Game: Dream Build 5000

[richieuk]

Welcome to another edition of..

HEXUS
Dream Build 5000!

The rules are simple, post your Dream computer homebuild! The only rules are that the build must cost no more than £5000!

Your judges will be SiM, Taktak and StaffsMike. They will rate your builds out of 100, with points deducted for the amount of pounds over the budget!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rules :
-Cables not included
-Quotes must be from from Ebuyer or SCAN only
-No special offer prices can be used (unless impossible to buy without)
-No prebuilt systems Thats CHEATING!
-All pictures of build can be uploaded to (http://xs.to)
-Absolutley everything must be included for it to work other than cables, inc Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers, Monitor etc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Example



Build Price : £5002
(Maximum possible score 98/100 *£2 over budget*)

[staffsMike]

Does that mean we don't get to play?

You also only imply that you have to build one computer and not several

[Will404]

Would use current monitor, speackers, keyboard, mouse

Price 5004, take the 14 shipping off, and its under

[SSK]

Heres mine -



do i get extra points for it being under

[Zhaoman]

Foxconn Blackops
Intel Q9550
4Gb Corsair DDR3
Dell 2408WFP (x3)
Matrox TripleHead2Go
HD4870 (x3)
Asus Xonar D2X
Corsair HX1000
640Gb WD AAKS (x8)
Zalman LQ1000 Z-Machine
LG Blu-Ray & HD-DVD
Microsoft Habu mouse
Razer Lycosa keyboard
Gigaworks S750
Windows Vista Ultimate

Total: 4832.99 all from Scan

(all components are retail packages except for HDs)

Notes: I chose the Foxconn as this mobo and CPU as this mobo can clock stably to over 530Mhz on air and over 700Mhz on LN2. Such headroom means a QX9650 isn't needed! This mobo also restricts graphics choice to ATi GPUs but with the X2 coming and with such ferocious overclocking headroom I think the mobo is worth it.

Had I been allowed to order from all retailers, I would've gone for a Swiftech Custom kit but the Zalman XT is a powerful kit and coupled with a Z-Machine it will be fit for the purpose.

I was forced to choose the ATi cards because of my choice of motherboard, not that the 4870 is that much slower than a GTX280. Obviously if the X2 was out then 2 of them would've been included instead.

The speakers may be slightly controversial but it offers (arguably) a more natural sound than the Z-5500s because it doesn't bump up the high-mid frequencies. You could say that the extra £50 is not worth the extra 2 speakers but this is a money no object build!

The choice of hard disk may seem strange as but since the 640Gb is, for all intents and purposes, the same speed as the Velociraptors I thought having 8 of them would give more flexibility when it comes to storage.

I could've chosen any mouse and keyboard tbh as there are so many good ones out there. I settled on the Habu as it was very well regarded among those who have used it and the Lycosa for the same reasons.

The centrepiece of my system is the three 24" displays connected by the Matrox TripleHead2Go. this allows for an output resolution of 5760 x 1200. Tbh only the newest games can output to that resolution successfully but all future games should support this resolution as well; and watching the dirt zoom past on Race Driver: Grid sounds awesome!

[staffsMike]

Nice

No one fancies skulltrail then?

[Zhaoman]

Skulltrail's too old

When doing my post I considered Skulltrail but the Blackops board is so amazing it would be a crime not to include it. The package comes with a plexiglass open test bed and LN2 pot! The board even has a cold start button for starting from sub-zero temperatures
Foxconn has also posted a 740Mhz FSB achieved with the board and CPC managed to run 530Mhz stable after a "brief" twiddle in the BIOS! It all sounds too good to be true

[shadowcreaper]

i think this kidna silly, sinse if you having monitors ect, which you have 2.. it kinda stupid tbh trying to make a dream build.

i think we need to make better rules ie:

1: dream build must be ONLY PC. nothin else ie monitors lcd ect otherwise it becomes stupid.

ie you can end up with 2.5 k pc then a 2.5 k monitor which i dout is a dream build.

i think before we start this off mods need to relook at rules and make them so:

ONLY PC not monitors, mouse keyboard ect.

otherwise it becomes less PC focus and more lets just buy exspencive extras.

