advice for the rogue

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 10:49 pm

I've now finally got the cash to start buying the parts to build my new system. could do with a little advice from those in the know as never done one before. gonna get a ga-p35-ds3r m/b, q6600, 8800gt. not sure about ram, can get 2 gig of pc8500 ballistix ram for about £80, but seen 4 gig of giel gaming ram pc6400 for around same price. think i'll go for the faster one and add 2 gig more at a later date. + a hard drive for around £40a few to choose from. problems finding a decent case with a decent p/s for cheap(around £50). intend to o/c system at a later date to keep it up to speed so need good cooling. but system is in living room so need to be able to hear tv above it. anyone recommend anything?? been looking on all the usual places for parts but any of you know any cheap places to look? also vista 32 or 64?? gonna go to computer market next sunday as mate reckons thats cheaper than internet (if they have what i want). any and all advice appreciated as don't wanna blow anything up Shocked

thanx in advance Very Happy

Joined: Nov 09, 2007 Posts: 14

Hi Rogue...

Im gonna give u my advice from what ive learnt...here goes ---

64 bit...dont worry about it= let the gaming designers catch up 1st

4gb memory = dont worry about it = unless your running a game that can use it..there aint 1!!!....dont worry about it!!! 64 bit can use it but the game s dont comply!!!

OK now uve got past the 64 sign lets get back to realtity!!!!

32 Bit....and lets build the ultimate to give a reference -

cpu - if you want the future then its quad - Q6600 is the baseline

mobo - asus is for me look no further

mem - i love crucial but using ocz

Vista aint all its ment to be...TO BE WARNED!!..frame rate is now a issue because VSYNC isnt enabled on VISTA

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 2:35 am

oh boy!

I scout loads of places, but these are the 3 i use the most:
www.ebuyer.com
www.scan.co.uk
www.cclonline.com

Vista 64 dude. Yes, those who have been using XP and are sticking with it till Microsoft decides to drop it on its head would say the 32bit version IF there were a gun pointed to their head LOL!, but soon, and i mean soon, apps and games are gonna make very very good use of 64bit. Plus Vista will make better use your dual core CPU than XP.

If you've got O/Cing in mind then i would certainly buy a descent Heatsink and Fan/CPU Cooler, there's loads out there for the 775 socket and even one at £10-£15 does a damn spankin good job.

Here's some help from Intel about installing the CPU into the motherboard:
http://www.intel.com/support/processors/core2duo/inuse.htm
Watching the 'Integration video for LGA775-based processors' is a MUST.

Regards your RAM- your mobo, and a nice one of that, does make use of PC8500 (1066) modules but due to PC8500s higher frequency its latency is longer, so you've gotta decide what you'd rather have- a little guide here:
TYPE | FREQ. | LATENCY
PC6400 = 800 Mhz = 4-4-4-12
PC8500 = 1066 Mhz = 5-5-5-15

£40-£50 should buy you a descent gaming Midi tower case, make sure when you buy a case that it can house 3 or more case fans, your gonna need them if O/Cing is on the cards.

I suggest at least a 500W Power Supply Unit (PSU) with the proper rail connections for the Nvidia 8800GT, and again for the O/Cing in the future.

The onboard sound on the Mobo is good, so no worries there then- 2.1 speakers, headset = six and three two's really.
If you'd rather free up CPU times by not having it process sound- a Creative X-FI soundcard is a must- the recent November driver release has fixed the 4GB RAM on Vista 64bit problem THANK GOD! P.S. Took their f*ckin time!!!

|2es-woop and |2es-TheWicker are the fellas that really know their stuff, especially when it comes to system building.

Hope that helps a bit rogue Wink

Its off-putting at first, but everything falls into place once the ball gets a rolling

Joined: Jul 01, 2005 Posts: 495 Location: Watching You

Seriously there is absolutly no reason to not get a 64 bit cpu now tbh i cant rember last time i saw one that wasnt 64 bit. Do not get a 32 bit cpu 64 bit programs and full compatibility have been along time comming but are getting very close.

About the ram im fairly sure games will use however much they need to use it is only the operating system that has a cap which in case of 64 bit its some crazy ammmount you will never fit on a motherboard till they make sticks of 10k plus ram Very Happy

.ALso i had a very noticable increase when i slapped in 2 more ram sticks especially when minimizing games which became instant for all my games.My PC is far from being anything special and ive had vista since release and only had 1 isue in that intire time, that was fixed swiftly by a bit of help from mrix .

Regarding game performance there realy is no diffrence all this about terrble framerates is just a load of crap cause im playing these top end games pefectly fine on top settings and im only on a single core AMD to boot and not even a good one at that.
With a duel core/quad vista will easily run ontop of high performance in games.

Finally as far as we know you need vista to run direct x 10 games so if your getting an 8800 then theres realy no reason to go for xp because a system like that will just chuckle litely when vista attemps to have any slowdown .

Smile

Joined: Nov 04, 2006 Posts: 47 Location: Leicester

Been looking around for some cases for you because you need good cooling with the 8800 and dual core cpu heres a few

Antec 900 "Nine Hundred" gaming case - No Psu £56.00 ex vat
http://www.1337pc.co.uk/item/118186716500/Antec_900_Ultimate_Gamer_Case/
Good case not very loud but the power supply is at the bottom and a bit of a pain to fit, but the cooling effects are excellent.

