Another System Spec Thread for you to Peruse and Criticise
I’ve decided it’s upgrade time. Can just about justify the cost now, and certainly can in 9 months time (thanks Scan finance!). Besides, selling my laptop should cover most of the costs. I plan to overclock, not necessary heavily, just enough to get my moneys worth. Anyway, onto the list: -
CPU: Intel Core2Duo E6400. Was considering the E6300, but liked the higher multiplier for overclocking.
MB: Abit AB9 QuadGT. Debated between this and the P5B Deluxe, but now with the BIOS and uGuru updates have decided on the Abit.
RAM: 2Gb Corsair TwinX XMS Dominator PC2-6400. Probably overkill, but didn’t seem too unreasonably priced and will hopefully be able to largely ignore it when I overclock.
Graphics: 320Mb XFX 8800GTS. Yeah, DX10 won’t be used for some time, but this still seems reasonable value for DX9 games and will still hopefully be good at DX10 games when they do turn up.
Case: Antec P180 (Silver). I liked the understated appearance, quietness and good airflow. It’s a bit bigger than I would have liked, but have decided to prioritise on quietness and style.
Hard Drives: 2x 320Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200. I’ve used Seagates before and have no complaints about them. Thinking of RAID 1 (Mirroring).
HSF: Noctua NH-U12F. Appears to be quiet and effective. Says it’s compatible with the MB, not too sure about the case. 155mm height looks like a tight fit possibly.
PSU: Currently have an Antec 430W NeoHE. Don’t think it’s quite up to the job and doesn’t have the 8 pin dual core MB connector either. So I’m thinking of replacing it with the Zalman ZM600-HP. Again, from what I’ve read, it’s quiet and effective.
So there you go. Also included in this purchase is a SATA DVD drive, since people seem to have problems with IDE controllers. Less cabling as well. Also thinking of including a fan controller (like the Scythe Kama-Meter) so I can turn the fans down whilst downloading/working and increase them while gaming.