Few critiques on this proposed rig please

Hey guys,

Im building PC for a friend, and I just wanted to know if there were any parts that could be changed for something slightly more cheaper that would do the same job in terms of performance and future use.

Here are the parts:

Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, OEM

Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower Cooler (Socket 478, LGA775, 754, 939 and 940)

Asus P5K, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800/1066*, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX

512MB EVGA 8800GT PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1800 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 600 MHz, 2 x Dual Link DVI-I, Fan
(hopefully this will be in stock when we finally decide on the parts)

2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12

500 GB Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T166, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

500w Seasonic S12II-500 PSU, 12Cm fan, active PFC RoHS +80%

22" LG L226WTQ ,Silver/Black , Widescreen ,2 ms , DVI/VGA ,1680x1050 ,3000:1

Coolermaster Centurion 534 Silver Case w/o PSU

Total = £825.68
Looking at spending around £800.

No OC'ing will be done.
Main parts most concerned about are the Mobo, Moniter and PSU - let me know what you guys think.

Finally regarding the case; is it suitable for all the parts in terms of size?

Thanks :mrgreen:

Looks good to me! i spent about the same on my rig, but my price was without a monitor...

Case should be fine!! :D

:) Looks fine - only thing I can think of if you want to get the cost below £800 is 667mhz ram (£20 difference on scan I think) and just using a stock cooler for the CPU as you arent overclocking.

I would change the psu to the 520w corsair HX. It's essentially the same seasonic psu underneath but it's modular :)

I'd change the montherboard to the abit IP-35 as well.

I would look at a different HSF as well, something from scythe or thermalright.

Otherwise looks sweet

If it was me I would probably swap out the cooler for a Thermalright Ultima 90 with a 120mm fan but that would make it a bit more expensive not cheaper... and you won't need that much cooling power. But I would say a Scythe Ninja plus or Mini might be a better option or even the Mine which has received good reviews particularly if your not over clocking.

People tend to advice for ABit IP-35 boards over the ASUS P5K's at the moment not much in it performance wise but customer srvice for ABit is superior. And you may be happy with the ABit IP-35E which comes in a £10 cheaper after all if your not overclocking most of the extra features on higher boards are not required.

As mentioned before if not overclocking then 667MHz memory will be sufficient (you could even overclock the Q6600 to 3GHz on this memory with no problem) and an upgrade to a 1333MHz processor in the future would not suffer from memory this speed either.

As to power supply I would imagine that since the will be no overclocking and only a single graphics card that you would be quite happy with slightly less power, I would look at the Corsair VX450w (will save you ~£10).

So thats it apart from asking if you really need a 500GB hard drive? Buying a 250 GB or 320GB now and then another in a year if you need it may make more sense if money is tight. Unless you really expect to fill it! Oh and look at the Seagate barracuda and WD Caviar AAKS drives.

Case wise you could look at the Coolermaster RC331 Elite or the Akasa Zen both come in at ~£28 and would be plenty big enough (particularly the Zen) but case styling is a personal thing so get something you can stand to look at! Or a bit smaller on the size front (but still big enough) would be the Antec NSK4000 looks a bit more stylish in my opinion at least :) but it lacks much in the way of front ports just 2 USB and you would need to get a couple of (at least 1) extra fans.

Just my thoughts.

If you're not OC'ing but like a bit of peace and quiet I recommend the NZXT Hush case. I picked up one for my US build and I'm impressed at how quiet it is, while still keeping the system reasonably cool.

I'd also recommend the Corsair HX520. It's also quiet and the modular cables help cooling. I'd also say that the Zalmans are a bit overpriced. With no OC I'd be tempted to stay with the stock cooler.

Thanks guys, Im looking into it, and discussing it with him :)

Just the abit IP-35 would be my choice.

E is a little basic but in no way bad.

Pro is a bit OTT

^_^ Thanks. I realised you meant that board after I looked properly, D'OH

Hence the editing of the post!

Just a note:

The scythe ninja plus doesn't have a fan and is more expensive than the Zalman. The mini is £2 more. Are they more efficient than the Zalman then?
Also the thermalright's dont come with fans :(

The Ninja plus does come with a fan (at least it does from Scan) and yes they are more efficient coolers than the Zalman and while the Thermalrights do not come with fans that allows you to pick which fan you want to use and to tailor noise to cooling performance I would recommend the Scythe S-Flex 1600 120mm fan as a suitable fan for CPU cooling using a Thermalright Ultima 90.

I already have the LG monitor, but if I were buying today, I'd give the AG Neovo 22" a try. The one thats around £150 on Scan Today Only.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lanky123

and just using a stock cooler for the CPU as you arent overclocking.

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I agree and that's all I would change. :)

What about a DVD RW?

IF you are not overclocking - the stock cooler is more than enough, the G0 chips run cool baby :)

Though you should overclock. Just change the Front side bus from 1066 to 1333. Nothing else. No voltage, no nothing. It'd be silly not to.

To be honest if you are not going to overclock then your money would be better spent on a dual core CPU...
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
That is faster at 2.66GHz. Unless you are doing hardcore programming (Physics simulations) or 3D rendering work, you won't see an improvement with the Q6600.

I have the Q6600, but I am running it at 3.4GHz. And unless you are planning to overclock it, I don't see why you wouldn't save a few quid and get a faster processor (E6750)

Do you know what I'd like? I'd like a componet website that was set up so you could say "right, I'd like a Q6600 775 please" and it would say "OK, here's the mobo and memory we recommend".

I took my eye off the ball for 1 week with my little boy having an operation and me being bollocked at work fairly severely, and when I get back to the market, I've TOTALLY lost track of the 775 chipsets, decent boards, etc. ARGH! There are too many of them. With 939, you knew where you were: A8n SLI deluxe all the way ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shooty*

Do you know what I'd like? I'd like a componet website that was set up so you could say "right, I'd like a Q6600 775 please" and it would say "OK, here's the mobo and memory we recommend".

I took my eye off the ball for 1 week with my little boy having an operation and me being bollocked at work fairly severely, and when I get back to the market, I've TOTALLY lost track of the 775 chipsets, decent boards, etc. ARGH! There are too many of them. With 939, you knew where you were: A8n SLI deluxe all the way ;)

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Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

;)

they're good for something i suppose :D (but i would have different ram lol)

Oh...
Um...
Yeah, OK, good point, but are they GOOD recommendations?

Perhaps I should have said "why don't the automatically recommend the items I want, dammit? They should be telepathic. Where's the recommendation for my Ballistix Tracers? Eh? Eh?"

I agree about the ram. And that mobo has ONE REVIEW! One!

*sigh* I dunno. Basically, it's my fault for not staying on the crest of the wave.

its a great mobo, fully recommend it :)

The reason for the Q6600 is that its for future proofing. I know it doesn't have the 1333mhz fsb, but I don't think that will be all that important with the RAM speed.

There will be 3d animation work and rendering, aswell as gaming of course - And I do realise there will be some games that wont utilise the 4 cores so the performance would be greater on a higher clocked dual core, so it would make sense to get that, but....quadcore cheapness XD

I guess with regards to the cooler - if he does have a need to overclock he would be able to, which is how I looked at it.

Oh and LegacyOne - yea I forgot about DVD RW - Any of the samsung ones? their names confuse me though :D

Thanks again guys.

Latest Samsung is very good: SH-203. First drive for some time to get the general thumbs up from the CDFreaks crowd.