My Planned £2000 PC System -Thoughts/Input/Opinions?

[ATLANT3AN]

Hey guys,

Well I am buying a new PC soon, in the next few weeks. It will be built by myself and the components brought individually.

Information:

Budget = £2000
Usage = Gaming, Performance (Using multiple Virtual Machines)
Wants = Intel Quad Core, Nvidia Graphics, 1080p (24inch Monitor), OC Ability

Ok, so above is a simple explanation of what I want and the money I have t do it, Now below is what I have come up with and reasons why I chose, I would like your views on this and tips/hints as I have no great experiance in this, first time I have built a system myself .

Monitor

Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey
£458.24 inc VAT
Link

(Chose this because as I said, I want 1080p (1900x1200) playback, DELL because I heard nothing but good things about modern DELL monitors especially this one)

CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail
Link
or
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.83GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail
Link

Best CPU

(Now I first looked into with the QX9650, because I thought with £2000 I could buy more or less the best everything, but this isnt the case at all, I then found that these two new processors were coming out using the new 45nm and Yorkfield, as well as having the same 12MBL2 cache as the QX9650 just lower speed, so I thought maybe I could buy this, save £200-300 and then clock it to 3.2ghz or 3.4ghz which is faster than the upcoming QX9750)

Motherboard

Asus Maximus Extreme Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
£199.74

(Right, Well I was all set to buy a Striker II motherboard with the 780i chipset, but I was told by many and read some reviews which stated it was overpriced and the only really unique good thing was the SLI, which in my eyes is overkill if you have a good card to start with, So I looked into the Intel upcoming x48 chipset and was set on that but then realized that the only real differences are

-10 Gigabit LAN
-Removal of LPT PS2 ports
-Wi Fi

To be honest I don't like the idea of Wi Fi on my motherboard, 10 gigabit to me is also overkill and keeping the PS2 and LPT might not be so bad, so i checked out x38 and found this one, I wanted DDR3 to be future proof I guess, and now it is a time where its good to buy some DDR3.

PSU (Power Supply Unit)

Tagan 1100W Modular BZ Piperock Series


(I chose Tagen because most my friends who build PC's say Tagen are the best make for different reasons, I chose the BZ series as it seems to be the most current and 1100w should easily last me even if I did crossfire)

Memory

OCZ 4GB DDR3 PC3-10666C6 1333MHz ReaperX (2x2GB) Dual Channel DDR3
LInk

or
OCZ 4GB PC3-10666 Reaper HPC (2x2GB)

(I am not entirely set on which memory to get to be honest, I was going to get a DDR2 motherboard as I remember hearing DDR3 was pointless but now when I ask, people seem to say the opposite plus it would be a good idea to have a mobo that supports all the current tech and is future proof, how does this memory sound?)

Graphics Card

Ge Force 8800 GT 512 (Current) / Asus Extreme 8800GTS 512MB TOP PCI-E 2.0

(This is the card in my current PC which btw is a AMD 4400 X2, Nforce 4 A8N-SLI (It was when AMD was the kings) I think due to cost issues as I will keep this card for now, It's still a good performer and even the new G92 8800GTS isn't leaps and bounds ahead of it, I will perhaps upgrade to a 9800GTX or similar when the time comes later this year)

Case

I dont really know to be honest, few friends use ANtec Gaming case, the price seems good. I have been told LIan Li is the best make but they seem expensive, any help on this?

What about?
Antec P182 Advanced Super Midi Tower Black £78


Sound System

Creative GigaWorks 5.1 G550W THX Wireless Speakers
£199
Link

(I was all set on the Logitech 5.1 THX Certified, but then I saw this Creative set which has the same THX Certified status, same watts and the added benefit of wireless although I prefer the look/design of the Logitech one, I think I will be having this one for sure)

Hard drives

500GB Seagate Barracuda SATA2 32MB ST3500320AS 7200RPM x 3


(I think Seagate are a good make but so is WD and Maxtor I guess, I want 1TB of space and reliability so I intend to use Hardware RAID 5 and get a 1tb of usable space out of the 1.5tb available, thoughts?

Optical Drive

Pioneer BDR-202BK / Asus DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black/Silver) - Retail

Link 1
Link 2

(I was thinking of this, but its too expensive and would push me over budget, I could always get blu ray at a later date plus reviews of this are not so great, I will just get a £20 normal DVDRW DVDDL as listed above)

Keyboard & Mouse


I would prob spend £80 on these together perhaps, Id like an illuminated keyboard and a good mouse, I have these in mind thoughts?

Razer Lachesis Banshee Blue 4000dpi High Precision Gaming Mouse - Retail £46.99
Link

Saitek Eclipse 2 Illuminated Keyboard - Blue/Red/Purple
£23.49
Link

Note: Apart from the illuminated part those keyboards don't look great, an all black one might be better like the one I have currently have.

Cooling

I wanted to do liquid cooling but then thought it was too expensive, Using the case fans and obviously the normal CPU fan, will I be able to overclock to a good degree?