[Will404]

i think this kidna silly, sinse if you having monitors ect, which you have 2.. it kinda stupid tbh trying to make a dream build.

i think we need to make better rules ie:

1: dream build must be ONLY PC. nothin else ie monitors lcd ect otherwise it becomes stupid.

ie you can end up with 2.5 k pc then a 2.5 k monitor which i dout is a dream build.

i think before we start this off mods need to relook at rules and make them so:

ONLY PC not monitors, mouse keyboard ect.

otherwise it becomes less PC focus and more lets just buy exspencive extras.

Mine was, ran out before got the the extras

[Zhaoman]

i think this kidna silly, sinse if you having monitors ect, which you have 2.. it kinda stupid tbh trying to make a dream build.

i think we need to make better rules ie:

1: dream build must be ONLY PC. nothin else ie monitors lcd ect otherwise it becomes stupid.

ie you can end up with 2.5 k pc then a 2.5 k monitor which i dout is a dream build.

i think before we start this off mods need to relook at rules and make them so:

ONLY PC not monitors, mouse keyboard ect.

otherwise it becomes less PC focus and more lets just buy exspencive extras.

I think it would become quite pointless if it was just the PC as the most interesting systems at the £5000 price point are custom modded builds. To fill the budget with a non-custom build you would have to use Skulltrail and GTX280s which defeats the purpose imo...

[directhex]

This machine breaks boundaries I haven't done since I found sgi.com allowed you to spec up Windows NT workstations.

Okay, first, the money shot:


8 cores, at 3.2GHz, courtesy Skulltrail. 1 GiB of fully buffered RAM per core, making 8 GiB total (and only that little because Scan don't sell 4 gig FB-DIMMs). Vista Ultimate. Blu-Ray burner. SLI GTX280s. Velociraptor for OS, F1 for data. Silverstone case for E-ATX Intel D5400XS. Logitech keyboard/mouse (I find them nicer than MS, if not as reliable).

Personal touches: no speakers, instead a high-end gaming-capable headset (because a machine like this shouldn't be shared). One 27" Dell monitor (because all those Blu-Ray movies will suck spanned across a pair of smaller screens, and I ran out of money for Skulltrail AND 30"). And, because you should be unstoppable, an under-desk UPS. Downtime is for losers.

Total cost: £4996.73 delivered

[directhex]

I think it would become quite pointless if it was just the PC as the most interesting systems at the £5000 price point are custom modded builds. To fill the budget with a non-custom build you would have to use Skulltrail and GTX280s which defeats the purpose imo...

Skulltrail and GTX280s you say?

[staffsMike]

Must admit directhex, that is the sort of thing I was looking for but wouldn't you need S771 CPU's and coolers?

If you are going to build an ultimate/dream/f'in waste of money.. machine you might as well have a purpose beyond the normal. With something like that machine you could assingn 4 - 6 cores to folding and still have all the gaming power you need

Love the UPS touch as well, you want to shut these £5000 PC's down nicely in a power cut don't you?

[directhex]

Must admit directhex, that is the sort of thing I was looking for but wouldn't you need S771 CPU's and coolers?

The QX9775 is s771 - the most expensive s771 chip about, as it happens. I was originally speccing with slightly lower spec Xeons, but I'm not sure if the Skulltrail board will allow it (if so, 30" is no problem since even a 3.4GHz quadcore Xeon is about £250 cheaper than a QX9775). And the D5400XS allows some (but not all) 775 coolers to be used, including definite support for the Zalmans I chose

[directhex]

coo, it DOES support xeon. that means i want to shuffle the spec a bit. hold on, i'll update the original image with it

[staffsMike]

My apologies I saw the QX9775 and replied without thinking

I'd imagine these were better coolers.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=683686