I plan on building a new computer and I'm on a budget of £1100 I don't really want to go down the i7 route or crossfire/sli (for now) but I think that I have configured a build to suit my needs. I love to play PC games and I want to be able to max out all of the latest games really and the games of tomorrow Here is my "prototype" build -Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 I've heard it's the most overclockable quad core processor and so it looks like great value for money and is already at great performance - 1x ATI 4890 Looks like a great card and I should be able to max most of the games on it... No need to get 2 for crossfire as that's just unnecessary I think -Asus P6T Pro Looks like a good Motherboard and it is crossfire ready and so should I need to, I can go crossfire on that.. Also I like Asus -Antec 900--> Going to consider the Haf 922 when that comes out and reviews come out I think this case is almost legendary and I think that it's a great case and should give me great performance for the price. -625W Enermax Modu82+ PSU I think the power on this is fine, I'm going to overclock so I want good cable management which is why I've gone for a modular. Also I'm single gpu'ing so it's ample power but it can cater for 2 cards should I need it I believe. I also love Enermax PSU's because of the cable sleeving cos they look pretty -640GB Western Digital WD6401AALS Caviar Black More than enough storage for me, if it's not i'll just buy another HDD in the future.. Simple -4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2, PC2-8500 (1066) 4gb is enough RAM for me.. I multitask but not a huge amount so it's ample amount I also bought a wireless card at 300mbps and a optical drive I also want to buy a 24" monitor to play on and I have found this one and it looks pretty good: 24" Samsung SM2433BW Black Widescreen LCD, 1920x1200, 1000:1, 300 cd/m², 5 ms, VESA Now the question time... -For my OS, I am building this in June time when my exams are over so I don't get distracted, so will I be able to install the Windows 7 RC and use as my OS. And then when Windows 7 retail version comes out, just upgrade/back up to an external HDD and then all my files will still be there etc? -Is my system powerful enough for the monitor size/resolution and is the PSU big enough? -Should I go for the Antec 902... Does it give better performance for the price? -BIG QUESTION: What CPU fan should I go for as I don't think stock cooling will get me far as although i've never OC'd before, I think I will be able to do it and looking to get to around 3.6 ish stable. I have around £50 to spend and all my friends have suggested the TRUE. But will it fit in my case and I can't seem to find a bolt-thru kit for the 775 on scan.co.uk...DOES IT EXIST? -This is my first build and one question on that. I've taken apart my old old old desktop (AGP Cheesecake!) and put it back together again just to have a look and there is one bit I struggled with.. That was hooking up the front panel.. There seemed to be about 5 different plugs from my case that had to go into 10 pins all next to eachother in a specific order... How hard is it to do this (I failed at it) and will there be anything to tell me where to put things I might have gone on for a bit but I want to get the best knowledge out of you guys as that's what you're there for Here is a print screen of my build from www.scan.co.uk I hope that this helps and you can give me some good comments about this.. I'm excited, I just want my exams to finish so I can build this Will be my first build btw but I think I have the know-how on how to build it.. I want to put a fan controller in too and some cold cathodes.. And maybe even a window mod if I can get the supplies Thanks... Ali
well, you have to start somewhere, and good thing you asked for advice, because you would have had a real hard time getting that cpu to fit in that motherboard . what reason do you have for not going i7? you are spending the money (and speccing an x58 mobo), so why not? no reason to spend the money on a q9550 when you can get a 920 for a few bucks more. ddr3 is not so prohibitively expensive now. all in all, hate to see you spend that kind of money on "old tech". it would be one thing if you already had a mobo to go with the cpu. but thats just my 2 cents. i can think of many cases i would rather have, but it's a solid case and that is a subjective piece anyway. the 4890 is a good card, but you won't be maxing every game on a 24" monitor with it, just a heads up. additionally if you are a folder, you would be better off running the gtx 275. the enermax is a good unit, and should handle another 4890 in x-fire, but you will be cutting it close. definitely wont be putting a third card in. i would recommend going higher if you think xfire or sli is a strong possibility in the next year or so. as far as the cooler, read this, should help you there. and yes, the mobo will come with material to tell you where to plug in the case plugs on your mobo.
Most importantly, you've said a Q9550 and a P6T. Won't work, the P6T is the new i7 socket. You need P5*, preferably a P5Q series. Asus usually give you a Q-connector, which labels all the plugs you need for the front panel. Should be easy enough. And the 902 will fit a TRUE with about 5mm to spare, my 900 is fine with it. The bolt-through backplate is included with the TRUE.
oooops!.. i think i've given you the wrong mobo... i think it's the P5Q Pro http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus...E-20-(x16)-DDR2-1200MHz-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-ATX
I have an ASUS board and it has everything labeled on the board itself and the front I/O cables also had a label on it. I dont know if Antec has that but I know Ultra cases do. Also if you get the Antec 900 you wont have to make a side window in it since it already has one, unless you want to have a different looking window. With the issue of the card and monitor you should look at the highest resolution the card can handle and see the resolution for the monitor. Just compair the 2 and you should be able to tell. I am running something similar to you and it was my first build. I have a geforce 9800 GTX+ powered by a 500watt PSU. To the OS question you should be able to do that. For a cpu cooler, I have the ASUS Triton 70 cpu cooler and my temps say in the 30 c range and sometimes gets to the low 40's c.
