Erebus Mk.2 Prelim Spec and Pricing

[Isphera]

Thanks to Piers for helping me to draw this up.

PLEASE NOTE:THIS HAS BEEN UPDATED - SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE 1
Part Product Price Supplier
Case NZXT Lexa S £53.78 Scan
PSU Antec Signature 850W £149.24 Scan
CPU Intel Core i7-930 £200.00 Approximation
Motherboard ASUS P6T SE £138.97 Ebuyer
RAM OCZ Platinum XTC Triple Channel Kit 12GB PC3-10666 £229.99 Microdirect
GFX XFX nVidia GTX 360 £275.00 Approximation
Hard Drive 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB £141.96 Scan
CD Drive LG GH22LS50 £20.00 Scan
OS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit £98.77 Ebuyer
Sound Card Asus Xonar D2X £86.24 Overclock.co.uk


Total £1,393.95
Budget £1,400.00
Budget Remaining £6.05


Things to consider;

Replacing Stock Fans on Case (Scythe)
Replacing Headset (Currently Creative Fatal1ty Headset - Possibly Sennheiser PC 350?)
How to build (Hire ATK Member/Outsider)
Possibility of GTX 380?
SSD for OS?

[Colonel Mitch]

£150 on a psu........
£100 for windows.......

[Isphera]

Changed case following a discussion with Callum to the NZXT Lexa S.

@ Piers - Whilst I will agree that Windows 7 will be cheaper with a student discount, I can't find the damn option on the windows site, so I will look for it later. On the PSU, I would rather have my new tech porn powered by something I can actually put some faith in over a £20, cobbled together with a rock, generically named piece of ass which looks like an alien just jizzed and puked on it at the same time.

[Colonel Mitch]

Your an idiot........

[Isphera]

How so?

EDIT - Added things to consider list.

[Colonel Mitch]

How so?

EDIT - Added things to consider list.

If you want a decent brand psu u can get a normal horrible over-priced transformer in a corsair like vox chalex n phantom will reccomend, and i comdemn enough. Yet you decide to more than double the price of those already over priced ones?????

[Isphera]

Whilst that may be the case, I would rather go with a company I trust and something that goes with my case asthetically than something that sticks out a bit and comes from a company that I'm not overtly keen on.

[Chalex4]

Here we go again :p.

First of all, Windows 7 is fantastic and the student discount is here: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/default.aspx . You'll need a .ac.uk address though, which no doubt you'll get next October.

In my opinion the NZXT Lexa S case looks like the most unattractive piece of tacky plastic I've ever seen. Speaking constructively though, the door may impact cooling and just be annoying when you need to use a CD drive. I have an Antec 900 at the moment, and after initially being swung by the cool blue LEDs and perspex window, I wish I'd gone for something far more sleek and subtle. Each to their own though.

For an 850W PSU you are spending way too much there. I'm sure it's an amazing PSU, but looking at a similar Corsair could save you some money that you could put towards something else.

The Intel Core i7-930 doesn't exist yet, but that looks like a good choice if you have the money. Motherboard looks like a good buy as well, I like Asus. Also, spending £230 on RAM is excessive in the extreme, and although 12GB sounds cool you seriously don't need that much. Just get 4-6GB for about £100 and then put the money towards a decent monitor.

The GTX 360 doesn't exist either yet, but as long as it's better than the 5850/5870 then that sounds like a good bet. I prefer BFG though, they have far better RMA services. Hard drive wise, I'm just not a fan of Western Digital. All my drives are Samsung F1s and I love them, go for them if you can.

A DVD drive is a DVD drive, no further comment needed there. When it comes to choosing a sound card it's mainly down to personal preference. I'm still very keen on my Creative Sound Blaster Extreme Gamer Fatality.

Using all the money you've saved above, you can grab the Sennheiser HD555 headphones (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-HD555-Open-Headphone/dp/B0001FTVDQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1262372389&sr=8-1). They go better with X-FI than Xonar, or so I'm told. I got them for xmas with a clip on mic and now I really know how crappy all my ~£50 headsets have been in the past :). If you want to spend all of your budget, you could then treat yourself to a lovely 24" monitor. Or 28", that's what I did :D.

