn't mean I don't want to save a few quid if I can!!
 
Tweaked slightly.

Memory is still the same, I don't know whether this needs changing for something different.

Same with HDD, don't need masses of onboard storage.

finalt.jpg


£1724.00 with the 24" NEC

Looks ok to me, as the previous one was £100.00 less, but with no monitor.

Again, any c&c welcome.

Thanks
 
Smaller hard drive, get a smaller WD black or samsung F1 if you only use it for games, 1tb is more than you should ever need on a dedicated gaming rig and the WD green is slow. :-)
 
nantucket66 said:
Tweaked slightly.

Memory is still the same, I don't know whether this needs changing for something different.

Same with HDD, don't need masses of onboard storage.


£1724.00 with the 24" NEC

Looks ok to me, as the previous one was £100.00 less, but with no monitor.

Again, any c&c welcome.

Thanks
Click to expand...

You'll need to change the RAM as its DDR3 and the motherboard is only DDR2. Something like this.

Perhaps change the motherboard to the P5Q-E or P5Q Deluxe.

Swap the Noctua to the LGA775 version as I'm not sure if the SE1366 comes with the right backplate/adapter for LGA775 (I'm guessing it probably doesn't if there's two versions).
 
Thanks for pointing that out.

Given I could go either way with a mobo am I better off with a DDR3 board, or a DDR2 one?

Will I notice any difference?

Cheers

D
 
nantucket66 said:
Thanks for pointing that out.

Given I could go either way with a mobo am I better off with a DDR3 board, or a DDR2 one?

Will I notice any difference?

Cheers

D
Click to expand...

TBH if you wanted to go for a DDR3 motherboard, the only Intel LGA775 ones that I can see on OcUK are this, this and this. As you can see they are all well with in the price range of an i7 motherboard, so you would just be better off going for i7. You could also go down the AMD route as the AM3 boards also support DDR3.
 
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I don't know whether I do want to go DDR3 to be honest, more of case of should I go DDR3 or is DDR2 fine?

My shopping basket as it stands is £1733.00 including the 24" NEC monitor.

This is £419.99 (gone up £10.00 overnight :rolleyes:) leaving just over £1300.00 left over for the PC.

Within this budget (I would stretch to £1500.00 for PC absolute maximum) what would you recommend as the best gaming rig? (based on the monitor I want)

I will use the PC for gaming only, general web browsing and day to day stuff is on a laptop, I have a 4GB NAS with 2GB of music fed to a Sonos system (don't need masses of onboard storage).

The only things in my basket I would like to keep is the case and speakers, anything else I open to suggestions on.

I used to have a TJ10 in my old system and absolutely loved it. I may go down the watercooling route in the future and this case is ideal as it is massive, of course if anyone want to suggest something different case wise.........

Thanks, again!!
 
Get an AMD phenom II 955 set up. Same performance as the q9550 for the same price (including mobo) but more future proof than the dead 775 socket.
 
If i were buying i'd probably opt for 2x4890's with a suitably seXeh crossfire enabled mobo, but your decision of a 4870x2 is a decent second choice ;)
 
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