3XS 5200 OC - Custom PC Premium Grade

[Hazanko]

I'm thinking about buying this PC but i just need to know a few things.

• Is all the drivers and stuff installed. If i choose Anti Virus, is that installed too?
• If anything is damaged on delivery, how easy is it to get replaced?
• Can it be tweaked to get the most performance out of Crysis?

[en3sge]

In my opinion this machine is unlikely to max out crysis as the processor will bottleneck any high end graphics card you put in there.

The default graphics card (Nvidia 260) with the dual core pentiums overclocked might get you playable settings at medium-high.

Better go for core2duo overclocked. These still match the i7s on most games that run on just 1 or 2 cores only.

[Hazanko]

In my opinion this machine is unlikely to max out crysis as the processor will bottleneck any high end graphics card you put in there.

The default graphics card (Nvidia 260) with the dual core pentiums overclocked might get you playable settings at medium-high.

Better go for core2duo overclocked. These still match the i7s on most games that run on just 1 or 2 cores only.

I'm not expecting a miracle with Crysis. Just decent settings really. It won't let me change cpu on that system. I just want a decent system that can play older PC games and MMO's. When i said most performance i didn't mean max settings, just as good as it'll go really.

[en3sge]

SCAN are pretty flexible. Im sure they will be able to change that processor to a core2duo.

Even the lowest end core2duo will usually outperform the highest dual core pentium (maybe a couple of exceptions). The price hike shouldnt be big either. In fact, these days the core2duo have reached a great £/performance ratio that make them ideal for a cheap-medium build. SCAN will no doubt overclock these for you as well.

Generally speaking, upgrading to a core2duo could see an immediate 10 or more fps increase in games like crysis. It is a very cheap way to see an immediate result!

The Nvidia 260 is a great performer on a budget. You can always add another one in at a later date and then you will have a beast of a machine at little extra cost. Its the rule of diminishing return - if you spend another 100 pounds on a high end machine you will see very little return. On a rig like yours, that kind of money can mean the difference between max and medium settings.

Anyway I digress. Contact SCAN to see about the core2duo anyway. You wont be disappointed.

[Hazanko]

SCAN are pretty flexible. Im sure they will be able to change that processor to a core2duo.

Even the lowest end core2duo will usually outperform the highest dual core pentium (maybe a couple of exceptions). The price hike shouldnt be big either. In fact, these days the core2duo have reached a great £/performance ratio that make them ideal for a cheap-medium build. SCAN will no doubt overclock these for you as well.

Generally speaking, upgrading to a core2duo could see an immediate 10 or more fps increase in games like crysis. It is a very cheap way to see an immediate result!

The Nvidia 260 is a great performer on a budget. You can always add another one in at a later date and then you will have a beast of a machine at little extra cost. Its the rule of diminishing return - if you spend another 100 pounds on a high end machine you will see very little return. On a rig like yours, that kind of money can mean the difference between max and medium settings.

Anyway I digress. Contact SCAN to see about the core2duo anyway. You wont be disappointed.

It would be cool if they could do that but i don't know. Wouldn't they lose money if they did that?. Don't they make more money on other builds or something. I'm thinking they lock those things to force you into a more expensive PC?. Any idea when Scan might post here?. I really don't feel like explaining on the phone.

[en3sge]

I know you dont fancy calling scan but they seem to be an easy company to deal with on the phone. Just ask the sales guy/girl for an email address and type up your requests there. You can also link them to this thread in that email to help them work out what you want.

Im pretty sure the cost of your system wouldn't increase by much with a core2duo, however it may require a change in motherboard and RAM so this may change the cost somewhat. The best course of action is to get the cheapest core2duo, let them overclock the hell out of it and then watch as your computer performs equally to a processor worth 5 times as much!

The best thing you can do is give them an email and see what they say. Give them a budget, your minumum requirements and see if they can meet it

[Hazanko]

I know you dont fancy calling scan but they seem to be an easy company to deal with on the phone. Just ask the sales guy/girl for an email address and type up your requests there. You can also link them to this thread in that email to help them work out what you want.

Im pretty sure the cost of your system wouldn't increase by much with a core2duo, however it may require a change in motherboard and RAM so this may change the cost somewhat. The best course of action is to get the cheapest core2duo, let them overclock the hell out of it and then watch as your computer performs equally to a processor worth 5 times as much!