Have you considered a Phenom II processor rather than the Q9550. Socket 775 is a bit of a dead end with Core i5 coming out in around 6 months. A Phenom II 955 will give similar performance to a Q9550 at stock frequencies and also has reasonable headroom for overclocking.
even so, you still are not that far off an i7 build price-wise. doesn't make sense to drop that money on a dead end.
If you do go 775 (although if I was in your position I'd definitely go for an i7 920 just for future proofing) I can heartily recommend the Akasa 966: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=876302
+1 £1100 is enough for an i7 system and will outperform the one u spec'd up. id only go 775 now if i had £800 or less to spend as you can do i7 for £950 give or take.
OK lets see... What do you think? I admit, its more or less lifted straight out of the latest CustomPC but its the best stuff about! I changed the gfx card to Nvidia, I've gone off ATI at the moment.
looks good although only an extra £20 for 6GB of RAM which will be better for vista or win7 (which is free at the min)
Looks good, but I would definitely go with 6Gb of RAM, its not much more expensive and it'll be far better for the future. I regularly use more than 3Gb of RAM TBH.
It all depends on what bit operating system he is going to use. A lot of programs dont have 64 bit support so going over 4Gb or memory would be useless if he is getting a 32bit but if going with a 64bit i would get the extra ram. And ive heard that the phenom II processors are better than the i7 plus its cheaper. Just get a Black Edition Phenom II. A lot of ASUS boards are supporting the AM2/AM2+ and AM3 processors. With the extra cash you would save you could get a better graphics card or more ram or 2 graphics card. And the black edition cpu's from AMD are made for overclocking and they are unlocked so you can just up the multiplier and get a higher clock.
Phenom II isnt as good as i7. for games there similar but for everything esle the Core i7920 wins hands down sometimes its close others its way out in front. The issue is that a AMD 955 BE @ 3.2Ghz isnt as fast as a 2.66Ghz i7 920. now they can both clock to 4Ghz although the 955 is alittle harder to do but it will do it. Then its not even a contest anymore as the 920 is alot faster than the 955. purely on games though there isnt much in it and its cheaper to have a 955 platform than i7920 one so if ya only playing games and nothing else then it is worth considering.
wow...lol...so many errors, so little time. I would pretty much just disregard that post. not that the am3 route is a bad one, but read the latest review from bit, then make an informed choice.
Few updates on things The reason I'm not going for I7 is that firstly, if I go down that route, then with the order you print screen'd above. It doesn't come with all the accessories etc that I wanted. Secondly, i've heard from somewhere that i7 isn't as good as people think for GAMING. Seeing as this my real only purpose, I wanted to price up a quad core setup I'm currently a student so I do not have a huge disposable income so an extra "£300 or so" quid to me IS a lot a lot to me and that will prospone the build to end of the summer really if not later I saw that TJ harlow (loads of vids on youtube) did a case mod where he made a huge plexiglass window for the 1200. and so I wanted to replicate this on my case as it looks sooo nice
I dont think I had any errors in my post. Just stating some of the information I have heard about the Phenom II being better than the i7. I heard that someone got the Phenom II 940 to 6Ghz. I dont know if it is true since I havent seen the research on it. If there is any errors I would like to know so I get my facts correct.
there were a few, and i didn't have much time to post. i guess my advice would be to advise people on what you know as opposed to what you hear. comes off as a fanboy. it's cool though. bit did a really good review here as well as a nice review of a very good mobo here. all in all, they are competitive, but i7 still has an edge, and am3 is not cheap enough over the i7 to grab an extra video card, unless you are going cheap on the vga, which you probably wont on a rig this price.
sorry. missed this in my last post. can't keep going on what you "hear" unless it's reputable, which it probably isn't when the source isn't qouted. i7 is better than lga 775 period, gaming or w/e. what you were being told was probably that it really doesn't make sense to upgrade to i7 IF you already own a quality 775 rig AND you only care about gaming. however, and i keep pointing this out to you, you are basically starting from scratch. you are spending i7 money on a lga 775 rig. if you were just looking to upgrade a cpu, or maybe a video card or mobo, fine, stay lga 775. but you are buying everything. do what you will, i've spent all the time i care to trying to keep you from wasting your dough . and it would be in this instance. but it's pretty obvious from your posts you are not all that keen on the tech, so you might want to take someone's advice on here, and save for the amd suggestions, it's all been the same, go i7.
