e8xxx = Dual Core.

Quote from Jakg :

e8xxx = Dual Core.

Wow, massive brain fart. Was thinking of q9xxx series. wtf, lol.

OK guys - I just wanna say a big thank you to everyone who has helped with the list (and also the people who havent!)

I now have a FINAL list. The price has gone slightly over budget but meh - u only live once (unless that damn reincarnation gets involved!)

I could do with a final check on everything before i pay (also i have to wait for afew items to be in stock).

Is there any component (mainly graphics card really) that i could throw abit more money at that will have a big impact or am i looking at a well balanced system?



Thanks again for all the help & advice guys (i would have ended up with something resembling 3 xboxs taped together and the all the power of an atari800xl).

Well thats seems good system, you may want to hear others final opinion aswell.

Hi all. OK Im ready to buy BUT im just waiting for afew components to come in.

I have been reading up on the XFX Alpha Dog Graphics Card and it appears to have noise issues at full power (and afew have reported a clicking noice on the gpu fan strait outa the box). I dont like the idea of that so ive looked at a different card. I just need to know if that still works with the PK5-E?

This is the new card im lookin at >>

EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB DDR3 PCIE Superclocked
256-bit Geforce 8800 GT
512 MB 256-bit 1ns GDDR3 memory
1620MHz shader clock
112 Stream Processors
PCI Express x16 compatibility
Integrated NVIDIA TV Encoder
Dual DVI-I Connectors
60.8GB per second memory bandwidth
NVIDIA unified architecture with GigaThread technology
NVIDIA SLI ready
16x full-screen anti-aliasing
True 128-bit floating-point high dynamic range (HDR) lighting
NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology
PCI Express 2.0 support
OpenGL 2.0 support
NVIDIA nView multi-display technology

about same price as the XFX. Any info/advice appreciated (oh Jakg where art though in mine most needed of pointlessnessed existences)

That card will work fine, it is basically the same thing but from a different company. EVGA's Step-up program is absolutely rubbish for Euro customers, so I wouldn't bother even trying to step up to a future card if you get that one.

Dont copy/paste the specs - Almost all 8800GT's are identical, some have different fans and run at a little different speeds, 1 (a Galaxy one) has a different VRM's/PCB (totally useless to a non-overclocker) and a Zotac AMP! has different memory.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134393 - Is a total bargain imo.

heheh sorry Jakg (please dont tell me off im 39 lol) = u love me really dont u?

Well ive finally done it - its changed abit from final again.

Pics >>















The OcZ power cable didnt reach the mobo with the psu being at the bottom of the case - doh! BUT i got a 24pin male 3 female extension & had to doctor the 4 pin one.

Got an Antec p182 in the end. Its big and sturdy & the cable management is great, The loudest fan is the stock proccesor fan .

Just installed win xp and now just formatting the 2nd hd.

I got a q6600 in then end - but oh god is the stock hs/fan crap/ I gotta get a frezzer thing for it and some thermal past.

I ended up with a GB mobo & 4gb of patriot extreme

The Saitek keynoard is nice - the purple colour is the brightest

Also went with 2 500 gb spinpoint - good price atm

just to say a final big thanks to everyone (espesially Jakg) ur the best m8

Final Cost - 770gbp - i went to collect it and saved a tenner

I still have my old Antec P180b case sitting in the basement. Awesome case.

Very good job on building that. If you were to buy a system with similar specifications ready built how much extra would that have cost? What i mean is how much have you saved by building it yourself?

Jack has convinced me to build a new system.....so I'm in forum Troll mode

Also I'm just so tempted to copy your spec...!

Quote from AlienT. :

Very good job on building that. If you were to buy a system with similar specifications ready built how much extra would that have cost? What i mean is how much have you saved by building it yourself?

Jack has convinced me to build a new system.....so I'm in forum Troll mode

Also I'm just so tempted to copy your spec...!

An equivalent Dell XPS system will cost about the same (+/- 50gbp) HOWEVER, you cannot do such things as choose specific motherboards, cases, etc... when you order from Dell. Not only that, but some of the parts in that computer will not be of the same quality as the parts you'd get by building it yourself. Granted, it will work no problem, but it's more likely to die earlier than a custom-built rig.

Of course, the best part of building a computer yourself is actually building it. It's lots of fun (after the first time) and you get great satisfaction - and gain much better troubleshooting skills.

