Please critique this proposed PC Spec
Hello all (I'm just posting this for my brother so these are his words)
After 5 years I've decided to finally upgrade and after reading various forums and reviews I've put together this list of components, but I still need some help in making the final decision.
I would greatly appreciate any help, advice, comments or criticism you might have about these parts.
I'll try to keep this post as short as possible, so below I will put my main uses and needs of the new system and below that, the components. So please, read on and help me make the right choice!
- £1,100 maximum budget
- Overclocking - I'll be overclocking the Q6600, hoping to go as far as possible, but at least 3.6GHz. Most likely the RAM too.
- Windows XP 64 Bit or XP Professional, Not going Vista for a long time.
- Needs to be as quiet as possible - I also do audio recording and can't isolate the PC out of the studio, so it needs to be as quiet as possible so I have less to muffle.
- Mainly used for playing games and watching movies, audio editing as mentioned above, and dabbling in video editing. (I think some critique of the choice of monitor is in order).
If you need anything else from me, or I've left anything out, let me know and I'll post ASAP.
CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping 175.66
Motherboard: Asus P5K Deluxe (Best rated) 152.74
OR Asus P5KC (Cheaper, has DDR2 & 3 Support) 89.17
OR Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R (Has DDR2 & 3 Support) 72.49
OR Gigabyte GA P35-DQ6 (Has Heatpipe - Better for Overclocking?) 117.25
RAM: 2x1GB CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (CAS 4-4-4-12) 58
Graphics Card: XFX 8800GTS 320MB 172.73
Hard Drive: Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T 500Gb 58
Monitor: 22" LG L226WTQ LCD 199.69
DVD Drive: LG GSA-H50LBRL DVD-RW Drive (Lightscribe) 20.27
OR Samsung SH-S183L (Lightscribe) 18.21
OR Samsung SH-S203 (No Lightscribe) 18.79 19.96
Soundcard: Auzentech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect Sound Card (BGI-HDAXP-D) 61.75
OR Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card UK Retail 52.75
Case: Coolermaster Centurion 534 Silver (2 120mm Fans included) 38.76
OR CoolerMaster Centurion 5 Silver/Black 37.01
OR Antec NSK6500 (Comes with 430W PSU) 61.09
OR Antec NSK6000 (As above, no PSU) 37.55
OR Antec NSK4400 (Comes with 380W PSU) 45.83
OR Antec Solo Quiet (1 x 120mm Fan included) 54.86
PSU: 380w Seasonic S12II-380 PSU 46.99
OR 430w Seasonic S12II-430 PSU 50.51
OR 430w Tagan EasyCon - TG430-U15 50.4
CPU Heatsink: Thermalright Ultra-120 Heatsink 35.24
OR Thermalright SI-128 CPU Cooler 29.36
OR Zalman CNPS8700-LED 32.89
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 31.71
Mouse: Logitech 931352-0914, MX518 32.89
OR Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 23.49
(All-in-all this will total to between £975 and £1100, which is really the maximum I want to spend.)
Thank you
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Oobie-
- Overclocking - I'll be overclocking the Q6600, hoping to go as far as possible, but at least 3.6GHz. Most likely the RAM too. - Some of the bits are wrong for this kind of thing.
- Windows XP 64 Bit or XP Professional, Not going Vista for a long time. - I'm not sure on the driver situation with these bits and XP64, but I'm not sure that its worth the bother, I'm sure others will comment.
- Needs to be as quiet as possible - I also do audio recording and can't isolate the PC out of the studio, so it needs to be as quiet as possible so I have less to muffle.
- Mainly used for playing games and watching movies, audio editing as mentioned above, and dabbling in video editing. (I think some critique of the choice of monitor is in order).
If you need anything else from me, or I've left anything out, let me know and I'll post ASAP.
CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping 175.66 fine
Motherboard: Asus P5K Deluxe (Best rated) 152.74 fine
OR Asus P5KC (Cheaper, has DDR2 & 3 Support) 89.17
OR Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R (Has DDR2 & 3 Support) 72.49
OR Gigabyte GA P35-DQ6 (Has Heatpipe - Better for Overclocking?) 117.25
RAM: 2x1GB CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (CAS 4-4-4-12) 58 Fine, but not the RAM you want if you want to be tweaking it really.
