OK, time to pull trigger (new PC)

[ultra violent]

Going to go with scan. Wanted to keep under £2k but this is close enough. Any comments anybody?


Custom Coloured Cases: *No Custom Colour Required*
Case: Akasa Mirage-62 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End (Thermo efficient case with front panel door & IO port)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 S775 2.67Ghz 1066Mhz FSB Conroe Core 4M Cache Retail
CPU Coolers: Zalman CNPS9700-NT nVidia Tritium Super Aero Flower Cooler
Overclocking: 3XS System Core-Logic Overclocking*10 - 20%*
Memory: 2GB(2x1GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-9136 (1142MHz) 240Pin Non-ECC CAS 5-5-5-15 EPP DHX
nVidia VGA-The Way It's Meant To Be Played™: 768Mb XFX 8800GTX PCI-E (x16) Mem 1800 MHz GPU 570 MHz Stream 128 2x Dual Link DVI HDTV
System Drives: 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise SATA150 10000 rpm 16MB Cache NCQ 4.6 ms
Storage Hard drives: 250 Gb Samsung SP2504C SpinPoint P120 SATA300 7200 rpm 8MB Cache 9.0 ms NCQ
Floppy Drive Flash - Card Readers & Writers: Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Silver FDD+Int USB2 7 in 1 Card Reader (SM MMC SD CF MD MS) Fits in 3.5 FDD Bay
DVD ROM DVD Writer: Sony Black 16x DVD-ROM + 48x CD-ROM IDE
DVD Writer : LiteOn 16x DVD+ -RW RAM SATA black drive & S W
Sound Card Specialist Card Option: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card OEM
TV Tuner card: *No M M Card Required*
Modem Wireless Router: ***NO MODEM ADSL REQUIRED***
Wireless Adaptors: ***NO WIRELESS ADAPTOR REQUIRED***
Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit
Software - DVD Decoding: NVIDIA DVD - Bronze edition - Dolby 2.1
Software Application: MS OFFICE 2007 60 Day TRIAL Home&Student
Software Security: *No Software Required*
TFT Monitor: *Monitor Not Required*
Games - "Hottest PC Games": *No Software Required*
Gaming Keyboard : *Keyboard & Mouse Not Required*
Gaming Mouse Option: *Gaming Mouse Not Required*
Speakers: *Speakers Not Required*
Headphones: *Heaphones Not Required*
Case Fans : 120mm Sharkoon 2000 "Golf Ball" Quiet Case Fan
Acoustic Sound Proofing: **No Sound Proofing Required** Not Needed if Using Antec P180
Network Attached Storage: *Hard Drive Not Required*
Extended Warranty: Standard 3XS System Warranty

[Jinx]

Network card?

sorry slightly flippant comment as I can't see much wrong with your selection - damnit I need a new PC

[Zod]

Jinx said:

Network card?

sorry slightly flippant comment as I can't see much wrong with your selection - damnit I need a new PC

more important than that: a motherboard would be quite a useful addition! (probably would include onboard networking.

I'd go for a bigger storage drive and the gold version of NVDVD (with 5.1 sound).

Edited by Zod on Thursday 1st March 14:18

[ultra violent]

This is just the stuff above and beyond the basics...

[wolves_wanderer]

Swap the E6700 for an E6600 and swap the memory for 800MHz stuff. You should still be able to overclock it to >3GHz easily.

[ultra violent]

only seems to save a £10

[wolves_wanderer]

ultra violent said:

only seems to save a £10

Don't bother then

[rameshuk]

I recently built a system based on an E6600 and Asus P5W-DH.

I got a Labelflash Sony drive. This comes up as an Optiarc in Device Manager, Optiarc being the company Sony and NEC formed to handle DVD Writers and such.

IF your drive is Labelflash, make sure you order the Labelflash version of NERO. I tried nearly every PC shop in central London ! Was too impatient to wait for mail order.

While your shopping grab some FUJI Labelflash media as well. I've only seen this in two stores in London and three websites in the UK !

The quality of the print is rather nice. Takes 30 mins to burn a full design onto the label side.
Labelflash enables you to print on the data side as well. Text is OK but images look like holograms which need to be viewed in the right light.

**Fan**
I like The Scythe Infinity, looks is rather good and impressive cooling abilities. Coupled with two 120 fans.

Also picked up two Akase cool blue 40mm fans for the chipsets. Quite a few people swear by these and it shows.
They are hard to find in London at the moment !

Will post pictures of my system in a week or so.

R

Edited by rameshuk on Thursday 1st March 16:16

[PJ S]

CPU cooler - Arctic Pro 64.
Had the Zalman one worth £30 ish or more - less impressed than I am with the Acrtic one.

