Seeking Advice

John Whelan · Post by **John Whelan** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 9:55 am

Looking to spend around Â£1300

Motherboard: ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel
processor: E6600
Hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB S300
RAM: OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel
Graphics card: Asustek GeForce 8800GTX 768MB DDR3 PCIE Dual DVI
Case: Antec 900 gaming case with Window - No PSU
Dvd/rom Sony DRU-830A 18X DVD+/-RW/RAM
Power supply: OCZ GamexStream 850W
Extra: Akasa 2x12" Cold Cathode case light in Blue
Cable sleeving: Vantec Blue Cable Sleeving Kit
CPU cooler: Thermaltake BigTyphoon VX
Speakers: Logitech Z10 2.0

Im only using a 32 inch screen and was wondering if graphics card is an overkill and am possibly looking to go SLI at christmas.
Just wondering what you guys thought of this any feed back will be appreciated.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:09 am

I have no idea how quiet the Antec 900 is or is capable of being, someone will answer you on that one, the P180 would be a good candidate.

The Seagate is NOT a reccomended drive, WD and Samsung drives are.

The PSU is undoubtebly very loud and provides 400W more power than you need, look at the reccomended PSU list, read the reviews.

I went off of the Sony/Lite-On drives recently because of the faliure rate, I am currently using LG drives.

I dont seem to remember the TT Big Typhoon on the reccomended list, again read the list and associated reviews.

That graphics card is total overkill unless you have a VERY high-res 32" TV, (they are usually 1366x768), SLI would be pointless at that kind of res with any game on the market with a graphics card with half the performance. If you let us know what res the screen is that would kelp with reccommendations.

I live in the UK and buy a couple of grand or so worth of comp stuff a month, I can help you shop if you want.

Andy

John Whelan · Post by **John Whelan** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:54 pm

I really wanted a case with a side window so any other recommendations ?

Whats wrong with the seagate ?

Ill check out a lower watt PSU thanks for that

Ill look into the drives

possible then a 8800 GTS card

and ill check out the recommended fans

also you say SLI would be pointless on my screen with half of the cost of a graphics card and im definitly going for a DX10 probably an EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB DDR3 PCIE 2xDVI KO Edition so should i look at a diff mobo as i wouldnt need the SLI

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:01 pm

Seagate is noisy, that's why its no good. Samsung makes good HDD's especialy T166's have been tested silent and reliable.

As for PSU, Seasonic is great. For HSF Thermalright Ultra-120 would be much better than big typhoon I think.

As For case, peoples like Antec Nine Hundred. If you're not bothered by regular computer noise and want it inaudiable, then Nine Hundred might be good case. P180 is dream case for enthusiastic.

Since you want bit show off case and quiet, not inaudiable, I do not see problem in Antec Nine hundred. It has superior cooling.

pyogenes · Post by **pyogenes** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:03 pm

I agree with everything andyb has to say. Some other things I noted:

John Whelan wrote:RAM: OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel

PC2-8500? That's a monumental waste of money. If you don't overclock you only need PC2-4200. If you do an insane overclock of you E6600 to get it to 3.6GHz you'd only need PC2-6400.
Running memory faster than the FSB offers very little increase in performance (and if you don't overclock it enough, it'd REDUCE performance).

Im only using a 32 inch screen and was wondering if graphics card is an overkill and am possibly looking to go SLI at christmas.

It's overkill for the current crop of games, but not too bad of an idea if you plan on doing heavy gaming with that card for the next 2 years. SLI more of a headache than it's worth. It's often buggy and you need to buy both cards at the same time (if they revisions of the cards are different it won't work - manufacturers release new revisions all the time without warning).

pyogenes · Post by **pyogenes** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:11 pm

John Whelan wrote: Whats wrong with the seagate ?

The seek noises are much louder than WD or Samsung, but more importantly many of the drives emit a high pitch whine. Lots of people say they can't hear it, but I suspect it's due to having a loud machine that covers up the sound (many defenders of Seagates 7200.10 on other boards i visit claim they can't hear the seek noises which is what leads me to that belief). The pitch of the whine is high enough that it might be out of the hearing range for some people.

I tried putting my 7200.10 in an enclosure and suspending it (sitting on top of foam), but that whine is still audible. Much happier with the WD SE16.

John Whelan · Post by **John Whelan** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:28 pm

Ok thanks for all this and im planning on using this PC for around
the next 3 - 4 years if possible and a quick questions if i Overclock does it break the gurantee because i dont wanna overclock it then mess it up as i have never done it before then have something useless to me

pyogenes · Post by **pyogenes** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:41 pm

John Whelan wrote:Ok thanks for all this and im planning on using this PC for around
the next 3 - 4 years if possible

Depending on the games you play, that is prefectly reasonable. If you tend to play the latest games all the time, you might run into limitations with your video card (it's likely a newer revision of DirectX will come out in the next 3-4 years and your card won't support it, but by then you should be able to get a much faster card for a decently low price).

and a quick questions if i Overclock does it break the gurantee because i dont wanna overclock it then mess it up as i have never done it before then have something useless to me

Technically, overclocking would void a warranty since you're running outside of specifications. However, it's pretty easy to overclock a system safely if you aren't trying for overly agressive overclocks. A E6600 should be more than fast enoiugh though. I wouldn't bother overclocking unless you actuall need a faster processor.

John Whelan · Post by **John Whelan** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:16 pm

Motherboard: ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Â£140
processor: E6600 Â£190
Hard drive: Samsung spinpoint t HD321KJ 320GB SATAII 16 MB Cache Â£63.44
RAM:OCZ 2GB (2x1024MB) DDR2 PC2-6400 Gold GX XTC Dual Channel Kit Â£130
Graphics card: BFG GeForce 8800 GTX 0C 768MB GDDR3 Â£387.74
Case: CoolerMaster Stacker 832 Â£152
Optical drive: LG GSA-H42NBAL 18X18 DVD+RW rewriter Â£20
Power supply:COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro 850W PC power source Â£140
Extra:
Cable sleeving: Vantec Blue Cable Sleeving Kit Â£7.10
CPU cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 Â£32.08
Speakers: Logitech Z10 2.0 Â£78

if any1 knows anywere i can get for cheaper that would be appreciated

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:34 pm

Only thing was for a 600 watt power supply it seemed a little costy

I really believe you could run your PC on a Corsair 520W, this is less than Â£70 with free shipping from Ebuyer at the moment. The Corsair has been reviewed favourably by SPCR, see the Recommended PSUs page.

John Whelan · Post by **John Whelan** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 10:42 am

Motherboard: ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel
processor: E6600
Hard drive: Samsung spinpoint t HD321KJ 320GB SATAII 16 MB Cache
RAM: OCZ 2GB (2x1024MB) DDR2 PC2-6400 (5-5-5-12) Special OPS Edition Dual Channel Kit
Graphics card: BFG GeForce 8800 GTX 0C 768MB GDDR3
Case: CoolerMaster Stacker 832 No PSU
Optical drive: LG GSA-H42NBAL 18X18 DVD+RW rewriter
Power supply: 850W Etasis ET850
Extra: Cable sleeving: Vantec Blue Cable Sleeving Kit
CPU cooler: cooler master hyper 6+
Speakers: Logitech Z10 2.0
5 Nexus 120 mm fans
thermalright HR-03 with vantec stealth case fan

Seeking Advice

Seeking Advice

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