New PC build, part opinions please

[PaperScissorsStone]

Hopefully the right forum this time : ) After deciding that Dells XPS systems arnt that great value for money I have decided to build my new PC myself.

Here are the parts I hope to get:

Graphics Card -
EVGA GTX260 896MB @ £209
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147801

- RAM -
Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator 2GB, 1066MHz @ £38.60
(from http://www.scan.co.uk/Product....CC+Unbuffered%2c+CAS+5 )

- CPU -
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700, 2.6GHz per core @ £142.82
(from http://www.aria.co.uk/Products...+775)+?productId=33656 )

- CPU Cooler -
Akasa AK-960E @ £12.63
(from http://www.scan.co.uk/Product....nk+Fan+PWM+Fan+%26+EBR )

- Motherboard -
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R @ £84
(specs - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145683 )

- Case -
Coolermaster RC-330-V2 @ £29.81
(from http://www.scan.co.uk/Product....ersion)+Scan+Exclusive )

- PSU -
Hiper 580W Modular @ £41.94
(from http://www.scan.co.uk/Product....P8+Ready+ATX2.2%2fBTX+ )

- Hard Disk -
Western Digital, Caviar, Sata, 7200RPM 500GB @ £47.71
(from http://www.scan.co.uk/Product....Cache%2c+8.9+ms%2c+NCQ )

Total price...£606.51

I already own a keyboard, mouse, DVD drive and monitor... oh and a copy of Vista.

I think thats a pretty good deal! My budget is between £600 - £700. I will probably buy a mulitcard reader aswell for roughly £6.

I am hoping to purchase tomorrow so please, let me know what you think. My slight worry is the motherboard but after researching I believe at that level they are all pretty much the same.

Can anyone see any compatibility issues or major problems I havent thought off?

Cheers

 

[DaveSimmons]

The WD 640 GB drive has denser platters and is a little faster, so might be worth it if the price difference is small.

The cooler included with Intel retail box processors is good, so if you can find a retail box for no more than your £142.82 + £12.63 you might get retail insteas of OEM.

DDR-2 800 is fine for stock speed if you can find some cheaper than that -1066

I've had Gigabyte's P43 chipset motherboard since July and am still happy with it, so if you don't need RAID you might see what it's selling for.

 

[PaperScissorsStone]

Thanks for the reply.

The WD 640GB does appear to only be a few pounds more expensive, I think I will go with that:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144339 - £48.54

Yeah I tried to find the processor retail but the OEM appeared to be the better deal... however I will have another look!

Thanks for the info regarding the motherboard. Do you mean this one, the GA-EP43-DS3L P43?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145668

Ive heard a lot about that aswell, reading about it here on AnandTech... it appears cheaper than the DS3R. Is the difference that big?

 

[ther00kie16]

I'd stick with the p45.
Major differences:
2nd pci-e x16 for crossfire (not a concern for you though you should look into getting a 4870 1gb)
DS3R has raid, ep45-ds3l doesn't
firewire
You don't need ram even close to 1066 for q6700. nice 800 should do it. 400x10 = 4ghz (pretty much impossible unless you have skills and exotic cooling) 400x9 = 3.6ghz, which is about the absolute max for non-pro overclockers. By the way, why not get the retail q6600 for 4 euros less since both processors overclock about the same and it comes with the stock heatsink so you could perhaps delay the purchase of an aftermarket heatsink until you've played with some overclocking first. I'd recommend q9400 or q9550 (then you can utilize 1066 ram's potential) but those are quite a bit more.
For the cpu cooler, get the similarly priced Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 because it should be considerably better.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Thanks for the info regarding the motherboard. Do you mean this one, the GA-EP43-DS3L P43?

Yes, that's what I have, along with an E8400, 4 GB Crucial DDR-800, Powercolor ATI 4870, WD 640 GB, XP Home. Everything is at stock speed.