System Overview

Case: Silverstone TJ09B-W (Black) TEMJIN Aluminum Supertower Case inc Side Window
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 S775 2.40Ghz 1066Mhz FSB Conroe Core 4M Cache Retail
CPU Coolers: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core Core2Duo Ready
Memory: 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC8500 240 Pin Non-ECC Unbuffered CAS 5-5-5-15
nVidia VGA-The Way It's Meant To Be Played™: 640MB XFX 8800GTS Extreme XXX PCI-E (x16) Mem 1800 MHz GPU 550 MHz Dual DVI HDTV, 2 selected
System Drives: 320 Gb Samsung HD321KJ Spinpoint T SATA300 7200 rpm 16MB Cache 9 ms NCQ
Floppy Drive Flash - Card Readers & Writers: Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Silver FDD+Int USB2 7 in 1 Card Reader (SM MMC SD CF MD MS) Fits in 3.5 FDD Bay
DVD Writer : Samsung SH-S183A BEBN Black SATA 18x18 ±R Dual Layer DVDRW Writer OEM UK inc Nero 6.x
Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit
Software - DVD Decoding: NVIDIA DVD - Bronze edition - Dolby 2.1
Software Application: MS OFFICE 2007 60 Day TRIAL Home&Student
Keyboards Keyboard & Mouse Pack: Microsoft Black Optical Value Pack V2 - Multimedia Keyboard & Intelli Optical Mouse
Case Fans : 120mm Sharkoon 2000 "Golf Ball" Quiet Case Fan
Extended Warranty: Standard 3XS System Warranty

Slightly over £2K @ £2138 inc VAT, but that's due to the second 8800GTS card.

Quite frankly, you could self build the same for less than that by buying the parts from different vendors.
You can overclock yourself - no need to pay them £80 to see if the system will hold @ 10 or 20%.
Lose the Keyboard package - better ones out there.
G5 gaming mouse can be had for less than the £35 Scan's asking.
Check the various drivers required are Vista 64-bit enabled/ready otherwise drop back to 32-bit and save £40.
No need for 10K rpm HDD unless you're doing Enterprise Server stuff, which you won't. SATAII at 300 Mb/s is not even close to being fully utilised at 7200 rpm, so it's plenty for everything you'll throw at it.
If Vista or the motherboard can handle it, up the RAM to 4GB to max performance. This could replace the second GC since SLI isn't mandatory yet - even on 30" Apple Cinema Displays!
No need for a second DVD drive unless you plan on burning a lot of discs at the same time as playing games.
Motherboard not listed but is the newest nVidia NF 680i
Silverstone probably one of the best cases on the market - would've gone for it for my son's system a while back, except it wasn't available. Went for the Coolermaster Stacker 830, and it's an absolute beast with the ability to house 12 fans of 80 and 120 mm mix.
Runs fine with the in-built 2x120's at front and rear.

[rsvmilly]

Sounds like a beast.

I'd lose the Microsoft keyboard and mouse package (although it is a good one) and go for wired keyboard (something responsive and substantial like a Cherry) and a Razr mouse.

I'd also go for 1 x 8800gtx instead of the pair of 8800GTSs. Then, when you decide you need more FPS you can add another GTX. The GTX is an absolute powerhouse - benchmarking much faster than a X1950XTX. It is leaps and bounds better than its competition.

[ultra violent]

OK, revised spec:


Custom Coloured Cases: *No Custom Colour Required*
Case: Akasa Mirage-62 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End (Thermo efficient case with front panel door & IO port)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 S775 2.40Ghz 1066Mhz FSB Conroe Core 4M Cache Retail
CPU Coolers: Zalman CNPS9700-NT nVidia Tritium Super Aero Flower Cooler
Overclocking: *No System Overclocking*
Memory: 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC8500 240 Pin Non-ECC Unbuffered CAS 5-5-5-15, 2 selected
nVidia VGA-The Way It's Meant To Be Played™: 768Mb XFX 8800GTX PCI-E (x16) Mem 1800 MHz GPU 570 MHz Stream 128 2x Dual Link DVI HDTV
System Drives: 320 Gb Samsung HD321KJ Spinpoint T SATA300 7200 rpm 16MB Cache 9 ms NCQ
Storage Hard drives: *Hard Drive Not Required*
Floppy Drive Flash - Card Readers & Writers: Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Silver FDD+Int USB2 7 in 1 Card Reader (SM MMC SD CF MD MS) Fits in 3.5 FDD Bay
DVD ROM DVD Writer: *CD DVD Not Required*
DVD Writer : LiteOn 16x DVD+ -RW RAM SATA black drive & S W
Sound Card Specialist Card Option: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card OEM
TV Tuner card: *No M M Card Required*
Modem Wireless Router: ***NO MODEM ADSL REQUIRED***
Wireless Adaptors: ***NO WIRELESS ADAPTOR REQUIRED***
Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit
Media Center Remote Option: ** No Remote Control Required **
Software - DVD Decoding: NVIDIA DVD - Gold Edition Dolby 5.1 Digital Headphones Dolby Pro Logic IIx
Software Application: MS OFFICE 2007 60 Day TRIAL Home&Student
Software Security: *No Software Required*
Games - "Hottest PC Games": *No Software Required*
TFT Monitor: *Monitor Not Required*
Keyboards Keyboard & Mouse Pack: Microsoft Black Optical Value Pack V2 - Multimedia Keyboard & Intelli Optical Mouse
Gaming Mouse Option: *Gaming Mouse Not Required*
Headphones: *Heaphones Not Required*
Speakers: *Speakers Not Required*
Case Fans : 120mm Sharkoon 2000 "Golf Ball" Quiet Case Fan
Acoustic Sound Proofing: **No Sound Proofing Required** Not Needed if Using Antec P180
Network Attached Storage: *Hard Drive Not Required*
Extended Warranty: Standard 3XS System Warranty

