Back to PC!

Well after a long time using Macs i'm coming back to PC!

Not ditching the Mac, still going to be my main machine. But i need a pc for some up and coming games in 2009. Operation Flashpoint and/or Arma2.

Please see the below screenshot for the spec.

I already have the following on the shelf.

Hard Drives (WD and Seagate)
Mouse
Chenbro Gaming Bomb 2 Black - the case in the screen grab is to replace my dad's pc case as he wanted a smaller one.

I was thinking of spending the extra and going for the i7, but wondered what you guys thought? I'm a bit rusty as i've been outta the PC field for a little while.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...n/Picture4.png

Cheers

Just for gaming then? If so I wouldn't bother with the quad tbh. Unless those games actually make use of quad (no idea.. ) then it generally isn't worth it.

The case is a bit naff by todays standards. I would get the Coolermaster CM-690 if you want decent cooling etc.. Antec 300 isn't bad either.

graphics card is a bit overkill for the monitor.. but again, no idea what those games are like.

Q6600 will be just as effective for gaming, especially if overclocked. But as I said something as cheap and cheerful as the pentium dual core E5200 will be just as effective as a similarly clocked quad in most games.. and they are £60.

I have the freezer 7 pro and don't like it.. too noisey.

You won't need the fan controller with a better case.

Better off with the biostar P45, better board overall as the basic asus is.. well.. basic.

The PSU is great.. but not at that price. If the enermax modu82+ 525W is cheaper, get that. Tbh I would forget modular right now and get the Enermax Proe82+ 525W as they are better value.

£44 for a keyboard?

£38 :)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Saite...media-Keyboard

32bit only vista DVD. This day and age that's a nono - not so much for wasting a small proportion of your 4gb ram but for futureproofing. Compatibility problems are rarely an issue these days other than very old hardware.

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

Just for gaming then? If so I wouldn't bother with the quad tbh. Unless those games actually make use of quad (no idea.. ) then it generally isn't worth it.

The case is a bit naff by todays standards. I would get the Coolermaster CM-690 if you want decent cooling etc.. Antec 300 isn't bad either.

graphics card is a bit overkill for the monitor.. but again, no idea what those games are like.

Q6600 will be just as effective for gaming, especially if overclocked. But as I said something as cheap and cheerful as the pentium dual core E5200 will be just as effective as a similarly clocked quad in most games.. and they are £60.

I have the freezer 7 pro and don't like it.. too noisey.

You won't need the fan controller with a better case.

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Thanks for your reply.

The games will be making use of the Quad architecture, so gonna need quad as a minimum. Is i7 not worth paying the extra for?

Any suggestions on the Heatsink? Maybe Akasa?

I know the case is a bit dated, but it's a good case. The other cases i was think about was the Akasa Eclipse 62. Again an old case, but still a great performer.

I have the eclipse 62. Nice case but.. not worth the money compared to something like the antec P182 or even the coolermaster CM-690 imo.

Making use of.. and making good use of are two different stories but I'll take your word. i7.. I think it might actually prove useful to wait a week or so for what happens with AMD's phenom II's which are set to be very good CPU's. Also the motherboards they work in are a lot cheaper as is the RAM.

I actually have an unused copy of Vista 64bit ultimate. Reason why i haven't used it was because the lack of driver support. What's the support like these days?

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Originally Posted by Reapsy

£44 for a keyboard?

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Us mac people are all about design. It just looks cool!

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Originally Posted by darrensen

I actually have an unused copy of Vista 64bit ultimate. Reason why i haven't used it was because the lack of driver support. What's the support like these days?

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The reason i didnt use it to, im now back on it on all 3 pc's in the house, works flawlessly.

64bit is fine, especially with games. Almost everything worth having has support for vista 64 :)

You'll need a better case, and also a better cooler as your getting a quad, a better cooler would also allow you to oc it alot :D

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Originally Posted by Reapsy

£44 for a keyboard?

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It has a proper sized enter key ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by darrensen

Thanks for your reply.

The games will be making use of the Quad architecture, so gonna need quad as a minimum. Is i7 not worth paying the extra for?

Any suggestions on the Heatsink? Maybe Akasa?

I know the case is a bit dated, but it's a good case. The other cases i was think about was the Akasa Eclipse 62. Again an old case, but still a great performer.

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Heatsink? Overclocking? If not then an Arctic Freezer will be nice and silent.

No i7 is not worth paying extra for at the moment. You don't get any extra performance in games. Well not enough for the premium you pay :)

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Originally Posted by darrensen

I actually have an unused copy of Vista 64bit ultimate. Reason why i haven't used it was because the lack of driver support. What's the support like these days?

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It's great, boots up maybe a few seconds slower than XP but if you have aero enabled you can use it instantly as it gets to desktop.

Ok here we go... a revised spec....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Picture2-3.jpg

Just a shade under £1300.

Thats one pricey machine! My 2 cents..

