Sorry all, just asking for a little advice.

GuitarBizarre

Junior Member
Jul 19, 2009
7
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First things first, the background - My old rig was the below:

Abit AN8 32X
8600GT w Zalman cooler
S939 X2 4400+ w Freezer 64 pro
2GB RAM
Corsair HX620 PSU
Pioneer DVD RW drive
Creative X-Fi Extreme PCI-E X1
320GB System drive (Dead)
2 x 1TB storage drives (Alive, I think)
Cambridge Audio Dacmagic external DAC/Soundcard (Via USB, can be run from optical if necessary)
P180 case


To cut a long story short, the PSU in this rig is fubar, and has now blown up 2 seperate hard drives, one less than a day old. I'm also reasonably certain theres something amiss with the motherboard, since its pretty quirky about USB sockets working with specific things, and also, when posting, I would have to turn the computer on, then reset it after a few seconds, in order to get the POST sequence to correctly detect my 8600GT and give me a video signal onscreen.

The other items are fine, but fixing this rig now would be more cost than its worth, so I'm building a new one, and salvaging the GFX, DAC, living HDDs and Case from the old unit. Everything else is being sold.

Here's the new rig below, as configured on Scan.co.uk:

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/1080/mvdq04py.jpg

total price including VAT and shipping - £916

Anyone have some input on what kind of compromises are being made here that could be better served elsewhere? I know the RAM is overkill, but I'm willing to pay for the extra even if its not fully utilised, since I do a lot of parallel working between programs and I use some that are RAM hogs. I'm mainly worried about any reccomendations people may have on the other parts that would come out around the same cost, but with better performance. Gaming will happen on this machine, but not so much that its a primary concern, and nothing more demanding than occasional TF2 rounds, hence the keeping of the 8600GT.


Quick Edit - Forgot to include my 'monitor' in the original posting - I'll be running this system exclusively through a 32" 1080P LCD , an LG 32LH7000 to be exact.
 

Shargrath

Member
May 25, 2009
162
5
81
All looks good, except I am not familiar with the PSU brand.
I don't know if it's a good brand or not, so maybe its just me, but I would go with an Antec or a Corsair. Unless of course you know that is a good brand.
 

GuitarBizarre

Junior Member
Jul 19, 2009
7
0
0
first indications are that they're pretty good. Anandtech has reviewed one of theirs before and liked it.

I'd have no reservations about just buying another corsair if need be, except the PSU that did the damage in the first place was a Corsair HX620, so once bitten twice shy.

Also, I had an antec Smartpower 2.0 550W power supply in the same rig before, with a 6800GS, and that developed a bunch of problems before it finally zonked out on me, so same applies.
 

Shargrath

Member
May 25, 2009
162
5
81
Ouch, I was just going based on what I know/my own experiences.

Now you make me concerned that I got a corsair for the new rig I am waiting for.

:/ Good luck, everything else looks solid.
 

GuitarBizarre

Junior Member
Jul 19, 2009
7
0
0
to be fair, it ran with no problems for a good long while, and its reviewed extremely well, I'm sure you'll be fine, and that I just had bad luck and am wary for no good reason. Wierdly enough, these are the only two 'branded' PSU's I've ever had, and also the only ones i've had issues with.

Thanks for the input anyway.
 

GuitarBizarre

Junior Member
Jul 19, 2009
7
0
0
Just an update y'all, the system is built and is running perfectly!

Running Windows 7 release candidate, x64 of course, no problems whatsoever to report.

Case - Antec P180
PSU - be quiet! 750 Dark Power Pro
Mobo - Asus P6T Deluxe V2
CPU - Intel Core i7 920 Quadcore
RAM - 12GB (6x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3, PC3-12800 (1600)
GPU - Nvidia GeForce 8600GT w Zalman Cooler
Hard Drives - 74GB Western Digital Raptor (System) + 2x1TB Western Digital Caviar Green (Storage)
Optical Drive - Pioneer Blu-Ray Writer, BDR-203
Fans - 3x S-Flex 1200RPM 120MM
Soundcards - Creative X-Fi Extreme PCI-E x1 (Internal) + Cambridge Audio Dacmagic via USB (External)
Amplifier - Kenwood R-SE7 Class A amplifier
Speakers - Mordaunt Short Mezzo 2
Monitor - 32" 1080p LG 32LH7000


I'm happy as can be about it all. About the only thing I can't do with this setup is play blu-ray movies, since my 8600 isn't HDCP compliant, but thats an upgrade for later down the line.

Thanks for the help all.