12 replies to this topic

[Sida]

Okay, so I've been working on a new computer while on my course that will last me the 4 years of uni with potential for upgrades. My budget wasn't set before I started, but it's now placed around £1100. This is what I've come up with and am planning to order soon-ish.

1 x BFG GTX285 1024MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PhysX and Cuba ready PCI-E card
1 x OCZ 4GB (2x2) DDR2 1000Mhz/PC2-8000 PLATINUM Memory Unbuffered CL5 DUAL CHANNEL
1 x Western Digital 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM Green Power
1 x MSI P7N SLI-FI nForce 750i SLI Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
1 x Samsung SM2333SW 23" TFT Monitor 1920x1080 300cd/m2 20000:1 5ms DVI/VGA Gloss Black
1 x Intel Core Duo E7400 2.8GHz Socket 755 1066MHz FSB 3MB L2 Cache
1 x Kingwin 800W Modular PSE - 6x SATA 4x PCI-E 14cm Blue LED fan
1 x Silverstone Raven RV01B-W Tower Case with Side Window - ATX E-ATX
1 x Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset - Noise Cancellation Microphone with Gold Plated 3.5mm Jack
1 x Saitek Eclipse II Keyboard

My main focus was really on the gpu as it'll be a gaming console but for general + university use also. I stuck with Core Duo for now and will be overclocking it to around 3.2 (custom cpu fan will be added to that list) because I won't really need quad yet, and I was trying to save pennies wherever I could. The monitor may not be the best for the price, but I'm planning on getting the Nvidia 3D Vision (thanks to whoever posted the topic on this...Josh was it? ) and this is one of the nicer supporting monitors. Silverstone Raven case...beast . I typed it out as I printed this off from work so might be some minor mistakes. I did have concerns about the motherboard not supporting DDR3 as I want this to be future proof, but meh fuck it 1000MHz DDR2 should be fine and I can always add more. It also took me a while to decide whether to get 2x260 or a single 285 but after looking at a few benchmarks it seemed only right to go for the 285, especially as to upgrade I can simply add another.

The whole thing including VAT and shipping comes to £1100.67. I might create an ebuyer account and price it up to post links for the shit, but for anyone that has decent knowledge on computers, can you see anywhere I've made a stupid mistake? Or anywhere I could get a beefy performance boost for a small price difference?

Thanks

Edit: I forgot, for an extra £40 I could get another monitor with a 50000:1 contrast ratio. I've never really compaired 20-50k crs and was wondering if it would be worth the extra? Problem is though, the other monitor is butt ugly compared to this one. Matte black not shiny? Ew.

Edited by Sida, 23 March 2009 - 01:04 PM.

[Kyle]

My only suggestion is to make each one of those items a link for easier viewing

I would have concerns with DDR2 in such a high dollar system as well, but you will be fine. Get a really good OCing heatsink and fan, arctic silver 5, and go to work on that beast.

Also, what about a mouse?

EDIT: And be 120% sure that an 800w psu will be enough for that stud of a card. Mine is a much lesser card and requires 450w

Edited by KyleBigMac, 23 March 2009 - 12:30 PM.

[Sida]

My only suggestion is to make each one of those items a link for easier viewing

I would have concerns with DDR2 in such a high dollar system as well, but you will be fine. Get a really good OCing heatsink and fan, arctic silver 5, and go to work on that beast.

Also, what about a mouse?

EDIT: And be 120% sure that an 800w psu will be enough for that stud of a card. Mine is a much lesser card and requires 450w

Updated with links Can't wait to get it. I've had a G9 for a while now so no need for a mouse, although I could do with a new grip for it because this one is worn down and wont look all shiny new with the pc

I'm 99% sure that the psu is fine, but I will double check before I order.

Edited by Sida, 23 March 2009 - 01:08 PM.

[Bryan]

Why only a 7200 RPM Hard Drive? Storage is cheap, and I think it'd be better to get a faster drive with less space.

Not a fan of the PSU, but to each is own I suppose.

I would've done things a bit different (skimped more on the GPU and put more into the processor/mobo) but to each his own I suppose.

Looks nice regardless =]

[Sida]

Why only a 7200 RPM Hard Drive? Storage is cheap, and I think it'd be better to get a faster drive with less space.

Not a fan of the PSU, but to each is own I suppose.

I would've done things a bit different (skimped more on the GPU and put more into the processor/mobo) but to each his own I suppose.

Looks nice regardless =]

I thought the PSU looked a bit ott tbh, but I want really tidy cables and that one is ideal. The actual position of it in the case means it won't really be seen but I do like the wires. I did want to improve the mobo, but I wanted the luxuries with it like the monitor and case etc so I decided not to.

For the HDD, I'm planning to use a 500GB one I already have as the main drive and the 1TB drive for storage.

[Fatal]

I wouldn't choose even 1 part on that list....... all look like bad choices / ripoff choices.

[Sida]

Why?

I'm spending a lot on this pc, if you have any decent reasons (not like "intel suck" or "ati ftw") then please let me know.

[Fatal]

I'm not a fanboy, I hate fanboys and fight them pretty often in this section on the forum.

It doesn't look like a balanced system, and the parts used are more expensive than you need to use

CPU - Needs to be better, Just go for a Q6600 or E8200, E8400

RAM - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148816 is better and cheaper... and I'm sure you could find ever smarter deals. I normally love OCZ but I own Gold 667 2x1gb and Platnium 800 and neither were very impressive to me. I'd just try to find a cheap 2x2gb 1066 set.

