+REP >> My Future Build Specs << PLZ LOOK

[Firehorse]

okay, so i've been planning to do a custom build now for a while and I have found all the parts I want. I just need to know what you think of it, what I am missing and what parts I can find cheaper. Also tell me if things don't fit together like RAM compatibility etc.

It is gonna take me a hell of a while to save up and i'm sure i'll be able to pick up newer and better parts for about the same price once I have the cash. If you want to help me with saving then please could you click the adverts at www.youripod.co.uk (http://www.youripod.co.uk) (not trying to beg or anything if it seems like that)

Also need good tips on case customisation, what will look good with that case etc.. also is 850W good enough for all that or should I go for a 1000W?

Thanks for all your help! here are the parts at the cheapest prices I've found.


Primary stuff
Processor - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Processor-Intel-Q9400-LGA775-Socket/dp/B001DO1Q1O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1233256038&sr=8-2 - £210
Motherboard - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142585/show_product_overview - £91
1TB Hard Drive - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Caviar-OEM-Internal/dp/B000X4PJG8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1231631400&sr=8-3 - £116
RAM - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130429 - £50 X2
Case - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/118268/ - £80
DVD RW Drive - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151827 - £17
850W PSU - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129282 - £135

Total: £749

Extras (Case Modding etc)
Internal Card Reader - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/125247 - £10
LED Lights - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/138695 - £2 X2

Total: £14

Later:
Monitor - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-029-DE - £200 X2
Graphics Card - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155573/show_product_overview - £410 - UNDECIDED

Total: £810
Overall Total: £1573


Edit: Added totals to list.

[Josh-H]

8GB Of RAM. Thats ridiculous, complete overkill even on a 64bit system.

You're going to want a graphics card of some sort to tide you over until you get that one you want, even if it is something like an 8600GT.
But in my opinion that graphics card is also ridiculous, almost 1800mb of RAM?
You don't need that card, would be a waste of money.

850W will be fine, could get away with less but at least you'll be sorted for future upgrades too.

[N!ck]

You can get that a reasonable amount cheaper. Give me 10 minutes and i'll have a look at some parts for you. £1500? And what about operating system?

8GB RAM isn't ridicules BTW. It's a nice amount.

[Josh-H]

You can get that a reasonable amount cheaper. Give me 10 minutes and i'll have a look at some parts for you. £1500? And what about operating system?

8GB RAM isn't ridicules BTW. It's a nice amount.

It's overkill for most users. Unless you're doing intense HD video editing then you don't need it.

[Stephen!]

More is better no matter what you do. If he wants it, why not?

[N!ck]

The sort of think i'd be looking at on your budget. It's just under £1500. I'd probably have a different case but i put the Antec 900 in there as i saw it's what you like. I'd run 2 x 1TB hard drives in RAID 0. Some of the other stuff i've put in as you had it. I'd reconsider CPU as well. Maybe think about a Q6600 and get a good cooler and overclock it.

http://uploadpicz.com/images/VZ99YAZ.png

[Stephen!]

With that kind of budget your willing to spend you should go with Core i7

[N!ck]

With that kind of budget your willing to spend you should go with Core i7

When you add in two 24" monitors you begin to run out of budget though lol.

Add about £200 on to the above and it could be a Core i7 system.

[Stephen!]

I would recommend just sticking with the 1 monitor. It's up to him though. Whether he wants a little bit faster system, or more workspace

[N!ck]

I would recommend just sticking with the 1 monitor. It's up to him though. Whether he wants a little bit faster system, or more workspace

Yeah, i would ditch a £200 monitor and spend £200 more on the system. Then maybe buy a second monitor a little later if wanted.

[Tomm]

Don't bother with a SLI mobo unless you are actually going to use it now or some point in the future.. just adds extra cost.

[Stephen!]

Don't bother with a SLI mobo unless you are actually going to use it now or some point in the future.. just adds extra cost.

QFT. Nvidia mobo's are only good for SLI. Intel chipsets beat it in everything else.

