Custom PC Specs, What do you guys think?

C

CelestialAlchemist

New Member
Thought I'd post what im currently looking at putting into my custom built gaming pc. Originally I started with a budged of AU$2300, but with that the case left a bit to be desired, as it was just a bare basic blank midi case, and onyl 3 small fans. But LO AND BEHOLD, for an extra AU$144, i've got the specs for a beastie of a computer, almsot enough to break a mans back when dropped on him. But seriously, I could use some feedback on what i've got so far, as I'm still kinda new to building computers. So I'll post the specs for my computer, including links to each part for those who want a more indepth look at individual specs:

Case: Thermaltake Armor Jr Steel Case W/ 430W PSU
Motherboard: Asus STRIKER EXTREME
CPU: Intel Q6600 - LGA775 64 bit
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Speakers: Logitech X530 5.1 System
Monitor: BenQ FP202W-V3 20"
Memory: 2 X Kingston 1GB PC5400 DDR2
HDD: Seagate 400GB
Graphics Card: Nvidia GF8800GTS, 320MB, PCIEx16
DVD drive: Samsung DVD RW
Input: OEM Logitech Wireless Optical Desktop Pack USB/PS2
 
For sound card and speakers I'd choose differently. While the audigy 2 is still a great card card its outdated a bit and the drivers for Vista are sub-standard, for XP it's great, I'd choose one of the newer incarnations from Creative Labs which can still be gotten at a reasonable price.

I'm a huge Logitech fan, but these speakers are not not one of their best sounding, at higher volumes, highs get tinny, and lows aren't low. I'd recommend Logitech z5300e Although a bit pricey on this website, these speakers are awesome, but if your spending the kind of money you are on this setup, it will be worth it in the long run and your ears will appreciate it. The control pod has a headset plugin so you can easily switch to headphone listening.
 
The only thing I disagree with is getting a quad core processor, since you cannot even really use them for a least 10 more years...even dual core makes little difference at the moment...but if you have the money for it, I guess go for it...I would too, if I had the money...but for barely any difference I went Core 2 Duo...
 
I had the ZS, and it was very good, but I switched to the X-Fi Platinum, and I love it! As for the power supply, you may want to upgrade to 850W now while you're starting out. That way you have power on-board for any upgrades you make in the future. What kind of games do you currently play? If you are a FPS person, you may want to get 2 8800GTS's and set them up in Crossfire configuration. Your framerate will go off the scale! :)
 
CelestialAlchemist said:
Case: Thermaltake Armor Jr Steel Case W/ 430W PSU
Motherboard: Asus STRIKER EXTREME
CPU: Intel Q6600 - LGA775 64 bit
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Speakers: Logitech X530 5.1 System
Monitor: BenQ FP202W-V3 20"
Memory: 2 X Kingston 1GB PC5400 DDR2
HDD: Seagate 400GB
Graphics Card: Nvidia GF8800GTS, 320MB, PCIEx16
DVD drive: Samsung DVD RW
Input: OEM Logitech Wireless Optical Desktop Pack USB/PS2
Click to expand...



I personally use this case on all of my new builds - absolutely love it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119103

it can hold a ton of fans, and has plenty of room for say liquid cooling

+1 to the comments on the X-Fi platinum

+1 to the Quad Core comments...I would go with a dual core 6750 which, I believe, is the best value right now. With the right mobo, you can always swap these out later

another thing to consider is striping your hard disks (raid 0) - a lot of a computer's time is bound to disk I/O so the more you can do there to improve things, you'll see some pretty decent gains...from start up times to working with large files and so on...it's a pretty cheap investment anymore (get 2x250GB drives rather than 1x400GB one)
 
XionTawa said:
The only thing I disagree with is getting a quad core processor, since you cannot even really use them for a least 10 more years...even dual core makes little difference at the moment...but if you have the money for it, I guess go for it...I would too, if I had the money...but for barely any difference I went Core 2 Duo...
Click to expand...

Yeah it's dumb to spend the money on a Quad core right now, but there are already i think 4 Quad core supported(supported meaning it uses all 4 cores) apps and one quad core supported Game[crysis]and there will many more quad core supported games in less then 3 years.
 
CGamer said:
For sound card and speakers I'd choose differently. While the audigy 2 is still a great card card its outdated a bit and the drivers for Vista are sub-standard, for XP it's great, I'd choose one of the newer incarnations from Creative Labs which can still be gotten at a reasonable price.

