21 replies to this topic

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

Another one of these threads from me!

My parents have said they are gonna buy me a new PC for my Birthday. I decided cyberpower seems to be a good place to get one from and here is a configuration I have come up with.

Quote

CASE: Thermaltake Element-T Mid-Tower Case (Green Trim) I believe this is the green version of Nem's new PC case.
Lights & Illumination: 12" COLD CATHODE NEON LIGHT (GREEN COLOR)
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default Case Fan
Cyberpower Noise Reduction Technology: None The options don't seem to be that expensive, but is it worth getting? Anything compared to my current PC is gonna sound silent anyway...
Internal Expansion: NONE
CPU: (Quad-Core)Intel® Core™ i7 930 @ 2.80GHz 8 MB cache LGA1366
Overclocking Service: No Overclocking
Cooling Fan: INTEL LGA1366 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK I presume this is sufficient.
MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) MSI X58 Pro-e Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire DDR3 Mainboard Again, I presume this is sufficient and will accommodate all the other options I have selected?
MEMORY: 6GB (3x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Triple Channel Memory
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB 16X PCI Express I'm probably not gonna be doing a huge amount of gaming, but I will be working with 3D models. This card is also 3D capable, which might come in handy, one day. From what I can see this also has 2x DVI slots (which can be converted to HDMI with a dongle, if need be)
VIDEO CARD 2: None, or On-Board Integrated Graphics
Video Card 3: None, or On-Board Integrated Graphics
Dedicated PhysX Card: None
Power Supply Upgrade: 700 Watts Power Supplies This is the recommended power supply for what I have selected.
Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache HDD (1TB (500GBx2) Raid 0 Extreme Performance)
Data Hard Drive: NONE
Hard Drive Cooler: None Is this needed?
Optical Drive: Samsung 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (Black Color)
Optical Drive 2: NONE
SOUND: Creative Labs SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio 24-BIT PCI Sound Card
Network: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
Flash Media Reader/Writer: INTERNAL 52in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

Other than the points mentioned above, anything else I've missed? Any recommendations?

[Zhao]

cyberpower seems to be a good place to get one

You have chosen wisely my freind.

[Alias]

I'd personally go with two 1tb drives in RAID 1 over two 500gb drives in RAID 0. HDDs are cheap enough these days.
Other than that, it's a pretty good choice though I would go with an ATI card.

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

I've always had Nvidia cards, so I'd prefer to stick to them. In any case, I'm gonna need to trim things down anyway. I just showed it to my mum, and they can't afford it...

So yeah, I'll post a new set up soon.

[CJ]

You could start by taking a normal case instead of a glowing one, do you really think having one will be useful?

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

I want a glowing case, damn it!

But seriously, if comes down to it, I'll go for a normal case. :(


EDIT: OK, I started from scratch, here's what I've come up with (trimmed £260~)

Quote

CASE: Thermaltake Element-T Mid-Tower Case (Green Trim)
Lights & Illumination: 12" COLD CATHODE NEON LIGHT (GREEN COLOR)
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default Case Fan
Cyberpower Noise Reduction Technology: None
Internal Expansion: NONE
CPU: AMD Athlon™ II X4 635 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
Overclocking Service: No Overclocking
Cooling Fan: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS M4N68T-M NF630A AM3 DDR3/1066 SATA PCI-Express MBoard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, &7.1Audio
MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB 16X PCI Express
Power Supply Upgrade: 700 Watts Power Supplies
Hard Drive: 750GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (750GB (750GBx2) Raid 1 High Performance with Data Security)
Data Hard Drive: NONE
Hard Drive Cooler: None
Optical Drive: Samsung 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (Black Color)
Optical Drive 2: NONE
SOUND: Creative Labs SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio 24-BIT PCI Sound Card
Flash Media Reader/Writer: INTERNAL 52in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

That's pretty much my limit, price-range-wise, but there is stuff I can trim (e.g. the glowing case ) for improvements if anyone thinks they are needed.

Thoughts?

Edited by Bob, 25 July 2010 - 18:21.

[Nid]

I'm pretty sure LED fans wont cost too much, no point scrapping them if it's for a cheap fancy addition, my Case glows Blue after all for just an additional £1.50.

Looks like a good buy Bob, I'd go for it. Or are you still paying a little more than you'd like?

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

Well my parents have said they are willing to pay this amount, but money is rather short for them (workshop being burgled, car crash and loads of other little things contributing)... So I don't want them to be paying for stuff that I don't need... but I can't see much more I can trim, without ending up with a sub-par PC...

[CJ]

Well I was going to suggest to lower the RAM to 4GB, but you already did it...
Did you check how much it might save you if you if you swapped the nVidia card for an equivalent ATi one? Everyone knows that nVidia cards are always more expensive after all D:

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

There are no ATi cards with support for 3D.

