£1,000 upgrade Take Two :: Draft-spec comments please

[DaKid]

Ok, so further to my previous post on this subject, I've now thrown together a likely shopping list, and would appreciate some advice please.

Just for recap, I already have Dell 24" Ultrasharp Widescreen, Logitech G15 Keyboard, Logitech MX Revolution Mouse, Creative T7700 7.1 Speakers, which don't need upgrading, and I also don't need to upgrade the following basics: Couple of SATA 2 hard drives, DVD-RW, DVD-ROM, Floppy, Multicard-Reader, Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS.

With that over, here's the spec with prices (Excl VAT) ... please be gentle! I'm already WAY over my £1,000 budget, so if you know of any cheaper alternatives that would not massively impact performance, then that would be hugely appreciated.

Power Supply
Xilence XP600-12R Power 600W Quiet PSU £51.06

Case
P180-B Super Mid Tower Case, Black (no PSU) £85.10

Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Retail £106.95

Graphics Card
MSI GeForce 8800GTX 768MB PCI-E £343.95

Motherboard
EVGA 122-CK-NF68 NF680i SLi £159.49

RAM
OCZ EL DDR2 PC2-8800/ 1100MHz GOLD £299.95

Total ex. VAT = £1,046.50
Total inc. VAT = £1,229.64


Many thanks in advance for your help

[Guy]

personally id scrap the ram and go for some PC2 6400, it wont affect performance that much and it'l save you £125!

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=402849

[toolsong]

I'd be relectant to drop that much on a GTX with the R600 approx 2 months away.

A more immediate concern is its length may be a problem in this case.

8800GTX ~28cm

X1900XT ~23cm my current card which is a tight fit

Pic of an even shorter X800GTO2 in my P180 here
http://forums.hexus.net/showpost.php...83&postcount=4

[jackvdbuk]

just my two cents...




and this ram :
http://www.memory-configurator.com/p...kit/index.html

the pc2 8000 ram is 20 quid more than PC2-6400 from Cell SHock
comes to £879.82 incl delivery with the RAM

just my idea of what i would get for 1k, also as said above if you can wait i would get a medium/low spec grapghics card for now and wait for RD600 to be released,, this will push down prices alot

[b0redom]

I would avoid the P180 too. It's a nice case, but a bit of a struggle fitting everything in.

Tom

[EtheAv8r]

I'd be relectant to drop that much on a GTX with the R600 approx 2 months away.

A more immediate concern is its length may be a problem in this case.

8800GTX ~28cm

X1900XT ~23cm my current card which is a tight fit

Pic of an even shorter X800GTO2 in my P180 here
http://forums.hexus.net/showpost.php...83&postcount=4

I have just installed an 8800GTX in an ASUS Commando in an Antec P180 - no problem, but it is nice and snug. I am putting hard disks in the lower caddy, but feel I could squeeze into upper one if I had to. I have elected to keep it clear to allow good airflow from front (I have also put additional slow, quiet 120 fan in front of this) which ensures good air over GPU and good airflow generally. I can take a picture if you like.

[DaKid]

Picture would be much appreciated, thank you!

[EtheAv8r]

Ok will be some time this weekend.....

Not to say the Antec 900 is not a brilliant case - it is - but not so quiet.

Also the Antec P182 has now been announced - an improved 180.......

[DratUK]

Hi M8
Yep I can confirm a 8800GTX will fit in a P180 my M8 has one in his albeit a tight fit.
Based on how we have no idea how the RD600 will perform it will at least match the 8800GTX and to be honest looking at the current 79 series and the ATI 1000 series I cant tell the diff when I am in gameplay. I would stick with the GTX.

The PSU I have not seen hopefully the reviews are good. I would agree with the memory, CellShock is decent ram and I would put the money towards the new Abit 680i board or go for the Asus P5B Deluxe and save some more money.

[danroyle]

i would go for an 8800gts they are about £100 cheaper than the gtx and will run anything thats out

would also switch the evga 680 to either the bfg one or msi version nothing against evga but msi and bfg have really good returns and better pedigree imo

other than that system looks pretty good

[DaKid]

Need the GTX for my resolution (1900x1200), and was going for the 1100mhz ram so that I could upgrade later to another 2gb and also because I'll then be making the most of the motherboard and cpu, both of which I believe benefit from faster ram

Comments on the case are welcome ... specifically suggestions for another cool looking but quiet sounding one.

[Papa Lazarou]

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.86ghz Lga775 Fsb800 2mb Retail Boxed 121407 94 in stock £99.04
EVGA nForce 680i SLI SKT775 7.1channel audio DDR2 ATX 120936 21 in stock £159.94
Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400 (TWIN2X2048-6400C4D) DOMINATOR 119738 50 in stock £165.99
ASUS NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E 119988 3 in stock £331.84
AKASA Eclipse-62 Black Mid-Tower Case - No PSU 097861 7 in stock £65.10
Seasonic S12 Series 600W SLI Certified ATX2.0 PSU 104475 30 in stock £71.50

Cart Total: £893.41
Shipping Band: £4.89
Shipping Surcharge: £7.00
Subtotal: £905.30
VAT: £158.47
Total: £1063.77

[DaKid]

From?

[Papa Lazarou]

Sorry thats from Ebuyer

[DaKid]

Ah. Shame. Can't use those guys. Colleague who sits next to me at work is still owed about £200 by those guys.

Very nice prices though

[DratUK]

K see if this catches your eye

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=137809
Akasa Mirage best damn case for the money space and cooling.

http://www.memory-configurator.com/p...kit/index.html

Patriot Ram as the reviewer got it running stable at 1050mhz @£166.00 plus delivery a bargin.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=491975
8800GTX

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=509279
Abit IN9 32X-MAX
Ongoing review in Abit Hexus care section
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=96986

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=430631
E6300

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=446787

Corsair 620 Watt PSU HX series Modular

Total inc VAT delivery £1162.2