It booted on the first try and has been 100% stable for the last 4 months.

The differences is the P43 board has only 1 ethernet port, no RAID, no firewire, no second PCI-e for Crossfire (but you still can run "x2" dual-GPU cards from ATI and nvidia).

 

[PaperScissorsStone]

Thanks guys, this is exactly the advice I need!

I think ill stick with the p45 mobo, the Radeon 4870 1GB does seem to be very similar in price. Ive always had Geforce cards and my last card was EVGA... no problems at all. Personal preference I think ill stick with the Geforce, reading the forums there really doesn appear to be much between them... both parties claim noise or heat problems : )

As you say, I can still dual Nvidia cards if I so wish. Speaking of cards, I currently own a 8800GT, would purchasing another 8800GT and running them dual be a better choice than 1 GTX 260, or indeed 1 4870 1gb? You can buy a 8800GT for only £140... advice on that would be appreicated!

I took a look at the q9400, not that much more expensive... £40 ish and as you say as it can make use of 1066 ram it might be worth the money!

Thanks for the cooler advice, ill add it to my list!

edit - just found this thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...y&keyword1=dual+8800GT

Talks about GTX 260 vs dual 8800GTs, as with everything doesnt appear to be much in it. For future proofing people recommend the single card however! As for the 4870 1GB vs GTX 260.. its really personal preference at this level.

 

[ther00kie16]

Fyi, you can't SLI on that board, only crossfire, which is why I recommended the 4870. Plus, 4870 seems to do slightly better in games and has 1gb GDDR5, which is faster than the geforce's gddr3 and I think that will be a factor in the future. The key though, is that only Nvidia chipsets currently have SLI. So if you want to utilize multi-gpu (and x2 cards are not really any better than 2 in SLI/crossfire so price premium isn't worth it over 2 regular cards), go with the 4870 1gb and sell your 8800gt.
Or stick with the 8800gt for a month or two (overclock it if need be) and then get a card when the 55nm g200s come out. ATI may come out with a refresh not long afterwards also. So you'll have newer cards to choose from and the current cards will go down in price.

 

[PaperScissorsStone]

Ah right, interesting! So if ive got that right, crossfire is the ATi equivalent of Nvidias SLi?

Could you recommend a GA-EP45-DS3R equivalent that would allow SLi? Do motherboard only have Crossfire or SLi?... have these companys done a deal with ATi or Nvidia or do certain boards do both?

Ive currently got a Gigabyte and have had no problems, if I could get another one that would suit me that would be great... a board that would allow me to have free choice over 4870 or GTX 260. Im definatly considering getting a 4870 1gb and selling my 8800gt.

Thanks guys being really helpful!

I have thought about waiting on a new 3D card but as with everything like this you can wait forever, you just need to make a decision and go for it.

 

[Blain]

SLI on an Intel based MB (Intel X58 MBs will support SLI) = No
Crossfire on Intel based MBs = Yes, if MB supports Crossfire.

You can run ATI or nVidia based single cards on your MB.

 

[PaperScissorsStone]

Thats great to hear, ive never done dual card, never had the need so I think ill stick with that motherboard, GA-EP45-DS3R, and stick with the GTX 260!

Excellent.

Oh, ive decided to stay with the Q6700 and drop down to 800MHz ram.

 

[PaperScissorsStone]

Final Spec : )

Graphics Card -
EVGA GTX260 896MB @ £209
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147801

- RAM -
Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz @ £40
(from http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130429 )

- CPU -
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700, 2.6GHz per core @ £142.82
(from http://www.aria.co.uk/Products...+775)+?productId=33656 )

- CPU Cooler -
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Low Profile Socket 775 Processor Cooler @ £11.73
(from http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148501 )

- Motherboard -
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R @ £84
(specs - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145683 )

- Case -
Coolermaster RC-330-V2 @ £29.81
(from http://www.scan.co.uk/Product....ersion)+Scan+Exclusive )

- PSU -
Hiper 580W Modular @ £41.94
(from http://www.scan.co.uk/Product....P8+Ready+ATX2.2%2fBTX+ )

- Hard Disk -
Western Digital, Caviar, Sata, 7200RPM 500GB @ £47.71
(from http://www.scan.co.uk/Product....Cache%2c+8.9+ms%2c+NCQ )

- Thermal Compound
Artic Silver 5 @ £5.86
( from http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...t.php?prodid=AC-000-AC )

 

[PaperScissorsStone]

One final question.

