PC Time

[Penfold]

So Zoots has inspired me to get a new PC and I'm breaking the mould  which is rare for me and going for something other than a dell

That PC Specialist place looks neat so I've built a machine there but  need you wonderfully intelligent people to confirm it's all OK. It's things like the cooling fan and stuff which I have no idea about.

Is this OK? Is there anything wrong with this? Am I missing something? (in addition to the below I'll use my own XI-FI Extreme sound card)



REALLY appreciate the help .... thanks

PEN

[Sneakytiger]

only thing i would say m8 is get a bigger psu i have a ati hd 6850 gfx card and i had to upgrade my psu i have a 1000w psu but anything from a 600w-1000w should surfice.

[Tutonic]

Agreed, 450W is pushing your luck with these new 4-series cards - they're thirsty beasts! Upgrading to a 600W should give you enough, and wouldn't cost much more.

I'd also reccomend getting a RAID set up. It means spending on a 2nd hard-drive, but drives dead cheap these days and the benefits are pretty huge (either drive failure protection, or uber-speed depending on how you set it up).

Don't worry about cooling fans. The i-series CPU's aren't that hot, even if you overclock them you can use the stock cooler without any problems.

[Penfold]

Thanks chaps

I may well go raid but only specified one drive as I have a couple of 1tb sata drivers here which I'll also add into the machine.

OK I'll go for a 600watter.

Is there anything else? Is the Motherboard OK and processer etc all OK? I'm happy to spend a bit more money if it's worth pushing to something else!

(I may also swap out the C: HDD for a SSD one. Not huge but maybe 120gb or something and then use the extra HDD's for data.)

Thanks

[lionheart]

SSD = Massive Goodness.

That is all.

[Penfold]

OK thanks chaps.

I've had a couple more comments - particularly about the Mobo so here's pahse II



Better all round?

You'll notice I haven't included a graphics card as yet.

I presume my Geforce8800GTX will not longer cut the mustard for this machine?

If not then my revamp is here:





So.

1. Incumbent GeForce 880GTX or not?
2. Anything wrong with the rest (bearing in mind I'll add my own 1no. or 2no. 1TB sata drives and xi_fi Gamer sound card

I guess I'm a little disappinted that it hasn't got e-sata but I think I can solve that by one of these.

Again, thanks and If I can get a consensus I'll order it on the morrow.

[TeaLeaf]

8800GTX will most definitely not do the job.  Upgrade it to something current and in budget.

Personally I'd still add more PSU, 1k is where I sit atm mainly because you never know what you'll be adding to the case in future months and rail stability is *all* on most systems.

And as Lion said - SSD's rock.  I have aCrucial C300 256GB SSD and it is blindingly fast and makes a massive & noticeable difference to system response in daily use.  Combined with your selected SATA III mobo you'd see monster performance gains with an SSD installed.

[Penfold]

Ok thanks again.

With Gandy's help I've revised the spec and it is now thus:


I take on board the comments above

Any last comments on this beast.

Thankyou

[Gandalf]

One tweak, stick the Titan Fenrir on as the CPU cooler. Far better than the stock intel coolers which really are not that good.

[Penfold]

Great done and done.

Thanks all.

[lionheart]

Do you know what make the GTX460 is?  Some can be better than others with regards cooling and noise.

[Penfold]

good question. No idea. I'll ask them to see if they know.

[lionheart]

If you get the choice go with either Gigabyte or MSI.

[Penfold]

It's a Palit brand ! ? ! ?

[lionheart]

Heres a thread on OCUK about the GTX460, it seems to say that Palit is one of the worse with regard cooler quality and noise.

The thread is long but the Palit is mentioned early on.

Maybe you can upgrade the brand?