Hi all I have had my dell 8300 P4 3.2GHZ for over 5 yrs years now and upgraded it over time with new memory, graphics and PSU but its getting old so I need a new one as it cant play any new games without juttering and the fans working overtime and making such a noise. Can you have a look over my spec below and let me know what is good and what I should change, Money isnt a problem as I want to make it future proof as much as possible and try get it top of the range as possible. Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Processor Extreme Edition i7-975 (3.33GHz) 6.4GTs/8MB Cache Memory (RAM) 6GB DOMINATOR GT DDR3 1866MHz (7-8-7-20) - LIFETIME WARRANTY (is this better or worse than 12GB CORSAIR XMS3 1600MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (6x2GB))??? Motherboard ASUS® RAMPAGE || EXTREME: DDR3, 3-Way SLI & CrossFireX on Demand Operating System Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (£86) USB Options 8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD Memory - 1st Hard Disk 300GB WD VelociRaptor® SATA 16MB CACHE (10,000rpm) 2nd Hard Disk 300GB WD VelociRaptor® SATA 16MB CACHE (10,000rpm) RAID (HDD 1 & 2) RAID 0 (STRIPE) (£9) 1st CD/DVD Drive 6x BLU-RAY ROM & HD-DVD ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£69) 2nd CD/DVD Drive 8x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£125) Graphics Card 1792MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX295 PCI EXPRESS (is this the best card to get just now) 2nd Graphics Card NONE Sound Card ASUS XONAR HDAV1.3 - Enjoy 100% Blu-Ray Quality Audio (£129) Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND Network Facilities KillerNIC M1 Gigabit Desktop PCI Network Adapter (£189) Floppy Disk Drive NONE Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) Case COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER BLACK GAMING PC CASE (suppose to have 4 fans will this make alot of noise?) Power Supply & Case Cooling 1200W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£165) Processor Cooling ASUS TRITON 81 PURE COPPER BASE ULTRA COOLER (£49) (will this be enough cooling or will I need liquid cooling??) Firewire & Video Editing 1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD Will all this work together well or will something slow down something else? I will be getting a new HD monitor so with the graphics card will it display the blu-rays in HD etc. Any info you can give me would be great and if some new components are coming out soon then let me know what and if I should wait. thanks J
CPU: Good, a bit expensive for the performance, but it is the fastest, so it can get away with the insane price. Memory: unless you are looking for a serious overcloc, the the 12GB would probably be better (allows for dual-tripple channel). You did not post a link to the specific 12GB kit, so make sure that is is 7-7-7-20 or lower. Mainboard: Asus is junk, this is the bomb: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128362 Operating System: Windows 7 x64 is a great choice. Ultimate has more features than Home, but you might never need these extra features. USB: This is built into the mainboard; it should not be a seperate section unless you plan to add extra front ports to a case. 8 USB ports is rather low for a high-end mainboard. Hard drives & raid: Hard drives are fine, but you should not have to pay for software RAID, it is built into the mainboard. Hardware raid is better, but it will add at least $200 to the cost of the system (about $350 for a good hardware RAID that can handle 8 drives). Also, RAID-0 gives great performance (software raid ruins most of this performance, but it will still be faster than just one drive), but it more than doubles the chances of data loss. It would probably be a good idea to get a pair of 1TB or larger drives for a RAID-1 storage area. If you are still interested in RAID knowing all this, and you want hardware raid, here is an excelent card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116068 - it also needs a pair of these if you want to use it with SATA drives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816116099 Also, this RAID card will work with SAS drives that are much faster than the drives you found. Here is a nice 15,000RPM 300GB SAS drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145248 Burners: Not sure what brand you are talking about. Here is a nice one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136137 Graphics: I would recomend waiting for the 5870, or getting a pair of 4870x2's if you just can't wait. Sound: Can't comment on that card (a bit out of my price range). I would go with the PCIE version...no point in buying such an expensive card for the old PCI bus. Network: That card is a huge waist of money. It performs better than onboard LAN for some things, and worse for other things. Here is a much cheaper card that does just as well for the good things, and better for the rest: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106121 Memory Card Reader: Don't know what brand you are looking at, many of them are junk. Power: You don't need that much power, and without a brand I would guess it is a crummy unit. Here is perhapse the best 1000W unit around (still way, way more than you need, but 1000W will give you lots of room to grow): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007 Case: This realy depends on your visual preferences. 4 Fans will make noise in any case. Cooler master fans always either make a lot of noise, or move very little air (sometimes they are noisy and they move very little air). Normaly you could upgrade the fans to something quiet yet powerfull, but I am not sure about the side fan on that case. Cooler: Should be plenty, water cooling is just for overclockers...and not even for extreme overclockers. Monitor: How big do you want to go, and how much can you spend? If I were to buy a screen today, it would be this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236047 Mouse: If there is an extra $50 in your budget, check out the Logitech G5. Some love it, some hate it...I have two, so if they stop making them and one breaks I can still use the other one! [edit] I would not buy that screen...I would if I had a desk, but it does not have the industry standard 4-screw mounting that I would need to use it with my perfect chair. This will not cause you any problems if you have a normal desk, only if you want to mount it on a wall, celing, or overhead rigging.
