Hi guys, I'm looking to build me a new rig.
I'm not going to bore you with what I have now as I want EVERYTHING but a Hard Drive.
I'm toying with what's best to get, are i3 and i5 processors worth getting or should I just grab an i7?
Graphics card wiase I was thinking an ATI 5870.
RAM - 6GB + as I have to do large renders for my course so the more the merrier.
I have a copy of Windows 7 Pro 64 bit ready and waiting to be installed.
Just ideas of what to avoid and what to get. Case and all!
Price, Ã,£600 - Ã,£800.
Cheers! :)
i5 is probably what you'll be after. I'll be watching this thread with interest as I'll be spending next month or the month after's pay cheque on a new computer now that my holiday is all over.
I just had a quick look around & I think your gonna struggle to stay under Ã,£800 with both i7 & a 5870, although it's probably the way I'd go (& did) it might cost you a few quid more.
Is an i7 worth the extra then?
I couldn't really tell you the difference between the i7/5/3 - have a search for some speed comparison charts to get a better idea if it's worth it - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/3DMark-Vantage-1.0.2,1396.html is just one to start with, I went with the i7 920 because I could afford to, but from what I recall at the time (the i5 & i3 had just come out) people thought they where worth a look at, I don't know how AMD chips will run for your coursework as intels always been the way to go for apps as far as I know.
I found a better cpu benchmark for you Tox, the other one I posted is a bit out of date, try this one - Linky (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2?i=142.99.45.100.107.46.145.108.117.48.109.144.47.54.49.102.146.55.50.143.88.51.118.56.59.57.80.76.123.120.58.87.81.75.89.53.60.97.85.82.83.122.86.94.84.62.21.105.119.52.29.112.61.22.106.90.78.23.63.98.66.121.111.27.24.25.28.64.114.26.65.30.31.32.67.33.34.36.35.68.37.101.93.69.38.70.71.39.40.92.41.42.72.116.73.43.74.44.115.110.104.91.79.103)
Both the times I've built my rigs I've picked the cpu I wanted 1st & worked everything else out from there, so, thats your 1st job.
Just for the sake of it -
(http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/1676/riga.jpg)
double the memory on the rig rizzy posted and you should be good to go :)
K totalled up, blowing my budget a little but that's not a massive issue as I just found out I'm getting the full grant next year :D
Ã,£850 ish so far. which leaves about Ã,£50 for a case. My current one is a light aluminium case, great for transport, but is loud as anything. I want something a bit quieter. Any suggestions? On the Overclockers recommendations was http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-101-AN (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-101-AN)
I've got the Antec 902, it's a nice case, from what I recall the 300 is just as nice. Depending on what gfx card you've opted for check that'll fit - my 5870 only just gets in my 902, there big ol' cards.
Can't recommend these guys enough. Why muck about and take the skin off your knuckles when you can do it the easy way.
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk
Quote from: Ã,£831Case STYLISH SILVER/BLACK TRIDENT CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU) IntelÃ,® Coreâ„¢i7-860 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache)
Motherboard ASUSÃ,® P7H55-M SI: MICRO ATX VALUE MAINBOARD,USB 2.0 & SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM) 4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card 1GB ATI RADEONâ„¢ HD 5830 PCI EXPRESS - DirectXÃ,® 11 (Special Offer)
2nd Graphics Card NONE
3rd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 250GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER Ã,±R/Ã,±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
im sure their great Benny :)
but why spend so the same on a rig thats actually a lot slower?
rad 5830 graphics instead of the above posted 5870..
the mobo is a H55 based, H55 is not as fast as the P55 chipset, as the H55 was made for i3/i5 low end, mainly for hte onboard gpu utilization.
half the memory if he went with my suggestion and doubled the memory to 8 gig, totalling around 850'ish..
Compare pcspecialist with these guys http://www.powerc.com/uk/gp/custom%20gaming%20pc%20home/1/pg/pc.main Me and Sithvid both bought an identical rig from these guys last year. They have good customer service, delivery, aftercare support etc etc.
Well guys, I bought that rig, pieced it together and it's working a charm.
A question though. I didn't buy a new HD as I thought I would use my current one, but install windows 7 over the top of it. Now you probably know going from XP to win 7 is a bit of a mission.
Is it worth me writing it over my current HD or should I just grab a new one and transfer all my software over afterwards? What I was planning on doing was saving all my docs and software onto me external HD, then reinstall it all onto the HD once it has win7 on.
Otherwise I was going to invest in something like a 1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, leave in the old HD as a backup HD, and then transfer all the software over.
Any thoughts? BTW my current HD is 300GB and about 3 yr old.
Buy another one, but that's just me, I've ended up with 4 drives in my current rig - I brought a 1tb hdd just because I could, I remember thinking 30gb was massive back in the day, so it had to be done.
Put windows on the smaller drive & everything else on t'other is what I'd do, hdd's are so cheap now it's no big deal to buy a few & spread things around.
buy a new drive, the F3 spinpoints are nice and fast
Just ordered a 1TB F3 Spinpoint.
What would be the advantage of having the new copy of windows on the old drive just out of interest? I'm also wondering how I could transfer all my stuff over to the new one?
I was thinking just install completely fresh onto the new drive, then copy over what I want and just use the old one as a backup disk or keep my media stuff there. What would you guys recommend?
I just like to spread things around a few drives, I had my C drive die before but the only thing that was on it was windows & a few other bits & bobs - so getting everything back up & running wasn't such a big deal.
I usually stick the swap file on a different drive to windows too, I don't know how much difference it makes these days with newer cpu's & more ram, but old habits die hard.
Set stuff up however you fancy Tox, I don't think it matters that much, it's all just down to personal preference.