£1500 Gaming Machine

[Alexyboy]

I'm building my first gaming PC before I go to Uni... I need everthing apart from a mouse and keyboard

Heres what I've got planned... any input would be appreciated.

Xclio Windtunnel Extreme (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=584958)
Asus P5W64 WS Professional (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=467394)
1000W NorthQ Giant Reactor (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=510109)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=430634 (I'll probably wait till July 22 when they cut prices)
512MB HighTech HD 2900 XT 660MHz GDDR3, GPU 750MHz (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=595205)
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=462617)
500 Gb Samsung (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=494552)
2 x ASUS DRW-1814BLT DVD (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=567862)
22" Cibox SC-2201 Silver Widescreen LCD (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=583844)
X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-043-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=)
Creative Inspire SBS560 5.1 Speaker (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=138858)
Vista Ultimate OEM (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Vista-Ultimate-OEM/dp/B000MFFIBO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/202-5072762-6048614?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1182258468&sr=8-2)(how is OEM different to retail? Just missing the instruction book?)

Grand Total: (about) £1475

[perkster]

OEM is pretty much just the CD and licence, but should be all you need in an OS, are you sure you need vista ultimate?

Overall:
buy from overclockers.co.uk, much better service and prices usually:


Processor:
the E6700 is not worth the extra money for the small increase in performance, go with the E6600:
go for this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-128-IN

Motherboard:
dont know that one, i would recommend a P5B basic board for this set up probably cheaper and more stable build, but may soon be replaced by the P5K, your choice between those two really.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-151-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=565

or

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-235-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

PSU:
there is no way this system needs 100W, go for a quality 520W PSU for a bit of headroom:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-005-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

GPU:
would recomment NVIDIA graphics cards for gaming at the moment, if you are going for Vista which you state you will want a DX10 compatible card go for an 8800 or 8600:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-017-EA&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927

Memory:

Dominator is very expensive and to be honest not worth it unless you are doing some serious overclocking would go for:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-097-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=144

Hard Drives:
Personally i head bad things about samsung HD's, i personally would go with a SEAGATE or WD HD their large SATA HDs are very reliable, right now SEAGATE do really good value for money 320gb drives.

DVD drives:
make sure you get a SATA DVD drive and not a IDE one, we also recommend you get a retail model so you get Nero with it, try lite-on as a good brand.

Monitor: no comment, my knowledge on monitors is not all that!

Soundcard:
onboard sound ont he boards i suggested should be more than enough for most people unless you try it and are unhappy the soundcard is probably waste of money.

EDIT: Welcome to the forums :)

[RobertB]

Processor:
the E6700 is not worth the extra money for the small increase in performance, go with the E6600:
go for this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-128-IN


Ditto. I was told the same thing the last time when I was shopping around. I'm very pleased with the e6600

[jer888]

Xclio Windtunnel Extreme (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=584958)


No comment.


Asus P5W64 WS Professional (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=467394)


Thats a workstation motherboard. Get one from the Asus P5B series.


1000W
NorthQ Giant Reactor (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=510109)


Never heard of that brand before. Stick with a well known brand for the power supply.

Go with the power supply linked above by perkster or the 620W version. As said above you don't need 1000W, even if that was a well known brand.


http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=430634 (I'll probably wait till July 22 when they cut prices)

Go with the E6600 as said above.


512MB HighTech HD 2900 XT 660MHz GDDR3, GPU 750MHz (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=595205)

The 2900XT's performance hasn't been that great, trailing behind the 8800GTS in some tests, and beating it in a few. However, its more expensive then the 8800GTS. Although we won't really know until they are tested on DX10 games, the 8800GTS seems to be the better buy right now.



2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=462617)

Waste of money unless your doing huge overclocking. Get Corsair Value select 667 (2Gigs)



500 Gb Samsung (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=494552)


Go for Seagate 7200.10 series of hard drives. Good price and 5 year warranty.


2 x ASUS DRW-1814BLT DVD (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=567862)


Go for Lite-on Sata opticals


22" Cibox SC-2201 Silver Widescreen LCD (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=583844)

No comment.


X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-043-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=)

Try the onboard sound first, if that isn't up to snuff then get a sound card.


Creative Inspire SBS560 5.1 Speaker (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=138858)

No comment.


Vista Ultimate OEM (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Vista-Ultimate-OEM/dp/B000MFFIBO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/202-5072762-6048614?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1182258468&sr=8-2)(how is OEM different to retail? Just missing the instruction book?)

You may want to wait on Vista until the first service pack is released. Even then, you most likely don't need Ultimate.

[Alexyboy]

No comment.



Thats a workstation motherboard. Get one from the Asus P5B series.



Never heard of that brand before. Stick with a well known brand for the power supply.

Go with the power supply linked above by perkster or the 620W version. As said above you don't need 1000W, even if that was a well known brand.


Go with the E6600 as said above.


The 2900XT's performance hasn't been that great, trailing behind the 8800GTS in some tests, and beating it in a few. However, its more expensive then the 8800GTS. Although we won't really know until they are tested on DX10 games, the 8800GTS seems to be the better buy right now.