Graphics Card: XFX 8800GTS 320MB 172.73
Hard Drive: Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T 500Gb 58 fine
Monitor: 22" LG L226WTQ LCD 199.69
DVD Drive: LG GSA-H50LBRL DVD-RW Drive (Lightscribe) 20.27
OR Samsung SH-S183L (Lightscribe) 18.21 fine
OR Samsung SH-S203 (No Lightscribe) 18.79 19.96
Soundcard: Auzentech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect Sound Card (BGI-HDAXP-D) 61.75 fine
OR Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card UK Retail 52.75 shudder
Case: Coolermaster Centurion 534 Silver (2 120mm Fans included) 38.76
OR CoolerMaster Centurion 5 Silver/Black 37.01
OR Antec NSK6500 (Comes with 430W PSU) 61.09
OR Antec NSK6000 (As above, no PSU) 37.55
OR Antec NSK4400 (Comes with 380W PSU) 45.83
OR Antec Solo Quiet (1 x 120mm Fan included) 54.86
PSU: 380w Seasonic S12II-380 PSU 46.99 I have one of these, mine doesnt have a pci-e lead on it, so thats no good. Others may disagree, but I would be looking at something a bit heftier for overclocking, especially if you are going for 3.6Ghz - 520w corsair perhaps
OR 430w Seasonic S12II-430 PSU 50.51
OR 430w Tagan EasyCon - TG430-U15 50.4
CPU Heatsink: Thermalright Ultra-120 Heatsink 35.24 Great cooler, but needs a powerful fan to get the best from it, so there goes your silence if your CPU turns out to be voltage hungry.
OR Thermalright SI-128 CPU Cooler 29.36 Great cooler, not sure how it fares with a quad though.
OR Zalman CNPS8700-LED 32.89
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 31.71
Mouse: Logitech 931352-0914, MX518 32.89
OR Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 23.49
(All-in-all this will total to between £975 and £1100, which is really the maximum I want to spend.)
Thank you
.
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
RE the soundcard, the Auzentech's main selling point is the realtime Dolby Digital and DTS encoding through SPDIF outputs, if he's using analogue outputs then the Creative card might support more gaming sound formats such as EAX HD, etc, but of course will only get surround through the analog
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
Hello Clunk, thank you for responding. Some questions:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Clunk
"Some of the bits are wrong for this kind of thing."
Ah, okay, are there any specifically that you'd switch out, or just the ones mentioned already in your post?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Clunk
"RAM: 2x1GB CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (CAS 4-4-4-12) 58 Fine, but not the RAM you want if you want to be tweaking it really."
Ah, okay, what would you recommend. I'm only looking to get them to 1066MHz
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Clunk
"PSU: 380w Seasonic S12II-380 PSU 46.99 I have one of these, mine doesnt have a pci-e lead on it, so thats no good. Others may disagree, but I would be looking at something a bit heftier for overclocking, especially if you are going for 3.6Ghz - 520w corsair perhaps"
I was reading the ArsTechnica system guide which suggested that 450W was more than enough for similar components and future upgrades, hence the 430W Max.
The 380 has a 6pin PCI-e, but not a 6pin + 2pin PCI-e connector, well at least according to their datasheet.
I've just started reading all the posts in your "Quad Core Thread: Overclocking, Cooling, Motherboards, Troubleshooting & General Info - Click Here!"
I'm starting to think 3.6GHz Overclock on air cooling is wishful thinking, perhaps a 3.4GHz would be possible.
Thanks
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
I'd look at a beefier PSU for future proofing and overclocking as Clunk suggested. Quality make at 520-600w with good amps on the 12v rail. If you need to go quiet with the furthest overclock possible then it with have to be a water cooled, otherwise you may want to revise your aspirations.
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
The P5K-E is basically a P5K with 1 less gigabit ethernet port, and slightly less cooling, but alot cooling. Seeing as your going to a serious overclock you will have to spash out though.
I think your wrong to say your going for a 50% minimum overclock on a quad core just like that. It only takes one of those cores not to like it and your stuffed.
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
As your going for 64bit Xp and you want to do some video editing why not up the ram to 4 gb if its within your budget?
Buy a case without a PSU and get a decent one. Have youlooked at the OCZ range??
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
iranu
I'd look at a beefier PSU for future proofing and overclocking as Clunk suggested. Quality make at 520-600w with good amps on the 12v rail. If you need to go quiet with the furthest overclock possible then it with have to be a water cooled, otherwise you may want to revise your aspirations.
iranu, yes, I think you're right, I have been reading over the various posts and reviews on Q6600 G0 overclocking, and with the components I had in mind, I think I'm going to step the Overclock down a bit.
I'll look to go to 3.4GHz as a maximum, given that I'm not willing to pay the premium (cash or noise) for what's needed to get 3.6GHz on Air Cooling from this chip.
Watercooling is not an option at the moment, though I did research it and would love to have the cash to splash on it :)
With regards to PSU's, the Seasonic S12 430W can provide 17A + 17A on the 12V Rails, with an effective 360W (which suggests 15A + 15A).
The Corsair HX 520W can provide 18A + 18A + 18A on the 12V rails, with an effective 480W (which suggests a figure of 13A + 13A + 14A) - [Note, I'm bastardising the numbers a little here, but you get what I mean]
Would I really benefit from getting a higher rated PSU over the 430W one? I'm just trying to understand how the power consumption will increase so drastically by just overclocking it 1GHz higher (assuming I'm revising my aspirations to 3.4GHz max)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dogie
The P5K-E is basically a P5K with 1 less gigabit ethernet port, and slightly less cooling, but alot cooling. Seeing as your going to a serious overclock you will have to spash out though.
