Advice/Opinions On A Build.

[Ned Pointsman]

Hi.

Been lurking for a while and finally decided to take the plunge and build my own system after lurching from one 'most underpowered PSU and the cheapest case we can get away with' manufacturer to another for far too long.

Can't say I'll be using it for anything specific, a bit of everything really, which isn't much help, though I'm not particularly bothered about being able to play crysis at 2048xwhatever, I'm not particularly into 'every frame per second counts' type stuff, as long as things run I'm not that bothered, games running at 1024x768 still seem like high resolution to me, ergo I'm not into overclocking.

I'm in the UK and ideally I don't want to go over £1500, initially I'd planned to go all out on a qx9650 setup but then I found out about this Nehalem business so effectively what I want is something to tide me over until that comes out, is vaguely futureproof (hence the PSU) and that will need the least amount of stuff replacing, though as far as I understand it the cpu/memory/motherboard will all need to be replaced for Nehalem (?) but I suppose I can always reuse this stuff in something else/sell it on.

I'd like to stick to Intel and Nvidia, beyond that I haven't got any great preferences, I've just bought a new monitor so I'll be reusing that.

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Power Supply - 1000W Enermax EG1000EWLDXX V2 Galaxy Modular PSU.

Case - Antec P182 Advanced PERFORMANCE ONE SERIES.

Motherboard - Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX.

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6850, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache.

Heatsink/Fan - Tuniq Tower 120.

Memory - 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400.

Primary Hard Drive - 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500AHFD Raptor X, SATA150, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache.

Secondary Hard Drive - 500 GB Seagate ST3500630AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache

Optical Drives - 2x LG GSA-H55LBRL 20xDVD±R.

Graphics Card - 512MB Asus 8800GT PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1800 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 600 MHz.

Soundcard - Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer.

Keyboard/Mouse - Logitech DiNovo Edge/Revolution MX.

Speakers - Creative Gigaworks T40.

Total - £1356.

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My primary concerns are whether or not the Raptor will work with the motherboard (it's a bit of a luxury I suppose and could go/be replaced if needs be) and if the memory is any good, I was looking at this stuff initially, is there any compelling reason I should get that over the corsair beyond the nice looking heatsinks ?

Is the Tuniq overkill ? Presumably it won't work on the Nehalem sockets and £35 seem's a bit steep for a cooler if I'm not overclocking, looks pleasant though.

I was considering the Logitech MX Air but it looks like it'd be a nightmare for gaming, anyone got any experience of it ?

Beyond that have I overlooked anything glaringly obvious ?

Thanks In Advance.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Ned Pointsman

Power Supply - 1000W Enermax EG1000EWLDXX V2 Galaxy Modular PSU.
Case - Antec P182 Advanced PERFORMANCE ONE SERIES.
Motherboard - Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX.
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6850, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache.
Heatsink/Fan - Tuniq Tower 120.
Memory - 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400.
Primary Hard Drive - 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500AHFD Raptor X, SATA150, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache.
Secondary Hard Drive - 500 GB Seagate ST3500630AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache
Optical Drives - 2x LG GSA-H55LBRL 20xDVD±R.
Graphics Card - 512MB Asus 8800GT PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1800 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 600 MHz.
Soundcard - Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer.
Keyboard/Mouse - Logitech DiNovo Edge/Revolution MX.
Speakers - Creative Gigaworks T40.

Total - £1356.

Good to see another UK buyer. Not often I get to recommend in £s!

PSU is huge overkill. Get something like this instead:
Corsair 520HX modular http://scan.co.uk/Products/Pro...sp?WebProductID=446788
RAM is fine, any DDR-800 at all will do.
CPU - wait until this comes back into stock:
E8400 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...sp?WebProductID=736334
It runs cooler and overclocks incredibly easily, you can also just use the retail cooler and save money from the Tuniq Tower.
Graphics card is fine, this one is £10 cheaper though:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...sp?WebProductID=698278
This motherboard is cheaper:
Gigabyte P35-DS3R http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...sp?WebProductID=605526
You don't really need a sound card with the motherboard I've suggested or the one you've picked, the onboard is very good quality, not like years ago. I'd say use the onboard sound for now and if you're not happy with it (very unlikely in my opinion), then buy a dedicated sound card. No point shelling out £££ if you're not going to notice a difference. Especially if you're using only 2.0 speakers.


Edit: New total would be £937.45!

