Hardware PC Hardware Buyer's Guide October 2010

Re: 930 vs 950

I actually picked up the 950 from scan for £214 because the 930 was out of stock.

Seems like they're back to £5-10 difference which is negligable for an extra multi imo

I think you've dropped the ball here tbh bit-tech, too much copy pasting perhaps?

 

I think the case for the affordable All-Rounder October 2010, could be downgraded to a Casecom 6788 Black Mid Tower Case for £28.99 from Ebuyer!

 

+1 [PUNK]c

+++1 Luay ... a better pair of reasoned posts ya couldn't wish for.

I think Bit-tech needs to pick some/all of these raised points in proper articled response... the silence so far is deafening!

 

I'd argue the opposite - if you're going the SSD route you should look at 256GB as a minimum, either with one (pricier) SSD or two cheaper 128GB cards set up in RAID-0.

There are downsides to SSD RAID (the need to deRAID and run a wiper tool on each card periodically) but uninstalling/reinstalling games to avoid running out of space on 128GB (Win7 can easily exceed 10GB space and many games need a similar amount of room) would likely involve more work over the long term.

 

128GB is more than enough for me. The only things you need on an SSD are your OS and most used apps. Only games with annoying load times need to go on an SSD as most load quick enough off an F3 to not need to fill my SSD in order to save possbly 3 seconds on already fast loading speeds.

I still have 60GB free on my 128GB SSD and have had around that much free space since I first bought it!

 

In the Folding rig. you stat, system is for maximum ppd per pound per watt. for close to the same money you can build a i7-970 rig. make way more ppd used 1/4 of the wattage which will pay for itself in less than a year. ppd on standard smp @4.0 30,000 ppd on bigadv 55,000 ppd.. or even a 4 core i7 will do 30K to 34k on a good bigadv. the 970 is cheaper in the long run.

 

and lo and behold! once again for your budget build you put up the same exact HARD TO GET MSI mobo, come on. Seriously? There are newer (and actually cheaper) MSI boards out there. Find something new and stop copy pasting the damned thing will ya?

 

I don't remember a time in my computing history when hardware has remained so static. What I'm saying is that the gaming workhorse build (which I have, and came to those choices based on my own research) hasn't changed in 8 months save for some minor parts.

Which I think is good for the price but it seems like refreshes have slowed for awhile.

I suppose I can't complain the gaming workhorse has been a beast of a computer and has tackled any game I throw at it with absolute ease

 

Yah...i should have bought mine 8 months ago, waiting was useless
You, however, did everything right

 

Another +1 on the i7 950 argument. This article by bit-tech is clearly lazy.

 

The Frio is listed as £35 in the gaming workhorse, and £40 in the Premium Player?

Also, why is the HighPoint Rocket 620 included in the Premium Player build? Both listed motherboards come with 2 Sata 6Gbps ports.

 

Still no bit-tech acknowledgement of the i7 950?

Reminds me of the time they were still recommending the Samsung F1 hard drive 2 or 3 months after the faster but same priced F3 drive came out!

 

I suppose I will be in the minority but I would be interested in a midpoint between the affordable and the enthusiast buyers guide, would it be a amd or a intel?ati or nvidia?
It just seems a little like the affordable is just a little too cheap and the enthusiast is just a little to high, probably a bit to specific for other people though.

 

Hmmm, I've got the same problem, but I fall between "Gaming Workhorse" and "Premium Player"
SSD and dual-core-graphics are just a little over the top, but the basic "Premium Player" layout is great.

 

So I'm thinking of building a system similar to the Enthusiast build, but I can't find the GA-P55M-UD2 for less than £95ish. Can anyone recommend a suitable (mATX) replacement?

 

£77.94 @ LambdaTek: http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase28.5&prodID=B249868
£79.90 @ Pixmania: http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/3622622/art/gigabyte/ga-p55m-ud2-socket-1156-c.html?srcid=867
£85.10 @ Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002MRJ0...de=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B002MRJ096

 

LambdaTech is out of stock, Amazon is saying it wil ship in "1 to 2 months"jawdrop, but you're bang on the money with the pixmania link. Have you had any experience with them?

 

I have bought a couple of things from them in the last few years (camera & Sapphire 4870 Vapor-X) and didn't have a problem. They are owned by DSG (formerly Dixons Stores Group) and are based in France iirc.

I have seen web forum posts of people who have had nightmares dealing with them in the context of after sales service & RMA's but as I haven't had to use them for those I haven't experienced them myself.

As mentioned by bit-tech in the latest buyers guide, the UD2 is going/gone EOL. I don't know what is replacing it (if anything) at that price point but have you considered the GA-P55-USB3 for £91? - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/194679.

If USB 3.0 isn't required, there is always a couple of Asus P55 boards (I don't know what they are like):
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...-(x16)-ddr3-2200(oc)-sata-3gb-s-sata-raid-atx - £78
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p7p55d-le-intel-p55-motherboard-lga1156 - £82

 

I think I'll go for the UD2 at pixmania. I'd like to have usb3 but the motherboard you linked to is not mATX, and I suppose I don't really need USB3 atm, anyway. Thaks for the links

I can't wait!!

 

Well, this is what I've bought so far

Intel Core i5-760
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2
Antec Mini P180
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W
2x2GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3
Gelid Tranquillo
Arctic Silver 5
Lite-on IHAS124-19 SATA
2x Scythe Gentle Typhoon

I can't wait to get it all. This will be my first new system in nearly 10 years!