I'm a huge Logitech fan, but these speakers are not not one of their best sounding, at higher volumes, highs get tinny, and lows aren't low. I'd recommend Logitech z5300e Although a bit pricey on this website, these speakers are awesome, but if your spending the kind of money you are on this setup, it will be worth it in the long run and your ears will appreciate it. The control pod has a headset plugin so you can easily switch to headphone listening.
Click to expand...

save the money on the quad and get a faster dual. Things are just beginngin to take advantage of dual and quad usage on the desktop is still a year or two away. Also keep the hardware you have(audigy is fine the xfi is not that big of an improvement) and stick with xp. Sound in vista is no longer hardware accelerated. The xfi takes the calls and translates them to hardware so the benefit of a hardware sound card is not that great under vista. Also go with a minimum of 500 watts on the psu.
 
|CoR|Braveheart said:
Yeah it's dumb to spend the money on a Quad core right now, but there are already i think 4 Quad core supported(supported meaning it uses all 4 cores) apps and one quad core supported Game[crysis]and there will many more quad core supported games in less then 3 years.
Click to expand...

scaling from single to dual right now gets you a 50-65% increase..howver jumping to quads right now only adds another 15-20 or so percent per core. Stick with duals right now.
 
My system is pretty identical to this one as far as CPU, video card and memory. This system would run WOW without any issues and just about any new games except maybe Crysis which requires a ton of video memory and the 320 just doesn't cut it beyond medium settings (this is from my experience with the demo).

I would agree the Quad Core is a bit overkill right now and very rarely are you going to see it really utilized till more developers start supporting it. The 8800 GTS is actually pretty good about power consumption and I use a 400 Watt supply without any issues. I would recommend waiting on the video card as the 8800 GT and a revamp of the 8800 GTS is just about to come out and will probably shake up the prices.
 
|CoR|Braveheart said:
Yeah it's dumb to spend the money on a Quad core right now, but there are already i think 4 Quad core supported(supported meaning it uses all 4 cores) apps and one quad core supported Game[crysis]and there will many more quad core supported games in less then 3 years.
Click to expand...

Well, from a consumer perspective, QC chips are better for HD content playback...but AFAIK...not a single game can make them worth the cost.
 
Exo-Slayer said:
My system is pretty identical to this one as far as CPU, video card and memory. This system would run WOW without any issues and just about any new games except maybe Crysis which requires a ton of video memory and the 320 just doesn't cut it beyond medium settings (this is from my experience with the demo).

I would agree the Quad Core is a bit overkill right now and very rarely are you going to see it really utilized till more developers start supporting it. The 8800 GTS is actually pretty good about power consumption and I use a 400 Watt supply without any issues. I would recommend waiting on the video card as the 8800 GT and a revamp of the 8800 GTS is just about to come out and will probably shake up the prices.
Click to expand...


One thing I'd recommend for low wattage power supplies is the Antec Phantom - this, in conjunction with the Asus Silent Knight CPU fan = whisper quiet PC. My liquid cooled one is louder than that one :)
 
Guess i should have posted the prices for the different pieces of hardware. All up the system is going to cost AU$2449, I dont know how much that would be in american dollars. And about the Quad Core CPU I chose, it costs AU$351.30, while a core 2 duo e6600 costs AU$298.10, so the quad core works out to be a better investment for an extra $50 or so. Plus, i forgot to mention that I'm also looking at getting into 3D graphics & CGI work over the next couple years, and was told a quad core would be a lot better for that than a dual core
 
nattyg said:
Well, from a consumer perspective, QC chips are better for HD content playback...but AFAIK...not a single game can make them worth the cost.
Click to expand...
actually that's not true. Video playback is not multithreaded so the slower speed of each core will hurt video playback IF you are not playing back a format that is unable to be accelerated by the gpu. This is why DC is better as hte individual cores right now are faster at single threaded tasks right now. Crysis boasts they will take full advantage of QC...i'm waiting on the demo and game reviews to come out before making a choice personally. Even if they do right now they are one of few and the extra costs don't justify it imo.
 
CelestialAlchemist said:
Guess i should have posted the prices for the different pieces of hardware. All up the system is going to cost AU$2449, I dont know how much that would be in american dollars. And about the Quad Core CPU I chose, it costs AU$351.30, while a core 2 duo e6600 costs AU$298.10, so the quad core works out to be a better investment for an extra $50 or so. Plus, i forgot to mention that I'm also looking at getting into 3D graphics & CGI work over the next couple years, and was told a quad core would be a lot better for that than a dual core
Click to expand...

if you are getting into CAD or CGI then yes QC is better as those programs are highly multi-threaded and will take full advantage of all of your cores.
 
Ok, i've revised my pc. For now I'm building a gaming pc, and maybe some basic graphics work, nothing too intensive for about a year or two. Plus I wanted to see if I could knock some of the cost off the computer, as I'm on a bit of a budget atm. This is what I'm looking at atm, and this time im including prices lol. This is mainly a gaming pc, and maybe some cgi work down the line once ive got money to upgrade it

Antec Nine Hundred Gaming case $175
Zalman 500W "" ZM500-HP Power Supply $142
Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI M/board $147.50
XFX pcie 7950gt 512mb $357.90
Intel CORE 2 DUO E6400/2.13GHz $249.10
Seagate 3.5" CUDA7200.10,400GB $189
Asus 18xDVD+-RW, 14xDVD-RAM, 32xCDRW $73.40
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX 2GB $151
Samsung 19" 940N LCD Monitor $282.50
Microsoft WIRELESS OPTICAL DESKTOP 2000 $82.20
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro $186
 
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