Thanks for the reply I thought Asus was one of the best around? it seems to get good reviews. As im getting a company to build this I am customising it on their site PCSpecialist its the i7 extreme computer one I picked and the only ones I can choose from are - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3RDR3, 2-Way SLI & CrossFireX ASUS® P6T: DDR3, 3-Way SLI & CrossFireX on Demand ASUS® P6T DELUXE V2: DDR3, 2-Way SLI & CrossFireX on Demand ASUS® RAMPAGE || EXTREME: DDR3, 3-Way SLI & CrossFireX on Demand which is the best out of these? also is there a site that will show me the different graphics cards that are coming out, I would prefer an nvidia card as my last few have been ATI. If you have time can you go on that link and customise a gaming pc for me that will be good at video editing, blu-rays, music and gaming so I can see what you would pick. it doesnt matter how much it is as I have enough saved up anyway so I want the best I can get. thanks alot.
CPU: 9/10 (reason: outlandish expense, but amazing performance) RAM: 9/10 (reason: Very expensive, still better than 1600mhz RAM, but the performance gains won't be much for the cost) MoBo: 2/10 (reason: Asus build quality, absurd cost, triple SLI boards are often unreliable) OS: 7/10 (reason: Ultimate is better than Home Premium, but obv more expensive) HDDs: 9/10 (reason: SSDs might be a better idea) RAID: 0/10 (reason: RAID0 is just plain bad for raptors) Two bluray drves? GPU: 5/10 (reason: inconsistent performance, very poor value) Sound: 3/10 (reason: ridiculpus cost) KillerNIC: 0/10 (reason: Essentially a Scam) Case: 10/10 (I own one, it's not loud) PSU: 0/10 unless they tell you what brand it is Cooler: 5/10 (go for thermalright, noctua or tuniq instead) Killer's motherboard is much better. Don't get from PCSpecialist, build it yourself, it's not hard, and it's much cheaper.
-Asus's quality dropped off sharply several years ago. They still enjoy the reputation that they built in the 90's...thus the high prices. The reviews come from people that write a review the day they get it, before they even test all the features. Asus boards are not often DOA, but they do fail very often. You should build it yourself...it isn't very difficult to do, it will get you better parts, and it will cost less. Plus, it lets you put your own spin on the design by picking the particular case design of the 1000s of cases available that appeals most to you. Reliabilitiy should also be better, as you can purchase parts from high quality brands. -These are all crummy boards...they are all to be avoided. I would also avoid anyone who would market them as "extreme" -I guess the grass is always greener on the other side...even when the grass on the other side costs more and is the same color. The biggest release in graphics cards that is coming soon is the HD5870 (also from ATI). Nvidia's best only just barely beat ATI's best, and Nvidia's best cost a lot more than ATI's best. If you are buying today, the 4870, 4870x2, and 4890 are the best bang for the buck around (the 4870x2 is the fastest, despite being older than the 4890). I doubt you can find anything that would run noticably better on twin GTX295's than on twin 4870x2's.
