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Thread: New Computer Setup - Pre-Purchase Advice Needed

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    New Computer Setup - Pre-Purchase Advice Needed

    Hi all,

    I've decided to take advantage of the recent price drops on the intel chips - currently have the following in my basket over at Scan:

    1x LN18000 Asus P5B Premium Vista Edition iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX (£128.53)
    1x LN17245 Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail *Game Included* (£172.70)
    1x LN12200 2Gb (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 (£56.98)
    1x LN13481 512Mb XFX 7900GTX, PCI-E (x16), Mem 1600 MHz, GPU 650 MHz, 24 Pipes, Dual DVI-I/HDTV (£117.49)
    1x LN13733 320 Gb Western Digital WD3200YS RE, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms (£52.50)
    1x LN15377 500 Gb Seagate ST3500630AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ (£63.32)
    1x LN18060 Asus DRW-1814BLT, DVD±R x18, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x14, Lightscribe, SATA, Black, OEM (£21.61)

    1x LN18567 Xclio 6030 PLUS Black Midi Tower Case with 36cm Side Panel Fan w/o PSU (£42.24)
    1x LN13699 650W Xclio X12S4P4 Modular SLi U-Quiet 14cm Fan 87%+ Efficiency Quad+12v EPS 4SATA 4 PCI-E (£70.44)
    1x LN19008 Zalman CNPS8700 LED 110mm Fan Super Flower Heatpipe Cooler (£$29.36)
    2x LN17812 AKASA 12cm Auto Thermal Sensor Black Fan, 3 Pin Ball Bearing (£7.98)

    1x LN11834 Logitech 967558 Desktop MX 5000 Cordless Keyboard, Bluetooth, 800dpi Laser Mouse, Black/Blue (£85.76)
    1x LN19142 Logitech S220 2.1 Speaker System Black 17W RMS (£15.26)

    Just a couple of points to add some context:
    • I'm hoping to over clock the Q6600 upto 3ghz
    • I'm not a gamer, however am heavy on multi-tasking
    • Would like a half decent graphics card for the odd game every now and again - is the gfx card any good/should I be going with something else?
    • Graphics card must support 2 monitors, both at 1680x1050


    I'm hoping to go ahead with the purchase in the next couple of days - I just wanted to call on the wealth of knowledge available @ hexus to check if I'm doing anything wrong/if I could do something better.

    Please let me know

    Thank You.

    MdSalih
    Last edited by MdSalih; 25-07-2007 at 03:11 AM.

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    Efficiency freak Queelis's Avatar
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    I think you should go with the Asus P5K Deluxe, it's only 4 pounds more expensive, but supports upcoming 45nm processors, it would be a better investment (if there's such thing as a good investment when buying a PC )
    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=591501

    For the 500GB HDD, you might want to consider Samsung's HD501LJ, they are said to be exceptionally quiet. Don't know whether that is an issue to you, though.
    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=494552

    The card is good. The only alternative I can think of is a Radeon X1950XT, which is a bit slower (checked a bit-tech review).
    Last edited by Queelis; 25-07-2007 at 07:00 AM. Reason: Inserted links to products

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    No-one's Fanboi Thorsson's Avatar
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    Not sure why you're getting 2 HDDs, or might offer some advice there.

    There's been some discussion on these XClio stuff in the past. I'm not sure that I'd trust the PSU. Most here would recommend one of the Corsairs for this setup. 520W would be fine I should think.

    The Zalman is not the best CPU cooler. For the price get one of the Scythe offerings, provided they will fit in your case.

    I'd get PC6400 RAM if you want to OC. The price difference is minimal. And definitely get a P35 based mobo.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Thorsson View Post
    Not sure why you're getting 2 HDDs, or might offer some advice there.

    I'd get PC6400 RAM if you want to OC. The price difference is minimal. And definitely get a P35 based mobo.
    Reason why I've gone for two HDDs is so that I have 1 to run the OSs (dual boot) & Apps from, the other is for media & other such things... given I might be recording some TV while working on something else... i'd prefer to have the HDDs spinning a lot less.

    With regards to overclocking, I'm not aiming to go any higher than 3ghz with the Q6600 .. so I'm looking at 9 x 333MHz - Would there be a reason to go for the 800MHz in the PC6400 if i'm not aiming at 9 x 400MHz ?


    Also, will definately look at the P35 board... I was getting enticed by the ScreenDuo in the one i've selected ... guessing it's just a gimmick though... and probably would be better in the long run to future proof.

    Thanks,

    MdSalih

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    No-one's Fanboi Thorsson's Avatar
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    It seems that you don't like the noise of spinning drives. In that case definitely get Samsungs. They are the quietest.

    If you are definitely not going over 3GHz, and you won't be updating the CPU on this board, then go for the slower RAM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Thorsson View Post
    It seems that you don't like the noise of spinning drives. In that case definitely get Samsungs. They are the quietest.
    It's not so much the noise of the spinning - just don't like the delays encountered as a result of the seek times when working off the same drive for two different functions simultaneously - also, I think it should (in theory) increase hard drive life span? But all the same, quiet is always good... so will look into Samsungs.

