Can I get your opinions on these two offers please?

[thegame]

Hi,

I'm looking for a new PC (photo editing (no video) and gaming mostly) and I've been having a few discussions with various manufacturers. In the end I've come up with 2 potential options.

It would be great if all the experts at these forums could give me their opinions on:
1) The system/components I've selected
2) Whether you would make any changes (and what would you change)
3) Whether the price is reasonable or if I should be looking to get more for the money (and where from)

Thanks in advance for your help, here are the systems:

Option 1 (£1145 inc VAT)

Antec Three Hundred Cool and Quiet Gaming Case
Thermaltake Toughpower W0131RE 850W Modular PSU
Asus P5N-E SLi NF650i Socket LGA775
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Retail Boxed (95W G0 Stepping)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO CPU Cooler (Socket 775)
nVidia GeForce 9800GX2 1GB PCI-E 2.0
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 SATA2 7200RPM 32MB cache
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray/HD DVD-ROM
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-Express
Patriot 4GB PC2-6400 C4 Viper Extreme Performance (2x2GB) -ultra low timings of 4-4-4-12
Netgear WG311 v3 54Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter
Logitech Internet 1500 Laser Cordless Desktop

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM
Microsoft Windows XP Home OEM
24 months Collect and Return PC Warranty

Option 2 (£1235 inc VAT)

Antec Three Hundred Cool and Quiet Gaming Case
Thermaltake Toughpower W0131RE 850W Modular PSU
Asus P5E X38 Socket 775 Crossfire Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz (Retail 775)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO CPU Cooler (Socket 775)
nVidia GeForce 9800GX2 1GB PCI-E 2.0
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 SATA2 7200RPM 32MB cache
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray/HD DVD-ROM
No soundcard - use onboard audio
Patriot 4GB PC2-6400 C4 Viper Extreme Performance (2x2GB) -ultra low timings of 4-4-4-12
Saitek Eclipse 2 Illuminated Keyboard - Blue/Red/Purple

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM
Microsoft Windows XP Home OEM

24 months Collect and Return PC Warranty

I may drop the Vista/XP option (I was going to dual boot, but now I'm thinking I'll just go with Vista)

Look forward to hearing your views.

[staffsMike]

Odd case to use for such an expensive build was my first thought lol.

Both pretty good but very pricey it has to be said. What monitor are you planning on running this on. THe 9800GX2 is massive overkill for most and with the new cards out this coming wekk it may be worth waiting.

[rufeo]

both look pretty good. in terms of value for money then i think a load of ppl here will suggest getting the q6600 and a good cooler and then overclock, since pretty much all of them are guaranteed to oc quite nicely. psu seems a bit ott though..... are you looking into sli or crossfire? as the first one is based on a nvidia chipset so it'll support sli, but because it isn't a 680i then two cards won't be running at 16x but at 8x.

the second machine's mobo is crossfire only (as its intel) so you can only put two ati cards in it at the same time and not nvidia ones. if you can hold out for a couple of weeks then wait for the new wave of graphics cards to come out before buying.

one other thing is the soundcard, alot of ppl will say that onboard sound is ok. whereas others say that there is a noticeable difference. i've got a creatiive x-fi and haven't had any problems, but a load of ppl have. if there's an option then maybe try the asus dx, it seems better than the x-fi and has better driver support apparently

[BUFF]

If you are thinking of overclocking the P5N-E SLI & a Quad is not a good match.

Why a P5E rather than a P5K (or perhaps P5Q) variant?

[thegame]

Thanks for such a quick reply staffsMike,

I am trying to keep costs down, but can't resist a few nice bits and pieces inside. Outside, I don't really care what the case looks like, and that was what the suppliers were offering (I suspect cos it was cheaper). But reviews said it was fine? Should I change it? Would there be any issues with cooling for the GX2?

I am running it on a Dell 24inch monitor and want to be able to run Crysis at 1920 res.

Thanks for the advice on the new GFX cards. When do they hit the street/PC builders? Can't wait long as I'm selling my current system and can't be PC-less!!!!

Which of the two options would you go for? Or something else entirely?

[thegame]

Thanks rufeo and Buff,

This is great, 3 replies already! What a forum! :-)

Rufeo...
Not really looking at sli at the moment (not seen any real benefits from reviews for putting 2 GX2s together) but wouldn't mind the option in future. I read an article (I forget where) that there is litle difference in performance between 8x and 16x with sli. Is this the case?

The supplier of the 2nd PC doesn't have 680/780 etc boards in stock, hence the Crossfire MB.

I think I'm okay with onboard sound, that's one area where I'd be happy to save some cash (need 7.1 sound though to go with existing speaker set up).

I think I may well have to hold on for a couple of weeks for the new GFX card.

Buff...
Can you elaborate please? I know very little about Motherboards, so don't know the reasons for selecting a P5E over a P5K - I'm guessing the reason they've offered this option is because of the price?

I'm a bit concerned you think it's a bad match, as I want to o/c the CPUs to around 3.0 at least.

Please keep the advice coming guys, this is very very useful!