Hope that helped!

[Isphera]

Here we go again :p.

First of all, Windows 7 is fantastic and the student discount is here: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/default.aspx . You'll need a .ac.uk address though, which no doubt you'll get next October.

In my opinion the NZXT Lexa S case looks like the most unattractive piece of tacky plastic I've ever seen. Speaking constructively though, the door may impact cooling and just be annoying when you need to use a CD drive. I have an Antec 900 at the moment, and after initially being swung by the cool blue LEDs and perspex window, I wish I'd gone for something far more sleek and subtle. Each to their own though.

For an 850W PSU you are spending way too much there. I'm sure it's an amazing PSU, but looking at a similar Corsair could save you some money that you could put towards something else.

The Intel Core i7-930 doesn't exist yet, but that looks like a good choice if you have the money. Motherboard looks like a good buy as well, I like Asus. Also, spending £230 on RAM is excessive in the extreme, and although 12GB sounds cool you seriously don't need that much. Just get 4-6GB for about £100 and then put the money towards a decent monitor.

The GTX 360 doesn't exist either yet, but as long as it's better than the 5850/5870 then that sounds like a good bet. I prefer BFG though, they have far better RMA services. Hard drive wise, I'm just not a fan of Western Digital. All my drives are Samsung F1s and I love them, go for them if you can.

A DVD drive is a DVD drive, no further comment needed there. When it comes to choosing a sound card it's mainly down to personal preference. I'm still very keen on my Creative Sound Blaster Extreme Gamer Fatality.

Using all the money you've saved above, you can grab the Sennheiser HD555 headphones (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-HD555-Open-Headphone/dp/B0001FTVDQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1262372389&sr=8-1). They go better with X-FI than Xonar, or so I'm told. I got them for xmas with a clip on mic and now I really know how crappy all my ~£50 headsets have been in the past :). If you want to spend all of your budget, you could then treat yourself to a lovely 24" monitor. Or 28", that's what I did :D.

Hope that helped!

Before I start going through that (which I might say has been a lot more help than some of the previous posts), it's worth saying that I already have a kickass keyboard, mouse and monitor (22").

1) Sorting out the OS with VoX (possibly) - since I'm aiming to get this for March at the very latest (owing to Mk.1 eating itself alive by the day), October is quite a bit late.

2) Cooling is fine - has two fans up top and it does get cooling from the front - try finding some closeup or high-res images. Overall, I think it was 2x 140mm's up top and 3x120mm's (1 front, 1 side, 1 back) I'll probs replace the stock fans though, since I rememer how poor my Apevia stock ones were. And how do you not like the look of the Lexa S - I was nursing a semi just looking at it the first time. Not to mention every reviewer under the sun is creaming themselves over it.

3) People really don't like my CPU do they :D

4) I will be needing the 12GB for massive amounts of vid transcoding, as well as other stuff where high memory is required. But just found an article about what difference 12GB makes over 6GB, so will deffo read over it an evaluate.

5) Reason for sticking with XFX and WD is the same - I have had them since forever, and have never had them go wrong ever, and I quite like to stick to what I know (as anyone who has tried to run a change or idea by me should know). XFX were in my Mesh and Erebus Mk. 1, whereas WD (AFAIK) I've had since my first every Compaq PC (1996 no less).

6) Sound card isn't set in stone - still sorting out some details and desires (i.e. Whether to replace my headset).

Looking over what I've put, the RAM may be cut down to improve the sound. I'm not keen on clip-on microphones, mainly because I will probably lose them/break them, but I would probably evaluate the sound of the Fatal1ty headset I have first to see if it's nessecery. The possibility is to get a SSD for the OS.

Time to read read read :D

[Chalex4]

When buying a case, if you have to replace all the fans in it to make it work properly, then it's a fail case. My tastes have changed though, I dislike all cases now that scream "LOOK AT ME - I GLOW!!!", including mine :p.

