Customized computer?

[David75]

I want to buy a new PC and thought this one is pretty good (gaming PC)

Antec Three Hundred Midi Tower
Enermax PRO82+ 625w
AMD Phenom II X4 955 (3,2gh)
Cooler: Scythe Mugen 2
RAM: G.Skill 4gb (2 modules) (upgradeable to 16gb)
Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 1024mb
Mainboard: GigaByte GA-MA770-UD3
Harddrive: 640gb HD642JJ, 640 GB, SATA, 7200 rpm
dvd-burner and drive
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit (OEM)

I think this one will cost around 1000 euro
what do you guys think?

For some reason, I think buying hardware in summer break is a bad idea.
Maybe because my 1TB drive lost 1/3 of it's price beetween july and september of the year I bought it, and I didn't even use it that much in those 2 months...
I do not mean to postpone all the time, just be careful with summer.
Also, Postville Intel SSDs are out, they'll be available in quantity by september, and in your comp, I'd really see a 80GB X25M postville probably under 200€ by september.
It won't really change your gaming experience (although it might for level transfers from drive to ram) but will really make your comp snapier in all other uses.
So i'd put the system and the 2 most important games there(SSD), the rest on the harddrive.

[KrayZ33]

I doubt I'll need that, especially if it's cost 200€ ^^

[itadakimasu]

faster read / write times, cooler temperatures.

Is the euro still @ 2x1 USD ?

[KrayZ33]

1usd = 0,7€

edit:I googled it.

btw isn't it possible to add that new drive later?

[Board of Command]

If you're going for a 4870 2GB, is a 4870 X2 2GB not worth it? I would imagine it to make better use of the full 2GB VRAM.

4870 X2 is actually 1GB per GPU duplicated among two sets of memory.

Still, 4870 2GB is not worth it.

[itadakimasu]

I was thinking of crossfire but didn't want to buy another PSU to handle 2 cards.

I just went to frys a while ago and found a great case... too bad I already have 2.

Zalman gs1000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...alman%20gs1000

it has 2 bays on the front where you push the top and they open up to reveal 3 hot-swap hard drive caddies. The display model they had had a sata backplane for the bottom 3 hard drives but the other didn't have a backplane... I just thought it was a really nice case.

[Board of Command]

For that price I'd rather get some Lian-Li case.

[itadakimasu]

Found some memory to buy finally... I've been scouring ebay and the internet trying to find a deal on a 12gb kit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...CZ3P1333LV12GS

I found it via bing! $135.69 w\ free shipping from amazon and I think 2.5% cashback w\ bing.

I'm hoping it ships from their texas site so i can have it tomorrow : ) That is where amazon is really cool because they have a local site so you get free shipping and it usually ends up being next day.

[itadakimasu]

Finally got everything into the case last night. Pictures to come a little later. I'm still waiting on a heatsink, so will have to pull everything out again to install it but... not a huge deal.

I am not a huge overclocker but the i7 is by far the most effortless overclock I've ever seen. 2.66-3.2ghz on stock cooling. I don't want to go any higher because temps were 50-55 @3.2.

I guess my last full build was this past october. I think this build is actually a little cheaper than my last one that consisted of a Q9450 + 2gb ddr3 + 2x hd3870. This one i7 920, 12gb ddr3, 2gb hd4870, 300gb velociraptor

I may also stick in the 2 320gb hd's I have sitting around for extra storage.

[Buffalobiian]

Does the i7 overclock well with all the power-saving features like EIST enabled? It would be sweet if it could flick back and forth between under- and overclocked speed according to CPU demand.

[darkshadow]

I don't think power saving features work at all when you overclock.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't think power saving features work at all when you overclock.

That sucks. I know in previous CPUs it throws all the voltages/clocks out of whack and causes stability issues, so I hoped they made it work this time round.

[itadakimasu]

I didn't spend much time w\ it last night but I need to turn one of the power saving features off because the multiplier was jumping around some.

I haven't been keeping up too much but they had an article on tomshardware about upcoming intel models and they have a slew of new models coming out w\ the new socket too.

I'd think that all the core2quad stuff would start dropping way down in price when 775 becomes a 3 gen socket.

[Board of Command]

I don't think power saving features work at all when you overclock.

Sure they do. I have Speedstep on right now with my overclocked system. However, it may not have full functionality. If you set a manual voltage instead of leaving it at AUTO, then you don't get voltage scaling. If you set a manual multiplier instead of leaving it at AUTO, then you don't have any frequency scaling.

I just have frequency scaling right now and it works fine. There's no issue with power saving features as long as your system is stable in the reduced power states.

[itadakimasu]

i7 920,12gb ddr3-1333,2gb hd4870, 300gb velociraptor, 580w sigma shark psu.

I'm waiting on a coolermaster v-8 cooler and might swap out the psu for a 700w modular one.

[darkshadow]

even though your system is quite beastly, that cause is omfg fugly dude ;P

[Board of Command]

That is the opposite of "elegant."

[itadakimasu]

i was waiting for BOC to chime in !

I had that case and another and I like the idea of a huge fan on the front and side since my last couple systems have had horrible air flow.

[Board of Command]

How's the noise on those big fans?

I think one of these days I'm going to try to make my own CPU waterblock and cooling system. I want to go for something totally radical as a fun, proof of concept thing. I'm not even going to use it in any of my machines regardless of how well, or poorly, it performs.

[Buffalobiian]

i was waiting for BOC to chime in !

I had that case and another and I like the idea of a huge fan on the front and side since my last couple systems have had horrible air flow.

My P182 probably fits into the "horrible airflow" category since it's got no intake fan and only a single 7v 120mm exhaust fan, but it's getting me by fine. No overclocking of course.

@BoC: If you don't use it yourself, how will you show it off to people that it works?