Yet another PC spec thread

:(Rhodri:)

:(Rhodri:)

:(Rhodri:)

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Hi guys I guess you probably get a lot of these so apologies but basically I'm looking at building a PC for the first time and have just over 2grand to do it.

This is the spec I've come up with so just looking for peoples thoughts and input on it really.


Mobo: BFG nForce 680i SLi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 "LGA775 Conroe" 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700-NT nVidia Tritium CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)

RAM: OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK)

GFX: BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (x2)

Soundcard: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard - OEM

Primary hard drive: Western Digital Raptor X 150GB WD1500AHFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM

Second hard drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB 4000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

PSU: OCZ ModXStream 780w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

Case: Thermaltake VA3000BWA Tsunami Dream SuperMidi Aluminium Tower - Black

Drive 1: Samsung SH-S182MBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer LightScribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Drive 2: Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Monitor: Samsung SM-226BW 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00838)

Mouse: Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse - Retail

Mouse Mat: Everglide Titan Gaming Mat

Keyboard: Logitech G15 Gaming-Grade Illuminated Keyboard - Retail (967599-0120)

Headphones: Sennheiser HD515 Stereo Headphones

Total: £2,222.77 (incl. VAT and P+P)


Cheers, Rhodri.
 
I'd get a Q6600 instead of the E6850, around the same price but you probably have more futureproofing with the quad. Plus if spending that much on a CPU I'd rather have the quad core option than the dual even if for the sake of it.

I personally wouldn't bother with the SLI either, there's not a 8800 GTX won't handle out now and probably nothing that it will struggle with in the next 6 - 8 months. However if you want that extra power then think about the ultra and pocket the extra £150 - £200. That means then you could invest in a P35 board which is futureproofed more.

The PSU is a bit of an overkill, you could get away easily with a 620w Corsair and it may even cost less (can't find it on OcUK site so guessing you aren't getting it from here).

Raptors are overated :P I'd rather just get regular drives which aren't far off what raptors can do.

Suprised you never squidged a 24" monitor in with that spec as well since it's over £2,200.


Rest of the system looks great however, I'm sure it'll be very nice when built :)
 
like fibby said, with the prices of quad core as they are, deffinatly get one. same about the psu, the 520 would be enough

ditch the SLI as it would be overkill for a 22" monitor, so it would be money not needed to spend

rest of the spec looks good, raptor hdd are a personal choice, quite fast but can be noisy aswel.

good luck with the build
 
Cheers for the input guys, think I may well drop the GTX's and go for one Ultra - always room to stick one more in then if I need it.

Think switching to a Quad will probably also be a good idea. I'm kinda lost when it comes to motherboard chipsets at the moment though - I thought the 680i was the newest, I guess I'm behind the times lol.

Anyone recommend a decent p35 board?

Think I'll stick with the 22" though as I want the fast response time. Raptor may go though, I wasn't really sure if they were a good investment or not.
 
Nah not worth it mate unless you are looking into serious overclocking. You could however change your current OCZ stuff for PC2-6400 Ballistix which can easily do over 1000Mhz and is much cheaper.

If you wanted too, I would also think maybe changing the CPU Cooler to a Tuniq Tower 120 (currently out of stock @ OcUK) or a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme (with a Scythe S-FLEX 120mm 1200RPM). It's more money but the coolers are much better than the Zalman and the Ballistix is better than the OCZ.


Cheers for the input guys, think I may well drop the GTX's and go for one Ultra - always room to stick one more in then if I need it.
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Just a note on that too. The 680i is currently the best board that will allow Nvidia SLI, I'm not sure if the new X38's do but last I heard they did not. Meaning that if you chose a P35 board you cannot use 2x Ultra's, and it's only available for Crossfire (ATI SLI). This is because Nvidia is lame and maintains that only their chipsets can have SLI for 2x Nvidia cards :P But I wouldn't worry about it, 1 Ultra will do you for a long time and the P35 is a better board overall than the 680i.
 
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"Think I'll stick with the 22" though as I want the fast response time"
Just watch out for that as a lot of responce times are measured in differnt ways (for example dell measure theres black to black, rather than grey to grey, making there responce times look much higher).

Get 2 slower hard drives and run them in RAID 0 if you want additional hard drive performance.

Is there any specific reason you need the premium version of vista ? Theres little point in splashing out the extra cash if you don't know what extra your getting.

Rather than get an Ultra, get a standard GTX and just overclock it, you'll get the same performance for a lot less money.

The corsair PSU suggested is here, very nice, but i think you could actually use the 520w version which is still a brilliant PSU.

Zalman and the Ballistix is better than the OCZ.
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I wouldn't say ballistix is better RAM, as its entirely different, youd have to get 4x1gb sticks instead of 2x2gb sticks, the 2x2gb sticks would mean you could easily add an additional 2 sticks later, making it more upgradeable.
As you most likely wont need a FSB speed of over 400mhz anyway (thats 3.6ghz on the Q6600's 9x multiplier), id personally get the 2gb sticks.
 