What exactly are you transcoding? I've been doing a lot of work with HD video, and it's always the CPU that maxes out first. I'd go for a quality 6GB. I understand your brand loyalty, but do look at some stats on the Samsung Spinpoint F1s as they are generally made out to be the best.

I felt the same as you regarding headsets vs headphones with a clip-on mic until recently. You see, these Sennheiser headphones are just beyond anything a headset can offer around this price point. For example, the Sennheiser PC350 headset which costs a lot more than my HD555s, doesn't produce the same quality sound that the headphones do. I don't know Sennheiser why did this, but perhaps they know that audiophiles are much more picky than gamers.

[Colonel Mitch]

When buying a case, if you have to replace all the fans in it to make it work properly, then it's a fail case. My tastes have changed though, I dislike all cases now that scream "LOOK AT ME - I GLOW!!!", including mine :p.

What exactly are you transcoding? I've been doing a lot of work with HD video, and it's always the CPU that maxes out first. I'd go for a quality 6GB. I understand your brand loyalty, but do look at some stats on the Samsung Spinpoint F1s as they are generally made out to be the best.

I felt the same as you regarding headsets vs headphones with a clip-on mic until recently. You see, these Sennheiser headphones are just beyond anything a headset can offer around this price point. For example, the Sennheiser PC350 headset which costs a lot more than my HD555s, doesn't produce the same quality sound that the headphones do. I don't know Sennheiser why did this, but perhaps they know that audiophiles are much more picky than gamers.

Can a mod PLEASE edit that word a little....... it HAS to be done :P

[Isphera]

Nononono. I'm wouldn't be replacing them because of the stuff that comes with the case. I would be replacing them with something a lot lot better than stock stuff. This was my plan before I chose a case.

The article I've read seems to point to the quality over the quantity of RAM, so I am deffo now considering 6 over 12. I'll deffo check out the Samsungs when I get chance.

[ez64]

The article I've read seems to point to the quality over the quantity of RAM, so I am deffo now considering 6 over 12.

You sir have never heard of 3ds max :D

[Calneon]

You could get a similarly powered rig for under £1000. Message me on Steam and i'll help you out if you want.

[Isphera]

I'm good with what I've specced by and large. Just a final few details are needed to be decided upon and finalised. I'll post a slightly revised version in a second as an edit, and then put a list on what needs to be finalised.


EDIT - Table v.2

Part Product Price Supplier Decided?
Case NZXT Lexa S £53.78 Scan YES
PSU Corsair TX850W £98.04 Scan YES
CPU Intel Core i7-930 £200.00 Approximation YES
Motherboard ASUS P6T SE £138.97 Ebuyer NO
RAM OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 Platinum 6GB £91.99 Microdirect NO
GFX XFX nVidia GTX 360 £275.00 Approximation NO
Hard Drive 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB £141.96 Scan YES
CD Drive LG GH22LS50 £20.00 Scan YES
OS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit £98.77 Ebuyer YES
Sound Card Asus Xonar D2X £86.24 Overclock.co.uk YES


Total £1,204.75
Budget £1,400.00
Budget Remaining £195.25


Things to consider:

Motherboard - Different Version on P6T?
RAM - Different Clock Speed/Latency? 12GB?
GFX - GTX 380?
HD - An SSD for the OS?
Build - Replace Stock Fans on Case (Scythe?)
Replacing Headset (Currently Creative Fatal1ty Headset)
How to build (Hire ATK Member/Outsider?)

[ez64]

Just by quickly looking at it, Replace the 360 with a 5870 and save yourself some money.

PSU you could spend around £40 less and still get something modular with Japanese capacitors, the sound card is really not needed at all just get something that offloads the small amount of processing to a external board even if it is £2.50 it will do the same job you are not getting £86 more sound quality or performance just extra heat inside your case and a bigger hole in your pocket.

Or alternatively a nice V8 car in america :D

[Isphera]

Just by quickly looking at it, Replace the 360 with a 5870 and save yourself some money.

