New rig spec check please.

[DoomWolf]

Gigabyte Mobo details are here.

You beat me to it. That page has only gone up in the last couple of hours.

[DoomWolf]

Will check out the Dell screen, but I've seen posts on here with complaints about poor backlight and bleeding??

PS: Is Ultimate (34 bit) a combination of 32 and 64?

34 bit is the way to go! That's what Uncle Bill told me

The Dell screen appears to have solved most of the problems (mainly to do with banding) through the revisions. They've just started shipping revision A04 screens.

[DoomWolf]

Not sure what you mean here...

As for the motherboard the Asus P5B Deluxe is very highly rated at the mo - they've been out a while and are damn stable. The 680i boards on the other hand have been plagued with issues.

EDIT also @Doomwolf - you do know how good the Creative drivers aren't in Vista, don't you?

EDIT 2 - Ok, off to do some reading on EPP on the 680i's. I'd still recommend a P5B Delxue though.

As the Gigabyte isn't just a rebadged reference board, I'm hoping at least most of the issues will have been ironed out. i'm still waiting for the initial reviews before making my mind up.

I also suspect that Creative will sort their drivers out pretty sharpish (I can hope, anyway) as it'll be a few more weeks before I can buy the bits and build the new rig.

[bardel]

As the Gigabyte isn't just a rebadged reference board, I'm hoping at least most of the issues will have been ironed out. i'm still waiting for the initial reviews before making my mind up.

I also suspect that Creative will sort their drivers out pretty sharpish (I can hope, anyway) as it'll be a few more weeks before I can buy the bits and build the new rig.

Yep, looking that way for me also, just wondering when the new CPU's are likely to release too...

Review on AnandTech due to go up on Monday according to this thread.

If it comes to it, I guess I could always upgrade to a quad core later on... (Talking like I've got money to burn here. )

[Blitzen]

In the toms hardware review of the Raptor X they get better results on the Raptor:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/0...uk/page14.html

Believe me!!

You shouldn't accept anything TomsHardWare says. They are on the payroll to promote many products from large companies.
Download HDTach and test for yourself.

I'm in the same situation of needing to replace an old Althon PC and have many of the same requirements and questions as bardel.

My current choices are:

Mobo - Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 (should be out this month)
CPU - Intel Core2 Duo E6600
Memory - Corsair Dominator Twin 2x2048-8500C5D (2GB)
Hard Drive - Probably just a single Wester Digital Cavier 400Gb or 500Gb (not bothered about RAID)
GPU - 8800GTX (Don't know which yet)
Sound - Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional 7.1
Case - Antec P180 Black
PSU - Corsair HX 620W
CPU Fan - Tuniq Tower
Keyboard/Mouse - Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 3200 Laser
Monitor - Dell 2407WFP 24" Widescreen
DVD-RW - NEC AD7170S SATA
OS - Vista Ultimate (34 bit)

I'm also not sure whether to save money on the RAM by going for 6400 stuff, but the idea of the Enhanced Performance Profiles (EPP) on the 680i chipset appeals.

Any comments gratefully received

If you are getting Vista Ultimate then RAID 0 is highly advised.
I tried running it with seperate drives and the activity from the HD was almost constant (and i run 2gb of RAM).
AS soon as i raided my 2x200gb drives then probs were gone and speed was exceptional.

[tinners]

Dell 2407 is £499.99 at http://www.sterlingxs.co.uk/ and also on offer at Dell ATM I think.

[bardel]

Raptors are great but they're loud! I run 2 in a raid0 setup and it's ridiculously quick. 2 Nomal Sata drives in raid0 will be quicker than a single raptor though, raptors are only for people who can't accept fast and want supid fast, and for stupid fast you really need 2 or more raptors. Just my 2 pence.

As for your other choices, I personally think the 680i mobos are overkill unless you're set on going sli. And dominators are really overkill, like was said before a good set of PC6400 will do you fine.

As for case, I'd go with the P180, looks smart and is a good case.

Edit: The only difference between the raptor and raptor x is that the raptor x has a window on it.
Also I used to run 2 samsung spinpoints in Raid0 and they were pretty quick too, and a hell of a lot quieter.

Thanks for that, well not sure that'll I'll be going SLi just yet, 2 lots of £300 on gpu's is a bit mind bending at the minute, but when they drop in price

I think I'm going to make my mind up about the drives, and go for a pair of 160Gb WD Caviar SE drives in Raid 0. They'll be quieter, cooler and give me twice the storage for nearly half the price. Be good to see two of you guys post your test results to compare, but I suppose as the systems won't be the same it won't be fair.

Looks like I can save some money on the RAM too then.

Off to look at the Antec P180 case now.

Cheers

[bardel]

Right, found this RAM on Scan (Scan Code LN16496).

2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2 Dominator,DDR2 PC2-6400,240 Pins, NonECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP

£144.64 ex VAT. Will this be suitable and ok for some overclocking?

Not sure about the Antec P180, it looks like a nice case and appears to have good features, but the PSU fan at the bottom looks like a real pita. Anyone managed to leave the fan in place with a decent PSU (preferably modular)?

[DoomWolf]

Post number 5, so I can post URLs.

