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Build Advice COMPUTER PLANET

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Bigtone, 6 Feb 2010.

  1. Bigtone

    Bigtone What's a Dremel?

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    Hi all at Bit-Tech, this is my first post (hope its in the right place)

    I'm Looking for a PC for around £1500-£1700(just PC)I've used many online PC configerators,cyber power etc but I stumbled on Computer Planet and they seem to be the cheapest by a fair margin have any of you guys brought from them or know people who have brought from them??

    I'm looking for a PC for high end gaming,video encoding& general purpose multi-tasking abilities.Being an avid reader of CPC I've selected the components for my PC based on many reviews and this is what I'm thinking of:

    Infinity i7 Andromeda SE (NO MONITOR)

    • CAS: Antec Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case Black [+63]

    • CS_FAN: Maximum Case Cooling Fans for your selected case(2X120MM EXRTA) [+10]

    • CPU: (Quad-Core)Intel® Core™ i7 920 @ 2.66GHz 8 MB cache LGA1366 ***Overclockable XXX***

    • CD: Sony Optiarc 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (Black Color)
    • CD2: Sony Optiarc 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (Black Color) [+15]
    • FAN: TITAN FENRIR TTC-NK85TZ CPU COOLER ***Overclockable XXX*** [+31]

    • FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 52in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer [+6] (BLACK COLOR)

    • HDD: High Performance with Data Security (RAID-1) with 2 Identical Hard Drives [+22] (2TB (1TBx2) Samsung Spinpoint F3 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+64])

    • HDD2: 2X1TB) Samsung Spinpoint F3 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 32M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive [+136]

    • MOTHERBOARD: Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Chipset CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA,GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394a,&7.1Audio ***Overclockable XXX*** [+6]

    • MEMORY: 6GB (3x2GB) PC12800 DDR3/1600mhz Triple Channel Memory [+56] (Corsair XMS3 w/Heat Spreader ***Overclockable XXX*** [+24])

    • NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD

    • OVERCLOCK: S&S (Safe and stable overclock 10% to 20%) [+79]
    • OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

    • POWERSUPPLY: Silent / Quiet Performance Power Supplies [+88] (Be Quiet 750W Dark Power Pro BN074 Modular PSU SLi 87% Eff. ATX 2.2)

    • SOUND: Creative Labs SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio 24-BIT PCI Sound Card [+38]

    TEMP: AEROCOOL 1000 LCD TOUCH Screen for Fan Control / Thermal Display and Temperature alarm warming with front USB / eSATA connection [+33]
    • USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

    • VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 5870 PCI-E x16 1GB DDR5 Video Card [+22]

    • WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

    • _PRICE: (+1423)

    • _view_: detail
    If you have a promotion code, please type it in here and hit "Update Cart":
    Subtotal: £1,423.00
    Method: » Charge:£0.00
    VAT (17.5%):£249.02
    Grand Total: £1,672.02

    Any advice would be appreciated

    Many Thanx Tony
     
  2. she'shighvoltage!

    she'shighvoltage! What's a Dremel?

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    Just build your own computer.
    It'd be a lot cheaper and wouldn't come with any pre-built crapware.
     
  3. reggie50

    reggie50 Minimodder

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    I'd suggest just going with the performance PC from the latest edition of CPC and then adding the extra hard drives and fan controller. Should work out at £1300 including VAT.

    There's no real need for RAID 1, just do back ups of the important files every so often.
     
  4. Ficky Pucker

    Ficky Pucker I

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    spam ?

    if not then build your own.
     
  5. Sh0cKeR

    Sh0cKeR a=2(s-ut)/t²

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    First off, I just noticed the extra case fans option and know that a giant card like the 5870 will block the extra HDD fan, so thats money lost. I'd suggest going to Scan and getting one of their 3XS systems as they have a good reputation. As far as the spec, things like the touch screen for temperature control and the overclocking are basically wastes of money. The 920 is easy to get to 3.6GHz with a Fenrir, while monitors like Real Temp and Speedfan are free downloads. Furthermore, For a higher end PC something like the Asus P6T or P6TD would be more preferable as a motherboard choice, while the bigger Antec 1200 Chassis has better cooling for your components, especially the GPU and CPU.
     
  6. Bigtone

    Bigtone What's a Dremel?

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    I'm not sure thats actually true?Ive priced the individual components and the price is fairly close(large companies being able to bulk buy etc)and theres the favourable warranty that come as standard(cyberpower gives 3 years as standard and they've won many awards for their systems and they use branded award winning components)

    I would love to have the confidence/ability to attempt a build,even after reading all the well put-together posts on building your first PC that I've found hear at Bit-Tech,but im still of the mind to buy a custom pc from the pro's
     
  7. Bigtone

    Bigtone What's a Dremel?

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    Thx for your helpful advise:thumb:
     
  8. Bigtone

    Bigtone What's a Dremel?

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    Spam???:sigh: no just a person looking for advise from a hopefully helpful forum
     
  9. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead It's big, and it's clever.

