OK ... Here goes

[Bishop]

me being the inpatient little tatty that i am;) decided in my infinite wisdom that i was sick of buying new pc's and decidied to stump up the cash for my own little rig! here below are the specs:

 

Case

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

Mobo

Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Processor

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.00GHZ (1333FSB) - Retail

Ram

G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PK PC2-8500C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK) X2!!!!!:eek:

Graphics Card

Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

HD

Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ)

Power Supply

Tagan TG700-BZ 700w Modular BZ Series PSU

O/S

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-Bit - (66R-02034)

 

i wanted some future proofing and stability anyone have any thoughts on this spec PS parts in the post lol

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Dalo Harkin who is our resident Hardware and Component Specialist will advise you as soon as he gets online Bishop if you would so kindly bear with until that time.

[Bishop]

no worries

 

cheers:D

[mike]

Hey, welcome to the forums..

 

If you want

future proofing and stability

don't use vista :P

 

Stick with XP Pro or better still use Linux (free!)

 

 

Apart from that it looks a nice rig.. My only other suggestion would be to get a separate sound card and some nice speakers.

 

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 Sound Card - Retail

 

Or maybe:

 

Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card - Retail

 

:)

[Bishop]

hmmm

 

may i ask why not vista 64 :P and thanksd for the reply as you can see its mainly for gaming:D

[mike]

I'm not a huge Microsoft fan so its a subjective of me to say that, but there are other great Operating Systems around, Ubuntu is great to get started in Linux with.

 

Since your a gamer i think many people would say stick with Windows as the majority of games are developed for Windows however when you have some free time have a look into Linux :)

 

Fantastic Graphics & Fantastic Sound - Nothing quite like it at 2am with Doom blaring and roaring out of your PC don't ya think? :)

[Bishop]

i could not agree more!

 

however i am unsure as to how i can install and run two o/s on one hard drive would i need to partition it? btw the 2am thing i am with you on that my partner and four kids however :p:D so you dont think 8 gig os overkill have you seen the 16 gig kit available now! :eek::D

[Dalo Harkin]

I would go for the Antec 300 Gamer series case and save yourself £30, and then use the extra money on a 260GTX (a 260GTX will last longer in terms of games because it copes much better with harder games such as Crysis, it is a close call between the 4870 and the GTX260, but I had the same dilemma a week ago and opted for the 260GTX ;))

 

MOBO and CPU - they are fine - very similar to my spec ;)

 

right as for the RAM I would go with the OCZ reaper series as they are extremely overclockable with an ASUS board and a Q6600 :)

 

HDD - fine but if you are after performance I would consider 2x500GB in RAID (striped mode)

 

You will not need any more than a 600watt PSU - again the OCZ range is fantastic and is around £55 saving you around £45 with which you can get a sound blaster X-fi extreme gamer which are amazing (have one myself ;))

 

Right, as for the OS - I would seriously just get the 32 bit Vista at the moment for compatibility reasons with programs - 64bit has been around for a long time now and no one other than ADOBE is looking at using its extra memory capability - in 32 bit Vista your system will still see 3.75GB of the RAM so you get the extra gains without compromising compatability with programs.

 

Right that's me done - any questions?

[Bishop]

heheh

 

hmmm nope!;) gskill as far as i know has been given great reviews thats why i went wih it was gonna go with ocz its not that i want to oc honest!:D but the option to be able to get some extra juice out of my system is appealing glad to hear that 700 watt psu is gonna be ample as i was warned by that i may need to get to 800!! and as for the case well its not a question of money!ps i aint a millionaire :p i like the look of it too the idea of an x fi card is appealing but the mrs would go off it!!!!! if i have it going through the speakers. Have to have earphones in to play :D the graphics card now as many do i ummed and ahhhd for ages on this decided with the 4870 due to its gddr5 granted its only 512 mb!:p anyone else with any thoughts hoping to get the parts in the next week or so btw vista 64 i agree not much running at the moment however in the next 18 months or so that should change but point taken and thanks for taking the time to share some advice :cool:

[Dalo Harkin]

Who said you need an 800 Watt PSU lol

I have in one of my pcs -

Q6600 at 4Ghz (with H20 220 Compact)

ASUS P5K Premium (black pearl)

2GB OCZ reaper

260GTX

8 HDD's

2 DVD-RW

a load of fans and at MAXIMUM draw it goes to 400 Watt.

 

GDDR5 is overrated - you would never use the bandwidth in the 1st place its nearly 4Ghz effective (no game in the next 2-5 years would need this and by that time the GPU is out of date ;))

Also the 260 GTX incorporates Physix

 

and the 64 bit OS has been here from the XP days - and like I said only one company uses it - trust me when I say that no one is planning to use it - look on the MS website - I get their updates and future develpments and not even a whisper from them about 64bit programs.