[:job2]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143288 < cheeper 1TB hard drive

Also I would recomend getting a smalling, cheep hard drive for your opperating system (160-240GB) then buying a 1TB hard drive and having it seperate, that way you wont be clogging up your OS and also if you get a virus still have your files :)

[Stephen!]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143288 < cheeper 1TB hard drive

Also I would recomend getting a smalling, cheep hard drive for your opperating system (160-240GB) then buying a 1TB hard drive and having it seperate, that way you wont be clogging up your OS and also if you get a virus still have your files :)

100% agree. I could never use a drive bigger than 500Gb for my OS.

[Iszak]

As for the memory / RAM I would usually go with a higher MHz rate compared to lower, this means you don't need as much RAM. I've found with 2 GB of 1022 MHz RAM Vista runs very nicely, and never had any problems with games. But it's good to see you're not going to 8gb of ~600MHz RAM because sometimes it's not about quantity but quality.

[Firehorse]

Thanks all for comments! Nick, I think i'll stick with a GTX 285 rather than an ATI or 295. Also may have enough to change the specs to fit around an i7. the other screen I found had a HD input, useful for an xbox on one screen with something else on another.

Thanks to all who posted tips etc, +repped everyone who I could.

Now I just gotta save (again www.youripod.co.uk (http://www.youripod.co.uk) and you are a very very great help.) Just looking for desks now, nothing will fit on my current one. I was thinking http://www.dvbofficefurniture.co.uk/1800mm-left-handed-ergonomic-desk-with-panel-ends-s25el18-p-145.html but I want one like that with a dip on the short corner to put my tower so it isn't on the floor or the desk but instead inbetween. Big thanks to whoever finds one!

[lolwut]

That's an okay setup, the first negative points which come to mind are:
1) 8GB of RAM is too much. What're you EVER going to do to make use of the whole 8GB? 6GB, more likely.
2) That card is far too expensive and has too much Video RAM. 1800MB is unbelievable overkill. If you really want dual link DVI (which you don't need for those monitors) then get a GeForce 8800GT/X or something, but that just seems stupid.
3) You'd get a much faster read/write time with 2 500GB HDD's than 1TB because of the logical way HDD's work and thingies.

[Chippiewill]

That is total over kill on ram and it's not even i7, if you are doing intense grapics then ok. Also if you want Sli or crossfire then i7 supports them both on all i7 motherboards. And as lolwut said 2 hdds will be faster than one, I suggest using one small one for the OS and one bigger one (500GB) for the files. You can then buy an extra hdd when you need one. Or use 2 500GB with raid 0 (I think)

[N!ck]

I don't get why people think 8GB is overkill. With that much you can turn off the page file which increases ressponsiveness.

[Firehorse]

I think i'll go for 320gb for the OS and 1tb for files.. I'm sure i'll fill that easily with ripped movies and games etc.
I want a graphics card where I could run crysis on max settings with 4xAA or more with atleast 30fps (And that isn't just for crysis, Entropia Universe is soon to get the Cryengie2!)

Not really worried about dual screens slowing performance, it'd be so minscule it'd barely be noticable.

[N!ck]

I think i'll go for 320gb for the OS and 1tb for files.. I'm sure i'll fill that easily with ripped movies and games etc.
I want a graphics card where I could run crysis on max settings with 4xAA or more with atleast 30fps (And that isn't just for crysis, Entropia Universe is soon to get the Cryengie2!)

Not really worried about dual screens slowing performance, it'd be so minscule it'd barely be noticable.

When you're spending this much on a system you want at least a RAID array or SSD to run your OS and software off.

[Stephen!]

Yeah. Fast system + slow hard drives = bottleneck.

[Chippiewill]

Could use ssd for the programs then same hdd for os and files instead..... Not sure why you would need 320gb for os but I guess in an emergency you could have important files backed up. Also you will need to know how to change the default shell locations if not using raid. (Moves things like my documents and my pictures e.t.c.)

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/107990-personal-user-shell-folders-move-location.html

Or as they're called in good old se7en, Libraries