Im not sure of the significance of this, but I thought it was sensible to ask!

If you look at the processr it says 95W:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products...75%29+?productId=33656

'Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.6GHz 95W (OEM 775)'

I matched this to the supported processors on the Gigabyte website:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Sup...el.aspx?ProductID=2842

'Intel Core? 2 Quad Q6700 2.66GHz 8MB Kentsfield 65nm G0 95W 1066 F5 '

Im concerned, becasue the power supply, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 lists 90W... is this a problem?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148501

Maximum Cooling Capacity - 90 Watt

 

[ther00kie16]

First of all, don't choose the Low Profile model unless you are building a HTPC where power is key. Then, you could undervolt the quad and probably end up having a ~75W CPU
Secondly, if you want to overclock beyond 3GHz (I don't believe you've mentioned whether or not you will be overclocking), go with a better heatsink like the Thermalright Ultra 120 or TRUE (E stands for Extreme), Tuniq Tower, Xigmatek S1283, Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer or OCZ Vendetta 2. The first 2 are probably the best but will cost a bit more and will require lapping of the surfaces. Therefore, it may be better to get a cooler running q9400 and achieve the same overclock as q6700 (probably 3.4ghz range) with a cheaper hsf like the AC Freezer 7 or just splurge on the TRUE and aim for something like 3.8ghz.
It's all up to you. Personally, I'm waiting for the 45nm quads to get a bit cheaper to build my next PC (probably 2nd half of next year).

 

[Blain]

The older Q6700 are built on the warmer (more power hungry), 65nm die.
You want This E8500, if you're not pushing your rig with some heavy video editing, etc.
The E8500 is newer and built on a 45nm die, meaning it runs cooler and consumes less power.

BTW, You don't need the Dominator RAM. For about the same $$, you can get the 4GB Corsair XMS (1.9v).

Any CPU choice depends on what you're actually using your PC for.

 

[jeffw2767602]

I would stick with the quad but a dual core will be fine for your purposes. Do you want to encode a DVD while you are playing games? If so the quad will be wonderful, if not, the dual will clock higher so you can squeeze a couple more fps out of your gaming and will use less energy.

 

[PaperScissorsStone]

woaw complicated Im not going to overclock my new rig, ill be happy the way it is.

I do home DVD encoding and Video Editing yeah, so I really think I should stick to the Quad Core. The ability to mulit task whilst gaming would be a real benefit!

Good to know that fan was underpowered as you said. What does HTPC stand for?

It does appear the Q9400 does run cooler and therefore the AC Freezer 7 fan would be fine! However that processor would add £40 to the mix and at some point I need to put a max price on this build : ) Also, some of the more elaborate fans you guys have recommended would add more pounds on aswell.

After reading a few threads on fans I found this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/...cations#specifications

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler

From what I can tell that should be able to do the job! Fits on my motherboard aswell.

Going to research some more but I think that will work fine. Trying to get the simplest answer, always difficult with new PC's though.

Really helpful guys, very much appreicated!

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: PaperScissorsStone
I do home DVD encoding and Video Editing yeah, so I really think I should stick to the Quad Core.

If you can swing just a bit more, the Q9550 would be a great processor for the tasks you've outlined.

BTW, I'd pick the Corsair 550W over the Hiper PS.
"Modular" should be way down the list of priorities when investing in a PS.