    Quote Originally Posted by Thorsson View Post
    The Zalman is not the best CPU cooler. For the price get one of the Scythe offerings, provided they will fit in your case.
    Would the Zalman be good enough to overclock the Q6600 to 3Ghz? Also which Scythe would you recommend - Scythe Ninja Plus (only one scan does) doesn't seem to be so good with Q6600 o/c to 3Ghz from what i've read... i would go with the tr u-120 extreme... but scan don't do it

    Really aiming at getting it all from one place as I need to get a Saturday delivery due to work commitments.. don't particularly like the prospect of getting hit twice with extortionate delivery charges

    MdSalih

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    Was looking at the same type of system, but was going to go for the Corsair 2 x 1gb RAM 1066. Just wanted to know if this was a little overkill on the RAM?

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    Quote Originally Posted by thejimbo View Post
    Was looking at the same type of system, but was going to go for the Corsair 2 x 1gb RAM 1066. Just wanted to know if this was a little overkill on the RAM?
    It really depends how much you're going to overclock it by .. that is if you choose to do so.

    At stock, the FSB of Q6600 is 266Mhz.. which would work very well with the full speed of the RAM - you'd get exactly 4 cycles with no waste.

    If you decide to overclock.. it'd come down to the frequency you choose for the FSB. Not sure of exactly how far you can push the Q6600 on overclocking... I'm personally planning to play it relatively safe with 3Ghz

    MdSalih

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    Lover & Fighter Blitzen's Avatar
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    1x LN18000 Asus P5B Premium Vista Edition iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX (£128.53)
    Although a decent board, i don't think its good enough to warranty nearly £130

    There's been some discussion on these XClio stuff in the past. I'm not sure that I'd trust the PSU
    I dont know about other XCLIO gear but their PSUs are a very good quality unit.

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    I think you should look to the future alittle and get one of the new p35 boards. 1333fsb support may be a nice thing to have in the future.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Voronus View Post
    I think you should look to the future alittle and get one of the new p35 boards. 1333fsb support may be a nice thing to have in the future.
    All decent boards released in the last 6-8 months flash to support 1333fsb anyway.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Voronus View Post
    I think you should look to the future alittle and get one of the new p35 boards. 1333fsb support may be a nice thing to have in the future.
    I normally do updates every couple of years... so I'm hoping to stick with this setup for a while - when the new 45nm come out (towards the end of this year?) I shan't be switching over to it ... I may drool over it... but I won't be changing for next couple of years.

    If i did get enticed by it so much that I did switch over... I'm guessing there's going to be better mobo's out at the time... so I'd prefer to buy a brand new spanking mobo at the same time.

    Quote Originally Posted by Blitzen View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by MdSalih View Post
    1x LN18000 Asus P5B Premium Vista Edition iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX (£128.53)
    Although a decent board, i don't think its good enough to warranty nearly £130
    Would a current p35 boards (i.e. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=591501) be a much better system for me right now.. disregarding future proofing & upgrading to a 45nm later on?

    MdSalih
    Last edited by MdSalih; 25-07-2007 at 02:31 PM.

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    BTW, can anyone (with experience?) recommend a good H&F (from Scan.com) for overclocking the Q6600 to 3ghz? - Is the one I've choose suitable (Zalman CNPS8700 LED 110mm Fan Super Flower Heatpipe Cooler) ?

    Thanks,

    MdSalih

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    No-one's Fanboi Thorsson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MdSalih View Post
    Would the Zalman be good enough to overclock the Q6600 to 3Ghz? Also which Scythe would you recommend - Scythe Ninja Plus (only one scan does) doesn't seem to be so good with Q6600 o/c to 3Ghz from what i've read... i would go with the tr u-120 extreme... but scan don't do it
    Scan does a range of Scythes. Not sure how you missed them. You can't gurantee any OC but I would have thought that the Infinity, Mine and Ninja+ would all outperform the Zalman based on C2D performance.

    BTW the Samsungs also run cool. Of course if you're looking for performance you have to consider RAID or using a Raptor. The latter sacrifices real estate and noise to get the performance. RAID0 sacrifices an element of reliability (pretty small when the drives are as reliable as Samsung's).

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    Quote Originally Posted by MdSalih View Post
    It really depends how much you're going to overclock it by .. that is if you choose to do so.

    At stock, the FSB of Q6600 is 266Mhz.. which would work very well with the full speed of the RAM - you'd get exactly 4 cycles with no waste.

    If you decide to overclock.. it'd come down to the frequency you choose for the FSB. Not sure of exactly how far you can push the Q6600 on overclocking... I'm personally planning to play it relatively safe with 3Ghz

    MdSalih
    If I decided to overclocker the Q6600 to say 3Ghz then why would I want lower frequency RAM? Which frequency? 800?

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    Scan do do more of the scythe coolers, they are in the Multi CPU section.

    Cannot say from experance, but the Scythe Infinity is supposed to be very good

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