Video Card - I'd go for a 4870 (preferably a 1 GB model) or a GTX260 216, whatever one is cheaper. If going Nvidia, try going eVGA if the price is right since it has by far the best warranty and support of any video card manufacturer from either side. Currently I'd favor Nvidia especially for gaming since they own Ageia now, the games/physics are better optimized for Ageia/Nvidia over ATI's physics. Also if you use Linux...

Power Supply - I'd stick with Corsair, OCZ, PC Power & Cooling, Fortron Source, maybe a few others. The PSU you picked appears to have 4 12v rails, which we (enthusiast community) found is not optimal for optimal stable overclocking. It's all just a marketing scam, and is better to stick with a large +12v rail for best results. The 4 rail design is not an efficient use of power either and you are getting less usable power for your money. The power supply and the hard drive are the two most important components of the computer.

Headphones - I've always found "Gamer" marketed products are not normally best in quality. I'd try to find a Sennheiser headset that fits your budget, maybe a PC151, or a PC166 if you can afford it. They make even cheaper than that too.

Hard Drive - Check out Hitachi 1TB's, faster than WD. May want to consider ~700gb range hard drives x2 in RAID 0 for more performance. Depending on what you're doing with the rig that may be a good idea.

Edited by Fatal, 25 March 2009 - 08:27 PM.

[Sida]

I'm not a fanboy, I hate fanboys and fight them pretty often in this section on the forum.

It doesn't look like a balanced system, and the parts used are more expensive than you need to use

CPU - Needs to be better, Just go for a Q6600 or E8200, E8400

RAM - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148816 is better and cheaper... and I'm sure you could find ever smarter deals. I normally love OCZ but I own Gold 667 2x1gb and Platnium 800 and neither were very impressive to me. I'd just try to find a cheap 2x2gb 1066 set.

Video Card - I'd go for a 4870 (preferably a 1 GB model) or a GTX260 216, whatever one is cheaper. If going Nvidia, try going eVGA if the price is right since it has by far the best warranty and support of any video card manufacturer from either side. Currently I'd favor Nvidia especially for gaming since they own Ageia now, the games/physics are better optimized for Ageia/Nvidia over ATI's physics. Also if you use Linux...

Power Supply - I'd stick with Corsair, OCZ, PC Power & Cooling, Fortron Source, maybe a few others. The PSU you picked appears to have 4 12v rails, which we (enthusiast community) found is not optimal for optimal stable overclocking. It's all just a marketing scam, and is better to stick with a large +12v rail for best results. The 4 rail design is not an efficient use of power either and you are getting less usable power for your money. The power supply and the hard drive are the two most important components of the computer.

Headphones - I've always found "Gamer" marketed products are not normally best in quality. I'd try to find a Sennheiser headset that fits your budget, maybe a PC151, or a PC166 if you can afford it. They make even cheaper than that too.

Hard Drive - Check out Hitachi 1TB's, faster than WD. May want to consider ~700gb range hard drives x2 in RAID 0 for more performance. Depending on what you're doing with the rig that may be a good idea.

Thanks dude. I switched out the CPU for a Q8200 2.33 which I'm pleased about. The rest I stuck with. I did really want to go with eVGA, but the price difference was pretty stupid and I was trying to keep shit down as much as I could. I agree about the headphones, I usually wouldn't buy gamer branded shit but every review for those was so positive I just couldn't say no, especially for the price.

I'm guessing it would be wise for me to run 64bit Vista over 32bit right?

[Kyle]

Thanks dude. I switched out the CPU for a Q8200 2.33 which I'm pleased about. The rest I stuck with. I did really want to go with eVGA, but the price difference was pretty stupid and I was trying to keep shit down as much as I could. I agree about the headphones, I usually wouldn't buy gamer branded shit but every review for those was so positive I just couldn't say no, especially for the price.

I'm guessing it would be wise for me to run 64bit Vista over 32bit right?

Def 64-bit if you want to see more than 3.5GB of ram. I have Vista Ultimate 64, and its not bad.

[Bryan]

I've used those Fatality headphones, I hate them.

I bought a pair of Bose and those were shitty so I bought Sennheiser (sp?)

[Fatal]

I have some Tritton AXPro 5.1 Headphones which also got great reviews, but they don't even come close in sound quality compared to my MUCH cheaper Sennheiser PC166's. Actually the Tritton's were just horrible, the most disappointed I've ever been with a headphone (mainly because of how expensive it was for how terrible they sound) even though they got good reviews. I also used to have some Sennheiser HD595's, which were the best headphones I've ever owned.

Forgot to mention the motherboard...


Motherboard is bad because its an nvidia chipset board. Stick with a P45 ASUS board if you want true stability with overclocking potential. Nvidia doesn't seem to know how to make chipsets for Intel's as well as Intel does, so I always stick intel-chipset for intel's. If you look back at almost any nvidia chipset Intel board, you will see they in general, always have more problems/larger problems than the "equivalent" Intel chipset.


I also recommend Vista x64, It's what Vista was meant to be. 32bit was basically a port. Windows 7 should be coming out in the next year or so, so that will be a nice upgrade.

Edited by Fatal, 27 March 2009 - 11:37 PM.

[Lumix]

how much ram yur computer has?