The best thing you can do is give them an email and see what they say. Give them a budget, your minumum requirements and see if they can meet it

Well i changed my mind and i thought of this build:

Custom Coloured Cases: *No Custom Colour Required*
Case: Coolermaster CM-690 V2 Dominator Black Midi Tower Case
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83 GHz 1333MHz FSB 12MB Cache
CPU Coolers: Zalman CNPS9500-AT Intel LGA775 Aero Flower Cooler
Overclocking: *No System Overclocking*
Memory: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2 - DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) - CAS 4
NVIDIA Graphics: 1GB XFX GTX 285 XXX 670MHz GPU 240 Cores 2500 MHz GDDR3 + Assassins Creed
ATI Graphics : *No ATI VGA Card Required* (NVIDIA Required)
Power Supply Unit: 620W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU
System Drives: 500 GB Samsung Spinpoint F1 7200rpm 16MB Cache
Storage Hard drives: *Storage Hard Drive Not Required*
Floppy Drive Flash Card Readers & Writers: Akasa Multi Memory Card Reader & USB 2.0 Port
DVD Writer: LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±R 16xDVD±DL DVD+RW x8 -RWx6 12xRAM SATA Black OEM
Blu Ray Reader Writer: *Blu Ray Not Required*
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio - PCI-E (x1)
Internal External (USB) Wireless Adaptors: *Wireless Adaptor Not Required*
TV Tuner Card: *TV Tuner Card Not Required*
Gaming Network Card: *On Board Network Card Only*
Cooling Fans: *No After Market Fans Required - Use Fans Included with Case*
Acoustic Sound Proofing: *Sound Proofing Not Required*
Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM + Windows 7 Offer Form
Software - Application: Microsoft Office 2007 - 60 Day Trial
Software - DVD Blu Ray Decoding: CyberLink PowerDVD 8 Standard Movie Audio Player & Decoder
Software - Security: Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 (v9) UK Edition 1 Year - 1 User
Software - Hottest PC Games: *No Software Required*
TFT Monitor: *Monitor Not Required*
NVIDIA 3D Vision TFT Monitor - Requires NVIDIA Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce 3D Vision Bundle - Samsung 2233RZ 22" LCD + NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision Glasses
Speakers: Logitech X-540 5.1 Speaker System
Headphones: *Headphones Not Required*
Gaming Keyboard : Microsoft Reclusa Ultimate Keyboard
Gaming Mouse Option: Logitech G5 Laser Mouse - 2000dpi

Any reason why this build would be bad?. I don't want to phone Scan sales yet. I'm not ready to buy at the moment cause i still need a computer table.

[en3sge]

Ha that is one of the reasons Im holding off buying mine. No computer table and also waiting for wages (its such a slow crawl to wage day when I want to buy something with the money!)

As for your build:

1) processor is a good choice and highly overclockable. Very future-proof as it has 4 cores instead of 2. SCAN can probably have a good go at overclocking that to 3.8Ghz and that will perform well. I noticed you havent selected overclock option. This is highly recommended - at least 10%. You will see real performance gains for very little money. And the overclock is covered on their warranty.

2) You can save yoursellf LOT of money by going for an ATI 4890 instead of a Geforce 285. Maybe up to £100. The performance is usually about 10-15% less in most games but in some there is actually a small performance advantage (such as GRID and possibly stalker). You said you mostly want to play older games and crysis. The 4890 is ideal there. Plus highly overclockable (careful of your temperatures though).

3) Upgrade your hard drive slightly - at least go for a 750Gb, its only a few pounds more. The F1 is a good hard drive. Fast and reliable. For what you are doing you dont need a raptor or SSD so its a good choice.

4) I was going to ask if you really need that sound card as its another £60 odd pounds. But then I saw you selected a 5.1 system. So probably yes!

Plus 4Gb Ram....hmm its fine at the moment and probably for another year but see if you can add another 2Gb with the money saved from your graphics card. For total future-proofness. Although after saying that, windows 7 isnt a memory hog so you might get by on 4Gb for a few years. Up to you.

Im not too knowledgeable on fans and cases so its best to talk to scan about that.

The build is good overall. Max gaming on up to 1080p on most games

[Hazanko]

Ha that is one of the reasons Im holding off buying mine. No computer table and also waiting for wages (its such a slow crawl to wage day when I want to buy something with the money!)

As for your build:

1) processor is a good choice and highly overclockable. Very future-proof as it has 4 cores instead of 2. SCAN can probably have a good go at overclocking that to 3.8Ghz and that will perform well. I noticed you havent selected overclock option. This is highly recommended - at least 10%. You will see real performance gains for very little money. And the overclock is covered on their warranty.

2) You can save yoursellf LOT of money by going for an ATI 4890 instead of a Geforce 285. Maybe up to £100. The performance is usually about 10-15% less in most games but in some there is actually a small performance advantage (such as GRID and possibly stalker). You said you mostly want to play older games and crysis. The 4890 is ideal there. Plus highly overclockable (careful of your temperatures though).