[Zhao]

Bob, on 25 Jul 2010, 20:41, said:

There are no ATi cards with support for 3D.

[BeefJeRKy]

If you can squeeze another 40, I would definitely go for the GTX 460 over the GTS250. But it's all up to you Bob. Your PC will be more than decent. If you want an equivalent ATi to your current card, go for the 5770. The 5830 would be equivalent to the 460.

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

scope, on 25 Jul 2010, 21:51, said:

If you can squeeze another 40, I would definitely go for the GTX 460 over the GTS250. But it's all up to you Bob. Your PC will be more than decent. If you want an equivalent ATi to your current card, go for the 5770. The 5830 would be equivalent to the 460.

The two ATi cards you posted are more expensive than the Nvidia counter parts, and the GTX 460 is £61 more expensive (on cyberpower), can't really go that much higher.

[BeefJeRKy]

Must have been on a different build then In that case, stick to the GTS 250. You could always upgrade the graphics card in a year or two if you really want to.

[CJ]

Aaron:Wii, on 25 Jul 2010, 21:43, said:

Bob, on 25 Jul 2010, 20:41, said:

There are no ATi cards with support for 3D.

3D as in characters popping out of the screen Aaron...

@Bob : Shouldn't you try to get the GC separately then? Cause if you'll be needing a compatible screen and 3D adapter, you'd better buy them as a pack

[Zhao]

why is that of a large concern .

[Destiny]

Are you blind...?

Quote

VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB 16X PCI Express I'm probably not gonna be doing a huge amount of gaming, but I will be working with 3D models. This card is also 3D capable, which might come in handy, one day. shifty.gif From what I can see this also has 2x DVI slots (which can be converted to HDMI with a dongle, if need be)

[Zhao]

Destiny, on 26 Jul 2010, 4:07, said:

he pointed it out here

Quote

VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB 16X PCI Express I'm probably not gonna be doing a huge amount of gaming, but I will be working with 3D models. This card is also 3D capable, which might come in handy, one day. shifty.gif From what I can see this also has 2x DVI slots (which can be converted to HDMI with a dongle, if need be)

Would be a less douchy way to say that

[Nid]

Aaron:Wii, on 26 Jul 2010, 6:22, said:

Destiny, on 26 Jul 2010, 4:07, said:

he pointed it out here

Quote

VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB 16X PCI Express I'm probably not gonna be doing a huge amount of gaming, but I will be working with 3D models. This card is also 3D capable, which might come in handy, one day. shifty.gif From what I can see this also has 2x DVI slots (which can be converted to HDMI with a dongle, if need be)

Would be a less douchy way to say that

You would be less of a douche if you weren't hanging around in threads trying to answer questions that you don't know very much about. And then making a fool of yourself by attempting to insult members in retaliation to the truth of your limited knowledge and intelligence bieng pointed out.

Edited by Nidmeister, 26 July 2010 - 13:04.

[Slightly Wonky Robob]

CJ, on 26 Jul 2010, 0:21, said:

Aaron:Wii, on 25 Jul 2010, 21:43, said:

Bob, on 25 Jul 2010, 20:41, said:

There are no ATi cards with support for 3D.

3D as in characters popping out of the screen Aaron...

@Bob : Shouldn't you try to get the GC separately then? Cause if you'll be needing a compatible screen and 3D adapter, you'd better buy them as a pack

Like I said, 'one day'. I won't be getting a compatible screen straight away, but I probably will sometime in the future. I haven't experienced this generation of 3D, there are no 3D cinema screens over here, and I'm not going to be buying a 3D TV any time soon. 3D PC screens are considerably cheaper, so this is by far the cheapest option. Yes I could get a different graphics card, and get a 3D one later on, but that seems like a rather large waste of money to me. Unlike many of you, I don't upgrade my PC every other month.

@Aaron: Apologies for not using the precise terminology... even though everyone else seems to have managed to understand what I was saying.

[Destiny]

Well I don't upgrade PCs until they die, Bob. But really Bob, if you're willing to actually make the lights yourself (IDK how, maybe a buncha LEDs, hahaha), you can save that bit of money on the glowing stuff.











...but yeah, glow is good, Bob.

[Nid]

Installing LEDs isn't hard, but you my as well get a fan or two loaded with LEDs to add the glow, rather than installing them seperately onto different components. That is if you can find anywhere that you can get them seperately cheaper than the cost of having them bundled in from Cyberpower. I'd think of that over the neon illumination. It may not be as bright but it certainly lights up the inside of your computer nicely enough, and keeps it nice and cool as well.

Edited by Nidmeister, 26 July 2010 - 14:06.