[DoomWolf]

Overclockers have that RAM for £159.99+vat. I hadn't realised it was EPP. Now I know it is, it's definately worth considering to save nearly £100.

The Antec P180 has been on the Custom PC magazine Elite list for nearly a year. They thermal tested the case and found its design left no obvous hotspots inside. In all the reviews of it I've seen, no-one has ever commented that the fan between the PSU and HDD bays causes any problems.

http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/r...ntec-p180.html

http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/l...ntec-p180.html

Update: Hmmm... I've just discovered there's a P182 (improvement on P180) and a bigger P190 coming soon.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/article...roduct+Lineup/

Too many decisions!

[bardel]

Overclockers have that RAM for £159.99+vat. I hadn't realised it was EPP. Now I know it is, it's definately worth considering to save nearly £100.

The Antec P180 has been on the Custom PC magazine Elite list for nearly a year. They thermal tested the case and found its design left no obvous hotspots inside. In all the reviews of it I've seen, no-one has ever commented that the fan between the PSU and HDD bays causes any problems.

http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/r...ntec-p180.html

http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/l...ntec-p180.html

Update: Hmmm... I've just discovered there's a P182 (improvement on P180) and a bigger P190 coming soon.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/article...roduct+Lineup/

Too many decisions!

Yep the case does perform well, but the problems about the psu choice / fitment are shown in Hexus' own review here. Also, on later pages they talk about large graphics cards like 7950GT giving problems with the hard drive cage. This shouldn't really be a problem for me as I'm only planning to install 2 system drives which I'll put in the lower caddy in front of the PSU.

But now you've shown me the 182 / 190....

So looks like I'm waiting for new case, new Gigabyte mobo, possibly new processors, anything else!

When you say overclockers have "that" ram, are you refering to the 8500 or the 6400? Coz the Scan price for the 6400 is cheaper??

Cheers

[moogle]

Right, found this RAM on Scan (Scan Code LN16496).

2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2 Dominator,DDR2 PC2-6400,240 Pins, NonECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP

£144.64 ex VAT. Will this be suitable and ok for some overclocking?

yep, i've heard and read that those can hit 1000mhz ddr2 (ie 500mhz fsb)
also theres GeIL ram on sale at microdirect and overclockers now, £130 for 2gb. those geil ones may not have the fancy fins like corsair but they can still hit the 1000mhz mark.

[DoomWolf]

Yep the case does perform well, but the problems about the psu choice / fitment are shown in Hexus' own review here. Also, on later pages they talk about large graphics cards like 7950GT giving problems with the hard drive cage. This shouldn't really be a problem for me as I'm only planning to install 2 system drives which I'll put in the lower caddy in front of the PSU.

But now you've shown me the 182 / 190....

So looks like I'm waiting for new case, new Gigabyte mobo, possibly new processors, anything else!

When you say overclockers have "that" ram, are you refering to the 8500 or the 6400? Coz the Scan price for the 6400 is cheaper??

Cheers

I see what you mean about the PSU, although the Corsair is 1cm shorter than the Tagan they used. Whether that'll make much difference I don't know. I found one review of the Corsair that says "It fits perfectly in my Antec P180" (http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19831).

The 8800GTX will prevent the use of one of the slots in the upper HDD cage, but as you say, the lower cage is available.

You're right about the memory price. I must have misread you post as it was late last night.

[bardel]

Good stuff, looks like that's the case for me then.

Found a couple of sites listing the new gigabyte board now, looks like the price is going to be more in line with the reference boards (approx £150 + VAT) rather than the extreme prices of the Asus Stiker and Abit IN32 boards... It's all good so far... only a little more time to wait.

Still not made a decision on the monitor, I'm not too sure about the Iiyama E2200WS, was a bit dissapointed with the reviews.

The Dell is quite a bit more money, so not too sure about that either...

I have a 19" Samsung 930BF at the moment, which is 1280x1024. I was hoping to run this as a second monitor alongside whichever new monitor I get, but I might just stick with this for the minute as my only monitor while I consider the new monitor choice.

[DoomWolf]

The monitor's the bit confusing me most as well. I was interested in the Iiyama until I saw some of the reviews. I've pretty much decided on a 24", but none seem perfect.

The April PC Pro (received today) has a Labs Test of 22" and 24" TFTs. They give the Iiyama 3* out of 6. The best 22" according to them is the Dell E228WFP with 6*. For 24" they rate the Dell 2407WFP behind the BenQ FP241W.

I've also found there's a new 24" from ViewSonic, the VX2435wm (http://www.viewsonic.com/products/de...ies/vx2435wm/), which some are saying will be better than those and cost less.

I may do the same as you and stick with my 17" Iiyama for a bit until the market is clearer. After all, a monitor is not an immediate necessity, although it's the one component to get right as it's the one we spend all that time looking at.

[bardel]

Cheers for that DoomWolf.

I shall keep my eye out for that issue of PC Pro over the weekend, should make interesting reading, in the meantime, thanks for the pointers with the model numbers.

I think I need to take a trip to PC World or something to make a decision over size, difficult to imagine what they'll be like to work with... Maybe I should drag my Panasonic 32" up from the lounge to see if that's overkill!