New Gaming Pc Spec

[mad_scot_99]

Hey folks, my old prescott rig has served me well but the time is right to build a new machine.

Waiting till i get a new house and stuff sorted till I actually built it, but at the mo the spec im thinking about at the mo is as follows, any constructive criticism or advice would be appreciated.

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 - Planning on some mild overclocking.

Power Supply
620W Corsair HX Series Modular SLi PSU

HDD's

1. Western Digital Raptor 150GB
2. 1000Gb HGST Deskstar 7K1000

Motherboard
Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP

O/S
Vista 32 Ultimate/Win XP Pro Dual

RAM
2Gb OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel kit (5-5-5-15)
(Possibly 4GB - I know about 2Gb would only be used)

GFX Card
640MB XFX 8800GTS XT PCI-E (x16), Mem 1800MHz, GPU 580MHz, 96 Streams, 2 x Dual Link DVI/HDTV

Cooling
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core / Core2Duo Ready

Sound Card
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtream Gamer Fatal1ty Professional

Case
Antec P182

And possibly a new widescreen TFT

Samsung SyncMaster 226BW

[Pob255]

As has been shown recently it's not really worth it going for the 640mb 8800GTS
Ether save money and go for the 320mb one or up the cost to the 8800GTX

Wow overkill on the PSU, but if you can afford it that's one heck of a PSU.
You might have to remove the lower fan in the case to fit that PSU but that shouldn't be a major problem.

While I do like the Arctic freezer 7 pro, it's not the quietest or best cooler out there. if you're going to spend that much cash on the rest of the system, then go for something like the Scythe Miné, scythe ninja plus or Tuniq Tower 120

[Rosaline]

The power supply I've gathered will be more than what you will need for your build, however I'll let more knowledgeable posters comment more on that.

Looks like you've had the same idea as me for hard drives. I was considering using a smaller raptor still, but looking at reviews it seems like the WD1500 is significantly and noticeably better.

Unless you really need the prettiness of all the heatpipes, consider going for one of the cheaper models of the P5K and adding a PCI wireless card to save £50.

With the ram, what matters most is the speed and that it's micron D9 chip based, from what I've gathered. Complex heatpipe systems are not that useful, a simple heatspreader would be more than enough, especially if you can mount a fan to cool the ram.

For just £60 more than your current graphics card choice, you can get an OEM edition of an 8800 GTX. For high resolutions, this might well be the best choice, and it will certainly extend the gaming life of your rig.

If you are planning to get a nice overclock, spending just £15 more on a HSF will be more than worth it for the additional cooling power. I've fallen for the Turniq Tower 120, but there are many other similar high-end coolers at this mark that would offer you a few more degrees of cooling, and perhaps even quieter operation.

The X-ram currently offered by the fatal1ty editions of the X-fi cards really does not yet offer enough of an advantage to warrant the extra cost. If you don't need the front panel, then cut right back to the X-fi gamer for more savings.

As with all such things, it all depends on what your personal compromise between price, noise and power happens to be.

[NightshadowUK]

Gonna second some of the things the others have said and add a few suggestions of my own:

- Get the E6750, 330MHz for £60 just ain't worth it, especially considering how well C2D's overclock.

- The PSU is overkill, go with something nearer 500W.

- If you're buying a Raptor you may be interested in something like a Scythe Quiet Drive cos those things are noisy!

- Don't bother with 32bit Vista, get the 64bit version.

- PC6400 memory will be fine if you only plan on overclock the E6750 to 3.2GHz but any higher and PC8500 will indeed be needed (take a look at Crucial Ballistix, 2GB is about £100 at the moment).

- Avoid the 640MB 8800GTS, either get the 320MB version or go all out and get an 8800GTX / 2900XT.

- AC Freezer 7 Pro's can apparently be a lil noisey, go with something like a Scythe Mimé instead.

- The X-RAM in higher end X-Fi cards is usless, if you're going X-Fi (there are some good alternatives out at the moment) then get the Xtreme Gamer.