Thanks very much, sorry about the length but this is £2000 after all, look forward to receiving your input.

P:S
If I have forgotten a component, please tell me so I don't look dumb for too long


ATLANT3AN


Update (Very set on the following, Opinions though?)

Motherboard

Asus Maximus Extreme iX38 Socket 775 Motherboard

CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz (Retail 775)

Memory

OCZ 4GB PC3-10666 Reaper HPC (2x2GB)

Case

Antec P182 Advanced Super Midi Tower Black

Hard Drives

500GB Seagate Barracuda SATA2 32MB ST3500320AS 7200RPM x3

PSU

Tagan 1100W Modular BZ Piperock Series

Monitor

Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey

Sound System

Creative GigaWorks 5.1 G550W THX Wireless Speakers

Optical Drive

Asus DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black/Silver) - Retail

CPU Cooler

Scythe Ninja-CU Full Copper CPU Cooler

Total Cost

£1869 (The remaining £100ish could be used for Keyboard/Mouse/360 Controller

Later Addons:

Better GC
Blu Ray RE Optical Drive

I think I will keep my current BFG 8800 GT 512mb, and wait later perhaps and then if need be upgrade to a better graphics card, final opinions?

 

[Adragontattoo]

I am not a fan of Creatives speaker systems. The speakers always feel very cheap to me personally.
You only using onboard sound?

 

[ATLANT3AN]

Dam, seems to have been posted twice and the last one got deleted, sorry about that, heres what I said in response to some of the questions in that one.

Other posts opinions:

-Tagen are not good
-Don't get DDR3
-Use nforce chipset and SLI

I think the mobo is better than nforce chipset, So will stick to that. It's starting to annoy me about the CPU everyone says whatever I choose is too much, £200 to me don't sound too much for such an important thing and I will benefit from my virtual machine usage and overclock it to 3.4ghz or something as buying higher than Q9450 is indeed pointless.

Tagen are a good PSU, heard nothing but good about them from every guy I know who custom builds so unsure what to make of that, Also same thing also with the DDR3 thing, Theres no way I am getting a DDR2 motherboard when I will want DDR3 at some point, buying DDR3 for actual ram could be questionable though yes at the moment, not sure on this. I like the idea of getting some DDR3 memory.

I don't want SLI, no point its overkill if I already have a good card which I am holding back on, keeping the 8800GT which is a good performer still, Will not get GC this time around but wait a few months to see what comes around the corner I think, or if when I have the system and the 8800GT is simply not cutting it, then sure I will do.

I have a Creative system at present and am very pleased with onboard sound and speaker performance, the sound is great. Which company do you recommend then? Logitech?

Please debate with me more on these issues, these are just my opinions tell me I am wrong but back it up .

Thanks for input so far.

ATLANT3AN

 

[JamesXP]

Tagan PSUs can be good but are very hit and miss, SLi overkill? a 1.1kw PSU is overkill

 

[Th3 F4ll3n P1mp]

No its not, im getting a 1.2 kw psu for 2 GTX.

 

[ATLANT3AN]

Looking at reviews, I see nothing but good stuff about that Tagen, So I will probably stick with that. No point with SLI, I will get a 9800 GTX or whatever is great for £300 ish later this year, with my system specs I should easily be able to run it 1900x1200 at very good frames with the best games.

What about overclocking this CPU, Recommendations on CPU Coolers? what would I need to push it from 2.6ghz to beat the next few CPU's at around 3.4/6ghz?

Thanks
ATLANT3AN

 

[JamesXP]

Aye, It seems the BZ series of PSUs are not as bad as some of their other stuff


And 9800GTX is not worth it.. It's just a G92 with new memory.

You will want a Thermalright 120Extreme.


(I'd still advise against DDR3, to all the merican folks the DDR3 he chose is 600$)

 

[ATLANT3AN]

Best DDR2

OCZ 2GB PC2-9600 FlexXLC Edition (2x1GB)
OCZ2FX12002GK 1200Mhz, CL 5-5-5-18, Lifetime Warranty
£135.07

OCZ 4GB PC2-8000 C5 ReaperX HPC Enhanced Bandwidth (2x2GB)
OCZ2RPX10004GK, 1000MHz, CL 5-5-5-18, Lifetime Warranty
£99.82

Close to the best DDR3

OCZ 4GB PC3-10666 Reaper HPC (2x2GB)
OCZ3RPR13334GK, 1333MHz, CL 6-6-6-18, Lifetime Warranty

£270.19

Yeah, I mean that 1200mhz DDR2 with those steppings for £140 cheaper does seem good, I guess there would be no viewable difference right? then Why such a big price jump? It must be better to be so expensive?

I don't know now, I could buy DDR2 and with money left buy a 8800 GTS, But I wanted one of the best machines thats precisely why I wanted DDR3, getting DDR2 seems to be going backward, but your probably right, DDR3 mobo's backward support all DDR2 types right? they better. I could always get DDR3 when its cheaper.

