New Setup

J

Jaffa Cakes!

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
136
Hello :)

Ive got about £745 to spend on a new Gaming PC.

At the moment I have this:

Case - Cooler Master Black Centurion 534 NO PSU - www.ebuyer.com/product/114826
MoBo - GigaByte GA-P35C-DS3R Socket 755 - www.ebuyer.com/product/131173
GFX Card - Sapphire Radeon HD2900XT 512MB - www.ebuyer.com/product/127550
Sound Card - Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music www.ebuyer.com/product/112512
Processor - Intel C2D Q6600 2.4GHz - www.ebuyer.com/product/131950
RAM - OCZ 2GB Kit - www.ebuyer.co.uk/product/116755
PSU - Coolermaster eXtreme Power 650w PSU - www.ebuyer.co.uk/product/116522
Harddrive - Maxtor 160GB SATAII 7200RPM - www.ebuyer.co.uk/product/130408
OS - Windows Vista Home Prem. 32-Bit OEM - www.ebuyer.co.uk/product/123052

Im going to use my old IDE 250GB HD, IDE DVD-RW Drive, and Floppy Drive from my Old PC.

This should all work togethor shouldn't it? Also, should I get an aftermarket cooler for this GFX Card?

Also, Ive heard that the 2900XT needs alot of power, would a 650w be sufficiant for all this, plus a WinTV PCI Card?

This is only my 2nd PC Build, my last PC was built when I was smaller, so mainly my big brother did it and I didnn't learn alot!

How would this do?

Tom
 
Well first of all, don't bother the P35C. By the time DDR3 becomes more affordable and required, there will be newer chipsets and CPUs that can take advantage of DDR3 RAM. So go with the P35-DS3R, pretty much the same as the P35C but without the DDR3 slots:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - £70

Ditch the PSU. There are much better PSU for the price. This Corsair PSU is of much better quality and actually provides more power on the +12V rails (where most PC parts draw their power from) than that Cooler Master:
Corsair HX520 520W PSU - £64

As for RAM, just find the cheapest set of DDR2 800 RAM you can find and you'll be set.

As for video card, drop the ATI card. Go with the 8800GTS 640MB. It runs cooler and doesn't draw that much power compared to the ATI card. It also performs about the same as well.

Also, drop the sound card. Try out the onboard sound first and then decide whether or not you need/want a sound card.

FYI, you probably won't be able to use your IDE hard drive and IDE DVD burner at the same time because most mobos these days come with only one IDE port. Putting them on the same IDE cable isn't recommended as well due to a very large performance hit.

And finally, be sure to check out these other british online stores:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
http://www.dabs.com/
http://www.scan.co.uk/
 
Thanks for the reply :)

I heard that using the onboard sound uses up system resources? But ok :) I will just use the on board sound. If i can just use the onboard sound then more money towards my second 19" screen!

With the PSU, I would ideally like one that will leave me room to add/upgrade abit in the future as I should think this PC will be with me for the next few years. Ill get a SATA DVD-RW then and go for the 8800GTS. I heard that cheap RAM isn't a good idea as It easily brakes etc... ? is this true?
 
Jaffa Cakes! said:
I heard that using the onboard sound uses up system resources?
Click to expand...

Yes but very little.

Jaffa Cakes! said:
With the PSU, I would ideally like one that will leave me room to add/upgrade abit in the future as I should think this PC will be with me for the next few years. Ill get a SATA DVD-RW then and go for the 8800GTS.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the first one you picked it total bullshits.

Jaffa Cakes! said:
I heard that cheap RAM isn't a good idea as It easily brakes etc... ? is this true?
Click to expand...

EEK.gif
 
Jaffa Cakes! said:
Thanks for the reply :)

I heard that using the onboard sound uses up system resources? But ok :) I will just use the on board sound. If i can just use the onboard sound then more money towards my second 19" screen!

With the PSU, I would ideally like one that will leave me room to add/upgrade abit in the future as I should think this PC will be with me for the next few years. Ill get a SATA DVD-RW then and go for the 8800GTS. I heard that cheap RAM isn't a good idea as It easily brakes etc... ? is this true?
Click to expand...

No, onboard sound doesn't use system resources these day. Even it did, it's very very minuscule. What you thought may have been true a few years ago, but now it isn't true these days. Also, that X-Fi card won't work well with Vista anyway due to Creative's fault.

As for the PSU. then go with the Corsair 620HX 620W PSU then. Should be plenty of power for you. It's an excellent quality PSU. Remember that wattage doesn't mean that much these days. What matters most is where, how clean and how efficient those watts are being delivered.

