New system

[airwot4]

I'm looking to build myself a new rig this time and I'd like some advice on what I've chosen. Can anybody see any obvious bottlenecks here?

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz
OCZ 2Gb DDR2-800 RAM
XFX 7900GT 256mb GFX
ASUS P5B
Casebuy A1.01 ATX Gaming case (+ 350W PSU) - I'm not 100% sure about this.

Cheers all

[Scinto]

Re: New system

bigger power supply i think 400-450,

but a nice rig

edit; minimum PSU for 7900GT is 350w

[foxz88]

Re: New system

Good system in general. Good job. I would recommend another case with a stronger power supply. You could get the Antec Sonata II with a 450W power supply for £70.50 (http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...=882&InMerch=1)

It's a bit more expensive then your original case but I think it's worth it because it's a good quality product and very silent...

[LT_SE7EN11]

Re: New system

Agreed on the more watt PSU.

What kind of HD (WD raport) or optical drives (Plextor)? Or are you just pulling them from an old system?

[Eternal-Souljah]

Re: New system

A budget would help but I'll just guess you have a decent budget, not a massive budget but good enough:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz

-£225

-Processors fine, good overclocker.

Corsair 2GB DDR2 Twin X

£176

- RAM shouldn't matter to much for games, unless your gonna spend a bomb on RAM which tbh isn't really needed.

MSI 7900 GTO 512MB

- £180

- Card I have, I can link to a bundle of reviews rating it top dawg. This card is very cheap for its class. Basically its a 7900 GTX with slightly slower clock speeds (5 - 10 %) but its a very good overclocker it can be put up to 7900 GTX speeds with ease. Comes with a built in cooler.

Intel Extreme (Socket 775) Motherboard.

Motherboard is your choice, I would say the best Intel motherboard for core duo 2, considering it is going to be running your gfx card, memory etc you want a good motherboard. This is DDR2 compatible and has pci-express ports.

£170

520 W OCZ Modstream

£64

3 years warranty with active pfc. Comes with modular cabling so there aren't cables everywhere from your power supply to your components inside your computer. The 600 W GameXtreme Silent is also there, OCZ is a very good company for power supplies. 520 W is more then enough for your system, 600 W version is really if your running in SLI (dual gfx cards).

Case is your own choice, ThermalTake are very good choices, look at the Soprano or if you have the extra cash the Tsunami.

CD/DVD Drive simple enough.
Harddrive just get a 250GB 7200 Western Digital, should be £50 or something. Raptors you can get if you want, they cost more, run faster but compensate for lower storage.

£815 for the main stuff. Add 50 or something for your DVD/CD drives or whatever your getting. £865. Add £55 for harddrive.

Total £920.

Secondary harddrive is your option, keyboard and mouse and monitor is also your option.

[K8T]

Re: New system

get a 750W PSU.

[knghtwhosaysni]

Re: New system

There's no need for a 750w PSU. 500w is what I would shoot for.

The 7900gto (with 512mb of memory) is about $250 here in the states, which is about the price of a 7900gt 256mb. If the price is similar in the UK, I would definitely go for a 7900gto 512mb.

As for the motherboard, I think a high-end board is only needed if you're going to overclock. If you're not going to overclock, I would go for Gigabyte's GA-965P-S3 (less than the DS3).
And if you're not going to overclock, you don't need to spend so much on memory. Just some budget 667mhz PC5300 or PC5400 would be fine... the Core 2 Duos have very little performance increase with the different memory speeds/latencies.

[Papi4baby]

Re: New system

i personnaly would try to get different memory, i have heard nothing but bad stuff from ozc lately. And like everyone said, get at least a 500 minimum ps. good luck

[K8T]

Re: New system

Ive got OCZ and mine runs like a charm.

[Scinto]

Re: New system

OP asked for opinions & if it would bottleneck..

not a new system spec *cough*

[Papi4baby]

Re: New system

OP asked for opinions & if it would bottleneck..

not a new system spec *cough*

ok fine, you didn't put it there, but your HD will bottleneck your new rig.







There will always be something that will hold something else back. The current list your have seems pretty even, but bottlenecking also plays a part depending on the aplication you are running.

[hemimotorz]

Re: New system

At this point in the game I wouldn't dish out the cash for a 7900GT. Not with 8800's and DX10 right around the conner. I'd buy a 7600 or 7800 series IMHO.

[airwot4]

Re: New system

You've been really helpful everyone, I appreciate it. What I've understood so far is:
1. 500w PSU (new case or replacement)
2. No need for 800mhz RAM and avoid OCZ atm. 2gb Corsair 667mhz will do?
3. Either go lower with GFX chipsets or wait a while.
4. Look into a 15000rpm HD (would that help? I'm looking at getting a SATA anyway so will 7200rpm do the job?)

[knghtwhosaysni]

Re: New system

1. Definitely get a more reliable PSU. Antec NeoHe, OCZ Gamexstream, and Mushkin's 550w are some great options for the mid-range. The ones that come in cases are usually crap.

2. I don't know about OCZ being that bad, but it seems Corsair has been getting along better with the 965P boards better than other brands. As to whether you get 800mhz or 667mhz, it just depends on whether you will be shooting for a high overclock or not. The Core 2 Duos can get a very nice overclock with the 800mhz, running in a 1:1 ratio. A very decent overclock can also be had with 667mhz, but that's not quite reaching the C2D's potential. If you're not overclocking, then just go with the cheaper 667mhz. There is a very, very small difference in performance between the different RAM speeds with a stock clocked C2D.

3. If you feel you can wait a couple months for all the DX10 cards to come out, then sure, go ahead and buy a lower graphics card. a 7600gt can play BF2 well on medium/high at 1280x1024.

4. There is very little performance gain with the higher RPM drives in gaming. I'll find some benches...
edit: Here we are. http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2803&p=10 So no point in paying such a high premium for the 10,000 RPM Raptors if gaming is the main purpose. 1-3 seconds isn't worth the massive price difference. A 320gb Seagate 7200.10 drive costs $95 and a 36.7gb Raptor costs $104. A 74gb Raptor costs $150 and a 150gb one costs $195 after MIR. Those prices are in U.S. dollars, but there are most likely similar relationship in the UK.