£1600 for upgrade/ new build

[CrazyMonkey]

1. A top-class monitor.

2. A really, really good chair.

PC components come and go, but those two will be in his possession a long time.

Totally agreed, a REALLY good chair is on my next list of things, then hold out a while longer before a pc upgrade

[scaryjim]

AFAIK there are currently very few RTSes that make good use of even 4 cores, let alone the 8 virtual cores of an i7. Clearly your friend has been sucked in by Intel's hype machine. If he really wants current technology then I'd recommend he goes Phenom II and a proper AM3 platform - that way he gets to boast about his cutting edge DDR3 RAM etc, but still has sensible money for a 22" - 24" 1920 x 1200 montior and, as others have said, a ncie comfy chair Otherwise he's going to have about £500-worth of his rig sitting idle while his buttocks go numb

[Sputnik]

Totally agreed, a REALLY good chair is on my next list of things, then hold out a while longer before a pc upgrade

I want a really good chair too. My current one is getting on now and it's either buy a new one or get this one re- upholstered.

[Disturbedguy]

Indeed.

He is an Intel only person..whatever floats his boat I guess, but always wants the best he can afford..even if it costs more.

[shaithis]

He is an Intel only person..whatever floats his boat I guess, but always wants the best he can afford..even if it costs more.

In that case, I would just leave him to do the whole lot himself, including choosing the parts. He obviously knows what he wants, I would save yourself a potential headache and not get involved

[colmo]

In that case, I would just leave him to do the whole lot himself, including choosing the parts. He obviously knows what he wants, I would save yourself a potential headache and not get involved

Totally agreed - it sounds like he was simply showing off the specs of the PC he has already set his mind on building than seriously asking for your advice.

Frankly, my own PC, which cost a fraction of your friend's budget over a year ago, is about right for his needs.

I'm a believer in holding back money for future upgrades, and don't like paying those premiums for the top-end stuff, when two rungs down gives you 90% of that performance at 50% of the price.

Considering these cash-strapped times, he'd do worse than holding onto some of the cash for a rainy day...

Btw, I'm adding the chair suggestion to my sig. - it seems to have struck a cord here

[matty-hodgson]

Bloody hell Matty that must be a powerhouse?! How long have you had that?

You using the SSDs for gaming?


SSDs look like a good option for some pricey bling, also a blue ray writer?

errmm.. i've had it about a month and half i think.
it's a bit loud for my liking, but i'm gonna get some aftermarket coolers for the GFX cards cos they're the things that are creating all the noise

i use the SSDs for everything.
turned off indexing and virtual memory.

moving from my old computer, that had a similar spec to yours, to this didn't really have that much effect, but adding the 4 SSDs has made a HUGE difference
hitting 500mbps read speed too, which is just amazing
basically what i'm getting at there is: SSDs make a huge difference and adding them to my last computer would've probably been just as good.
they did cost just shy of £500 though.

[MadduckUK]

they did cost just shy of £500 though.

i think i may wait a while on them. i need to do something though. im only hitting about 75 on my windows drive.

kill off xp and re-raid the aaks's with just 7?

[Disturbedguy]

Ive tried telling him he doesnt need anything so powerfull for his need's, tried talking him out of getting the Rampage 2 and even sticking with one GFX card, but he is a stubborn mule.

He can show off all he wants, we both work at the same place and earn the same money so he hasnt got anything I cant have, I just dont feel the need to upgrade yet, maybe next year..depends when and if I get a payrise and if I do get a payrise, how much it is.

[Main]

In that case, I would just leave him to do the whole lot himself, including choosing the parts. He obviously knows what he wants, I would save yourself a potential headache and not get involved

Do this. You tried, but it sounds like he never really wanted advice to begin with. He sounds like the type that'll quietly fume if you beat him in any one department, even if you never bought to compete.

You also have my permission to punch him if he puts all of this in a cheap/crap case

[Disturbedguy]

Nope he getting a decent case, but wouldnt be my choice.

He going for an Antec 1200

My choice would be either a Coolermaster HAF or ANY of the HUGE Silverstone cases.

Priced up my system at the same budget but work wont let me upload to image shack..so balls to it.

[Badbonji]

errmm.. i've had it about a month and half i think.
it's a bit loud for my liking, but i'm gonna get some aftermarket coolers for the GFX cards cos they're the things that are creating all the noise

i use the SSDs for everything.
turned off indexing and virtual memory.

moving from my old computer, that had a similar spec to yours, to this didn't really have that much effect, but adding the 4 SSDs has made a HUGE difference
hitting 500mbps read speed too, which is just amazing
basically what i'm getting at there is: SSDs make a huge difference and adding them to my last computer would've probably been just as good.
they did cost just shy of £500 though.

I was going to get SSD's once they mature more, people still have problems with certain SSD's especially with JMicron controllers, and the intel ones.
Why not overclock that i7? It can hit 3.8Ghz+ and you know you want to

[matty-hodgson]

Why not overclock that i7? It can hit 3.8Ghz+ and you know you want to

i had it overclocked to 3.72GHz first try.. but i kept getting stability issues, and i can't really be arsed faffing about.
it's amazingly fast at everything anyway, so i'm just gonna leave it

[Pob255]

personally my response would be "why are you asking me if you've already decided what you are going to get?"
Yes it's total overkill for what he want to do with it, yes some of the bit's he's getting are preimum models that are going to be totally wasted, yes he's spending far too much.
Heck your system would be more than enough for wow and rts's.

I'd love to be able to spend that sort of cash on a pc, it would involve a 3D monitor, a high end "pro" graphics card and a silverstone case . . . actually that would probably be most of the £1600
But you can bet I wouldn't be using it to play WoW

EDIT:Matty did you use a special shoehorn to fit all that into an Antec 300 or just a regular shoehorn?

[MSIC]

I could only concur with everyone else, it's a bit silly money.
That said, i'd not argue if he wants to go the Intel route, they are after all great chips, i see them as evolutions of the great C2Q series, so no problems with that.
It is silly however to throw money away on top end components that are themselves not the bottleneck - most PCs for many tasks are bottlenecked by the data IO (we're talking about hard drives mostly). Matty hit the nail on the head with his system - those RAID'ed drives would make any system fly (anyone tried them on a PII system? LOL). That's where i'd spend my money.

Other than that, i always argue the case for decent quality peripherals - spend no less than 1/3rd budget on the monitor, speakers, keyboard & mouse, maybe even towards 1/2 with this budget.
30" monitor anybody?? £1600 doesnt seem too much now... A 26" or 27" for £400 - £500 is viable though.

[scaryjim]

30" monitor anybody??

IMNSHO a 30" monitor is just overkill for a proper desktop PC. My LCD TV is only 26" and I find it quite uncomfortable to look at if I sit at a normal working distance from it. I don't think I'd go with anything over about 22" for desktop use, personally. I mean, have you all got rubber necks or something?