I personally dont understand the ASUS hate around here. I have run an ASUS P5N-D for just under a year now, and while there was a time or two the nvidia chipset was a PIA, thats nvidia chipsets for you imo.
Just my opinions, but.... For the motherboard, I'd assume you'd be overclocking with that kind of hardware so maybe an EVGA Classfied? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188048 For the hard drivers, it seems like you have the money so just pick up a one or two Corsair SSDs and put 'em in RAID. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233091 For the blu ray drives, I don't really see a point of getting two different drives. The one that KillerBug linked to is good. For the graphics, I would say wait til the new DX11 cards come out (September 10th for the new ATI cards), or if you want it sooner, I'd say maybe 3 EVGA GTX 285s for tri-sli to go with that EVGA Classified? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130480 I wouldn't recommend wasting money on a network card...onboard has always been fine enough for me. On the power supply, I'd recommend a Corsair HX1000W. I'm running one and I gotta say it's great. For the cooler, you're definitely better off with a better one. A Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme would be good, and so would a Corsair H50, which is an easy to install liquid cooling unit.
Agreed, Asus boards stopped being worthwhile around 2004-2005. Ever since then you will struggle to get one to last. I have yet to have a DOA Asus board, but I have also yet to have an Asus board outlast the warranty period, as have several of my friends. They're just dire. The only good board there is the EX58-UD3R, and it is the most basic i7 board. It's fine, but it's not as fully featured as the other X58 boards Gigabyte offer. To be honest, if your last few PCs have had ATI cards, you've missed out on the best era for ATI graphics. The older HD2000 and HD3000 cards were pretty naff. The current HD4000 series (and by the looks of things the new HD5000 series as well) are excellent. You may want to wait as September 10th there could be as much as an 80% increase in performance with the new technology. You can't buy the 4870X2 any more as it has been discontinued prior to the arrival of the 5800 series, but if you want a high power PC right now, two HD4890s can be had for quite cheap (£265 ish) and will bust the balls of a £350 GTX295. Xplorer: Just under a year. Give it another 9-12 months and then you'll see what all the Asus hate is about. Mrk: people still think the EVGA boards are better overclockers than the others - they aren't. Even that cheap EX58-UD3R can pull off the same overclocks as the EVGA that costs twice as much, as long as you're not going for epic speed on phase change or dry ice. For SSDs, you want Intels, not Corsairs. Even the best corsairs only use Indilinx controllers, which the Intel SSDs flatten. Three GTX285s is a HORRIFIC waste of money. A corsair HX1000 is fine enough (though very loud) but whether you actually need a 1KW PSU is open to debate. That's £180 you're throwing at a PSU, and remember for two HD4870X2s and an overclocked Q9550, an 850W PSU is ample for me. Mrk's pc uses around 260W, yet he has a 1000W PSU. An easy mistake to make, lots of people do it.
You guys are really convincing me to build my own but the thing that is holding me back is I have no knowledge of putting them together and if something went wrong I wouldnt have a clue what to do or be able to identify what the problem was to fix and with no tech support its not as if I can easily call up and send it back to where I got it. im gonna have a look tonight and price everything and see what the total would come to if I made it myself, we dont have newegg here and I only know of a few sites like overclockers.co.uk etc so if any of you know good UK sites I can get stuff from let me know. thanks
The way I like to think of it is that a PC is a glorified lego set. Everything slots into a specific place, and it's not too time consuming (and even perhaps enjoyable) to do. Apart from saving you money, leaving you with a better quality PC for it, and the feeling of achievement, if you've done it once you can do it again, and you will feel much more comfortable in resolving any potential problems since you know exactly how the PC was built. There are plenty of people here that will happily guide through the process step by step, myself included. I also live in the UK, so I can easily find you the best places to buy from - typically, I use www.ebuyer.com and www.scan.co.uk almost exclusively (especially since scan will give you free delivery on any order over £20 if you have 20 posts or more at Hexus forums). I considered getting a PC built from PCSpecialist a while back, it saved me a lot of money by doing it myself.
Sam is indeed correct in his statement of a glorified Lego kit. That doesnt mean you shouldn't check out the motherboard manual before hand to educate your self a bit.