Aplus Case Monolize £63.11 inc vat
http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase8.2&prodID=B83607
Sounds like it could be good and quite. it has 2*250mm side mounted low rpm fans so it shold keep all the components inside cool.

X-ClioA380 SuperTower Black Window 2 x 25cm Fans -750 Wat Psu £99.00
http://www.xcase.co.uk/p/375804/x-clioa380-supertower-black-window-2-x-25cm-fans--750-wat-psu.html
Comes with a 750 watt power supply, so for the price it alright

A-Top X-Blade - LCD - Black 700 Watt Sli £79.98
http://www.xcase.co.uk/p/301382/a-top-x-blade---lcd---black-700-watt-sli-2468-psu-.html
Comes with a 700 watt power supply which is a low as you want to go power wise.

As for power supplies anything from 700 watt should provide enough power for all the things you connect up

Hope this helps

3MIN3M

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:30 am

thanks lads. one of my concerns with case is noise, as the one i have now is a bit of a crap case and has 3 fans installed, although not perticularly noisy the drone of the fans is a bit annoying when watching the tv and we often have to turn up the volume. would this case be any good do you think http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?prodID=B76501
would be nice and quiet i think but what about the cooling?? thanks again. been reading a few reviews but always best to ask people who actually build systems and use them everyday rather than a review based on half hours use in an office then write a review.
and how about this one. http://www.xcase.co.uk/p/289017/coolermaster-elite-330-rc-330--with-700-watt-sli-power-supply-for-amd-x2-and-intel-core-2-2024-6-8-4.html
got same 750 watt psu as case eminem suggested but only has 2 fans. but quieter and cheaper. cheers

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 8:33 am

As regards your fan noise chief-
Reality has it that: the bigger the fan, the bigger the area of airflow is- so what that means is that a bigger fan can run at a lower (quieter) speed whilst still producing the same amount of air flow as a smaller sized fan spinning at a fast rate.

12cm fans are a good standard nowadays and 14cm fans go a step further creating less noise and same airflow. The 20cm Antec 'Big Boy' runs so well that you wouldnt even think your computer was on LOL!

Joined: Mar 14, 2006 Posts: 232

As wicker said on the fans, get 120's which go around 1000 rpm - would recommend either the sharkoon silent eagle 1000's (i have those v. quiet!!!) or yate loons.

£50 for case & good psu ROFL

good choice of mobo - be aware that on those heatpipe mobo's there may be issues installing one of the bigger h/s's like a tuniq.

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 12:05 am

thanks guys. good job i asked. never bothered looking at the cases with big fans as always assumed they'd sound like a euro-fighter! i'll have to look all over again now!! Confused

only prob now is finding one cheap. i wanna have my cake and eat it!!! found a q6600 at SCAN for £157 all in. a bfg 8800gt for £163.19 all in, and 2 gig of ballistix 8500 for £69.90 all in from misco. cheers

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 12:18 am

incidently lads. don't know if any of you are aware of these cash back sites, but i've registered with one called top cashback http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ it was reccommended on martin lewis's money saving expert site. misco,dabs and a few other pc supplies companys are on there. basically if you click through to one of these and buy something you get a percentage back. usually about 5%. worth a look i think. sorry to hear your leaving papa, all the best mate and thanks again

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:38 am

what ya reckon lads, seen this x clio 3060 case http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=584952 got huge fan on side, biggest i've seen, cheap too. was thinking with this psu http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=141418 its 600w. eminem recomended at least 700w. the 650w is 2 quid more and the 700w is 12 quid more. the cheaper option only comes to £56.33. main worry with psu is that when i eventially start oc-ing. and eventially upgrade graphics card. if not the 600w then would the 650w do it to save some money. thanks for your time and patients lads with the replies. its much appreciated. may have to turn to you again when i start putting it together, haven't the fogiest what to do with installing the os etc. will do some reading Confused

Joined: Dec 17, 2006 Posts: 201 Location: Scunthorpe UK

Hey Rogue,
I think with psu its really important that it has dual 12volt rails, and has a good amount of amps on each rail, You really dont want to scimp when it comes to your psu as its whats powering your whole system and a dodgey one could fry all them lovely new expensive parts!
I think Thermaltake, Tagen and OCZ are some of the better makes but maybe someone with with a bit more knollidge about them can tell you more!
I have a Tagen 450watt , sli / xfire ready and I think without opening my case its got 20 0r 25 amps on the 12v rails with a max of 28
Also a surge protector can be V important!!
Thanx Scunny!

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:36 pm

cheers mate. thats a pitty because i just looked and there's a huge difference in price. 3 times more for a tegan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for that it should generate its own power!!! Surprised

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:58 pm

Well to put it to ya truthfully,
If your gonna overclock then you are gonna need parts that can do the business well.
Yeah, its gonna to cost more to get them, but if overclocking were a 'standard' then a cheapy PSU would do, unfortunately that aint the case. Mad

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:55 am

sorry to keep asking these questions, but could anyone list some brands that are good enough other than the 3 listed by skunny,as they are rather expensive and taking me over budget. is coolermaster or antec any good? thanks lads.