[staffsMike]

Both nice setups certainly. The new cards are coming out this week I think. Should be plenty for 1920 x 1200 as this is the resolution all the new cards are really trying to do justice to.

The antec three hundred is OK. It's just a bit basic. Cooling is pretty good but something like the coolermaster Cm-690 is better at a measly £10 more

GX2 is certainly a pretty toasty card but either case should handle it.

My money would go on.

Intel Q6600 + Scythe Ninja
4GB PC6400 RAM
Abit IP-35 dark raider or pro
640GB western Digital AAKS + whatever other storage
Corsair 520/620W HX PSU
Samsung DVD writer
Coolermaster CM-60/ antec solo / antec P182

+ Whichever new graphics card suits (around £200)

Cool, quiet and powerful before overclocking which is also taken care of

All in it shouldn't be more than £800 for that + £60 for an operating system.

But that would be building it youself. YoYotech could sell you something similar and put it together for you

At the sort of price you were looking at this is nice to (configured with a Q9450)
http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ConfigureSystem.asp?SystemID=741

[Noxvayl]

Building yourself could save you loads of money or it could get you better components for the price. Whichever you choose building it yourself allows you to get a better understanding of your PC and how it works which is very helpful. I'd recommend building it yourself even if its your first time. Myself and others here have experience building PC's(well we have done it more than 4 times at least) and are more than happy to help you out with information on what to do and also trouble shooting if something does happen to go wrong(which isn't likely but you can't rule it out).

For £1200 you could get these components and build the PC yourself:
Coolermaster CM-690 The case I currently have and its a lovely case with good cooling
HP DVD+-RW retail with nero Quite like HP products myself
Intel Q9450 top quality CPU
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme heatsink with this fan to help cool your quad better. Thats the exact same cooler and fan I am using with great results
2x 500Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Enterprise Edition Lovely hard drive
Microsoft Reclusa Ultimate keyboard Good looking with backlit keys and good comfort.
Microsoft habu mouse Cool looking and good function, would normally recommend the Logitech G5 which I have and love but decided to stick with Microsoft keyboard plus mouse
4Gb Corsair DDR2 PC8500 1066Mhz great memory for a great price
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6 because I love Gigabyte and your waiting for the GFX card anyway so why not wait for the new chipset to finally get the e-tailers
Enermax MODU82+ Great PSU and modular is very convenient so you don't have too many cables in your case.
Auzentech X-Fi Prelude because you have the extra money to indulge in better components when building your own computer


That brings me to £1025 including delivery(you can get free shipping from scan from the care@hexus sceme ) so it leaves around £200 for a GFX card and if you decide the GFX is more important than a sound card you could always drop the Auzentech X-Fi and use £300 for one of the new GFX cards

All you need to do with that is put it together and by asking a few questions here at hexus I'm sure you can become confident enough to build the computer. Its easier than you think and highly satisfying knowing that the machine you work on was built by your own hands

[FifthFreedom]

Well of course Exhail is right....

I just bought my parts on SCAN and I'm so glad I did.

There service truly is excellent...

Lets hope I don't have to return any of it...

[thegame]

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. I really appreciate your advice.

I'm not entirely comfortable building my own PC - I've had a few issues in the past, breaking motherboards and fusing memory, etc. I guess I'm not the most nimble fingered guy! Having said that, I may decide to try it, but I'd need to see significant savings, and from pricing everything up it looks like I'll save about £100 or so. I think I'd rather have it pre-built and with a warranty unless I can save "big".

Out of interest, which manufacturers would you recommend? I've been speaking to Mesh, Eclipse, Gladiator, Cyberpower, Chillblast so far.

I notice a few of you have suggested alternative systems. Turning my original question a slightly different way, if you had around £1000 to 1200 (inc VAT) to spend (for a pre-built system) what would be the configuration you would go for?

It would be great if people could give reasons for their choices (like ExHail did - thanks) so I can get a greater understanding of the components as we go through.

I'm also still interested in your thoughts and any tweaks I could make to the current quotes though.

I have taken on board all the comments about the new graphics cards coming soon and will probably wait for a few weeks to see what happens. Is there any concrete info about specifications (all I've read so far is rumour and conjecture rather than tests)?

[Splash]

All you need to do with that is put it together and by asking a few questions here at hexus I'm sure you can become confident enough to build the computer. Its easier than you think and highly satisfying knowing that the machine you work on was built by your own hands

Don't forget the OS...

[Blitzen]

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. I really appreciate your advice.

I'm not entirely comfortable building my own PC - I've had a few issues in the past, breaking motherboards and fusing memory, etc. I guess I'm not the most nimble fingered guy! Having said that, I may decide to try it, but I'd need to see significant savings, and from pricing everything up it looks like I'll save about £100 or so. I think I'd rather have it pre-built and with a warranty unless I can save "big".

Out of interest, which manufacturers would you recommend? I've been speaking to Mesh, Eclipse, Gladiator, Cyberpower, Chillblast so far.

I notice a few of you have suggested alternative systems. Turning my original question a slightly different way, if you had around £1000 to 1200 (inc VAT) to spend (for a pre-built system) what would be the configuration you would go for?