Waste of money unless your doing huge overclocking. Get Corsair Value select 667 (2Gigs)




Go for Seagate 7200.10 series of hard drives. Good price and 5 year warranty.



Go for Lite-on Sata opticals


No comment.


Try the onboard sound first, if that isn't up to snuff then get a sound card.


No comment.


You may want to wait on Vista until the first service pack is released. Even then, you most likely don't need Ultimate.

Motherboard: I'll be the first to admit I know nothing about them

PSU: What Wattage do you need for SLI or XFire? I don't want to be buying a 2nd PSU when I buy a second card In a few months.#

CPU: KK, I'll go with the cheaper one... but will probabley wait till the 22nd July cuts to see what becomes what

GPU: I've heard postive things for the 2900XT concerning the new drivers and DX10 support, most of the negativity also appears from the fact while it looks like GTX killer on paper its not. Could turn out to be an unoptmized driver thing though? Most of the benchmarks appear to be well above the GTS anyways
http://www.techpowerup.com/?29396
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2147119,00.asp (http://www.techpowerup.com/?29396)
http://www.dailytech.com/ATI+Radeon+HD+2900+XT+Performance+Benchmarks/article7043.htm

but due to some cuts I may be able to afford a GTX now anyways

Memory: Yes I went stupidly ove board and had a funny 5 minutes and couldnt' find good cheap memory thanks again

Harddisk: Don't really kno much about these either... but theres not really much in it between the Major brand 7200rpms? I based my decsion on this artical (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/87338/samsung-spinpoint-p120.html)

Diskdrives: Thanks for pointing out I didnt have SATA ones

Soundcard: As my current PC doesnt have onboard I assumed I needed one... thanks again

OS: I thought the Vista Ultimate OEM was randomly cheaper than the home premium one.. but it turns out I was looking at the 64bit version. I will probably wait till SP1 but was just facotring the cost.

Moniter: It has very good Specs for the price... so if some whiz out there spots its fatal flaw please let me no!

[noneoftheabove]

thats a nice monitor but you might look at a samsung monitor too, it might be a little more expensive but they deliver very high quality monitors

[Alexyboy]

thats a nice monitor but you might look at a samsung monitor too, it might be a little more expensive but they deliver very high quality monitors
I heard good things about samsung moniters too... thanks I'll certainly check them out now

[jer888]

Motherboard: I'll be the first to admit I know nothing about them
lol


PSU: What Wattage do you need for SLI or XFire? I don't want to be buying a 2nd PSU when I buy a second card In a few months.#
Don't bother. Sli/Crossfire is a marketing gimmick. Because of how fast the GPU technology advances, and computer technology in general, you would be better off saving the money for a new high end card from the next generation of cards, then buy buying another old card. That power supply will power any card. Amps and brand quality mean more then watts.


CPU: KK, I'll go with the cheaper one... but will probabley wait till the 22nd July cuts to see what becomes what
If your not in a rush, good idea.


GPU: I've heard postive things for the 2900XT concerning the new drivers and DX10 support, most of the negativity also appears from the fact while it looks like GTX killer on paper its not. Could turn out to be an unoptmized driver thing though? Most of the benchmarks appear to be well above the GTS anyways
http://www.techpowerup.com/?29396
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2147119,00.asp (http://www.techpowerup.com/?29396)
http://www.dailytech.com/ATI+Radeon+HD+2900+XT+Performance+Benchmarks/article7043.htm
but due to some cuts I may be able to afford a GTX now anyways

Yeah, we won't really know until Ati/AMD can release more mature drivers. Nvidia has had a long time to bring their drivers where they are, and there arn't even any DX10 games for the DX10 cards yet, so we won't really know. It is a good card though.


Memory: Yes I went stupidly ove board and had a funny 5 minutes and couldnt' find good cheap memory thanks again

Yup


Harddisk: Don't really kno much about these either... but theres not really much in it between the Major brand 7200rpms? I based my decsion on this artical (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/87338/samsung-spinpoint-p120.html)

Warranty and price. Seagate has 5 year warranties and the best GB/$ ratio, espically on the 320GB version.


Diskdrives: Thanks for pointing out I didnt have SATA ones

Yup


Soundcard: As my current PC doesnt have onboard I assumed I needed one... thanks again

Yup


OS: I thought the Vista Ultimate OEM was randomly cheaper than the home premium one.. but it turns out I was looking at the 64bit version. I will probably wait till SP1 but was just facotring the cost.
Make sure that 64bit drivers will be available for all the hardware you are going to buy.


Moniter: It has very good Specs for the price... so if some whiz out there spots its fatal flaw please let me no!
I don't know alot about moniters, but Iusually stick with Samsung. Check out the Samsung 225bw or 226bw

[whubbard]

Vista Ultimate 64-bit is just fine, but as he said make sure drivers are available. I have it...and no driver issues here...

Also by the way I use the P5W DH Deluxe...it might be a workstation board, but all the features are great!!

[Mr.Ferrari]

The P5W64WS is a workstation board, a rock solid one that you can still use. However its overkill for what you need. A P5K would be a good future proof alternitive.