PSU you could spend around £40 less and still get something modular with Japanese capacitors, the sound card is really not needed at all just get something that offloads the small amount of processing to a external board even if it is £2.50 it will do the same job you are not getting £86 more sound quality or performance just extra heat inside your case and a bigger hole in your pocket.

Or alternatively a nice V8 car in america :D

With what is the only part of my brain which holds an argument to heart without an overtly logical reason, I will never buy ATI over nVidia. And I'm not revisiting the PSU. I need the soundcard for my audio/music work, as well as to please my ears over the crappy onboard system I have ATM - the biggest regret I have with Mk. 1.

If there is anything I need advice on at the moment, it's the RAM. I'll probably end up with 6GB, but need advice on what clockspeed and latency I should get. I'd prefer an OCZ kit if possible.

[Chalex4]

need advice on what clockspeed and latency I should get.

Clockspeed high, latency low ;).

[Isphera]

I meant as in specific modules, not generic advice as to what I am looking for :P

I originally had OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 Platinum 12GB, which had a clock speed of 1333Mhz and latencies of 7-7-7-24, but since I have downgraded to 6GB, I can afford to upgrade the clockspeeds and latencies. Also, would you guys recommend I look at an upgraded version of the P6T motherboard, or stick with the one I have specced?

[Calneon]

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2900/clipboard1v.jpg

Personally that's what i'd do. Add W7 for £30 and a case for £50 and it comes to £1,040.

Although I see why you would want to go for the i7 instead of the i5, so you could spend some more on that instead. The graphics card is more than enough to run any modern game, I don't know what you play but a GTX380 will be more powerful than anybody needs (unless you have a 30" display). SSDs are still expensive and it would only shave a few seconds off your boot time compared to 2x1GB drives in RAID 0.

Unless you're wanting to overclock, i'd just leave the stock coolers and fans on everything. Replacing your headset is completely up to you.

[Colonel Mitch]

latencies wernt 7-7-7-24 they were 7-7-7-20.

Also pahnotm ive pointed this out to roic too but its literally like talking to a brick wall.

Hell change his mind about everything in 2 months times anwyay.

[D_K_Head]

as long as it gets 60FPS or better in WOW, right?

[Isphera]

I won't be needing 60FPS in WoW. It seems that advice for what I need has apparently ceased, and we have entered the 'off topic' life of the thread, so thank you for your help guys.

[Vicious Horizon]

Well, back on topic then :p

The RAM looks fairly good, those speeds are looking good for what you need, I'm not mad on Sound cards, so I can't give much advice other than - from experience of having them and not having them, there's not a massive difference.

Also @ Phant: That rig looks alot like mine XD Just with a 5 series and a couple of changes.

[Isphera]

It's about £30 dearer to go from PC3-10600 to PC3-12800, with the latencies the same (both are OCZ Platinums). Would you say that was a wise investment? This is the final piece of the build, so when this is sorted, I can get to prepping the order.

[Calneon]

You're already spending £1500, why not go for the 12800s.

[Isphera]

My usual logic, I just wondered if anyone had a reason not to, or had a suggestion leading to better module latency.

[Chalex4]

Yeah £30 seems like little to spend for the extra performance. However, if I were building a budget PC I would just go for the cheaper modules.

[VoX]

I prefer BFG though, they have far better RMA services.


Not any more, they are/no longer will be trading in the UK. Existing cards can already be RMAd however, just you won't be able to buy them new.


When it comes to choosing a sound card it's mainly down to personal preference. I'm still very keen on my Creative Sound Blaster Extreme Gamer Failtality.

Using all the money you've saved above, you can grab the Sennheiser HD555 headphones (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-HD555-Open-Headphone/dp/B0001FTVDQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1262372389&sr=8-1). They go better with X-FI than Xonar, or so I'm told. I got them for xmas with a clip on mic and now I really know how crappy all my ~£50 headsets have been in the past :).


X-Fi's go better with Sennheisers, Xonar's go better with Goldrings. Not sure what causes it, that just seems to be the general consensus.


Personally if I were to upgrade my soundcard, I'd go for the Xonar D2X or an Auzentech X-Fi Prelude.

