OK, how about this build?

[tensim]

Thanks very much to all those who replied to my previous thread, appreciated!

I've been playing around with another online configurator, (lambda-tek.com) and have come up with the following:



I'm also thinking of dropping the Corsair PSU for an Enermax Modu82 625W...

Would like some advice on graphics card selection... I've gone with the cheapest 8800GTS I can find (XFX), but I'm happy to spend anything up to 50 pounds more if it's definitely worth it!

Look forward to hearing your thoughts and advice...

Oh yeah, I think I am going to try building this myself, fingers crossed I don't totally balls it up!! ANy advice and pointers on this side of things would be gratefully received as well

[tensim]

OK... how do I post a URL? not real good at this, sorry!

[mycarsavw]

Thanks very much to all those who replied to my previous thread, appreciated!

I've been playing around with another online configurator, (lambda-tek.com) and have come up with the following:

link to product

I'm also thinking of dropping the Corsair PSU for an Enermax Modu82 625W...

Would like some advice on graphics card selection... I've gone with the cheapest 8800GTS I can find (XFX), but I'm happy to spend anything up to 50 pounds more if it's definitely worth it!

Look forward to hearing your thoughts and advice...

Oh yeah, I think I am going to try building this myself, fingers crossed I don't totally balls it up!! ANy advice and pointers on this side of things would be gratefully received as well

Edited to make link work

[tensim]

Thanks mate, appreciated... for future reference, how'd you do it? :-)

[mycarsavw]

If you type w.w.w..google..co..uk (with the correct placing of dots) into a post it is automatically converted into a hyperlink like so > Google. Links are automatically parsed (there's a checkbox beneath the reply box when in advanced mode)

Because your link was er.....there's a technical term for it, but I don't know what it is and I'm waffling...

Short answer;
I just stuck the words "link to product" in between the [url=.... ] and [.../url] tags.

[Cistron]

If this is a gaming PC, I'd drop the quad core for a dual core. Less energy consumption, less heat, less cooling, less noise. The PSU is extremely over-dimensioned, even a Seasonic 330W should be plenty to power the system. I also would drop the raptor in favour of another Caviar drive.

[tensim]

I'll be using this PC for a variety of uses, primarily photo editing in CS3 but also for playing games like Crysis on a 24" monitor.

I figure the 6600 is a good choice as I do like to multi-task a bit, so it should be good for this right? I'll probably OC it a little bit to get to 3.0GHz or thereabouts (I know I need to buy a cooler as well, any suggestions?) Will the Asus P5K be OK for this OC?

I've gone with a 600W PSU just so I have future expandability options, I kind of intend to keep this case & PSU for my next upgrade (I guess a Nehalem based Quad late next year)... Plus if I decided to go SLI at the same time then my power requirements will increase right?)

cheers

[Webby]

If this is a gaming PC, I'd drop the quad core for a dual core. Less energy consumption, less heat, less cooling, less noise. The PSU is extremely over-dimensioned, even a Seasonic 330W should be plenty to power the system. I also would drop the raptor in favour of another Caviar drive.

While I agree that the PSU is over specced and that you are never going to need to have 600+W for that system you have to remember that its not the total wattage of the PSU that is important but the allocation of that power over the different voltages. So XFX say that the a system (based on a X6800) with a 8800GTS 512MB needs 26A on the 12v Rail (assuming a single rail set up) what 330W PSU is going to have that? Now I can't argue that it is never going to need that much in all likely hood but still better to be on the safe side.

So you are really looking at decent modern (for the right distribution of the different voltages) 450W and up to meet the specifications that the manufacturers suggest. My brother has just taken delivery of a 8800 GTS 512MB and is running it happily in a Phenom (no overclocking) system on a Corsair VX450.

In the OP situation I would probably be looking at (if modular is important) the Corsair HX520W or the Enermax Liberty 500W.

As for the rest of the spec I wouldn't bother with the Raptor too noisy and not enough performance gain over a first small partition of a decent 7200rpm drive for the cost in my opinion.

Edit: Motherboard wise I would be looking at the Abit IP-35 Dark Raider as a good solid contender ~£60 on Scan today only (usually) as for a CPU cooler you can't go wrong with the following 4 Thermalright Ultima 90, Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, Scythe Ninja and Scythe Mine. all will cool an OCed Q6600 no probelm at all

[tensim]

Everyone seems keen on the Abit IP-35... What are it's advantages over say the Asus P5K? Does it have a firewire port (I have an existing external drive that uses USB & Firewire, I'd like to be able to keep using it...)

The Raptor I wasn't sure about, I kind of figured a 10K rpm drive would be good for a system drive, as well as a paging drive for CS3. But if there's no real noticable gain then I'll certainly drop it, it is expensive!

Out of the 7200rpm drives, which one is the fastest: Seagate 7200.11, WD Caviar or Samsung Spinpoint F1?

cheers :-)

[UseItNow]

OK... how do I post a URL? not real good at this, sorry!

I don't think you have enough posts to do that yet.

[format]

I read in the latest edition of CustomPC, the samsung F1 or the WD caviar are 2 you can't go wrong with tbh.

[Webby]

Hard drive wise I would be looking at Western Digital AAKS quiet as a very quiet thing being quiet! Buy 2 of whatever size you fancy and then partition them into 2 or 3 pieces each use the first on on drive 1 for OS and programs use the first 1 on disc 2 for your photoshop page file they will be the fastest as they are at the edge of the platters which are physically moving faster than the middle of the platters so achieve higher read/write and access speeds. See Zaks partition guide for more info

[staffsMike]

The IP-35 is highly regarded because of both it's quality, price (£60 which is just stupid - on scan) and support. Support might be moving from the UK so we shall have to see how badly it suffers when it does but it's a great overclocking board for non crazy overclocks.

The dark raider with firewire is the one you will want. The P5K-E seems like a nice board though, you can't really go wrong with either.

[Blitzen]

ABIT are the best around mho.
As Mike says though, i can see that dropping off when they go to live in the windmills.

I really must admit, that when they do disappear to the mainland, i will probably defect to ASUS.

[RyanP13]

The RAM is good. I have this stuff but it is cheaper elsewhere so you can save yourself a few quid.

Overclockers have it on special this week only:

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK)

I know they get some bad press but it is OCZ therefore has a life tme warranty so you can just deal with them.

[RyanP13]

I have that PSU also. Very good for the money and (if i remember) Lambdatek is cheaper then ebuyer for this product.

Nice cable design, different to the sleeved ones you normally see. Alot thinner so you can get more air around your case.

Powers my E6750, 8800gt, 22" LG Monitor, Sound card, TV card, Samsung DVD and 4 HDD with enough left over to feed the ferret.