3) Upgrade your hard drive slightly - at least go for a 750Gb, its only a few pounds more. The F1 is a good hard drive. Fast and reliable. For what you are doing you dont need a raptor or SSD so its a good choice.

4) I was going to ask if you really need that sound card as its another £60 odd pounds. But then I saw you selected a 5.1 system. So probably yes!

Plus 4Gb Ram....hmm its fine at the moment and probably for another year but see if you can add another 2Gb with the money saved from your graphics card. For total future-proofness. Although after saying that, windows 7 isnt a memory hog so you might get by on 4Gb for a few years. Up to you.

Im not too knowledgeable on fans and cases so its best to talk to scan about that.

The build is good overall. Max gaming on up to 1080p on most games

Ok. thanks. Yeah i need the Nvida card because i want to use 3D vision and that only works with Nvidia.

[en3sge]

Ive been reading some reviews on Nvidia's 3D system.

Tbh, personally I dont think it is the best time now to invest in these. There are only two available monitors that work with the 3D vision and both are not exactlty top end, with a max resolution of 1680×1050. Plus it can really stretch your graphics card with frame rate hits.

I am interested in this technology but will wait for 1080p (or above) monitors that are compatible with the system. Plus, I hear the interface overlay on the current 3D goggles can sometimes interfere with the gaming.

Also apparantly not everyone has the ability to use 3D vision. Some peoples' eyes just dont accept it. This is just what Ive heard when doing research though.

Currently it is £400 to have the system and monitor.

With that money you could buy an SSD (or extra gtx 285) and a 1080p (or above) monitor for unbelievable 2D gaming.

Good luck with whatever you decide though

[Philipp]

I'm thinking about buying this PC but i just need to know a few things.

• Is all the drivers and stuff installed. If i choose Anti Virus, is that installed too?
• If anything is damaged on delivery, how easy is it to get replaced?
• Can it be tweaked to get the most performance out of Crysis?

Hello Hazanko,

We can install and software that you purchase with you machine, this isn’t a problem.

In the very unlikely event that your system is damaged on arrival just contact us right away, we will make arrangements for the system to be returned to scan and then the damage assessed, we will be in contact throughout the entire process.

Are there any tweaks you have in mind?

I have had a skim over the rest of the thread, we can install a C2D Cpu into the 5200OC if you like just let the sales team know.

It’s worth remembering that the E5200 is based on the C2D architecture and the E5200 has been heavily over clocked to 3.75Ghz price performance doesn’t get much better

If you have any further questions feel free to post up or email me directly at philipp@scan.co.uk.

Best Regards

[Hazanko]

Hello Hazanko,

We can install and software that you purchase with you machine, this isn’t a problem.

In the very unlikely event that your system is damaged on arrival just contact us right away, we will make arrangements for the system to be returned to scan and then the damage assessed, we will be in contact throughout the entire process.

Are there any tweaks you have in mind?

I have had a skim over the rest of the thread, we can install a C2D Cpu into the 5200OC if you like just let the sales team know.

It’s worth remembering that the E5200 is based on the C2D architecture and the E5200 has been heavily over clocked to 3.75Ghz price performance doesn’t get much better

If you have any further questions feel free to post up or email me directly at philipp@scan.co.uk.

Best Regards

Ok thanks for the reply. I'm still thinking about which build i want. I really interested in the nvidia 3D vision stuff. I've been thinking about waiting longer and saving for a 3XS Team Dignitas i7 in time for windows 7. Which i think is around October 23rd. I've also heard of a few problems with 3D vision's drivers at present so if i wait i can get a better PC plus more stable software. Would the system be checked to make sure the Nvidia 3D works well?. Also when windows 7 is released will there be a option to choose it for installation?. Also thanks for the information en3sge, i didn't know the Samsung had a lower resolution but from the people i've talked to i think the sacrifice in resolution will be worth it for the awesome 3D. I would wait for the 1080p monitors but from checking around they don't seem like they will be available any time soon.

[Philipp]

Hello Hazanko,

The system will be tested with 3D Vision to ensure that it works with the system, it’s worth noting that not all games are supports, As soon as Windows 7 is launched it will be available on our systems.

I don’t understand the interest in 1080 monitors, it just allows manufactures to save on panel manufacturing costs, I personally think they look awful and have a cramped feel about them, if you’re not going to go for 3D get a decent 24inch 1920x1200 screen or a decent 22inch 1650x1050 screen.

Regards