[tinners]

Would recommend 2 * Samsung Spinpoint HD501LJ over that expensive terabyte drive

Also the P180 (yeah the old version) is on special at Ebuyer if you're interested
Microdirect have 2Gb of PC8500 for £90 - here
http://microdirect.co.uk/(18458)Cruc...mory-DDR2.aspx

[Biscuit]

- The X-RAM in higher end X-Fi cards is usless, if you're going X-Fi (there are some good alternatives out at the moment) then get the Xtreme Gamer.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=615674

This is a lot more expensive however it will be an infinatly better card. Even from looking at it you can tell; solid state capacitors and a proper digital port.

creative XFIs are cheaply made and the vista drivers are quite poor

[bigpun69]

I did a new build for a friend over the weekend who went for a p5k deluxe and an AC Freezer 7. For some reason, no matter how hard I tried the heatsink just wouldnt sit as firmly as it was meant to and resulted in the cpu reporting 85c!!!!! Obviously i turned it off immedietly and stuck the stock cooler on there that came supplied and it reported around 45-50c.

Could have been sent a faulty hsf with poor connectors but based on my single experience with them I wouldn't touch them again...Strange though as i'd read they were pretty good

[Biscuit]

I did a new build for a friend over the weekend who went for a p5k deluxe and an AC Freezer 7. For some reason, no matter how hard I tried the heatsink just wouldnt sit as firmly as it was meant to and resulted in the cpu reporting 85c!!!!! Obviously i turned it off immedietly and stuck the stock cooler on there that came supplied and it reported around 45-50c.

Could have been sent a faulty hsf with poor connectors but based on my single experience with them I wouldn't touch them again...Strange though as i'd read they were pretty good

Are those results with the stock cooler using a non-overclocked CPU? Sounds like you are not putting the heatsinks on properly to me as C2D run pretty cold

[mad_scot_99]

cheers for all the feedback , just back from a few days break so woll have a look at the comments in a bit


cheers folks - one quick thing, yeah i did completely forget to put an HSF on the spec sheet.

[bigpun69]

Are those results with the stock cooler using a non-overclocked CPU? Sounds like you are not putting the heatsinks on properly to me as C2D run pretty cold

Yeah stock hsf/stock speeds on a q6600 not e range cpu

[Pob255]

Well on my ASRock board it was less of a struggle fitting the freezer7pro than the intel stock

The freezer7pro is a bit noisey at full wack, if you don't overclock and use the quite fan setting in the BIOS it's very quite.
But I'd agree get something better if you can afford it.

[mad_scot_99]

As has been shown recently it's not really worth it going for the 640mb 8800GTS
Ether save money and go for the 320mb one or up the cost to the 8800GTX

Wow overkill on the PSU, but if you can afford it that's one heck of a PSU.
You might have to remove the lower fan in the case to fit that PSU but that shouldn't be a major problem.

While I do like the Arctic freezer 7 pro, it's not the quietest or best cooler out there. if you're going to spend that much cash on the rest of the system, then go for something like the Scythe Miné, scythe ninja plus or Tuniq Tower 120

Cheers, im aware I had to double check the PSU - WOuld like to keep as much airflow in the case as I can

cheers for the headsup on the GFX card will look into it.

[Biscuit]

Yeah stock hsf/stock speeds on a q6600 not e range cpu

Even so thats still hot. After you pushed the pins in you did push them down the rest of the way and twist. I know its a bid of a daft thing but a mate of mine made that mistake

[mad_scot_99]

Gonna second some of the things the others have said and add a few suggestions of my own:

- Get the E6750, 330MHz for £60 just ain't worth it, especially considering how well C2D's overclock.

- The PSU is overkill, go with something nearer 500W.

- If you're buying a Raptor you may be interested in something like a Scythe Quiet Drive cos those things are noisy!

- Don't bother with 32bit Vista, get the 64bit version.

- PC6400 memory will be fine if you only plan on overclock the E6750 to 3.2GHz but any higher and PC8500 will indeed be needed (take a look at Crucial Ballistix, 2GB is about £100 at the moment).

- Avoid the 640MB 8800GTS, either get the 320MB version or go all out and get an 8800GTX / 2900XT.

- AC Freezer 7 Pro's can apparently be a lil noisey, go with something like a Scythe Mimé instead.

- The X-RAM in higher end X-Fi cards is usless, if you're going X-Fi (there are some good alternatives out at the moment) then get the Xtreme Gamer.

Cheers some good advice in there, am cosnidering the e6750 and overclocking, aiming for bout 3.4ish so ill stick witht he PC8500, there are some cheaper OCX DIMMS rated at 1066.

ill probably downgrade to the 320MB GFX card to save a little money to spend elsewhere :-)

What suppliers do people use?

[NightshadowUK]

Most of us use Scan Computers as they have their own forum here and we get free delivery.

[mad_scot_99]

free delivery is a cool thing, as most things i have priced for are from their site. free is always good lol