Ditch the fan controller, wait until its built to see if you need one

Change the DVD from Samsung to Pioneer or Sony, the Samsungs are supposed to be good writers but mine is very noisey (same as yours except not LightScribe)

Save yourself some money on the CPU, something half the price will do and it'll take about 5 minutes to OC it to 3ghz+, especially with a £100 board, either a Q6600, E5200 or E8XXX

Unless you have the WD HDD already I would switch to a Samsung F1 Cool, Quiet & Quick and less money

I think I saw the same monitor on Ebuyer for £135 the other day so you can make a saving, however the whole spec seems a bit high considering you'll be playing on a max resolution of 1680x1050

Wow I've never seen someone change their mind from a £30 case to a £200 one before!

If you really want a spec this high might as well buy a 1920x1200 Monitor

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Originally Posted by Maccer101

Thats one pricey machine! My 2 cents..

Ditch the fan controller, wait until its built to see if you need one

Change the DVD from Samsung to Pioneer or Sony, the Samsungs are supposed to be good writers but mine is very noisey (same as yours except not LightScribe)

Save yourself some money on the CPU, something half the price will do and it'll take about 5 minutes to OC it to 3ghz+, especially with a £100 board, either a Q6600, E5200 or E8XXX

Unless you have the WD HDD already I would switch to a Samsung F1 Cool, Quiet & Quick and less money

I think I saw the same monitor on Ebuyer for £135 the other day so you can make a saving, however the whole spec seems a bit high considering you'll be playing on a max resolution of 1680x1050

Wow I've never seen someone change their mind from a £30 case to a £200 one before!

If you really want a spec this high might as well buy a 1920x1200 Monitor

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The cheap case was for my dad, who has my good case.

Decided against having to rebuild his machine with the cheap case and treat myself. I will go for the Samsung DVD drive.

Is it worth paying all that extra for the Q9400? the Q6600 has a decent amount of cache and is an easy over clocker, goes to 3.0Ghz easy and a whole lot more if you tweak.

Mind you... looks like you have the money to spend, nice spec.

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

Just for gaming then? If so I wouldn't bother with the quad tbh. Unless those games actually make use of quad (no idea.. ) then it generally isn't worth it.

The case is a bit naff by todays standards. I would get the Coolermaster CM-690 if you want decent cooling etc.. Antec 300 isn't bad either.

graphics card is a bit overkill for the monitor.. but again, no idea what those games are like.

Q6600 will be just as effective for gaming, especially if overclocked. But as I said something as cheap and cheerful as the pentium dual core E5200 will be just as effective as a similarly clocked quad in most games.. and they are £60.

I have the freezer 7 pro and don't like it.. too noisey.

You won't need the fan controller with a better case.

Better off with the biostar P45, better board overall as the basic asus is.. well.. basic.

The PSU is great.. but not at that price. If the enermax modu82+ 525W is cheaper, get that. Tbh I would forget modular right now and get the Enermax Proe82+ 525W as they are better value.

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you find it noisey? its very silent!! do you use SpeedFan to force it to run at a lower speed? at 100% its very noisey, i run it at 30 - 40% which is very good, lol i usually put my hand behind to feel, if it is warm i turn it up, if not then i leave it..

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Originally Posted by darrensen

Us mac people are all about design. It just looks cool!

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haha us mac people yah!?

i just got some Bose companion 5 speakers and my god!!! a definite good set!!
too expensive tho..

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Originally Posted by vincent.m

you find it noisey? its very silent!! do you use SpeedFan to force it to run at a lower speed? at 100% its very noisey, i run it at 30 - 40% which is very good, lol i usually put my hand behind to feel, if it is warm i turn it up, if not then i leave it..

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I run it at 65% because anything less and my cpu starts to cook. I have high standards for noise these days and it just doesn't cut it.

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

I run it at 65% because anything less and my cpu starts to cook. I have high standards for noise these days and it just doesn't cut it.

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how come it gets so hot? you OC the cpu? i even have passive cooling for my GFX card.. (not the one in the my system thing) my room one.

oh also, my cpu always displays -64^c anyway to solve it?!?! i did use a different monitor thingy, but i really want SpeedFan to control everything i like the interface..

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Originally Posted by synaesthesia

32bit only vista DVD. This day and age that's a nono - not so much for wasting a small proportion of your 4gb ram but for futureproofing. Compatibility problems are rarely an issue these days other than very old hardware.

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+1 on this

Right this is going to be the final spec.....

Was going to downgrade the CPU but for the sake of saving a few quid, i though i'd just go with the 2.6 and if i feel like oc'ing i'll go from there.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...finalbuild.png

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Originally Posted by darrensen

Right this is going to be the final spec.....

Was going to downgrade the CPU but for the sake of saving a few quid, i though i'd just go with the 2.6 and if i feel like oc'ing i'll go from there.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...finalbuild.png

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case is pretty expensive no? just wondering whats so good about the Lian-Li cases?

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Originally Posted by vincent.m

case is pretty expensive no? just wondering whats so good about the Lian-Li cases?

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Quality, Aluminium and general size :D

Although that one is a bit too small and expensive for it's price.

I'd get the full tower version instead.

With the case, make sure its got ample headroom for upgrades. I've learnt that not getting a bigger case can be very troublesome later down the line, the hard way!
The CM-690 would be perfect.
Oh and if you're spending that much on a fan, get a noctua 120mm.