Personally, I don't think you need the BFG overclocked version of the 8800GT since you can overclock it yourself. However, since you'll only save £5 going with any other brand, you may as well stick with it. REAM: Overclockers have screwed us over several times before (on one occasion taking 40 days to deliver something, and when the stuff arrived, all of it was broken - before you say it was the courier's fault, it got delivered about 10 different times because OcUK messed up the addresses) I've not had any issues with Scan yet, and I've placed numerous orders with them. Whilst the Antec Earthwatts PSUs are alright, the Corsair HX selected before is far better. With regard to the HD3870, it's cheaper, and in my opinion it's a better card (yes it's slightly slower, but it supports Directx10.1, and the image quality it produces is better than anything I've seen) but you may have to wait a while before you can get one. Not so different from the 8800GT in that respect though I suppose... Don't bother with a Tuniq tower for the CPU. If you want to do it right, get one of these http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=679599 Just remember to add your own 120mm fan! Personally, I recommend using http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=679599
Ah, so much stuff to take into consideration sammorris, that is the same link for both products(sorry to be annoying)
Ah whoops, my copy and paste didn't work. For the second link I meant http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=533394
Cheers, defo got the cpu heatsink and fan sorted!(not to mention my rooms minus temperatures ) ^ Living in Scotland has it's advantages. Tommorow, i will write up a finalised component guide(sectioned off for cooling stuff etc) See that fan you linked me to, can i put one on the CPU heatsink but also as a case fan? (as the Antec case has a few optional fan places)
Yes you can. I use a White LED version of that fan for my CPU, but I use the exact fan I listed you as my front and my rear case fan currently.
I agree with the BFG part. the POV 8800GT gives you 3 years waranty aswell, which should be more than enough. and with the OcUK story... same thing has happened to me, but from scan...lol. i had ti wait 3 weeks for a simple x1800gto, and when it came, it was a broken 6200LE! (HOW THE FU(K THAt HAPPENS i dunno). yes the HX, will be ultimately supreme in the psu department, but i was condiering costs aswell... and its not like the earthwatts is crap. and once again, the tuniq, IMO is better, and more competitively price, due to the fact that is it very reliable. yet its a few degrees hotter than the thermaltake, but you dont need to take the risk of needing to lap one. oh, and i would use the akasa ambers, or the sharkoon eagals.
Then I guess it comes down to returns. OcUK will happily pass off any of your warranty claims to the manufacturer, even though by law it's their responsibility until you've owned the product for more than a year. Personal opinions will disagree about the heatsink, but the Thermalright seems much better value to me. Even without lapping I seem to recall it equals the Tuniq's performance, and it doesn't take up your whole case. There are no reliability issues with the Ultra 120, only the variation in performance from new. Akasa Amber fans are dump compared to the S-Flex (Believe me, I've done a lot of research into fans). Sharkoon eagles aren't too bad, but the S-Flex fans come out on top.
well. only just last week, i bought a faulty batch of dvdrs verbs. from them, and they happilly sent me another one asap, w.o me returning the first lot. also, a while ago, my bfg 7600GS died, and they replaced it no problem after i sent it to them, and then they rmaed it for themselves after they had given me a knew one. and about the lapping, for people who dont know how, it will be a hassle ,and they might muck it up, thats why i dont recommend the TT. your probably right about the fans, just those were my personaly preference. and the RAM, is totally unneeded. you do not need to go that high with your FBS, for the CPU, the max you will do is probably 350-450, so a pc6400 will be sufficient. and p35 mobos, are much better value for money over i680mobos, caus you wont need to use SLI, and the price is alot cheaper, and they OC very very well. PS sam, i guess we differ on companies, due to different personal experiences, but thats fine. hopefully, other people wont have the expreiances we had with them.
System Specs Now - Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 S775 2.66ghz 4mb Cache 1333FSB £113.41 PSU - Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU £68.14 GPU - NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT About £180.00 RAM (Memory) - 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 £53.64 Hard Drive- Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM £72.84 Optical Drive - Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.61 Case - Antec P182 £88.11 MotherBoard - I opted with the Asus P5KC (Thanks REAM), I would have went with that Gigabyte board but i like this one. £88.11 Cooling - For CPU Thermalright Ultra-120A £25.83 Fan for CPU - 120mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F Fan 1600 RPM £12.33 (May get 2 or 3 for case) Total = £720.02 What other components/cooling am i missing?
Firstly, it's Thermalright not Thermaltake. Secondly, I didn't bother lapping mine and it performs excellently. Given the comparative size and cost of the Tuniq, I don't recommend them. In any case, personal experience is what it boils down to, they're both very capable coolers. For the RAM: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-072-OC For the board: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI For parts you're about done. However, people don't seem to like Samsung DVD burners. There must be some reaosn for that. Go with something like an NEC or LG instead.
I sided with an LG SATA DVD Burner, http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=688532 I will buy the components that i definatly will NOT change soon, such as the PSU(and graphics card when available)
if you have the 800 budget, go for the Q6600, and the 4GB RAM, that i showed, or this (times 2) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-072-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=
Ahem, can I tempt you with a this week only offer? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-086-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813
You may. Is it worth the extra money over the ram i was gonna get over the, OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
That all depends, really. Top end games will use more than 2GB of RAM, but then you could just add an extra two sticks unless you wanted to use a 64-bit OS.
buying two of your OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 would be chearper, and would OC better, but, then you would use all the slots up on ur mobo. if you buy 2x2Gb, then you couls potentially get 8GB on it.