And buy this so I can overclock to 3.6ghz

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-039-TR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=821

Thanks
ATLANT3AN

 

[JamesXP]

No backward support, DDR3 is not 'future proofing' by the time DDR3 is popular you could get it for the same price you got your DDR2 (supply and demand, little demand for DDR3 because the increase in performance compared to the price increase is horrible)

 

[ATLANT3AN]

I really do like the OCZ 2GB PC2-9600 FlexXLC Edition (2x1GB), fastest DDR2 in the world. edit [I just realized It was 2gb, I thought it was 4, I want 4GB Ram in any case)

The issue I am having is I feel if I buy a DDR2 montherboard I am taking a step backward, they seem to have lower FSB etc, I wanted one of the best motherboards seeing as it's a base for everything else, any suggestions?

I dont want to have to buy a new motherboard when I do change to DDR3 due to it becoming cheaper and popular and thats the point really. I guess if I could find a DDR2 motherboard with the same specs as a DDR3 board minus the DDR3 then I might, then I could in 6m-1year time get a new motherboard and DDR3 ram, which could be over a year away.

So, any motherboard Ideas, I wanted to spend £200ish on a motherboard, and is that the correct cooler I posted a couple of posts up?

 

[JamesXP]

You will not get over 500FSB on your quad, and 500FSB on a 1:1 ratio is DDR1000, see? when intel brings out the 1600FSB CPUs DDR800 will be the standard, so no 'real' future proofing,

 

[ATLANT3AN]

You obviously know your stuff James and I really appreciate your input on this, Getting more and more convinced to get a DDR2 board with top notch DDR2 memory, It does seem performance advantage is low to such a great cost, I just have the following thoughts.

I still think getting a DDR2 board is backtracking, I have a £2000 budget after all
I really don't know which DDR2 motherboard to get, I from reading reviews am really liking boards from ASUS.
I don't want the feeling that I have such a good system but then all reviews/benchmarks and people talk about boards higher than mine/DDR3
If there truly would be no difference to the nakid eye and only seconds with other tasks then I would not mind at all.

Choosing a PC is supposed to be fun but its depressing me,lol how shocking is that, I have my mind set on something then it changes, and changes then I read in a review about this and that, changes again.

All Items except mobo,ram are finalized, and these two are very important, obviously I will wait for reviews of Q9450 before committing to it though but that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[nsgnsg]

dont use ddr 3. and get the ultra 120 extream heatsink, and oc better

 

[ATLANT3AN]

I am getting the same information from everyone, in Fact when you look at things like this

http://www.digit-life.com/articles3/...ddr3-1333.html

It confirms it even more, I mean yeah sure DDR3 will eventually be the best and become cheaper when theres more demand but any notable difference could be 1-2 years away, So I will get a ASUS Maximus Formula x38 DDR2 board with 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 PC2-8500 (1066), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15, EPP, DHX.

I will have to get an eSATA adapter though as that motherboard is fantastic but doesn't have eSATA which I have a 500gb drive for that purpose.

I think I am all set really, As long as the Q9450 comes in with good reveiws, everything will stay the same.

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler £38
Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3/4 Pin £12

Those two are pretty much the best CPU Cooling options So I hear, so I look forward to getting 3.6ghz from the 2.6ghz thats a no brainer right?

Motherboard

Asus Maximus Formula Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £152

CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz (Retail 775) £200

Memory

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 PC2-8500 (1066) £91

Case

Antec P182 Advanced Super Midi Tower Black £81

Graphics Card

BFB Ge Force 8800GT 512mb (Already own)

Note: Will upgrade to a better GC at a later date, this will do fine for now.

Hard Drives

500GB Seagate Barracuda SATA2 32MB ST3500320AS 7200RPM x2 £135

500GB Seagate eSATA External hard disk £81

PSU

Tagan 1100W Modular BZ Piperock Series £170

Note: This is a steep price and probably the only thing I could still change my mind on.

Monitor

Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £458

Note: It's expensive but boy is it good, seeing as it has HDMI and about 2 dozen other connectors on the back I can use my Xbox 360 on it as well, so it's kind of like I am buying a TV as well as a monitor.

Sound System

Logitech Z-5500 THX Certified 5.1 Speaker System £199

Note: This one really does eclipse the Creative one, read countless reviews on how great t is. so changed to this (It was actualy my original choice)

Optical Drive

Asus DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black/Silver) - Retail £25

Note: Upgrade to a good Blu Ray RE later

CPU Cooler

Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3/4 Pin £12
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler £38

Note: Will this be enough to make clocking the Q9450 from 2.6ghz to 3.6ghz a no brainer?

Peripherals

Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller £20

Random Mouse £30

Akasa SATA to eSATA Adapter Kit £3 (Motherboard does not have eSATA)

Note: Will keep my current keyboarb

Total Cost

£1744 (Added from totals - three sites ordering things from)

Later Addons

Better GC
Blu Ray RE Optical Drive