Right, well, i'm helping this guy build a PC and we're still umming and arring about a couple of the parts, but we wanted it to stay below £900 and the lower the better, really (anything within UK (ebuyer, novatech, scan, overclockers, whatever)). CPU Core i7 920 @ 2.66GHz - £229.94 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151477 GPU XFX nVidia GTX 275 - £198.98 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-136-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1410 MOBO ASUS P6T SE iX58 - £169.22 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161061 RAM OCZ Gold 3x2GB DDR3 1600MHz CL8 - £70.99 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-129-OC HDD 2x Seagate 500GB - £86.68 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158860/ DVD LG 22x DVD RW - £15.99 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151999 PSU OCZ GameXStream 850W - £89.99 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124736 CASE Antec 900 - £79.99 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AN TOTAL - £941.78 The reason for the slightly over the top PSU is that it gives the possibility of adding another GTX275 at a later date without changing anything else (i'd love to use a Corsair instead but they're just too expensive). Now, we're not really sure about the Motherboard - I know you can get ones a lot more expensive, but i'd rather keep this to the lowest price possible without it being, well, rubbish. As for the RAM, i also found this; G.Skill 3x2GB DDR3 1333MHz CL9 - £42.99 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-030-GS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1390 It would save £30 but is it worth it? I don't really know how much worse the performance would be with that drop in clock and rise in latency... Finally, with the case, would the Antec 300 suffice? (It would save £35) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-101-AN I don't know how the components would fit inside it and if it offers a good enough air flow... So, that's about it - open to suggestions, thanks
-The antec 300 should do just fine. -The power supply you chose is not overkill; the GameXStream series is famous for lower-than-advertised output. -If you are not overclocking, the OCZ ram will not help you much.
Killerbug: You've missed the point with the PSU a bit, just because the PSU isn't actually 850W doesn't make it an any better choice. For £90 you could get something a lot better quality than the GameXStream. If you're only going to use one card, then these are good choices: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114941 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134677 If you're going to use SLi with an i7, then you should really be spending MUCH more on a PSU, something like this: http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=4598 or perhaps this when it arrives: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164950 The Antec 300 is a respectable case, but you will need to fill in the blank fan spaces in order to cool an i7 sufficiently. Extra 120mm fans are cheap, though good (good performance and low noise) ones will set you back a bit more.
Just wanted to warn him that the GameXStream might not power two GTX275's. I'd recomend my PSU, but it seems the price went up about $95 since I bought it.
If extra fans would be needed on the 300 I guess I'll try persuade him to go with the 900 off the bat. At Killerbug - Thanks for the info about the RAM; no, I think he's a bit scared of touching anything to do with the RAM As for the PSU, it wasn't me that picked it, I swear! He just wanted something cheap(ish) as we're slightly over budget already. Are the Corsair PSUs really that good? I have a 450TX powering the PC in my sig and I've never had a problem, but will the 750HX power an SLI setup fine? Also, is the motherboard ok? I'll admit that neither of us really know the differences between boards.
I wouldn't, IMO the 300 is a better case. The 900 was very poorly designed in many areas, the 300 takes note of some of those flaws. The 900 two is the same in that respect, but costs much more, so is effectively pointless. I ran a 4870X2 (same power usage as two 1GB 4870s in Crossfire) and a 3.8Ghz overclocked Quad core with three HDDs off a 520WHX unit with no problems whatsoever. The 750 will be sufficient for SLI with an i7. The motherboard is alright, but for SLI setups I'd recommend a Gigabyte board instead. They do not run the cards as cool as the Asus boards due to slot spacing but they're more solid, reliable designs.
Ok, thanks, going to go with the 300 then and fit two 120mm front fans (saw the default Antec TriCool case fans on ebuyer), will see about a third for the side, but i presume four overall would be plenty. Will get the 750HX and will look at Gigabyte boards, any you would recommend yourself?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128386 - Nice Gigabyte Board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128362 - Great Gigabyte Board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136063 - Great DFI board
I would probably recommend a side fan at some point, at least when you start using SLI. Agreed on the board choices, but do DFI support SLI properly?
I have yet to try it, but the claim is that it supports x16/x8/x8 SLI. They have been doing 3-way SLI for a while now, and I am guessing they have figured it out by now.