Headphone wise, never tried HD555/HD595 however a good friend has HD595's paired with an X-Fi Xtreme Failtality (Top creative X-Fi) and says the combination is incredible. If you're going for the Xonar D2X, look at the Goldring DR150's or the Goldring NS1000's both are apparently very nice. Personally use the DR50's (Lower in the range to the DR150's) and they are very comfortable and give nice sound for music and very good positional audio in games.


If there is anything I need advice on at the moment, it's the RAM. I'll probably end up with 6GB, but need advice on what clockspeed and latency I should get. I'd prefer an OCZ kit if possible.



Games favour clock-speed, applications favour latencies. (I've read that somewhere, however I strongly doubt if there's any massive noticeable difference visible, maybe a few seconds encoding/compiling time)


In terms of the OS I'll see how many copies I can get and give you a shout.



Hope that helps.

[Isphera]

In terms of the OS I'll see how many copies I can get and give you a shout.

Hope that helps.

It helps a lot. Cheers for that. Will deffo give Goldring a look.

[Colonel Mitch]

It helps a lot. Cheers for that. Will deffo give Goldring a look.

I can get u a legit windows 7 pro x64 copy for free

[Chalex4]

I considered the Goldrings DR150s, and I found a lot of comments to the effect that they weren't as good out-of-the-box compared to the Sennheisers. However, most people said that after they had bed-in for a long enough time, the sound quality improved. I just went for the safe bet really (it cost me a bit extra though, but peace of mind is great :))

As to the war on XFI vs Xonar, this thread (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18095682) might help you decide. Alternatively, you may just get more confused :p. The way I see it, gamers go for XFI since EAX is shiny. My xtreme gamer fatality has never let me down, and because of the driver problems I've heard about the Xonar I personally would not switch to one.

[Target]

Get a blu-ray drive aswell u big noob, fail psu is fail, nvidia whore :D, buying a os when you can "Mr Big" it :D and the sound cards pretty expensive although if your doing musical shiz with your pc then its understandable, not just watchin hd porn :S

[Isphera]

Get a blu-ray drive aswell u big noob, fail psu is fail, nvidia whore :D, buying a os when you can "Mr Big" it :D and the sound cards pretty expensive although if your doing musical shiz with your pc then its understandable, not just watchin hd porn :S

You can only get movies on Blu-ray, and considering I'm getting a PS3 anyway, it's useless having one in my PC. I'm not changing my PSU, for the 5th time. As stated previously, I will never buy ATI over nVidia, and I don't actually see how thats a bad thing. I am quite content in buying the OS over pirating it. Like you say, music work needs a sound card, plus I'm a massive audiophile.

[Chalex4]

As stated previously, I will never buy nVidia over ATI

You've never said that before :p. Oric is a secret ATI fanboy after all!!

[Target]

You can do everything on a blu ray that you can do with a dvd drive, just u can play blu ray films

[Calneon]

You can do everything on a blu ray that you can do with a dvd drive, just u can play blu ray films
But it's more expensive.


I will never buy nVidia over ATI, and I don't actually see how thats a bad thing.

That's like saying you'd never fuck Summer Glau over Susan Boyle, and you don't see why that's a bad thing.

[ez64]

Thanks for that mind rape phantom.....

[Isphera]

I meant I will ALWAYS buy nVidia over ATI. So I can go back banging Summer Glau over Susan Boyle. It's been a long day.

EDIT - Edited the error sentance as well.

EDIT2 - The near-final build - just waiting on prices for i7-930 and GTX 360 and GTX 380 - will decide then which GFX to get. Might consider an X-Fi, but I'll stick with my headset for now. Cheers for your help guys.

