Home PC Spec

[vunsev]

I'm buying a new home computer. Any thoughts?

 

Intel Core 2 Quad (Q9300) Processor FSB1333MHZ

£181.04

 

Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP Motherboard

£106.42

 

Corsair Dominator 4GB Memory Kit 1066 DDR2

£84.21

 

CCL Value GeForce 8800GT 512MB

£114.16

 

2 x 500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000KS

£129.23

 

OCZ 700 Watt Game X Stream PSU

£75.21

 

2 x Samsung SH-S203 SATA Dual Layer DVD Writer

£31.56

 

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio OEM 7.1 Channels

£26.84

[ICT_GUY]

Go for a slower quad core and over clock or buy the new version with 12megs of cache.

 

Prices always slip in July too, so wait till the end of the month. Rest seems fair, but your PSU is expensive for a job that could be done by a unit half the price. Put the money saved towards a better cpu. £219 today 2.66ghz 12megs of cache.

 

dabs.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12M Cache S775 1333MHZ (BX80569Q9450)

Edited June 5, 2008 by ICT_GUY

[ninjabeaver]

THats a good setup. I'll agree with ICT_NUT that the PSU is pricey, but OCZ is extremely well built. Also good if you look at SLi ing the GPU's later on.

[MyDejaVu]

I will just say to get the Seagate hard drives instead, I just had a bad experience with the 500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000KS, they came with the Buffalo terastation and after a few months, one drive populated with bad sectors, so if you need the hard drive for constant reads and writes, avoid the Caviar SE16 or the Samsung ones.

[maximus44]

I will just say to get the Seagate hard drives instead, I just had a bad experience with the 500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000KS, they came with the Buffalo terastation and after a few months, one drive populated with bad sectors, so if you need the hard drive for constant reads and writes, avoid the Caviar SE16 or the Samsung ones.

was gonna mention that aswell, ive also heard issues about those versions of WD. Granted mine have been fine but its still something to consider. For a similar amount of cash you could have a 1tb HDD on its own and still have space for a smaller faster one for say programs etc.

[Psymon]

THats a good setup. I'll agree with ICT_NUT that the PSU is pricey, but OCZ is extremely well built. Also good if you look at SLi ing the GPU's later on.

 

PSU is actually quite reasonable, most people overlook that a PSU is one of the most important things in the rig, and the more expensive ones have more rails, stable voltages etc...

 

I spent £155 on an Antec TRUEPower Quattro 850W earlier last year, modular, 4x12V rails.

 

Looks like a solid rig.

 

Mine is

Intel C2D E6850 @ 3.00Ghz

OCZ 4Gb 1066Mhz SLI Ram

EVGA nForce 680i SLI

WD Raptors 150Gb @ 10krpm in Raid 0

Antec TRUEPower Quattro 850W

Antec NineHundred Case

EVGA 8800GTX 768Mb nVidia Card

2 x Samsung Dual Layer RW drives (SATA)

 

X-Fi Fatal1ty Gamers Sound Card

Logitech Z4 2.1

Creative Fatal1ty Headset

 

2 x 22" Samsung Pebble 2232BW Monitors

[ssiruuk2]

Heres mine:

 

Intel Q6600 Quad Core cpu

Abit IP35 Pro motherboard

OCZ PSU

4gb Geil ULL RAM

1x 150gb Raptor X HDD (system) and 1tb Seagate (data)

OCUK Nvidia 8800 GTX

22 " Samsung 226CW

 

[EduTech]

THats a good setup. I'll agree with ICT_NUT.

 

Its ICT Guy

 

and yh setup seems all good prices will be a lot cheaper around abouyt now so look out

 

James.

[dhicks]

Intel Core 2 Quad (Q9300) Processor FSB1333MHZ £181.04

Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP Motherboard £106.42

 

If it's any help, there's a whole section on eBay for processor & motherboard bundles, often including RAM too. I bought a motherboard, quad-core processor (Q6600, I think it was) and 4GB of RAM for £200-odd the other week.

 

OCZ 700 Watt Game X Stream PSU £75.21

 

Are you buying a case as well?

 

2 x Samsung SH-S203 SATA Dual Layer DVD Writer £31.56

 

Why two? Personally, I like LightScribe capable ones.

 

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio OEM 7.1 Channels £26.84

 

Depends on what exactly you intend to do with it, but I've found an external USB sound card picks up less interference on the microphone in line.

 

--

David Hicks

[m1ddy]

As someone has said, a good quality PSU is vital. Wattage isn't everything! Someone has broken down all the popular PSU brands in to tiers.

 

Go have a read....

 

Official XS Tiered PSU Manufacturer Brand Listing Phase IV Beta - XtremeSystems Forums

[dhicks]

As someone has said, a good quality PSU is vital

 

And Jeff Attwood, over on Coding Horror, has just said it again:

 

Coding Horror: Understanding The Hardware

 

--

David Hicks

[tarquel]

The thread is a bit old and the gent (I'm presuming this) has likely bought and made his machine, but here's another good PSU:

 

Antec EarthWatts EA 650 | PSUs | PSUs | Labs Tests | Custom PC

 

I've always stuck by Antec for PSU's, and havent had a machine blow up on me ['cept one, but the person's electrics have always looked dodgy to me hehe].

 

I have a Antec 550W NeoHE modular PSU... paid about £50 for it approx Nov last year... not looked back since, plus no needless cables

 

Shame the EarthWatts PSU isn't modular but u get yer money's worth I'd say and a stable machine

 

Nath.