As for RAM, well most RAM these days have lifetime warranties. So if it does break, it'll be replaced, usually at no cost to you. As for RAM quality, expensive RAM can also break as well. It's pretty much a matter of luck. I've seen $200 sets of RAM break after a week or so when a $60 set is still going strong after 8 months. Brand name also don't matter that much as well.

But just to help you out a bit, go for the Ballistix RAM by Crucial or any set of G.Skill RAM. Those are pretty good RAM brands/companies/sets.

EDIT: Oh and yes the wattage recommendation mean for the entire system. However those recommendations are a bit off since some PSUs don't actually provide 500W of power even though the label says it can. Hit up http://www.jonnyguru.com/ for more information about power supplies. Also, check out the forums there for more info as well.
 
Yes, it will fit in the Centurion 534. You'll need one more 120mm fan, if I'm not mistaken. Find a Yate Loon for cheap. Your parts are lookin good with the updates.

If you don't have a lot of old peripherals/software, you may want to pickup the 64-bit version of Vista instead, for when the time comes to upgrade to 4GB.
 
Ok, Thanks very much for the help!

Is it worth getting the 64-bit edition of Vista, its still quite buggy from what I heard, and I know that alot of software cannnot work with it?
 
as far as sound goes most onboard sound does not support eax,so if you can live without that you are ok.maxtor=short life span in my opinion,but it is up to you.nothing wrong with the power supply.the 2900xt will work well.nice overall build:D
 
Jaffa Cakes! said:
Ok, Thanks very much for the help!

Is it worth getting the 64-bit edition of Vista, its still quite buggy from what I heard, and I know that alot of software cannnot work with it?
Click to expand...

Not sure where you're getting your info, but it's not nearly that bad. Yes you may run into some software that won't work right, but it's very rare. I've been using Vista on both of my computers for 10 months with no problems.

My personal recommendation is go with Vista.
 
Ive got this so now

Thermaltake Soprano Black Middle Tower Case With Window No Psu £48.39 http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?TT-SOPBW
Gigabyte S775 nForce 650SLI ATX 8CH HD Audio GLan £68.13 http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.asp...11143,48760000,43850000,43670000,12&InMerch=1
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI £246.74 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-036-BG&tool=3
Asus DRW-1814BLT £19.90 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=567862
Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz S775 £165.96 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131823
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NQ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) £44.64 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-018-GS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU £93.99 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=823
Maxtor STM3160215AS 160GB SATAII 7200RPM 2MB Cache - OEM £30.75 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130408
Vista Home Premium - 32bit - OEM £61.00 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123052
Click to expand...
 
I'm not sure if that Maxtor is a rebagded Seagate or not. If it is, stick with it. If not, I'd suggest switching to a Seagate or WD. I just trust them more... just a personal preference of mine.
 
Go with the P35-DS3R that Danny linked to in the 2nd post instead. I've got one, and its a great board.
 
Ok, so:

Thermaltake Soprano Black Middle Tower Case With Window No Psu £48.39 http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s....html?TT-SOPBW
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R £69.31 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=605526
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI £246.74 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...-036-BG&tool=3
Asus DRW-1814BLT £19.90 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=567862
Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz S775 £165.96 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131823
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NQ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) £44.64 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=8&subcat=813
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU £93.99 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...123&subcat=823
Maxtor STM3160215AS 160GB SATAII 7200RPM 2MB Cache - OEM £30.75 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130408
Vista Home Premium - 64bit - OEM £61.99 [http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123067

Hoping to order quite soon!
 
some of your links don't work.

But from your list, you made a lot of good choices. I say go for it.
 
Yeh, sorry about the links, its because I just copied and pasted from the other post and the forums shorten the links :)

Thanks! Will start buying them in a day or so then! Cannot wait :D

Thanks for all the help people! :D
 
Jaffa Cakes! said:
Damn, about to order when dad tells me I can't have a window in the case because of RF Interferance as he does alot of Amatuer Radio stuff, anyone recommend a great case without a window!?
Click to expand...

If you like the Soprano, get the one without a window, lol.
 
I'd like to put in a recommendation for OCZ, but G.Skill is fine as well. I'm happy with my $135 and $50 2GB sets of the same OCZ Platinum R2 memory (holy price drops Batman).

Vista 64 and 4GB no likee Creative sound cards. Supposedly there is a user by the name of Daniel_K who has figured it all out, but I'm still having issues with my Audigy, so it's disabled and I'm using onboard sound atm. My 6800GT also had serious problems with 4GB of RAM/x64, but my replacement 7800GTX is working more than excellent.

All in all, it seems the Vista OS wants 1GB+ for itself, and when I fire up Bioshock, it seems to want to use up to a gig, so I'd say 4GB is the way to go given you can get sets for $90 AR .
 
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