 

[mcv]

I agree that a 1000W power supply is way overkill. You only need that much power if you're using 4 video cards in SLi or Crossfire. Most PCs nowadays shouldn't be using much more than 300W, even at heavy load. Especially with efficient processors like the E8400. I'm probably getting a Seasonic S12II 330 for my next machine, but considering your history with power problems, I can imagine you won't feel comfortable with that.

What you need to know, however, is that power problems are usually not caused by the rated power of your PSU being too low, but by the PSU simply being a cheap, crappy brand. A lot of cheap PSUs have a very high power rating that they'll only reach at low temperatures. Once you turn the PC on, temperature goes up and power goes down. Instead of looking for something ridiculously high powered, you need to look for quality brands, like pretty much anything from Seasonic or the Corsair 450VX or 520HX. You really do not need more than 500W with this kind of machine.

I also agree with the suggestions for the E8400 and any GA-P35-DS3x motherboard, but I don't know the Asus P5K, so I don't really know what I'm talking about here. Actually, I don't know why Roguestar recommends the DS3R, because I think its main feature is RAID, and I don't think you want RAID. But it might support your Raptor better than the DS3L would.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: mcv
I agree that a 1000W power supply is way overkill. You only need that much power if you're using 4 video cards in SLi or Crossfire. Most PCs nowadays shouldn't be using much more than 300W, even at heavy load. Especially with efficient processors like the E8400. I'm probably getting a Seasonic S12II 330 for my next machine, but considering your history with power problems, I can imagine you won't feel comfortable with that.

What you need to know, however, is that power problems are usually not caused by the rated power of your PSU being too low, but by the PSU simply being a cheap, crappy brand. A lot of cheap PSUs have a very high power rating that they'll only reach at low temperatures. Once you turn the PC on, temperature goes up and power goes down. Instead of looking for something ridiculously high powered, you need to look for quality brands, like pretty much anything from Seasonic or the Corsair 450VX or 520HX. You really do not need more than 500W with this kind of machine.

I also agree with the suggestions for the E8400 and any GA-P35-DS3x motherboard, but I don't know the Asus P5K, so I don't really know what I'm talking about here. Actually, I don't know why Roguestar recommends the DS3R, because I think its main feature is RAID, and I don't think you want RAID. But it might support your Raptor better than the DS3L would.

I ordered from scan.co.uk for my last build and availed of a cheapo power supply they had on offer at the time - some no-name brand I can't even remember, 500W thing that wouldn't even power on my graphics card . Money wasted! Spending a little more on a conservative but good quality PSU is much wiser.

mcv: I suggested the DS3R as well as the DS3L because it had 4 more SATA ports.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: RoguestarI ordered from scan.co.uk for my last build and availed of a cheapo power supply they had on offer at the time - some no-name brand I can't even remember, 500W thing that wouldn't even power on my graphics card . Money wasted! Spending a little more on a conservative but good quality PSU is much wiser.

mcv: I suggested the DS3R as well as the DS3L because it had 4 more SATA ports.

No knock on the DS3L, I'm happy with mine, but the DS3R also has a different (apparently better) sound chip.

@ the OP: The usage you described (not particularly interested in every little FPS) doesn't really match the list you made. You're better off buying pretty good components every two years or so than buying tip-top of the line every three to four years. Roguestar's list should be a very good one for you.

 

[Ned Pointsman]

Looking at some benchmarks, i'll definitely go with the E8400, cheers for that, I'll probably take the advice over the soundcard too, as you say, can always go back later.

As tempted as I am to save £100 with the PSU, as I mentioned, the initial plan was an all out qx9650, the proverbial 'dream build' that I'm holding off slightly for Nehalem, I probably will run SLI with a nine series 'GTX' equivalent coupled with an eight core processor when the time comes and Nvidia don't certify the 520HX for dual SLI with the eight series (specifically at least, it's in the 'other' list at the bottom, or are they just being conservative ?) Ultimately if I spend £60 now and still end up having to fork out for a 1000w+ PSU later, sort of defeats the object, unlike the soundcard, it's not something you can go back on, if I could find them for sale in the UK I'd be tempted by one of these.

SATA150 is SATA 1, isn't it, which is backwards compatible, the Raptor should be alright there, forgot about that.

 

[Roguestar]

A 520W PSU is more than enough for Dual SLi and a quad-core CPU. Remember, SLI is not an upgrade path, it is only for those who are driving huge screens and need the best performance right now. The Raptor will work fine on the motherboards suggested.

 

[Ned Pointsman]

Fairenough, I'll go with the Corsair.

£200, ish, saved, cheers fella.

 

[OddJensen]

The Corsair will do you fine, I'm very happy with mine.