I think your wrong to say your going for a 50% minimum overclock on a quad core just like that. It only takes one of those cores not to like it and your stuffed.
Hey dogie, thanks for the motherboard suggestion, I looked into it and it seems good, and if it is just a slightly cut-down P5K Deluxe, then I'm all for it. The question is, is that really the case, does it use the same stage power phasing? It looks like it has the solid state capacitors, so that's good, and I'm not bothered about a second GigE port.
Also, what did you mean by "and slightly less cooling, but alot cooling.", I'm a bit confused :?
Yup, revising the 3.6GHz down to a 3.4GHz max after doing a bit more research, and Clunk's extremely useful Q6600 overclocking and cooling thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dfour
As your going for 64bit Xp and you want to do some video editing why not up the ram to 4 gb if its within your budget?
Buy a case without a PSU and get a decent one. Have youlooked at the OCZ range??
Hey dfour, unfortunately 4Gb is out of my price range at the moment, and I'm starting to wonder if 64Bit XP is really there given people's comments on stability and immaturity of drivers.
I haven't looked at the OCZ range of PSU's, but the general consensus is to go with a bare case and an aftermarket PSU.
Did you have a specific one you'd recommend?
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Oobie-
Also, what did you mean by "and slightly less cooling, but alot cooling.", I'm a bit confused :?
Think he may have meant "but a lot cheaper".
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
How about the 600watt gamextreme for under £60?
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...avigationKey=0
Her is a review of the 700 watt version
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/r...am_700W_8.html
When I upgrade my psu next they will be on the top of my list :)
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
But are they reliable? Only time will tell. Aren't they Tupower made?
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
No, they are essentially FSP Epsilons.
I've got the 600W & 700W Epsilons & they are fine although there is supposedly a bit high ripple on them.
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Oobie-
With regards to PSU's, the Seasonic S12 430W can provide 17A + 17A on the 12V Rails, with an effective 360W (which suggests 15A + 15A).
The Corsair HX 520W can provide 18A + 18A + 18A on the 12V rails, with an effective 480W (which suggests a figure of 13A + 13A + 14A) - [Note, I'm bastardising the numbers a little here, but you get what I mean]
Would I really benefit from getting a higher rated PSU over the 430W one? I'm just trying to understand how the power consumption will increase so drastically by just overclocking it 1GHz higher (assuming I'm revising my aspirations to 3.4GHz max)
A 430W PSU will do exactly what you want. It will certainly cope with that overclock and all your other bits. The reason I suggested going a bit higher is simply for headroom for the future. I doubt you'll need more than a 3.4Ghz quad core for a long time! It all depends on what extra components you wish to add in the future.
520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty - £63.32
430w Seasonic S12II-430 PSU, 12Cm fan, active PFC RoHS +80% - £50.51 (3 year warranty I think)
Price difference = £12.81 (Scan). For a £1000 PC I'd spend the extra for the modular function and warranty alone.
CPUs are showing a trend for less power consuption as their architectures get smaller. I'd assume that GPUs will do the same, but after looking at the 8800gtx I'm not sure! The general trend for power consumption has been upward over the last few years. I'm wondering if we've reached a peak and are going to slide down the other side.
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
iranu
CPUs are showing a trend for less power consuption as their architectures get smaller.
per core, except that they keep adding more cores ... :P
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
Hello all.
Just thought I'd update this post to let you all know I successfully purchased (nearly) all of my components and wanted to thank you all for the help, advice and pointers you gave.
My Setup:
CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping
Motherboard: Asus P5K-E/WIFI-AP
RAM: 2x1GB GeiL PC6400C4 800MHz (CAS 4-4-4-12)
Graphics Card: XFX 8800GTS 320MB
Hard Drive: Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T 500Gb
Monitor: 22" LG L226WTQ LCD
DVD Drive: Samsung SH-S183L (Lightscribe) (Still waiting for Scan to get this in stock)
Soundcard: Staying with on-board for now
Case: Antec Solo Quiet (1 x 120mm Fan included)
PSU: 430w Seasonic S12II-430 PSU
CPU Heatsink: Tuniq Tower 120
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
Mouse: Logitech 931352-0914, MX518
Front Case Fan: Noctua 120mm Fan 800RPM
Rear Case Fan: Noctua 120mm Fan 1200RPM
So once again thank you all!
No doubt once I get everything set up and happy I'll be adding my comments to Clunk's Q6600 Overclocking thread.
Re: Please critique this proposed PC Spec
If you don't have any luck with air-cooling the cpu whilst remaining quiet i suggest trying a swiftech compact 120 all in one water cooling kit, easy to set up and only 90squid, means i can overclock without needing a fan going at a bajillion rpm.