[Bishop]

cheers

 

32 vista ultimate it is then and i may nip the 260 gtx in the 896 mb should be fine !!!!na sod it 1 gig it is as if was gonna go sli i would need a diff mobo :D also means that i can save some money on ram as i was gonna stick 8 gig in but only need the 4 now means i got some extra brass to spend elsewhere possiby the xfi pci card thanks again appreciated

[Dalo Harkin]

If you are seriously considering the 64bit OS then I would get the GEIL black dragon 8GB kit it's £105 from OCUK :eek: BARGAIN

 

As for the GPU - I am a major ATI/AMD fanboy, but for the cost to performance ratio the only thing they have done that has made a big impact is the 4850 and 4870 range of GPU's -

IMHO you are far better going with what you listed being:-

ASUS MOBO

Q6600

RAM is really preference.

and then either the 4870 and the 260 GTX - the 4870 is slightly ahead in terms of 1-3FPS at resolutions below 1680x1050 but the 260 GTX far exceeds the 4870 at higher resolutions and with the physix added (now that is something that is appearing in more games this and next year)

I honestly believe the 260GTX will outlast the 4870 - if you opt for the 260 GTX just get the BFG one as it comes with a 10 year warranty, But be aware of the size of it, it is massive.

Edited August 5, 2008 by Dalo Harkin

[Bishop]

make your mind up lol

 

heheh just respecced my system :P lmao totalk spend with ocuk is 1700 squid:Dthe mrs loves me honest!

[Bishop]

:D

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/SC-055-CL_60.jpgCreative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Music UAA Vista-Certified 7.1 Sound Card - OEM (PCI) (30SB077200000)

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CA-031-TG_60.jpgTagan TG700-U33 700w 2-Force II PSU

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CA-065-AN_60.jpgAntec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/HS-001-SB_60.jpgTuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)

 

 

 

Creative Live! Cam Optia Webcam (73VF027000003)

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/MO-062-SA_60.jpgSamsung SM-2232BW Pebble 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CP-210-IN_60.jpgIntel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.00GHZ (1333FSB) - Retail

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/MB-278-AS_60.jpgAsus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/MY-096-OC_60.jpgOCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Reaper HPC Enhanced Bandwidth Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR800C44GK)

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/GX-073-BG_60.jpgBFG GeForce GTX 280 OC 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/HD-053-SA_60.jpgSamsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103UJ)

 

 

 

Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CD-074-LG_60.jpgLG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Drive - Retail

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CD-040-AS_60.jpgAsus DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM

 

 

 

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/KB-108-LG_60.jpgLogitech Cordless Desktop MX 3200 Laser (967688-0120)

 

 

 

Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2 Gamepad

 

 

 

Logitech Attack 3 Joystick

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/GS-004-RA_60.jpgRazer Destructor Gaming Surface

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/SP-043-LG_60.jpgLogitech S-220 2.1 Speaker System - OEM (980-000022)

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/SP-091-CL_60.jpgCreative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001)

 

 

 

Belkin 6-Socket SurgeMaster Superior Series Networking SurgeProtector (F9S624uk2M)

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/SW-040-MS_60.jpgMicrosoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 32-Bit - OEM (66R-02031)

 

 

 

Ahead Nero 8 Essentials Suite - OEM

 

 

 

Ahead Nero v8 Suite - Retail

 

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/SW-002-ES_60.jpgEset NOD32 Antivirus - Retail

[Dalo Harkin]

You dont need the 280 GTX - trust me save the money unless you have a 30" plus monitor the 260 GTX will be more than sufficient.

 

get the extreme GAMER not MUSIC soundcard.

 

for the RAM get the DDR 2 1066 Reaper, will run much faster.

 

And if you plan at running the Q6600 around 3Ghz you really need to watercool - use the H20 120 or 220 compact.

[Bishop]

cheers

 

thanks for the advice it is apprecia:)ted

[Bishop]

i decide to hege my bets

 

i decide to stump up for the retail version of vista ultimate sp1 with the 64 bit and 32 bit os on it that way all i need is more ram;)

[Dalo Harkin]

Even with the retail version - its not a case of choosing which one you want - you still have to pay to upgrade

[Bishop]

heheheh

 

did i say ****! :eek:

[Dalo Harkin]

lol - the only differences between the retail and the OEM:-

OEM - comes with NO support and NO upgrade path

RETAIL comes with support and an UPGRADE path BUT you still have to pay to upgrade to the 64bit OS..........

So in a way it's cheaper to get 2 OEM's one 32 bit and then a 64bit.

And why do you want ultimate - it is not necessary - there are no features that Home Premium will not provide other than for business.