Proposed Spec. - Critics Welcome!

[kidzer]

Right, for the first time in about 4/5 years...it's new PC time!

The budget is ~£1000, but subtract £317.23 for the following;

Vista HP OEM; Samsung SM206BW; Saitek Eclipse II
& Logitech MX Revolution (open to suggestions for cheaper mice, it's just that one is brilliant apparently.

So we're left with £682.77 for the PC itself, and here's what I've come up with;

Case: Antec P160 £70.49 - non-negotiable, I've wanted this case for years!
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R £83.43
CPU: Core2 Duo E6750 £129.24
CPU Cooler: Scythe Infinity £28.54 (should fit in the P160, I shall double check)
RAM: 2GiB CorsairTwinX PC6400 £67.73
GFx: BFG 8800GTS 320MiB £186.68 (or anyy 320Mib GTS I guess, they're all the same pretty much, right?)
HD: Western Digital WD1600YS 160GiB £39.47 (I don't need much room, all my documents are on an external drive/any better drives around for the same sorta price?)
DVD-RW: LiteOn SH-16A7S-01C £19.14 (SATA device, easier cabling! )
PSU: Corsair HX520 £64.50
(apologies if the links are wrong, but vBCode is hard to look at in a wee box!).

All that comes to £689.22 + the £317.23 gives me £1,006.45 which is acceptable to me

I'm not looking for stupidly high overclocking potential, but a solid machine that will last a few years with just minor upgrades (another 2GiB of RAM etc).

I will perhaps do a bit of overclocking, but I dont know how good that motherboard is for it, so we'll see

Reccomendations for fans are also welcome (2x120mm), preferably from Scan ofcourse - company loyalty and all that

Any other suggestions also welcomed, fire away!

[Blitzen]

All looks good.
Those Saitek keyboards arent that amazing though.

Cooling:
I just picked up the Scythe Mine and the performance is incredible (34-36 load). I went for it as its quite alot lighter than the Inifinty and wont stress the mobo as much.

[Snapper]

I'd go for the cheaper Arctic Freezer Pro 7 - less money, same effect, rather than the Scythe (and easier to fit); all GFx cards aren't quite the same - the BFG OC versions are better IMHO; again, IMHO, you'd be better off with the cheaper 250 Gb Samsung SP2504C for &#163;37.87 (Scan) - I don't trust the WD drives (Google for disappearing Caviar drives). The optical drive - there's a newer 20x version - the LH-20A1S-15C (which I purchased <g>).
Cheers, Snapper

[DR]

Go for a Quad - only 50 quid more apps are getting more and more threaded...

[Blitzen]

the BFG OC versions are better IMHO

The EVGA Superclocked 320mb 8800GTS can be had for around £180.
In all the benchmarks its shown to be THE fastest in the category.

I'd go for the cheaper Arctic Freezer Pro 7 - less money, same effect, rather than the Scythe (and easier to fit);

- Scythe Mine will slap the Arctic Freezer Pro...thats why i bought it and replaced my Arctic Freezer. So it DEFINITELY WONT have the same effect.
- Scythe Mine is the SAME fittings as the Artic Freezer Pro's so its as easy to fit.

Your advice is strange as you are trying to tempt someone away from items you obviously know nothing about.

[aidanjt]

The EVGA Superclocked 320mb 8800GTS can be had for around £180.
In all the benchmarks its shown to be THE fastest in the category.

They're both identical cards with identical prices, I got a free t-shirt with my BFG though

[Blitzen]

They're both identical cards with identical prices, I got a free t-shirt with my BFG though

The benches are old

[DratUK]

If your keeping that 17 inch AOC it wont matter which GTS you get. BFG offers lifetime warranty and the TShirt, I got mine, EVGA step up prog within 90 days you can change to a higher spec card and just pay the diff.

Mouse expensive for what u get and TBH probably not worth the money.

I would look at the Logitech G5 or the Razer Death Adder both available from Scan at around &#163;39.00 from Scan.

I would agree with Blitzen the Mine with the right airflow is a very good cooler, better than the Pro if you want a mid to higher range overclock. This is where the quad comes in, I would go for that as already suggested by DR. It does produce more heat therefore the Mine makes more sense. To take advantage of the games/apps forecast to use multi core cpu then quad makes sense.

I would also look at the Abit P35 series as an option, if only for the support available. This isnt just if things go wrong, if you want to learn about the mobo and get the best out of it, Hexus Abit and the USA Abit forums are full of enthusiasts willing to lend a helping hand.

Good Luck.

[Thorsson]

For DVD Samsung SH-S203 is on Today Only until Monday lunchtime and is very good.

The Abit P35 is OK if you don't use the network capability, where it is 20-30&#37; slower than the other P35 boards.

HSF: not the Arctic Freezer. Hard choice between the best Scythe. The Ninja+ rev B is good too. There are better but they cost a fair bit more.

[kidzer]

A Q6600 was tempting, until I saw the price on the E6750 - which seems a better deal to me, having said that if Crysis/[insert upcoming game here]/BioShock etc are multithreaded, will a Quad-Core lead to a perceptible performance gain over a dual-core CPU?

Abit IP-35E, decent enough board - or would the IP-35 be a better bet?

I've updated my spreadsheet here with your suggestions, feel free to suggest more changes - bear in mind whatever I go for it will be a stupidly fast machine for me, given my current spec

Cheers

[BUFF]

The Abit P35 is OK if you don't use the network capability, where it is 20-30% slower than the other P35 boards..

but still faster than any domestic BB or a single HDD (probably 2 or 3 RAIDEd too) can provide ...

Anyway, assuming that the OP wants to stick with gigabyte i would spend the extra 3 pounds on the DS3P
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=598575

or buy it from the Today Only! page over the weekend for less.

[Colossous]

All looks good.
Those Saitek keyboards arent that amazing though.

Cooling:
I just picked up the Scythe Mine and the performance is incredible (34-36 load). I went for it as its quite alot lighter than the Inifinty and wont stress the mobo as much.

I've been thinking of getting one of these Blitzen, is it really big ? I have two 8800GTS cards which i want to put Thermalright HR03's on and am starting to wonder if it will all fit in my Coolermaster wavemaster !!

It might be worth considering the quad Kidzer if your going to be keeping the pc for a few years ?

[Blitzen]

I've been thinking of getting one of these Blitzen, is it really big ? I have two 8800GTS cards which i want to put Thermalright HR03's on and am starting to wonder if it will all fit in my Coolermaster wavemaster !!

It might be worth considering the quad Kidzer if your going to be keeping the pc for a few years ?

It fits OK in my case.
Its very tall so make sure you have the room.
Take a look:



I gotta say though.....the cooling vs performance vs noise is incredible for &#163;28. The best part is, no motherboard removal required

(And YES...I know my cable management is shocking......thing is...i CBA to sort it out yet

[Colossous]

It fits OK in my case.
Its very tall so make sure you have the room.

I gotta say though.....the cooling vs performance vs noise is incredible for £28. The best part is, no motherboard removal required

I think it will be fine height wise, the waves not narrow. I'm more worried about the height of the HR03, its going onto a 680i mobo where the top and bottom PCI-E slots are the 16x so the bottom HR)3 will have to be above the card meaning the top one will have to be also and that will put it into HSF territory !!?

[Blitzen]

I have just uploaded a pic of it in the case.
As far as i know, this fan only has a problem with an El Cheapo ASUS and a few ASROCK mobos.

[Colossous]

Cool dude, thanks for that !