If you really want SLI, I suggest the Silverstone ST75ZF. If not, the Corsair HX 520W should be more then enough for single.

The Q6600 would be a good option by the 22nd, as its undergoing a serious price drop. There will also be a few new processors released with great bang/buck.

Its a give and take fight between the 8800GTS 640mb and the HD 2900. With the 640 coming out on top most of the time. The 2900 runs hotter (then even the 8800GTX) and takes up more power. Not worth it unless it becomes cheaper then the 8800.

The Seagate 7200.10 series are fast, reliable, come with a 5 year warranty, and quiet.

If you ever do decide on the soundcard, go for a Xi-Fi .

Your correct, XP would be a good stable choice here.

Samsung, BenQ, and Acer make some mean 22'' screens.

[Alexyboy]

Make sure that 64bit drivers will be available for all the hardware you are going to buy.
Sorry wasn't clear I'm not going for the 64bit version, I was looking at it by mistake thinking it was werid Ultimate was £60 cheaper than Premium... anywhos heres is my revised system

Xclio Windtunnel Extreme http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=584958 £64.57
Asus P5B Deluxe/WiFi http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=590765 £109.63
520W Corsair HX Series Modular http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=443853 £68.02
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=430633 £140.60
512MB HighTech HD 2900 XT 660MHz GDDR3, GPU 750MHz http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=595205 £247.91
2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select 5300 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=462693 £44.64
500GB Barracuda 7200.10 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=454632 £64.46
2 x LiteOn DVD Rewriter http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-068-LO&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=185 £29.00
22" Samsung SM-226BW Black http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=604046 £246.74
Creative Inspire SBS560 5.1 Speaker http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=138858 £29.36
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium OEM 32-bit http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Vista-Premium-OEM/dp/B000MFDJ1A/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-5072762-6048614?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1182279469&sr=8-1 £72.98
Grand Total: £1,117.91

Alternativly I could go for the ULTIMATE in Graphics Card
768MB XFX 8800 Ultra XXX http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=587940 £481.74
New Grand Total: 1351.74
(whats a good SLI replacemnet for the PB5... not that I would use it , its just pointless having a crossfire Motherboard)

WOW! Thats a lotta money shaved off for a simlar system!

[Mr.Ferrari]

-I would suggest the P5K/Deluxe if you want to be future proofed. It doesnt matter if the motherboard is crossfire or SLI, a Intel chipset will be as stable as it gets. Also, the P5B's don't do crossfire properly, if you want proper crossfire ability go with the P5K Deluxe as mentioned earlier.

-Go with a SATA DVDRW drive, *not* IDE.

-I wouldn't get the 8800 Ultra OR the HD 2900. Get the 8800GTX if you have the cash.

-Get *240pin* DDR2. Your current choice is 200pin SO-DIMM for laptops.

[Alexyboy]

-I would suggest the P5K/Deluxe if you want to be future proofed. It doesnt matter if the motherboard is crossfire or SLI, a Intel chipset will be as stable as it gets. Also, the P5B's don't do crossfire properly, if you want proper crossfire ability go with the P5K Deluxe as mentioned earlier.

-Go with a SATA DVDRW drive, *not* IDE.

-I wouldn't get the 8800 Ultra OR the HD 2900. Get the 8800GTX if you have the cash.

-Get *240pin* DDR2. Your current choice is 200pin SO-DIMM for laptops.

I thought I picked out SATA ones, http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=592603 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=592603)these look exactly the same but are definitely SATA but slightly more expensive.

Thanks for pointing out the pin mistake, I've choosenhttp://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=291363, is it a good choice?

Can anyone suggest a good priced GTX? As they all seem randomly priced... I only picked out that Ultra as it had the highest clocks out the lot.

[Mr.Ferrari]

The model numbers must be different, the one at overclockers is indeed IDE.

The ram is fine.

Just the basic 8800GTX from a reputable manufacturer. Such as this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-031-EA&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=877

[Gen.Ben]

Samsung, BenQ, and Acer make some mean 22'' screens.

Dont get a 22" widescreen monitor.

They have the same resolution as 20" widescreen monitors. The text is much more sharp on the 20" because the pixels are smaller.

[perkster]

yup if you want a good liteon SATA DVD burner go to microdirect they have one, overclockers sadly dont.

[Alexyboy]

Dont get a 22" widescreen monitor.

They have the same resolution as 20" widescreen monitors. The text is much more sharp on the 20" because the pixels are smaller.

Can you suggest a good 20" widescreen?

[jer888]

Dont get a 22" widescreen monitor.

They have the same resolution as 20" widescreen monitors. The text is much more sharp on the 20" because the pixels are smaller.
Do you own a 22" moniter? The text is just fine, I really have no idea what your talking about.

[whubbard]

I have the Samsugn 204BW for the family computer I just built and it is very nice.

[Alexyboy]

I'll see how much they cost closer the time. I found the 20" version of 22" I was looking at.

Conscerning proccessors. As of 22nd July according to the latest infomation both the E6850 and the Q6600 will be at $266 dollars (probabley about £160 in the uk), which wil be better in the long run?