Yet another new PC thread

[Roper]

As its the current trend I've also decided to replace my PC. I've cobled together the below and would be hugely grateful for any thoughts or suggestions. I've stolen a fair bit from the last couple of PC threads, so hopefully it shouldn't be far off.




A few things to note:
- RAM - this confuses me, lots of numbers that I dont understand. I've picked something that I 'think' is okay, but would love to know if this will actually work and any suggestions for what would be better would be good
- Graphics Gard - I'm thinking 6950 as this is about the price point I want to go for and would rather ATI over Nvidia, but if anyone has any suggestions as to a better deal or slightly different card I should go for that would be good (especially as this one is out of stock)
- Wireless - whilst I realise wireless isn't the best for gaming I'd like to try dispensing with the network cable/trip wire that I currently have strewn across my room. I was thinking of sticking a wireless n card inside but they dont seem terribly cheap, anyone know if that would be better than just getting a USB one? Otherwise I may just do that.
- Cooling - In the past I've gone for a slightly better CPU cooler, nothing special just an Artic cooling one. I dont ever overclock but just figure these are quieter. Am I right in thinking the stock coolers are quiet enough these days though?

This is about the amount I want to be spending, but can go a little higher if there are any good reasons.

[FragZero]

6950 => Decent card, that or a 570gtx i'd say.

And you say you do not overclock, no reason to get an unlocked 2500K, get a normal 2500 instead!

[Roper]

And you say you do not overclock, no reason to get an unlocked 2500K, get a normal 2500 instead!

Ah thanks, yeah thats a good point. Though the difference in price seems so small that I guess I may as well get the unlocked one and then the options always there in the future.

[Heeuge]

That's actually not a bad collection of bits at all.... Yaaaaaay, people are paying attention!

As for your questions:

RAM - I'd go for This 8GB from Corsair instead of the one you picked. It's got a slightly lower latency (the 24<>27 difference in the numbers) and runs at a lower voltage (1.5V vs 1.65V) so should run (unnoticeably) quicker and cooler. That and it's cheaper!

VGA - the 6950 seems to be a good choice at the mo, be sure to get a 2GB model though. Scan have their own branded model in stock right now for a pound or so more. It's a single fan cooler reference design though so may be a little louder than the Sapphire one you linked to. For alternatives, read through TomsHardware's latest Best card for $xxx report.

Wireless - I've had bad experiences with USB wifi cards in the past but I'm sure the hardware has matured in the 4 years since I last used one. I'd be tempted to suggest getting a card that's of the same brand as your router. If not possible then the Edimax models get good reviews, the cheapest 300MBps one they sell for £16 doesn't seem too bad. I'd definitely get one with external antennae and this one only uses up a PCI-E 1x slot.... The P8p67 has two of those slots, either side of the PCI-E 16x slot you'll have your VGA card in so they'll both fit.

Cooling - I'd try the stock cooler first and see how you find it. If you're not overclocking I think you'll find it spins so slowly you barely notice it anyway for the most part (by the time you're gaming there are other noises to distract you)! You can always get an aftermarket cooler later.



PS - For the price difference, I'd go for the 2500K CPU - 25% overclock with nothing more than a button press or two in BIOS shouldn't be sniffed at for future funsies!

[Roper]

Cheers Heeuge for the great advice as always.

I was wondering about this card which is only a little more and seems to get good reviews, they have it at Scan for a bit more but Novatech is only 10 minutes down the road from me (in fact I'd be tempted to get it all from Novatech if a couple of items werent a bit more expensive and if they had the case I want). I also wondered about this card which seems quite cheap, not that I've ordered from that supplier before? I could be tempted to up my budget on the card a bit, but not sure its really worth it.

Thanks for the alternative on the RAM, one quick question on this. If I do think I'm going to overclock (tempted with a moderate one), will this still be fine or should I go for something like this for better cooling? I know its more expensive but in the grand scheme of things its only a tenner.

Cheers for the advice on the wireless card, I'll give that one a try I think.

I was wondering if I should get a Z68 board as it seems to be what everyone recommends on ocuk, but following your comments on Smuighs thread I think I'll stick with the P67.

Also tempted to get a larger SSD but they are bloody expensive...

Should I be worried about the HDD only being 5400rpm? I realise I've got the SSD and it seems to be what people are using in these set-ups, but I'm still going to be accessing some games on the HDD.

[Heeuge]

The MSI 6950 seems to use a very similar dual-fan cooling system to the Sapphire. Since it's down the road there's no harm in supporting local industry and picking it up on the way home - if you have any issues it's nice and easy to get some Customer Service as well.
Aria are Manchester based and have a notorious problem with after-sales support. If there's only a few quid difference, I'd stick to Scan/Novatech but is £20 worth having a gamble? Reading the specs, the Aria card is a Frozr II model, the Novatech is Frozr III - comparing the differences show slightly different clock/RAM speeds and a connection or two missing on the II card....

The RAM I mentioned will be fine for an overclock, the superduper Vengeance Black stuff is overkill for what you'd be using it for.

At the moment, SSDs are just about approaching £1 per GB on drives up to 120GB or so. 60GB is fine for now as far as OS and applications go, your 'games' (read: porn collection) will load just fine from the 'slow' physical HDD - the intellipower technology they use these days means it can spin faster if it really needs to but can drop lower to save energy when demand drops (which is why it has a 5900rpm rating rather than 5400 or 7900).

[Roper]

Splendid, thanks again. I'll forget about Aria in that case.

Going to order it all tonight, exciting!

I'll make sure to check 'today only' when ordering, had a quick check and at least a couple of the items are in there.