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I am looking to buy a whole new machine it will have to be good and might look into serious overclocking. got at least a couple grand to spare.... so would i buy a top pre built pc and mod it or go the long way and buy parts to build.
what would be the best stuff to get with little expense spared?
making your own is much better, you save a packet, and you learn a lot which holds you in good stead for the future.Quote:
Originally Posted by Popa Bear
First of all you got to decide which Path to take young Luke...
They way of the force....Intel
Or the Dark side............AMD
:)
looking at the amd fx 55. is the vapochill silent?
No it's not silent. One of my friend had it, i personally can't stand the noise :D.
If you got a few grand then build a rig yourself, and admire your great achievement in the end, better than ordering a Dell ;;)
Don't get Vapochill, get Mach IIGT. They are the best.
Yeah, build your own, you will get a nice machine, which you can take pride in, having built yourself.
Need a hand on the specs, just ask us. :)
if anyone has any links so i can read up, i would be greatful. Can you use the vapo on other componets or just cpu. would water cooling be easier?
Links to what? You can use Vapo on other components, and Water Cooling may be easier, but is far worse than phase change. For serious overclocking that's what you need.
cant find anything much about the "mach IIGT"
Google it, you'l find plenty. A simple search
Do you want a silent system?
If you've never even built a machine before then why would consider a Mach II GT? Its a very expensive mistake for a first timer. I have been building PCs for ages and have used Mach I, IIs and GTs and can't say its for someone that doesn't know computers at all.
Just stick with air to start with and then move to water and finally to phase.
If you get it wrong installing it and get condensation kiss goodbye to £550 CPU and £120 worth of board...
If this is your first built then i suggest aginst vapo chill or mach 2 or whatever even against watercooling, because you have enough things to think about first time rather than worrying about expensive and potentially damaging extras like. I personally would not see the need for it, as my pc (in sig) plays games perfectly well and fx 55 would give you all the power you need without serious overclocking (imo). So get an
AMD fx55
2x 6800gt in sli
Nforce board 1g memory
nice 19" monitor
2x nice big hardrives 120gb a piece
dvd-rw
cd-rw
480w neopower
and thereyou go, you say you have a couple grand spare, but I don't think this will reach 2000 and it will be a monster gamer! john.
IMO, instead of 2 x 120Gb hard drives, get 1 large one (e.g. 200Gb maxtor, whatever), and a smaller faster one (70Gb Raptor). Put all your films, files etc on the big'un and use the smaller one for your OS and games, which in turn will benefit from the faster read speed of the raptor.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnr892
He was probably hinting at a Raid 0 setup, which has excellent performanceQuote:
Originally Posted by Jonny
have you had a look at the 'building a gaming rig' sticky? that'd give you a good base of knowledge to start with. (sorry if you already have a good understanding)
Good point, well made *Walks away, whistling*Quote:
Originally Posted by owen1978
Go for DIY deffo, satisfaction at the end + all the research on what you want which is half the fun!
Ok, so we have now decided (correctly) for a custom PC. Now lets start with the spec, sounds like we wants a fx55 and I would go with the AKASA Eclipse 62 case. Do you want to spend £2000 exactly. And what do you want to do with it. How about SLI if you are into gaming?
If I were you I'd be getting something like this:
AMD ATHLON FX 55
Asus A8N SLi Deluxe
2 x 6800GTs (Ultra's aren't really worth it)
Tagan 480W Silent PSU (or maybe even an OCZ 600W)
Akasa 62 Case
1 gig PC4400 Overclockers RAM (2x512mb)
2 x 74gig Raptors (RAID 0) (or even 3 in RAID 5, depending on your needs)
2 x 200gig Seagate Barracuda 7200.7s
Plextor 716A Black 16 x16±,x4+ Dual Layer DVD
Asus DVD ROM
Nice 20" TFT (or even the 24" Dell Widescreen)
Then get an XP120 and a nice fan to cool your CPU (the fan will depend on how silent you want your pc to be)
Then just get some bits and bobs to personalise it. This is just a rough guide, and I haven't priced it. Knowing me, and also knowing how much my new system cost, this will certainly be over 2 grand; but as I said it's just my idea.
Are'nt the new AMD 'Venice' CPU's out in a few days/weeks, would be better to hold out for them, and see what they are like.
I find it hard to recommend raptors to anybody.
People with lots of money that want the fastest available would be better off with high end SCSI drives, and almost everyone else would be better off with a SATA-II 7,200 rpm drive (for the extra features like NCQ, not the extra transfer rate). Recent 7,200 rpm drives are barely slower than raptors for most things, and they have about tripple the space per dollar, or pound.
The only time I would really recommend raptors is if you will be dealing with massive numbers of small files and really want to avoid SCSI.
I havent owned the 74GB raptors, but I have had RAID 0 36GB raptors, and I was extremely unimpressed. The 74GB ones are faster, but not that much faster.
Raptors are great if you can afford them, I think though that that 2 36GB is RAID 0 for OS and progs is extremely quick.
I can't recommend the Asus SLi board after the number of reports on the web and in magazines of the serious amount of issues surrounding the board. The MSI and DFI boards have smashed the A8N into the ground and then some.