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    I can also recommend building your own PC. It's easy, enjoyable, and nearly always cheaper, and allows you to choose exactly what components to use.

    The build you posted has some issues for me.

    1. RAID1. Why? It may guard you against a drive failure, but it's NOT a back up. If you accidentally delete something, it's still deleted. If you get a virus that destroys all your data, it's still destroyed. If you are going to have 2 drives in RAID 1, as you know you can only use one of them (second being the mirror), so why not have 2 drives, but use one as a proper back up drive and use Ghost or Acronis to create a proper back up? RAID1 in a desktop machine seems pointless to me. As you're also getting 2x 1TB drives as well, you'll struggle to back up your data if you plan on filling both those, as you mention HDD2 as 2X drives as well... I'm assuming you mean to RAID1 these as well. Don't!!!

    I would get ONE 500Gb F3 as your boot partition, and 1x 1TB F3 as storage, and ONE 1.5TB drive to back them both up.(preferable in a eSATA external enclosure so you can store it offsite should you leave the house unattended for long periods.... (don't use a USB external.. too slow for big back ups....unless you end up with a USB3.0 motherboard of course))

    It will be cheaper, and WAY more secure. Yes, you are more likely to have downtime due to drive failure, but so what? Insert new drive, restore from your back up. It will also be a TRUE back up, not relying on redundancy to save you.

    I have a RAID5 server to store my back ups for redundancy... but I still mirror this to another server for back up.

    No one seems to pay attention to back up when building a machine, and see this extra disk as a "waste". It's not.

    Seriously though... RAID 1 or 5 is NOT back up.. it's redundancy. It won't stop you losing data through deletion or malicious software.

    2. PSU.. I'd be tempted to get a Corsair PSU. Superbly built, and I recently bought one for my server and tested it. It's impressive.

    Don't buy a Creative labs sound card. Their Win7 drivers suck, and the software is bloaty as hell. I have a X-Fi and I wish I didn't.


    But more importantly, build your own. Don't worry about warranty, as each component you buy will have it's own warranty. The only thing you are losing is the tech support, but do you really need it?
     
    Last edited: 7 Feb 2010
  10. reggie50

    reggie50 Minimodder

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    I'm not sure you have priced it all individually.
    I've just run through it on scan.co.uk and come out at £1265, admittedly with only 3 hard drives (I don't think you will need RAID), 1 optical drive (no real need for 2), changed motherboard to the Gigabyte EX58-UD3R, and without the fan controller. That is including VAT, delivery will only be £15 or so. Therefore much cheaper.

    Building it yourself is: easy, more satisfying, you can repair it yourself quicker and it does work out cheaper at this level.
     
  11. DragunovHUN

    DragunovHUN Modder

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    Overclockable XXX? What kind of bullcrap is that?

    On the positive site, at least they offer a decent PSU which can't be said about most pre-built PCs.

    Just build your own, mate.
     
  12. Bigtone

    Bigtone What's a Dremel?

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    Just Build Your Own?

    Its fine for u guys to say 'Build Your Own' PC, its a bit like me saying build your own house,but I know that many people would not consider a bricks and mortar self-build,many people will pay for a simple garden wall or conservatory base,I know where i stand with bricks and mortar:cooldude:but a PC self build is a bit daunting(i have a 10 old gateway PC in the loft atm I should really dismantle then reassemble it and if I can get it working.
     
  13. Bigtone

    Bigtone What's a Dremel?

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    If u were to keep my spec as it is it works out to nearly £1500(extra 1TB spinpoint,Better mother board, extra DVDRW & a thermal fan controller is £200+ extra, granted if you remove the 4 components u pay less
     
  14. Ph4ZeD

    Ph4ZeD What's a Dremel?

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    Your right that a custom build can be daunting for someone who has never done it before. However, you are not the "average" person. You said yourself, you are a reader of CustomPC and obviously a user of these forums. Theres a wealth of knowledge on both these sites and these forums to ask questions and troubleshoot. Custom PC very regularly has build guides for new rigs to help newcomers - I am a subscriber myself - and Bit-tech posts the "What Hardware should I buy" each month.
     
  15. Ph4ZeD

    Ph4ZeD What's a Dremel?

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    Another thing thats just occurred to me is the complexity of your build. If you were to build the rig specced in your original post, thats a pretty complex build for someone who has never built a PC before. RAID, fan controller, multiple HDDs and optical drives... thats quite a job for someone who doesn't know what they are doing.

    The logical thing is to build your own, but start a bit smaller. Get the bare essentials - case, PSU, mobo, GFX card, CPU, RAM, 1 HDD and 1 optical drive. Would be much easier to troubleshoot that way. Once thats all running sweet, then add the other bits.
     
  16. DragunovHUN

    DragunovHUN Modder

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    Trust me, building a PC is a lot easier than building a house.

    PC building is more like PC assembly. Most parts are made to be fool-proof and pretty much plug and play, untill you get to the fancy stuff like RAID, as Ph4ZeD mentioned above.
     