It would be great if people could give reasons for their choices (like ExHail did - thanks) so I can get a greater understanding of the components as we go through.

I'm also still interested in your thoughts and any tweaks I could make to the current quotes though.

I have taken on board all the comments about the new graphics cards coming soon and will probably wait for a few weeks to see what happens. Is there any concrete info about specifications (all I've read so far is rumour and conjecture rather than tests)?

Firstly AVOID MESH AND ECLIPSE LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!
Its not so long ago that MESH were looking like they were in financial trouble and were having problems with warranties. They used to have a section but they disappeared. The fella that ran it seemed good but the company as a whole isnt great.
Eclipse are supposed to have very poor customer service also so they should probably be avoided.
Personally i wouldnt spend £50 with either of those companies let alone £1000+

The others you mentioned i have no experience of.

Take a look here: http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=496

[Muska]

Firstly AVOID MESH AND ECLIPSE LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!
Its not so long ago that MESH were looking like they were in financial trouble and were having problems with warranties. They used to have a section but they disappeared. The fella that ran it seemed good but the company as a whole isnt great.
Eclipse are supposed to have very poor customer service also so they should probably be avoided.
Personally i wouldnt spend £50 with either of those companies let alone £1000+

The others you mentioned i have no experience of.

Take a look here: http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=496

true, i would include cyberpower on the no-no list as well - customer support is dreadful, you are better off building the system yourself if you are not afraid of course, the guys here have given you plenty of choices

[Noxvayl]

Don't forget the OS...

lol I had that feeling I was missing something... dammit

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. I really appreciate your advice.

I'm not entirely comfortable building my own PC - I've had a few issues in the past, breaking motherboards and fusing memory, etc. I guess I'm not the most nimble fingered guy! Having said that, I may decide to try it, but I'd need to see significant savings, and from pricing everything up it looks like I'll save about £100 or so. I think I'd rather have it pre-built and with a warranty unless I can save "big".

Out of interest, which manufacturers would you recommend? I've been speaking to Mesh, Eclipse, Gladiator, Cyberpower, Chillblast so far.

I notice a few of you have suggested alternative systems. Turning my original question a slightly different way, if you had around £1000 to 1200 (inc VAT) to spend (for a pre-built system) what would be the configuration you would go for?

It would be great if people could give reasons for their choices (like ExHail did - thanks) so I can get a greater understanding of the components as we go through.

I'm also still interested in your thoughts and any tweaks I could make to the current quotes though.

I have taken on board all the comments about the new graphics cards coming soon and will probably wait for a few weeks to see what happens. Is there any concrete info about specifications (all I've read so far is rumour and conjecture rather than tests)?

As I said in terms of the building it yourself you could either go for better quality products or you could get the same cheaper products as the custom built systems and save lots on them individually. My recommendation to you was for the same sort of components that are of better quality and therefore would normally cost more. If you asked Scan to put the components I asked for into a system it would more than likely come to £1300-£1400 because they are more expensive than the ones on the pre-built systems.

Here is a quick throw together of the same sort of components you get in a pre-built system that makes the price cheaper:


£200 saving which is nothing to cough at. I wouldn't get the 9800GX2 but I put it in there to show you the full price with one of the new GFX cards costing a similar price.

The main reason I don't like the custom built setups is because they don't truly give you a choice on the components. They have a limit of how many components they can offer for each system and lots of the time I find that the graphics card is not to my liking and the same goes for the motherboard and peripherals. I know with scan you can phone them up and request specific items as long as you have the full list and they bend over backwards to get that setup quoted and in your email ASAP so that's a feather in Scans cap that I can't say for others.

I still stick with my first linked recommendation but I would remove the sound card and get the OS instead(can't believe I forgot the OS ). The first recommendation has a better motherboard, better memory(quite a big difference as the first specification uses D9 micron chips which are extremely good and the other uses corsair's in house chip which isn't as good) and the CPU cooler isn't nearly as good as the TRUE+120mm fan. The first recommendation is more expensive yes but it has better quality components that would aid your computer to be not only faster but have better overclocks and last longer with the newer technology.

[moogle]

I wouldn't get the GX2 in such a small case. Reason being the GX2 is a double slot power hungry card and seeing as it's a dual pcb rather than 1, the DVI/HDMI connectors aren't in one line but spread across the PCB's leaving a small vent hole at the bottom to exhaust heat.



It will be putting quite a bit of heat back into the system. I would recommend to wait for the newer cards to come out.

I'd still say building it yourself is the best way, but if you are still worried check out http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk

They have good pricing and so far I haven't heard anything bad about them.

If you are doing self build and still have a working pc you could always pop back on here to ask for help.

[Noxvayl]

That's another way to look at why not to get the GX2 but I just dislike it because its WAY overpriced and extremely hot and noisy with its fan. Basically everything I avoid when purchasing a GFX card.

As I think everyone at hexus would recommend you need to wait for the new GFX cards to come out. No point purchasing old tech if it becomes obsolete in a few weeks is it.