Wired-2-Fire Systems

[Rookie1986]

I have been talking with the W2F live support team this morning and we drew up two possible systems for my money that meet my needs,

System 1:

Case: Antec Three Hundred
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 650W
Processor: Core 2 Duo E8400 6MB cache
CPU Cooler: Standard CPU Cooler
Optimisation and Tuning: Wired2Fire Cable Management, Wired2Fire Overclocking, Wired2Fire Tuning
Graphics Card 1: BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC 896MB PCI Express 2.0
Memory: 4GB Corsair DDR2 800MHz C5 Twin2X
Motherboard: Asus P5N-D 750i Chipset Socket 775
Hard Disk Drive One: 500GB Caviar SE16 SATA 300
Optical Drive Two: NEC 4570A DVD-RW
Sound Card: Onboard sound
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic (64-bit)
Build Options: Standard Build (5-15 working days)
Warranty: Collect and Return Warranty (1 year + 1 year labour only)

£850 + £29 for Delivery,


System 2:

Case: Antec Three Hundred
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 650W
Processor: Core 2 Duo E8500 6MB cache
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Golden Orb Cooler
Optimisation and Tuning: Wired2Fire Cable Management, Wired2Fire Overclocking, Wired2Fire Tuning
Graphics Card 1: BFG GeForce 9800 GTX+ OC 512MB PCI Express
Memory: 4GB Corsair DDR2 800MHz C5 Twin2X
Motherboard: Asus P5N-D 750i Chipset Socket 775
Hard Disk Drive One: 320GB Caviar SE16 SATA 300
Optical Drive One: BTC DVD-Rom x16
Sound Card: Onboard sound
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
Build Options: Standard Build (5-15 working days)
Warranty: Collect and Return Warranty (1 year + 1 year labour only)

£852 + £29 for Delivery

Both are almost identical in price but have some differences in system spec, which of the two do you believe to be the better system and why?

Thanks Guys!
/Rookie

[Webby]

Can't they offer you a decent motherboard or PSU?

I would take the first option the small reduction in CPU speed (which could be regained by the mildest of overclocks) is very much worth the better GPU.

As for the PSU and MB I wouldn't touch either with a barge pole but hey if that's what they offer... just had a flick through the builds and on the ATI systems they offer the Asus P5Q Pro (a much better board) see how much more they want for that, they also offer some Antec True Power PSUs which I would be happier with as well.

Oh and if you get the first spec see how much more it is for a better CPU cooler (if its more than £25 save your money and get an after market one yourself)

Oh and get Home Premium if your getting Vista, Basic is very much that!

[Rookie1986]

Can't they offer you a decent motherboard or PSU?

I would take the first option the small reduction in CPU speed (which could be regained by the mildest of overclocks) is very much worth the better GPU.

As for the PSU and MB I wouldn't touch either with a barge pole but hey if that's what they offer... just had a flick through the builds and on the ATI systems they offer the Asus P5Q Pro (a much better board) see how much more they want for that, they also offer some Antec True Power PSUs which I would be happier with as well.

Oh and if you get the first spec see how much more it is for a better CPU cooler (if its more than £25 save your money and get an after market one yourself)

Oh and get Home Premium if your getting Vista, Basic is very much that!

What does the Asus P5N-D not offer that i would need? Same goes for the Thermaltake Toughpower 650W PSU?

They do offer a CPU cooler for £22 - Thermaltake Golden Orb Cooler - is this worth buying?

Sorry about the Vista Basic was a typo on my behalf, it is home premium when i checked,

/Rookie

[Webby]

The Intel Chipsets are more robust and stable than the nVidia ones on the whole and the P5Q Pro's only disadvantage (if it matters at all) is that it can not run SLi but unless you plan to do that now the is little point worrying abut it because by the time you get round to it better cards will be available which will blow SLi-ed 260s out of the water.

Thermaltake PSUs just are not the highest quality (Historically) and when your spending £850 on a PC you want its heart to be as good as it can be, ideally I would have put in a Corsair or Enermax unit.

I have just been looking at reviews of the Themaltake Toughpower QFan 650W if this is the model they are offering then it looks to be a decent supply, having also looked at more reviews on the Antec and the not Qfan toughpowers they are probably similar in quality so you get to pick, possibly worth staying with the Thermaltake and hoping its the QFan version!

As to the CPU cooler not read any reviews on it if that is all they offer I would stick with the stock cooler and ask if your warranty would be affected if you swapped the cooler yourself at a later date, you could get a lot more respected cooling for your £22 I'm sure.

EDIT: On Wired2Fire's site in the components section for the Thermaltake 650W (Link Here) the is a link to the products page and that takes you to the QFan page so go for that one Better choice all round good PSU and modular, its a pain when companies sort out there products make you feel silly for saying "no don't do it" when really everything is fine!

[Rookie1986]

The Intel Chipsets are more robust and stable than the nVidia ones on the whole and the P5Q Pro's only disadvantage (if it matters at all) is that it can not run SLi but unless you plan to do that now the is little point worrying abut it because by the time you get round to it better cards will be available which will blow SLi-ed 260s out of the water.

Thermaltake PSUs just are not the highest quality (Historically) and when your spending £850 on a PC you want its heart to be as good as it can be, ideally I would have put in a Corsair or Enermax unit.

I have just been looking at reviews of the Themaltake Toughpower QFan 650W if this is the model they are offering then it looks to be a decent supply, having also looked at more reviews on the Antec and the not Qfan toughpowers they are probably similar in quality so you get to pick, possibly worth staying with the Thermaltake and hoping its the QFan version!

As to the CPU cooler not read any reviews on it if that is all they offer I would stick with the stock cooler and ask if your warranty would be affected if you swapped the cooler yourself at a later date, you could get a lot more respected cooling for your £22 I'm sure.

EDIT: On Wired2Fire's site in the components section for the Thermaltake 650W (Link Here) the is a link to the products page and that takes you to the QFan page so go for that one

Thanks for the fast reply. So I would be better off seeing if they could offer the Asus P5Q Pro instead of the nVidia one?

Will mail them now about the warranty and see what they say.

Thanks for the research on the PSU

[Rookie1986]

Ok the will do the Asus P5Q Pro for an additional £2.

The warranty allows you to put any components in you like, however anything broken due to not taking enough care and attention while installing new components would result in having to pay for said broken part to be fixed/replaced.
It does not void the warranty even if you break something trying to fit your own components, which is great, exactly how a warranty should be!

[Webby]

Yeah for £2 I would definitely go for the P5Q Pro board, CPU cooler wise go with the stock cooler if you find the temperatures are too high or the noise is to great then we can suggest some CPU coolers in a budget to fit, but don't worry about it just yet.

[Rookie1986]

Thanks again Webby, i might drop them a mail to see if they have any other cpu cooler options available or if they would order and fit one of my choosing, its worth a go anyway,

/Rookie