Hey guys, I've been little out of touch with new hardware over the past year since building my rig (Dec 09) as I've been working my socks off in the music industry. Just wanted to ask if I need to upgrade any components? I've also noticed the start up is a little slow, I'm a little amateur so is there a safe way of speeding things up or should I ask my IT man? To SSD or not to SDD? Are they still in their guinea pig stages? Here's the toaster: |P6T Deluxe V2|Intel i7 920|6gb Corsair RAM|1TB WD 32mb|Dell 2209WA 22"| |Sapph ATI 5850|Win 7 64bit|CM Storm Scout|XONAR Essence STX|Corsair 850W|Sony AD-7240S|Razer Deathadder|Eclispe II Keyboard| It's getting a little noisy and cluttered so maybe a new case? Bitfenix Colossus sound good? Many thanks Tim
Seems like a nice setup you have now, if you dont need something faster i dont see any reason to upgrade. You can read a review of the Colossus here: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2010/09/14/bitfenix-colossus-review/4 As you see it does a very poor job cooling wise. Maybe you should take a look at this case: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2010/10/29/fractal-design-define-r3-review/1
Okay, firstly, you do not need to upgrade any components, it should be a pretty speedy rig. As for a slightly slow start up you may well have a large number of programs starting up with your computer causing it to go a tad slow. In the start menu if you type in msconfig and enter you will shown a screen. Under the general tab select start up, then under the start up tab, here you can deselect any program that you don't need or want to start when you turn on your computer. BE CAREFUL with what you deselect. Things like skype, itunes, bit torrent, windows live messenger, F@H are the types of programs that you can stop. This can make a noticeable difference to start up times. As for the case I would avoid the Colossus as it's rubbish at cooling! There are a lot of other better cases out there, just have a look at the reviews on here and you will see what I mean. Finally, for the noise, try giving you case a clean, particularly the fans and heatsinks. I clean my HSF for my cpu and take the cover off my graphics card and clean that every couple of months. So, essentially save yourself a little money and give it a little TLC, though a new case might be good, but that's it
For someone with the upgrade bug, and a PC with these specs, it's best to take a look at peripherals! What kind of speakers/headphones do you have now? That Xonar is a very nice card and it would be a shame if it were hooked up to something lame! Maybe upgrade your keyboard? Check out geekhack.org for info on fancy keyboards. You could get a Razer Black Widow to match that Deathadder!
No there not really in the guinea pig stages anymore, but there are still expensive, although they'll be some new drives flooding the market soon from crucial there c400 range, this will bring the slower ssd's price down if your not on a budget however, perhaps look at the new drives coming and get something like a 120Gb drive, that would speed up your system no end, as I doubt its anything else that is pushing it, like games etc :] In my opinion its about the best upgrade you can give your system, but I'd hang on just a little while to see what all the new drives are like :]
Some really sound advice guys, thanks. Not sure how I seem to have categorised this discussion into Cooling :s?! Such a pity about the Colossus, think it looks lush! Would adding more fans solve the problem? Prorbably not hah... Peripherals, good idea, speaker and headphone-wise what would you recommend?? At the moment I'm just using some old Bose Companion 2 speakers but I'm sure it's insulting the Xonar. I don't really have good home Headphones since I mostly use the one's at work Sennheiser HD 800. My brother gave me his old pair of G35's which have pants sound quality but fine for gaming. I may just think about investing in an SSD, but I'll give it a wait as you recommened! Thanks again people Tim
I'm currently using these speakers (got them for xmas) and they seem excellent for the money: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000LBHF...de=asn&creative=22218&creativeASIN=B000LBHFMO However your Bose Companion 2 speakers seem to be fairly high spec already. If you want to splash out on a headset this one is supposed to be quite decent: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-042-SN&groupid=702&catid=1058&subcat=
Phwoar those headphones seem pretty decent. I've never been a fan of logitech but they seem highly regarded. Any other lush 5.1 sets? Bose maybe or are they going downhill since being so commerical now? SSD it is! Cheers Tim
I would also go for the ssd. Something small for the OS, boot programs, and main game/ app is fine. They are still fairly expensive per GB but have been dropping rapidly - they are also now pretty much rock solid. I will never go back to platters for anything but storage. 'Mechanical' ... So last year ... Lol That being said, if you're a gamer and don't have a good set of surround headphones, they make all the difference.
if you can wait till about Tuesday I might be able to recommend the tritton ax pro's which I have just bought they cost £130 and reading reviews they seem to pretty damn good so we will see
Woah those Tritton's look beastly, don't think I'm that hardcore enough aha! Do tell me how they are though when you receive them!