Part Product Price Supplier Decided?
Case NZXT Lexa S £53.78 Scan YES
PSU Corsair TX850W £98.04 Scan YES
CPU Intel Core i7-930 £200.00 Approximation YES
Motherboard ASUS P6T £165.83 Ebuyer YES
RAM OCZ 6GB (3x2GB) PC3-12800C7 DDR3 1600Mhz Platinum £140.00 AriaPC YES
GFX XFX nVidia GTX 360 £275.00 Approximation NO
Hard Drive 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB £141.96 Scan YES
CD Drive LG GH22LS50 £20.00 Scan YES
OS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit £98.77 Ebuyer YES
Sound Card Asus Xonar D2X £86.24 Overclock.co.uk NO


Total £1,279.62
Budget £1,400.00
Budget Remaining £120.38


Left to decide upon:

GFX - GTX 380?
Build - Replace Stock Fans on Case (Scythe?)
Sound Card - Creative X-Fi?
How to build (Hire ATK Member/Outsider?)

[Vicious Horizon]

Lol, nVidia fail - "It's gonna be 3GB of VRAM, and super fast!"... A few months later "Ok... it's gonna be half as fast as we thought, and only 1.5GB"

- Just for that they're out of my goodbooks for a while.

[Colonel Mitch]

Nvidia are teh "apple" of gfx cards.

Always overpriced and worse than their coutnerparts in terms of £/performance

[Isphera]

As stated previously, I will never buy nVidia over ATI

Who knew when I did this typo error a couple weeks back that it would actually turn out to be true :D. Following the absolute BS nVidia has put us through for the last few months, I'm jumping off the bandwagon and joining most of you guys as ATi owners. I've also tweaked a few values and parts and this is the up-to-date version as of today (22nd Febuary). Rumour has it that the i7 930 will be out in the next week or so, so it won't be too long now until this is a reality

Part Product Price Supplier
Case NZXT Lexa S £53.78 Scan
PSU Corsair 850W £98.04 Scan
CPU Intel Core i7-930 £225.00 Approximation
Motherboard ASUS P6TD Deluxe £209.07 Ebuyer
RAM OCZ 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666CL7 Platinum £130.00 Ebuyer
GFX ASUS HD 5870 £322.74 Ebuyer
Hard Drive 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB £141.96 Scan
CD Drive LG GH22LS50 £20.00 Scan
OS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit £98.77 Ebuyer
Sound Card Asus Xonar STX £130.00 Ebuyer


Total £1,429.36
Total excl. VAT £1,179.22

[Chalex4]

Yeah Oric it looks like you've made a good decision. That 5870 will easily cope with everything unless you are obsessed with anti-aliasing at massive resolutions (like me :p).

In fact, it may well be fine with that. It is the 2nd best card out right now!

[Vicious Horizon]

Heh, nVidia specialise in pissing us all off.

[Colonel Mitch]

Who knew when I did this typo error a couple weeks back that it would actually turn out to be true :D. Following the absolute BS nVidia has put us through for the last few months, I'm jumping off the bandwagon and joining most of you guys as ATi owners. I've also tweaked a few values and parts and this is the up-to-date version as of today (22nd Febuary). Rumour has it that the i7 930 will be out in the next week or so, so it won't be too long now until this is a reality

Part Product Price Supplier
Case NZXT Lexa S £53.78 Scan
PSU Corsair 850W £98.04 Scan
CPU Intel Core i7-930 £225.00 Approximation
Motherboard ASUS P6TD Deluxe £209.07 Ebuyer
RAM OCZ 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666CL7 Platinum £130.00 Ebuyer
GFX ASUS HD 5870 £322.74 Ebuyer
Hard Drive 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB £141.96 Scan
CD Drive LG GH22LS50 £20.00 Scan
OS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit £98.77 Ebuyer
Sound Card Asus Xonar STX £130.00 Ebuyer


Total £1,429.36
Total excl. VAT £1,179.22


£141 each for the hard disks or total?

