Check my Spec

[Lucio]

Well, was at court today and finally won out against the PC seller who ripped me off by taking my money and never deliverying my goods!

I now have the go-ahead to get some parts from Scan and this time, I'm gonna put it together myself because I should be able to figure it out and I've done OS installs from scratch before.

Anyhow, before I order I wanna get some help in deciding between a couple of components.

First up, motherboard, torn between

BFG 680i
aBit iP35
aBit X38 (though only from Scan as I'm not trusting Yoyotech after their recent virus incident


Processor I'm pretty happy with an E6750 or E6550 depending on how much I spend on other bits

Graphics card, it's a toss up between the 8800 GTS 320Mb version or the HD2900 Pro, as much as I'd like an 8800GTX there's little point without spending £300 on a monitor and I'm now saving for my wedding next year! Only real choice between the two depends on the motherboard, if I get the X38 mobo, I'll get the HD2900 Pro so I can go Crossfire later on.

PSU is no contest, the 620w Corsair to make sure I'm opperating right around 50% load at worst case scenario.

Operating system, I'm tempted to get both XP Home and Vista 64bit Home Premium, so I can use both, though there's an arguement for putting Linux as my second OS and saving some money here.

Other main area I'm confused about is monitor, looking at a couple of choices here

HP W2207 22" - seen these in the flesh and I like the finish though not sure about glare from the patio.

HP W1907V 19" Similar to the one above, but smaller, £70 cheaper and missing the digital input, do I loose much without having a digital input?

20.1" Dell E207WFP - Seems a reasonable compromise on price and size, used to Dell monitors as we have a lot at work.


So, any other suggestions? All in all, I'm aiming to spend about £800 on the PC, £200ish on the monitor plus picking up a cheap Freecom NAS. Already have the case for this, a Lian Li PC-A05 as it was the perfect size to tuck neatly under my desk without worrying too much about cooling issues due to it's front to back airflow.

[Rishi]

No Asus mobo consideration? I would deffo look at something from the Asus line, they aren't too expensive and can overclock quite well too

Also no mention of RAM, do you have some already then?

8800GTS and Dell monitor sounds ok to me

[Lucio]

Asus mobos I'm steering clear of because most of their heatpipe designs aren't rated to work inverted which I need for the case I've got.

RAM I ignored because I'm settled on the Corsair PC6400 2GB stuff running at 4-4-4-12 for about £70ish. Whilst I'd prefer to get a single 2GB chip for the time being they're a PITA to find.

[Winkle]

Surely you'd want the miost uptodate board, it'd be foolish not to go for the abit X38.

In terms of graphics cards i'd wait until the end of this month and get one of the newly released cards, i recently rma'd my 8800GTS and they couldn't replace it becuase they've stopped stocking them in lieu of the newer cards.

[BUFF]

it's going to come down to your needs on the mobo.
Do you really see running CF or SLI or would the £70 saved on the mobo by getting an IP35 be better used on your monitor, gfx card etc.?
Atm X38 as far as DDR2 boards are concerned seems to be essentially a P35 with an extra 16 lanes bolted onto the northbridge.

[Lucio]

TBH, I can see myself wanting the CF/SLI option in a couple of years time to save having to spend another £300 out on the latest top of the line card, by then there's a strong chance the card I buy atm will be down to the £80 mark as other people trade up making for a cheap upgrade.

As you said though, for the same cash, I could get the iP35 and upgrade to an overclocked GTS.

[Lucio]

Thought about it for a bit, and unless anyone has some amazing reason why this would be a bad system, I'll go with this

LN18913 Abit IP-35, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £68.79 £80.83
LN15215 620W Corsair HX Series Modular SLi PSU, ATX, EPS 12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty £76.99 £90.46
LN19275 Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, S775, 2.66 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail £99.99 £117.49
LN13881 Scythe Miné Quiet Heatpipe CPU Cooler S478, S775, S754, S939, S940 compatible £19.99 £23.49
LN18745 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX £57.64 £67.73
LN17569 320MB BFG Technology 8800GTS Overclocked, PCI-E, Mem 1600MHz, GPU 550MHz, 96 Streams, 2x DVI/HDTV £154.89 £182.00
LN19061 250 Gb Seagate ST3250620NS ES, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ £41.69 £48.99
LN13766 CoolerMaster Hard Drive Cooler V6 in SILVER £10.69 £12.56
LN19656 Optiarc 18xDVD±R, 8xDVD±DL, DVD + RWx8/-RWx6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM, Labelflash £16.69 £19.61
LN7120 Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD+Int USB2 7 in 1 Card Reader (SM/MMC/SD/CF/MD/MS) Fits in 3.5" FDD Bay £12.49 £14.68

LN16786 20.1" Dell E207WFP ,Black , Widescreen ,5 ms , DVI/VGA ,1680x1050 ,800:1 £162.89 £191.40
LN19241 Saitek PZ30AVR Eclipse Wired Keyboard, BackLit Red Keys, USB 1.1/2.0, Black £20.99 £24.66
LN10262 Logitech 931352-0914, MX518 Gaming Grade Optical Mouse, 1600dpi, PS2/USB 1.1/2.0, 5 Buttons, Black £27.99 £32.89
LN12009 Logitech X230 2.1 Speakers (desk or wall mount) 32W RMS £24.10 £28.32

LN17166 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £53.99 £63.44
LN13705 Sharkoon 12" Red CCFL 2in1 Kit (x2 CCFL Tubes + dual Inverter + adhesive Velcro strips) £3.32 £3.90
LN14016 Zalman Super Thermal Grease ZM-STG1, 3.5 g bottle (apply with inc Cap Brush) £3.59 £4.22
LN18875 500GB Freecom Network Drive 10/100 LAN & USB2 External Hard Drive (SATA) £84.00 £98.70

TOTAL = £1,105.35

Maybe save a few quid if I can order it at the weekend, Today Only tends to include at least a few of these items

[V|per]

mobo: Abit ip35, or pro if you want the extra features/can afford it, fantastic clocking boards..

680i is pointless unless you want sli, and x38 are pasically p35 with an extra 16x lane as mentionned above (but generally more unstable at the moment...)

you not considered going quad core? don't get me wrong, the e6750 is a great cpu for the price, and clockability, but the quads should last you a bit longer... failing that, get an e2160/80 and clock the bells out of it.

PSU - spot on

Could you not change the ram for some crucial ballistix? (/me shuts up... not available on scan )

gfx: GTX, if you cant afford that, 88gts/2900 pro, or possibly wait for the 8800GT or the 512mb version of the 88gts, they could prove to be a rather decent buy.

Monitor, from experience (ie, i own one..) have you considered the LG WTQ 22"? it has a damn nice spec for the price tbh, and i am more than happy with mine..

[V|per]

ok, you've just posted a spec, change the thermal grease for a start, get the arctic cooling mx-2, much better.

not sure if there is actually any point in getting the HDD cooler, but everything else looks like a decent spec.. (could save on getting the non oc version of the gfx card, it'll clock to the oc speeds easily..)

[Lucio]

TBH putting the HDD in the cooler because I've taken the HDD cage out of the case to improve airflow (it sits right above the front mounted PSU in the case)