Wesley Posted May 31, 2009 Posted May 31, 2009 (edited) Hello there, my friend is buying a PC and building it next week or so. He's come to me for advice because I know a little more than him when it comes to tech, but hardware isn't really my strong point. I usually have my head in the clouds until I have to buy something. So, I've come here to show you what he's decided on and what I've recommended; and ask for you guys who know a lot more to give your opinion. My friend's list: And here is my list: Asus P5Q3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP P45 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard £156.98 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145749 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz (FSB 1333MHz) Socket 775 L2 12MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor £221.05 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141515 ZOTAC GTX260 192 Core SYNERGY EDITION 896MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card £122.99 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160748# OCZ 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666 Platinum XTC Triple Channel Memory Kit CL7 1.65V £69.99 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164787 Coolermaster Silent Pro 500W Modular PSU £66.59 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147112 Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM £42.45 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124228 Samsung SH-S223F 22X DVD?RW/RAM/DL Serial ATA Black Bare Drive - OEM £16.20 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145450 CM Storm Scout Case - 120mm and 2x 140mm Fans Included £79.99 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165238 Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 - Complete package - 3 PC in one household - non-commercial - CD - Win - English £64.00 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/120771 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English £82.34 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123067 Logitech Wave Keyboard - Ergonomic Keys - USB £27.21 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136242 Belkin SurgeMaster 4-Way Surge Protector 1M Cable (£25,000 Warranty) £5.55 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/45265 His total is £1308.46 and mine is £955.34 The quick links on the image are for eBuyer, too. I was trying to save him some money with either getting better stuff or slightly shaving off a couple of things, like with the processor. What do you guys think? (Also I don't know why he thought he needed the extra cables and cooling block). Edited May 31, 2009 by Wesley
McPhee Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 (edited) If it was my money; Intel Core i7 920 - £225 Asus P6T SE - £160 6GB Patriot Viper PC3-12800 RAM - £68.99 @ Overclockers (only lasts til Tuesday, new offers on Wednesday) Sapphire ATi 4870 - £103.49 @ Novatech Samsung 64GB MLC SSD - £91.99 @ Novatech Western Digital 1TB Caviar Green - £67.99 @ Overclockers (til Tuesday) Samsung DVD-RW - £15 Corsair HX-520 - £80 Coolermaster Storm 'Scout' Case - £76.99 @ Overclockers (til Tuesday) Xigmatek HDT-S1283 "Dark Knight" CPU Cooler - £35 Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keybord 4000 - £17.99 @ Play.com £942.44 Might be worth getting a quieter cooler for the graphics card though, it's a very quiet system other than that. The SSD is an odd one, but it's there because it makes a HUGE difference to desktop performance. Apps load a lot quicker and don't 'lag' as much because the drive can find the data a lot quicker than on a mechanical drive. Well worth the money on this sort of budget. A mechanical Hard Drive is still needed for data though, both due to capacity and the low transfer speed of SSDs when they're handling large files. Spec'd with a energy efficient 1TB drive but if the space isn't needed a 500GB drive might be worth the saving. Use the Windows 7 Release Candidate instead of buying Vista, the RC isn't set to expire til next year. Just spend the money intended for Vista on Win7 Retail on release day instead, cheaper in the long-run and you get to use a better OS. For Office, try here; http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-uk/default.aspx MS Office Ultimate £38.95. Edited June 1, 2009 by McPhee
Nolan Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 I might throw something new together, but I have a very cheap economical build that can game just fine I may edit in. It about a third of your builds but still pretty good. I could easily change it a bit make it close to 600-700 ish and better. Also, it would be nice to know if you have brand preferences. Core i7 may be the fastest in the world, but for it's price... I prefer a nice AMD build myself, which is what I'll likely post unless you're diehard against them.
fex Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 If hes spending that kind of money, e should be going i7!
RoadKill Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 (edited) Buying a triple channel RAM set with a Core 2 = fucking fail, the Core 2 only supports dual channel, so if you run 3 RAM sticks, it will run in single channel mode. Triple channel sets are designed for Nehalem, (Core i7) because Core i7 has three RAM interfaces I'd honestly be looking closely at Phenom II builds right now personally because their newer cores overclock really well and the triple core CPUs can be unlocked to quad core if you have the right motherboard for no extra goddamn cost Edited June 1, 2009 by RoadKill
Wesley Posted June 1, 2009 Author Posted June 1, 2009 See, this is why I posted it. To stop my friend and I from driving off a cliff. So let's take a look at this core i7...
Wesley Posted June 1, 2009 Author Posted June 1, 2009 See, this is why I posted it. To stop my friend and I from driving off a cliff. So let's take a look at this core i7...
RoadKill Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 ahh, double post joy, I had the same issue, it took forever and a day to re-submit changes
Nolan Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 I'd honestly be looking closely at Phenom II builds right now personally because their newer cores overclock really well and the triple core CPUs can be unlocked to quad core if you have the right motherboard for no extra goddamn cost Just like to point out that you can also do this with the extremely cheap but excellent AMD Athlon X2 7750. It's aless than 50 after VAC and can have 2 cores unlocked on it and with Stock cooling will easily go to 3.4 Aftermarket air cooling can likely take it to 4Ghz.
McPhee Posted June 1, 2009 Posted June 1, 2009 What does he actually want to use this machine for? That's usually the best starting point for deciding on a build, you can build a better gaming rig for much cheaper. Same goes for a workstation (Photoshop, 3DS Max etc.). If it's a balance he's after then get him to name a firm budget otherwise it turns in to a "sky's the limit" sort of affair, throwing money at the problem.
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