[rsvmilly]

The only potential bottleneck I can see is the Hard Drive. I have a small (74G) Western Digital Raptor as my first drive (for my OS). It spins at 10,000rpm. You can get a 36G for about £40-50.

And if you really want your PC to fly then apparently you should have a HD just for your Windows page file.

[LukeBird]

rsvmilly said:

The only potential bottleneck I can see is the Hard Drive. I have a small (74G) Western Digital Raptor as my first drive (for my OS). It spins at 10,000rpm. You can get a 36G for about £40-50.

And if you really want your PC to fly then apparently you should have a HD just for your Windows page file.

Now that sounds like a great idea!!
I want one!

[PJ S]

I'm sorry, but a 10K rpm drive will not output the data faster than a 7200 rpm one will. They are both SATAII, and as such, the THEORETICAL speed is not being met due to physical limitations of the arms the heads are on.
If you want to remove that bottleneck, you buy a RAM HDD.
In Enterprise storage, the extra speed of accessing the platters or data on them is worth it due to the number of calls they get from the client terminals for database enquiries/updating, but in a normal gaming PC, it's nothing more than shouting about numbers, and paying the same price for half the storage of a 16MB cached 7200 rpm drive.
Not to mention higher heat output due to the speed.
Save your money and put the same difference into more RAM, which will make ALL the difference by comparison.

[rsvmilly]

So you don't believe a 10,000 rpm disk will give better response times?

I don't know much about RAM drives. How much are they? Are they more than £50?

Edited to add that these figures are from the OP's original spec;

System Drives: 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise SATA150 10000 rpm 16MB Cache NCQ 4.6 ms
Storage Hard drives: 250 Gb Samsung SP2504C SpinPoint P120 SATA300 7200 rpm 8MB Cache 9.0 ms NCQ

Edited by rsvmilly on Saturday 3rd March 07:54

[PJ S]

Yeah, 10K drives have no real advantage in home PCs for loading games or the OS. The only advantage as you can see is average seek time - half sounds a lot when you say it like that, but 4.6 milliseconds versus 9 milliseconds is nothing in reality.
It makes a bigger case for itself in database enquiries where there's hundreds, if not thousands, of requests for the data or writing new data.

As for RAM drives - think £1K plus, IIRC, depending on how much storage capacity you want/need. So, slightly more than £50.

[ajg31]

there is plenty on the net to argue the case for load times in games and Raptors. I had 2x36 Raptors in Raid, and the performance was amazing. Heat was too. Samsungs drives are nice and quiet, i have two sp250's. I would go for a 500 gig hdd now as the prices are so cheap.
If your into overclocking (i am, although Intel is new to me TBH), i have just bought a 8800gtx, GeiL DDR2 6400 ultra, 6300 chip, Zalman Fatal1ty cooler, and an Asus 650 chipset SLI board (Abit have a better 2 x 16 PCIE one out for same money now tho). This totals about 700 quid, so PLENTY of cash to carry on with the rest of the build. Some components i bought from another well known online retailer, who have fantastic RAM prices right now. My chip will overclock to 3ghz happily, and this gives performance comparable to an extreme core 2 chip even tho the L2 Cashe is less.
In summary i would go with the Abit board which is 2x16PCIE, 6300 chip, DDR2 6400, Samsung sp500, BIG PSU (800w min monster) so you could SLI, and a single 8800gtx. I think it is easily possible to get two 8800gtx cards for a budget of 2k, but maybe no built up by scan. Does that matter to you?

[PJ S]

Well, RAID and 10K drives are a completely different matter to what was outlined above in the first post.
A single 10K will not benefit gamers, and I defy anyone to show REAL WORLD improvements worth talking about.
1-2 secs loading a new level is hardly the stuff bragging rights are made of!
Do RAID on a pair of 7200 drives, and you'll see the an improvement of sort, but to do RAID right, you've got to go 3 drives minimum.
All that extra expense for what?
If you're doing video editing or other similar read/write intensive stuff, then RAID and possibly 10K's are warranted, but not for regular gaming, especially where the bulk of games nowadays are run via the DVD disc they are supplied on.