Other than OP PSU and buying windows 7 looks good but way more than neccesary :P

[Isphera]

HD price is total for both.


but way more than neccesary

It also means that I upgrade later and less frequently than people who settle for a cheaper build. Extra £500 now extends live by a year or two minimum and saves me money in the long run.(e.g If I had spent less than I did on Mk.1, I would have had to upgrade ages ago, due to ineptness, and it's actually only just stopped physically working this week. Had it not broken, it would still be fine to play most games like GenGen and AoE2)

[Target]

AMD phenom slightly overclocked will rape a i7 stock and 900 antec case is sex...12gb ram thant u can't even use and tbh all you need it a pc that will run bf3 on full settings cost u bowt £500 prob less, ur spend a lot more and not reallt gettin that much better of a pc, I'll accept on paper the i7 is better but for the extra 5fps you'll get it really not worth the extra £150+ or so..but its totally up to u!!!
Now adays its just not worth spending that much on a rig because in a couple of years its dicked on and the year after that its useless....really you want to spend as little as possible and build a rig that can easily be upgraded in the future...but if they have ddr3 ram now I am pretty sure in the next 6 months they will have ddr5
And psu I would get 700w+ but it doesn't matter what make so long as you know that the components in your pc use no more than 700w you'll never have a problem no matter what the make and there prob all made in china for 37p and just have a brand label stuck on them....

[Isphera]

My response to Chris (LOOOOONG post) is in the spoiler, because most of the time, people turn off whenthey see my mass of text. In terms of when, the i7 930 is all but officially confirmed to be out on the 28th, but whenever that is available, I can click buy on the lot in 5 mins, so I expect to be up and running in mid-March at the latest.

And now - my response to Chris's post.

Erm...I think your reading the first post not the latest spec, cause I only specced 6GB of RAM, although I debate your assessment that I can't use it, since I do a lot of HQ video transcoding and RSE music projects. I specced it down because I needed to get back down to my £1400 budget. I'll likely upgrade to 12GB in 6 months or so, if I need to. For the seventh time in the thread, I am choosing that PSU because it is proven to be reliable and its a company that I trust, and not an unknown generic china-build spitball that was cobbled together with a rock and string, and thus I will not be changing it. The Antec 900 is also overused since everyone has either Antec or Coolermaster cases, so I went for something different. Cooling is fine on the Lexa S, has 4 fans (1 front, 1 side, 1 back, 1 top) and an expansion slot for another at the top (and I'm guessing that you haven't looked at the Lexa S).

I also disagree with your assessment of 'spending less now and upgrade constantly' methodology. By spending more now, I can maintain a high level of performance for 7-8 years until we get to the 'OMG LOL EPIC GRAPHIX' games like we have been this year with MW2/BC2 (compared to Mk. 1). £500 is a very low figure for a computer to begin with, and thusly you'll be able to play MW2/BC2.....on medium. And then, you advocate spending £500 every two-three years to upgrade it, which will end up, over the lifespan of my method (8 years), costing you more, not to mention you will be settling at a mid-end constantly. By buying premium parts now, you start that the ultra-high end, and let technology take it's course, meaning you will decline with time, but it will be many years before a computer built by your method would beat one built on my methodology. With Mk. 1, I only really went below mid-end performace the middle of last year, just over 6 years after I built it, and thats was mainly due to age and abuse of the system, not the parts themselves.

Obviously, this is technology and new stuff and upgrades come out all the time, but as shown in benchmark charts, the GTX 295 (DX 10) is still competing comparably with the lower-end ATi DX 11 cards, so the older stuff doesn't instantly become useless the second the next set of parts is released.

I was reading an advice book aimed at teens, students and young adults a while back, and whilst I can't remember the title, it has given me on bit of key advice which I have enacted on many occasions. "If your going to buy something, and you will either use it alot or it is key to your life in some way, then spend a little bit extra to get the higher quality - it will last longer, and thus save you money, as well as give you better satisfaction with the product". Every time I've put this into practice, I haven't been disappointed. Every time I haven't, I've wasted money and then gone back to the theory.

One final point,

AMD phenom slightly overclocked will rape a i7 stock

I know your at uni, but were you smoking the doobie when you wrote this?

[Target]

Well tbh for the lol amount of money thats being wasted here why don't you just kick yourself in the face and buy an alienware

And I meant on value for a money...for the tiny amount of performance increase you may get from the i7 its just not worth extra lol £s being wasted