  17. Teelzebub

    Teelzebub Up yours GOD,Whats best served cold

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    Build your own it's easy just remember to read the instructions, read them twice and build it once .
     
  18. Gryphon

    Gryphon What's a Dremel?

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    For that sort of money i'd go with an SSD as the OS drive, and 1TB as storage, and another TB for backup. 1TB is surprisingly hard to fill.

    The SSD will really give the computer a speed boost.

    And again, building a computer is very easy. As long as you know roughly where everything goes (just look at a picture of a PCs innards) you'll be able to build it without a problem. If a component fits in a slot, it will work there. (if you want to get the ram working in triple channel mode you need it in specific slots, but the motherboard manual points them out clearly). If you want an extra bit of security, buy from scan and pay the bit extra for scansure, it is a 30day replacement insurance for if you actually break any of the components. For someone confident its a bit pointless, but it can be a real confidence boost for a first build :)

    It is daunting, but i dont think anyone on this forum has regretted taking the step. its sure saved us a lot of money, and its very satisfying.

    Also, unless you have surround sound speakers, drop the soundcard. From my experience the only thing onboard sound can't do well is upmix stereo sources to 6 speakers. The onboard will be fine for everything else.
     
  19. PureSilver

    PureSilver E-tailer Tailor

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    Build your own. It's like Lego, with wires - what I'm trying ineffectually to say is that it's much easier than you think it will be. You will want to take a look here to see why I'm recommending what I am;

    CPU: Intel Core i7 920 D0 £209 - I'm not sure what the hell 'Overclockable XXX' is supposed to mean but this way you get a D0 (the most favourable stepping for overclocking) and you also get the longer Retail warranty.
    CPU Cooler: Titan Fenrir £37 - This is the best of the CPU coolers, and the same as what Computer Planet are offering. However, by buying it yourself and not relying on Computer Planet's limited warranty (a warranty that will prohibit a further overclock) you will be able to achieve an overclock that is both 'safe and stable' and yet considerably more impressive than the puny 10-20% that they're promising. 10-20% on a 920 would only bring you up to around 3GHz; an overclock of more like 45% (4Ghz) is readily achievable on air coolers.
    TIM: Arctic Silver 5 £6 - Again, know that you're using the best available. Computer Planet haven't specified.
    Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe £209 - A better-featured, more expensive and more overclock-friendly version of the P6T SE that Computer Planet have specified.
    RAM: Corsair 6GB 1600Mhz DDR3 £174 - This is Dominator RAM, which has tighter timings than the XMS3 Computer Planet specify.
    HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB £61 - Again, these are as good as it comes. You can even RAID 1 them exactly the same way that Computer Planet will if you want to waste your money. Just get a proper backup facility like a standalone HDD.
    GPU: ATi 5870 £350 - Note that this is the more expensive overclocked version with the Sapphire Vapour X cooler; there are cheaper and louder variants around, like this Asus version for £318. The former is faster than what Computer Planet are promising, and the latter is exactly the same.
    Soundcard: Creative Labs SB X-Fi XTreme £40 - Identical to what Computer Planet are offering. I'd save my money, personally - the onboard sound is more than sufficient.
    Card Reader: Akasa AK-ICR-07S £7
    PSU: Antec Truepower New 650W £81 - This will be more than sufficient. If you feel the need to fall for the need-more-Wattage stupidity, the Seasonic M12D-850W (£137) is more powerful and better respected than the Be Quiet.
    Optical Drive: Sony AD-7240S-0B £18 - You will almost never use your CD drive these days, so why the hell anyone needs two I cannot understand. Save your money.
    Fan Controller: Aerocool Touch 1000 £28 - Exactly the same as Computer Planet offer. Our way, you can also upgrade to bigger, shinier models like the EN55352 V12XT (£41) or the EN55345 Touch 2000 (£42)
    Chassis: Antec Nine Hundred Two £90 - Same chassis as Computer Planet. Our way, you could alternatively pick a case you like the look of.
    OS: Microsoft Windows 7 x64 £78

    Total: £1443, with a better, faster motherboard, faster RAM, and a quieter, better, faster graphics card. It's got the same case, the same fan controller, the same optical drive (optical drives are all the same), the same two hard drives, a better-warrantied but otherwise identical processor, the same cooler, the same card reader, and the same sound card. You save a not-inconsiderable £229, which coincidentally is almost exactly the price of the 60GB OCZ Vertex Turbo SSD boot drive that will make the biggest difference to the perceived speed of you computer.

    This isn't the worst deal I've ever seen, but you get better choices if you build it yourself, not to mention the fact that the warranties on those parts are a lot longer than the three years offered in the deal.
     
    Last edited: 7 Feb 2010
  20. Ph4ZeD

    Ph4ZeD What's a Dremel?

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    My main gaming PC doesn't have a single optical drive, nor a single mechnical drive. Just 1 SSD and thats it.
     

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