Build Help

k.p.h

Hi lads

Been browsing around here and I see a lot of ye guys are in the know about all the latest gear and where to get it so I was hoping ye could give me a hand. I'm hoping to build 2 machines with slightly different intentions. One is for my mate and one for me. My mate is hoping to build a gaming rig to best specifications within budget I would like the same but I'm also going to be doing some software development so if their was anything that suited that specifically i would edge towards that.

I reckon about 900e each is where we would be at budget wise but would be willing to move around a bit if performance was increased.

Oh yeah dual hd need to keep storage and the op system away from each other. If ye could point me in the right direction would really appreciate it because every component I google is 5* reviewed and I'm not even sure what exactly i need so bit confused.

Jonny7

900 is a great budget - does it have to include OS? monitor? peripherals?

well just to get the ball rolling I'll give some advice on how to start with the mates gaming machine

Firstly - the CPU - intel are the best with performance as of right now, and their best value performance chip at the mo is the 2500k - about 200 euros
Heres a proper review
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083

On a 900 euro budget, that chip is so good, I'd build the machine around it

So if you break down the rest of the standard components you need

motherboard - lets just say 100 euros for now (prob a little more but the chip should be a little less than 200)

Then 4 gigs of ram is standard - 40 euros (any change left over that can be doubled, but 4 gigs is fine, getting 8 doesn't "double" the speed of your pc if you will)

Harddrive - 1 tb - samsung f3 - 50 euros

Case, quality power supply (branded name like Corsair), dvd writer - 150 is good, but budget, lets say 200 euros

300 + 90 + 200 = around 600 spent so far

Now you can see what you have left over for the most variable part.. the graphics card

200 euros will buy you a very good graphics card
after that its the law of diminishing returns, spend another 100 euros and you'll get roughly 15% more performance
Heres roughly where a 200 euro grapphics card stands at the mo, just so you get the picture
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_560_Twin_Frozr_II/23.html

Obviously dont know yet about if u need os, monitor, etc

the site we use around here is www.hardwareversand.de

german, cheap prices, large stock.. hopefully someone will spec you up 2 pc's within those budgets

k.p.h

Thanks Jonny7 think thats the directioin I will be going.

What I was wondering about is over clocking and what constraint an os could mean on Ram and over clocking.

I plan to have a dual boot with Ubuntu and either xp pro or Windows 7. But I'm not sure what this would mean for over clocking. Can I over clock in Ubuntu and what windows would I be best running? Also what influnce dose wanting to over clock mean on mobo. Clueless here lads :rolleyes: first time I ever had thermal paste in my hands was today was really exciting. dabs sent one tube of artic silver in a bot the size of a shoe box :eek: mental could almost hear them say **** the environment ...:( :P

seyeM

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155
ASRock P67 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX
4GB-Kit G-Skill PC3-10667U CL9
Club 3D Radeon 6870 1024MB, AMD Radeon HD 6870, PCI-Express
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W
Cooler Master 690 II LITE Midi-Tower - PURE Black Edition
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ)
LG GH22NS50 bare schwarz
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch
Corsair A70 (Sockel AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1156/1366)
OCZ SSD 60GB SATA 2,5' Vertex 2 Extended


€900 delivered. If you want more power in the graphics department, go for an ATI 6950 2gb instead of the 6870, and drop the ssd. That change might warrent a better power supply too

Serephucus

Can't fault SeyeM's build. Rock solid. As he said, you can add a 6950 - which you can then flash to a 6970 - for extra performance. Probably (very roughly) 15-20% for an extra €45.

k.p.h, if you're overclocking, you'll be doing so in your BIOS, meaning it's basically hardware-level, before the OS is involved; it'll work fine on Linux. The only thing I'm iffy on is I don't know how nicely Linux and SSDs play together, anyone any experience there?

prospect

seyeM wrote: »

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155

Corsair A70 (Sockel AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1156/1366)

Probably a silly question, but is that fan compatible with the CPU?

OmegaRed

prospect wrote: »

Probably a silly question, but is that fan compatible with the CPU?

I had the same question: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71271718&postcount=5

I'm hoping mine arrives in the next few days

Monotype

While the SSD is great, I'm wouldn't buy with the vertex 3 only a week or two away.
Plus I would recommend the C300 for better read speeds (albeit slower write) over the vertex 2. However, C400s should be out soon.

Serephucus

To the two above: Yes, the A70 is compatible with the new 1155 processors. The stock cooller for those uses the same holes as 11156, and since the A70 supports 1156...