New PC build

[Stu DemonD]

Why would I want a Mac, lol :nutter:

I am building to play the latest round of games, PC games, Mac doesn't interest me one iota

I reckon I am tempted by RAID0 on raptors, I used to run RAID on this system originally but a hard-drive died, so was put off slightly.

As for the Quad v Dual core, again I have heard so many stories about dual being better for gaming, and quad for more video processing,etc BUT this may change soon?! I don't do video processing, hence why I went for a faster Dual.

Will also look at other PSUs - the whole idea of this thread, to get a feel for the current market and what my options are

As for the swapfile, sounds interesting Rob - will look into it :chin:

 

[Stu DemonD]

Plug a USB 2 data stick in and use Windows Vista Readyboost. 8Gb Corsair GT would make a good swapfile.

Just had a look - £73.45 NET.

Maybe getting another Raptor would make more sense? :chin: mmm, this build may evolve anyway, can't go too mad on the first order

 

[Hellcat]

Just had a look - £73.45 NET.

Maybe getting another Raptor would make more sense? :chin: mmm, this build may evolve anyway, can't go too mad on the first order

Look at the actual data throughput speeds and decide, and I don't mean the theoretical bus speeds!

 

[x Alex x]

i've been considering building my own pc, laptop makes more sense though

 

[Hellcat]

Depends what you need it for. I've always had a home build PC since about 1997. Only just got a laptop from work last year. Does for web browsing on the couch i guess.

 

[x Alex x]

Depends what you need it for. I've always had a home build PC since about 1997. Only just got a laptop from work last year. Does for web browsing on the couch i guess.

well since i done my room out don't have a desk, love lying in bed and on the sofa with the laptop, and on breaks at college, know of a few networks lol, go away at weekends so a PC wouldn't really suit me.

 

[Stu DemonD]

i've been considering building my own pc, laptop makes more sense though

Maybe for you, not for me - although I do intend to get a cheaper laptop now for client visits.

I wouldn't be able to do half the stuff I do here on a laptop....

@ Rob, ok, will look into it - seems to get favourable reviews on Google as well.

 

[Stu DemonD]

i would use this CPU (and overclock it)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=643237

Yeah, I may have been swayed - seems like the overclockers do like it, and also better for next gen of games, that will hopefully take advantage of all 4 cores.

Now there are 2 types on eBuyer:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131823
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131950

One is the low energy version, so better for overclocking or not? Also noted that these are 1066 FSB, whereas mobo above is 1333FSB - but that gives me scope to overclock surely?

 

[x Alex x]

Maybe for you, not for me - although I do intend to get a cheaper laptop now for client visits.

I wouldn't be able to do half the stuff I do here on a laptop....

.

yeh sorry, should have added "for me" on, would love the power of a homebuild.

 

[BlasterJ]

For the case I prefer more the silver one. TT cases are well done indeed

 

[Stu DemonD]

Ok, spec on this is rapidly changing, now tempted by a P35 board and not the 680i - will post up some links later on

BUT it will deffo be a Q6600 quad

 

[Stu DemonD]

Ok, this is my current thoughts.

I have moved away from 680i SLi board, and moved to the P35 chipset. I am taken by the Abit board here:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-135-AB&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913 £104.99

Then with that, add this cooler and a 120mm fan to the cooler:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-039-TR £35.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-004-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=4 £10.99

Memory - now picked DDR2-6400 stuff, but fast latency 4-4-4-12 timing:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 £29.99 * 2 for 4GB

PSU - dropped down to the 750W version:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-064-TT&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=926 £69.99

GFX card - I want the 8800GT BUT in a months time, the new 8800GTS will be shipping, so intend to go for that, in overclocked form, and run it on this monitor:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/133517 £299.99
Will then make my current iiyama my 2nd screen, with a paltry 20.1" res

The Quad remains, in low energy form:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131823 £135.06

As for case, toss up now between the TT from before, or the Antec Dave has, which is like £20 cheaper
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/118268 £59.86


So apart from monitor, bringing the price right down BUT not really sacrificing performance, and possibly better overclocking....

 

[arc]

jeez.. i paid £100 ish for that same memory less than a year ago. i think i'm gonna have to get me some more. 4gb of ram.. why not eh

i'm still concerned about your powersupply. a friend of mine (posts as Phoenix on here) has a quad core, asus 680i mobo, two gfx cars in SLI (i forget which), around 3gb ram and 6 hard drives and the psu struggles because its one of them split rail ones.

i wonder.. 4gb ram, 2gb of that made into a ram drive - on bootup transfer the XP install to the ramdrive and then run from there. boot will be slow, but after that... be quick.

 

[Stu DemonD]

I have no intention to make this a dual boot setup - this machine I am on now will become part of the network, just in a different room, and will still be running XP Pro / Vista Ultimate 32bit on a dual boot setup.

As for PSU, getting conflicting reviews - a guy on OC forums reckons a paltry 520W will be fine, and recommended me this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...05-CS&tool=3&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=823

although I am not convinced with that either :chin: hence the TT one.

Also, I am not doing SLi now, decided against it, so no need to get the 680i board.

 

[arc]

the ramdrive dual boot was me pondering, not suggesting you did it

 

[reaper1988]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129151

Use that as a monitor. :slayer::yum:

 

[Hellcat]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129151

Use that as a monitor. :slayer::yum:

Refresh rate?

My little bro just got a 19" Samsung TFT for this B'day... 2ms refresh rate Beautiful!

 

[Stu DemonD]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129151

Why? The screen resolution is low, I would end up throwing it out of the window... 1366*768 lol

I am now thinking that I may need to beef up my GFX card, the 8800GT may struggle on higher resolutions, so now tempted to go for the 8800GTX.

 

[Infiniium]

Ok, spec on this is rapidly changing, now tempted by a P35 board and not the 680i - will post up some links later on

BUT it will deffo be a Q6600 quad

I'm running an nforce 680i sli board and its the bomb, pretty much everything is configurable, but most of it I leave in auto mode, I highly recommend it.
I have a Q6600 cpu clocked at 3.0Ghz, 2Gb of crucial ram and an 8800gtx, 2 SATA drives (500Gb/320Gb) and X-Fi Music extreme all running on a thermaltake 500w psu, in a Phong2 case.
Getting about 12400 on 3dmark06

 

[custard]

http://www.xcase.co.uk/p/372504/geil-8gb-ddr2-800-cl50-quad-channel-black-dragon.html

i think you need 8gb