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DavidB said:
The corsair PSU suggested is here, very nice, but i think you could actually use the 520w version which is still a brilliant PSU.
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I'd agree with him :) The main reason however I suggested a 620w is if the PSU is required for 2x graphics cards at some point in the future, as the 520w won't do dual. If you don't plan to go dual at any point then yeah I'd agree with DavidB and just get the 520w, if SLI/Crossfire might be an option at some point then for the price of the PC I'd rather pay that extra £30 and not have to worry about it further down the line and having to fork out £90 - £100 then, instead of £30 now.
 
Cool, like the look of the Thermalright cooler. Think I may still go with a 4GB kit of RAM as I like the idea of being able to update at a later date.

What would you recommend out of http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-069-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-086-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 or http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-136-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813

I used to keep up with this kind of thing all the time but seem to have gotten a bit lost lately lol.

Main reason I was going for Ultimate was that if I'm not mistaken it's the only 64bit version that can run programs in native 32bit. At least I seem to remember reading that.
 
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I'd go with the OCZ. I'd prefer it over the Corsair, and whilst the GeIL is good RAM and probably as good as the OCZ stuff, it's not got a heat spreader I personally hate RAM without head spreaders. If you can live without the heatspreader, then GeIL or OCZ would make excellent choices, either of them are great.
 
Get crucial ballistix 4x1gb ram best ram by miles and the rma is in scotland and takes a few days if it ever goes bad.
 
Hmm looks like I'm limited to an Nvidia based bored then as I like the idea of being able to add in another 8800GTX in the future =(

Is the EVGA nForce a much better 680i board than the BFG offering? Bit concerned by all the reports of how hot the EVGA can get.
 
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Rhodri2311 said:
Hmm looks like I'm limited to an Nvidia based bored then as I like the idea of being able to add in another 8800GTX in the future =(

Is the EVGA nForce a much better 680i board than the BFG offering? Bit concerned by all the reports of how hot the EVGA can get.
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I'd prefer the BFG anyway. I'm not really that great on the 680i Ultra's, never looked in to them that much but I tried to RMA a 7600GT to EVGA and it took 2 weeks to get an RMA sorted, and that's just the number, still had the card in my hand. I hear good things on BFG RMA though.
 
Ok think I'm more or less sorted now - current spec now stands at:
image1go1.jpg



I know I'll need another fan filter, but putting it up to 3 doubles the P+P so think I'll just ebay one ;)

Anything drastic I've missed before I order?
 
You have 2x DVD Writers, that intended?

Other than that, looks a really superb system.#
 
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You can easily fit a 24inch screen with that budget. :)

Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler
Noctua NF-S12 1200RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin
Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache X2
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional 7.1 Soundcard
Asus DRW-1814BLT 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU
Seasonic M12 Modular 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply

Sennheiser HD515 Stereo Headphones
Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse - Retail
Logitech G15 Gaming-Grade Illuminated Keyboard - Retail
Everglide Titan Gaming Mat

Total : £1,919.63

The Dell Ultrasharp screen is amazing. Looks the buisness and imgae quality is superb.

You should be able to overclock the Q6600 to 3.2GHZ+ pretty easily and with good temps since i have put one of the best air coolers in their for you, the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler, brilliant CPU Cooler and will keep that chip of yours nice and cool. Since it dosent come with a fan i have just added the Noctua NF-S12 1200RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan which will do the job just fine.

The Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound is great thermal paste and should help with temps.

The Abit IP35 Pro is one of the best P35 Chipset boards out in my eyes, very reliable, fantastic overclocking potinal, just a great board all around. Highly recomend it. Drop the EVGA board, all it offers over a p35 chipset based board is SLI which isnt worth going down that route at this point in time.

The Crucial Memory is great and at the price its at now its brilliant.

The 8800GTX is a monster of a card and paired along with the Dell Screen, gaming will be amazing.

The Western Digital Hard drives are fast, quiet and very reliable.

Soundcard, you just have to have a soundcard in that spec. The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional 7.1 Soundcard is a fantastic card and will be a million times better than the onboard sound. You will hear things that you never thought were their. If you have some kind of surround sound system it will be even better.

The DVD Drive connects to your motherboard via SATA connetion, this means yu can cancel the onboard IDE controller which will equate to slightly quicker boot times. Most of all though you can get rid of them fat, ugly IDE cables.

The Antec case is great. Build quality great and cooling is of a very high standard.

Seasonic make the best Power Supplys in the world. The Seasonic M12 Modular 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply is very reliable and very quite. Fantastic PSU.

In my eyes Vista Ultimate is a waste of money over Home Premium. Unless you know and will certainly use the features that Ultimate offers, Home premium will be more than fine.
 
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I like the look of the Dell, but really don't feel it's worth an extra £100 per inch versus the 22" Samsung ;) Main reason I'm going for vista ultimate 64bit is it can also install and run 32bit applications if I need it to, hopefully avoiding any software I have not working.

I did look at the P35 chipsets, but still feel I'm more likely to want to add SLI at a later date than move over to 45nm processors.

And cheers for that fibby, I'm not quite sure how I did that only wanted the one.
 
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