Again though, the benefit of building yourself is being able to choose specific parts from specific manufacturers for the computer that you would not be able to do otherwise, meaning you get a PC more tailored to your needs...

My PC is shit. Every part is rubbish. My CPU sucks. It's too hot, it overclocks like rubbish. My HDD's are slooooow. My GTX is hot and power hungry. My PSU is unreliable. My case is nice but lacks cooling prowess. My water cooling is trash, etc.

It's built through years of slowly learning good bits from bad bits.

Quote from Jakg :

My PC is shit. Every part is rubbish. My CPU sucks. It's too hot, it overclocks like rubbish. My HDD's are slooooow. My GTX is hot and power hungry. My PSU is unreliable. My case is nice but lacks cooling prowess. My water cooling is trash, etc.

It's built through years of slowly learning good bits from bad bits.

Good advice I think.

This and the fact I can't be bothered building it because I just know I would get myself into no end of hastle has led me to just get a ready made system......damn I just want to play on it not have an intimate relationship with its internal organs....what was I thinking

Quote from AlienT. :

Good advice I think.

This and the fact I can't be bothered building it because I just know I would get myself into no end of hastle has led me to just get a ready made system......damn I just want to play on it not have an intimate relationship with its internal organs....what was I thinking

True. You also get the benefit of an easy-to-take-advantage-of warranty.

TBH though, every computer we've had has died... except mine so far. My dad's been through 5 Dell laptops over the years... my mom's Dell Dimension died a few weeks ago (don't even know why and can't get it working.) The HP which is the family desktop computer stopped working at one point, but reseating everything internally got that working again.

What Jakg said might apply to his computer, but that doesn't necessarily mean your computer would be the same. If you pick the right parts you won't have that problem. I have none of those issues save for maybe the CPU running a bit hot, but that has more to do than the environment (dorm room with no A/C with windows facing sun - get's up to 76 sometimes.)

Also, having an "intimate relationship with the internal organs" is useful for more than just geekyness. You can so much more easily fix problems that occur if you know how it's put together. That and it makes for easy upgrading. But either way is a good route I guess.

The issues I had were because I didn't know wtf I was doing or buying when I started - people like at my PC and say "oooo I wish I had one like that" but I don't - I wish I could start again with all the money i've spent, and have something much better.

Quote from Jakg :

The issues I had were because I didn't know wtf I was doing or buying when I started - people like at my PC and say "oooo I wish I had one like that" but I don't - I wish I could start again with all the money i've spent, and have something much better.

Yeah. Lucky for me I had my friend who is a computer genius. He's got like 17 file servers in his home and stuff, lol. Every time I decided on a new part, I'd get his approval first - which usually involved a long lecture as to why or why not it was a good choice.

Damnit, I just new this would happen, It's 10 to 2 in the morning and I'm now officially obsessed with PC specs, jees I haven't even flashed up LFS this evening......! This obsession happens everytime I think about getting a new PC, about 4 hours ago I did not know my dual from quad cores, had no friggin idea what raid or SLI was......! Oh no this will go on until I am a self proclaimed expert and the new PC is on my desk and functioning, at which point I will forget everything about PC specs until the next time I think I need an update.

Jack I blame you for this and my wife is coming to pay you a visit with shotgun in hand

Oh anyone want to buy my XPS M170? lol cost me over £2k - 2 1/2 years ago, I see them second hand on e-bay for circa £500, I will sell mine in perfect working order for £395 if anyone fancy's it (sorry this is a bit tongue in cheek my appologies for advertising on LFS forum).

Righto I'm off to overclockers....bye for now

Building your own computer is a viable option to those who have little interest in computers (like myself). If you listen to advice and buy higher spec components you can get a faster PC than you would do buying ready built with the knowledge that it doesn't have cheap components shoved in it and best of all if you opt to go for slightly better brands you can usually get good warranties (on everything but processor really) which is a sign of confidence.

I didn't go for overclocking anything, I just put it all together and left it going, after an initial overheating issue due to the fan falling off the processor (because I hadn't pushed it on properly :doh I've had no faults at all except for the odd weird behaviour from my Netgear adapter, which is the third Netgear adapter that's given me problems, maybe I've just had particularly bad luck with them

You might be interested in my thread where I spent months faffing about asking lots of silly questions, second only in size to the 'post your rig' and the Harjun thread.

Thanks Alex, some interesting reading there.