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Tip-top motherboard and CPU advice wanted

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    Tip-top motherboard and CPU advice wanted

    Now the last heap of junk I'm ashamed to say I bought at PC World a few years ago is starting to play up, I quite fancy the idea of putting together a blindingly fast new PC from parts.

    I know it's a bit of a mug's game these days, as one can get excellent PCs for a few hundred quid. But if one had, say, up to around £1500 to spend for a top-of-the-range large case, stonking motherboard, CPU, and 4 gigs of memory, what would people suggest (without going too far into server territory and silly money) ?

    Oh and P.S. Anyone know the best heat sinks and cooling fans to buy? My current PC has taken to howling like a NASA wind tunnel at the slightest provocation. So a quiet one would be good; but efficiency, or rather effectiveness, is my main criterion.
    Work in the public sector? Read the IR35 FAQ here

    #2
    All that just to run Word!

    Comment


      #3
      Don't waste £1500 on a PC.

      Half that will be 90% as good.
      First Law of Contracting: Only the strong survive

      Comment


        #4
        Good motherboards come from MSI and ASUS.

        Antec do really smart looking (minimalist) quiet cases.

        HTH

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          #5
          Ask Threaded if he wants to sell his Cray...

          Comment


            #6
            Currently doing builds for my new pc and Mrs Bgg's Pc.

            Have spent hours and hours reading forums and articles on hardware and end-user sites.

            Here's a good site :

            Custom PC

            It's also a magazine in the UK. I recommend the forums.

            I'm planning for my PC to be an ultimate gaming PC (well, for at least 2 weeks anyway :-) )

            Processor : Go for Dual Core E6600
            Board : Asus P5W64-WS Pro Intel 975X £180

            Ram : As much as you can afford : Expect to pay £250 for 1GB of insanely high performance overclocking RAM
            Drives : Western Digital Raptors. End of story.
            GPU : GeForce 8800 GTX (£500) and probably another one in SLI as well.
            PSU : Enermax Galaxy EGA1000EWL £250 (You need 1000 watts to drive this PC)
            Sound Card : Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 Soundcard - £179 (Top of the range sound card aimed at musicians)

            As far as cooling, the dual cores run a lot less hot than other chips, and vanilla builds don't need much beyond a standard fan. However, since I plan to overclock my PC, I'll be looking at higher performace Zalman Coolers.

            Depending on how much I want to O/C, I may end up having to need a Asetek WaterChill Xtreme CPU/VGA/Chipset Cooling Kit - Triple 120mm Radiator/6 Fans £321

            Then all the cold cathode ray rubes, lights, etc.

            I did intend to fashion a clear perspex box, to house the kit in. Think Orac from Blake's Seven. Then I decided to buy a case.

            NZXT Lexa

            This PC will eat any game on the market for breakfast. Even Oblivion, which is the most demanding game a PC can run. The game can be set to maximum settings and the GPU will say "is that it ? I'm hardly being taxed at all. Give me some real work to do"

            Have fun building !
            Last edited by Board Game Geek; 10 February 2007, 17:39.
            Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

            C.S. Lewis

            Comment


              #7
              I'd disagree slighty, but I would be looking at getting a decent amount of performance without spending the earth

              Processor : AMD Athlon 64 (Good chips, maybe not as fast as the latest intel dual core ones, but a hell of a lot cheaper and a better architecture so the future looks good when you upgrade)

              Board : Asus all the way, which one depends on the chip, but don't skimp on it as everything runs through this

              Ram : I agree, as much as you can afford although I don't bother overclocking it myself. i prefer stability. I've always gone for Cruicial memory. i tried Kingston memory once and had to drive down to London at a silly hour in the morning to replace it when it died, never had any problems with crucial RAM

              Drives : Western Digital all the way (sooo easy to RMA if something goes wrong) but I wouldn't bother with the Raptors unless your into making an ultimate gaming PC. It really won't make much difference for everyday stuff and for the price of a 120Gb Raptor you can prolly get a 500Gb normal one.

              GPU : the best you can afford, i would waste money on the latest one out there though, give it 6 months and the price will have halved

              PSU : FSP Sparkle. I have used them for a while and they seem to be very robust. Tried a few others I wasn't impressed with.

              Sound Card : On board will do for most things unless your an audiophille. in this case Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi is the mutts nuts

              Cooling: Zalman Reserator V2. Nothing beats a silent PC and this baby will keep everything at a decent temp. i'm using the V1's atm and they are great.

              Comment


                #8
                decent amount of performance without spending the earth
                Fair enough !

                I'm my case, I've always had to settle for second best and balance performance against cost.

                Now, I'm going to treat myself and to hell with second best.

                I suppose it's a mid-life crisis...for a lot of men it's either a mistress, a high performance car or bike, or some suitably cringing lifestyle change.

                I've gone for the PC instead.

                Anyway, got a raid on WOW (Provided our TS Clan Server is working) as it seems to go down every day for 5 mins here, 5 mins there. I've spoken to the Host and they don't seem to understand that people are using it 24/7 and since I pay for it, we should receive a prompt service. People are also collecting dates and times when it goes down and sending this to me. Scary reading.

                Is it too much to ask, when you pay for a service to expect 99% uptime ?

                I've tried looking for other hosts, but none so far offer a 24/7 support service. Sure, via email they do, or support tickets. But when 40 people lose TS in the middle of a Raid at 3.00am in the morning, I want to ring someone and get it fixed immediately....Grrrrr
                Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

                C.S. Lewis

                Comment


                  #9
                  I spent far too much money on my machine when the 6800 ultra and Athlon 64 chips first came out.

                  I blew something silly like £600 on a GFX card and a CPU and 6 months down the line I had an averagely performing PC anyway. With that experiance in mind I tend to go for the generation behind the cutting edge now as the performance isn't really that much worse and it saves a hell of a lot of cash

                  Anyway sent you a PM about TS2

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Board Game Geek
                    I suppose it's a mid-life crisis...for a lot of men it's either a mistress, a high performance car or bike, or some suitably cringing lifestyle change.

                    I've gone for the PC instead.
                    And then they create jokes about IT people.

                    http://www.jokes-news.com/2007/01/03/the-talking-frog/
                    I've seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light.

                    Comment

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