Request for advice on new system

Jet_Set_Jim

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Hi there

After 4 years of staunch service my 3.2GHz P4 Dell 8300 is in need of replacement; so I've been researching the latest developments / kit, but I have a couple of questions if I may:

1) I'm keen on getting a PC that's pretty quiet; that's not to say entirely silent, but my Dell PC has always been terrible in that respect - with moderate ambient temperature it's almost as loud as a dustbuster. This noise is down to the CPU fan... I have read that Core 2 CPUs run pretty cool, but my question is as follows: do the Extreme and Quad Core variants require much more cooling than the Core 2 Duo versions? Also, I'd imagine that purchasing a pre-overclocked unit would have a penalty in this area?

2) Graphics cards - It appears that the 8800GTS and 8800GTX are the current standards, and that dual cards are a fairly common option. Which offers the better performance, a single 8800GTX or dual 8800GTS cards? Once again, would there be much of a difference between the two in terms of cooling requirement?

My budget is c. £2000 for the base unit, with usage being fairly varied and including gaming.

Thanks in advance for any advice that you might be able to offer :thumbsup:
 
brb

ok back do you need monitor/mouse/keyboard/speakers ?
 
Quad Processors are not needed at current time as only a minority of programs use both cores so quad cores are at the moment a waste of money.

You can save £100 by going 2,4 rather than 2,67 but here is what I came up with incase you also needed monitor/kb and mouse.

computer.jpg


Also SLI and Crossfire are a complete waste of money and are only a fad.
 
Thanks alphaomega16, your suggestions are very similar to where my mind has been heading on this.

I see on overclockers.co.uk they are selling overclocked E6600 PCs which are boosted to c. 3GHz... I've read that these Conroe CPUs factor in a lot of headroom for overclocking, so my question is - would an o/c E6600 @ 3GHz core require significantly louder cooling than a standard E6600?

(I'm still cautious so that I don't buy another dust-buster-loud PC like my Dell...)

Thanks in advance
 
I am pretty sure they will be quite silent.

All you do for OC is change heatsint/Fan and mabe some AS5 Thermal Paste.
 
Let me know what you decide and how you get on.
 
You got ÂŁ2000,

Well try this,

- Intel Core 2 DUO E6700 2.67GHz Dual Core CPU
- EVGA nForce 680 (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Corsair 2GB DDR2 PC2-8500 Dominator TwinX (2x1GB) Dual Channel Kit
- 2 x 150GB Western Digital RaptorX 16MB Cache SATA Hard Drive (RAID 0)
- NVIDIA 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 VIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
- NEC 7173 18x DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
- Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Professional Sound Card
- Antec NINE HUNDRED Gamers ATX Case
- Enermax Galaxy 850W Next Generation Power Supply
- Microsoft Vista Premium 32-Bit

Costs about 2000, or maybe less if you can get some good deals.

I disagree completely with alphaomega about the quad core, Intel themselves say they are going to be mainstream by quarter 1 2008. Also, Cyrsis and hellgate london and other new games have all said they are going to be quad core games. So If you can afford one get it :)
 
he said he needs that case because of size restrictions.

Also what intel says is different to what will happen.
 
Thanks guys.

AlphaOmega, I'm not sure what you mean about the case and size restrictions, I think that might be someone else's thread that you're refering to.

I'm not too sure about the Quad Core options - my understanding is that they would produce a lot more heat and need a louder cooling solution than the Dual core efforts. Otherwise I'd be tempted!

Thanks also for the pointer to Overclockers' CPU sale - but I've no experience in PC building, and my Dell needs to be completely replaced...

Still - all good advice, and I will be reporting back soon with an outcome. In the meantime, any other pointers would be much appreciated!
 
Thanks guys.

AlphaOmega, I'm not sure what you mean about the case and size restrictions, I think that might be someone else's thread that you're refering to.

I'm not too sure about the Quad Core options - my understanding is that they would produce a lot more heat and need a louder cooling solution than the Dual core efforts. Otherwise I'd be tempted!

Thanks also for the pointer to Overclockers' CPU sale - but I've no experience in PC building, and my Dell needs to be completely replaced...

Still - all good advice, and I will be reporting back soon with an outcome. In the meantime, any other pointers would be much appreciated!



Whoops lol yeah I see I even reccommended the Antec 900 Gaming Case :oops: :suicide:

I think I was remembering this thread.

As to the highlighted portion that makes my previous replies useless :( anyway try this.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-032-OK&groupid=43&catid=781&subcat=

You live anywhere near southend mate I could show you how to put a computer together if you wanted.
 
If you are not going to build it yourself some of the OCUK prebuilt systems are fairly good. Or, spend a few 100 extra and get one of the Dell 710 H2C systems. Totally silent, and I mean nearly totally silent, you have to press your ear against the side of the case to hear it when you turn it on.

And don't let the noise and temp of the quad core stop you from buying it. If you are really keen on silence you would be replacing the stock cooler anyway with something better. And, anyway, you are going to be putting in an 8800GTX, that is going to be louder than the CPU fan, unless you are getting a modified cooler for that too :)

And, I want to make another change to your system. After reading your requirements better, I think you are after silence more than anything else :) Well, I built a Pc using an Antec P180 B case. They are beautiful and more important, they really keep the noise levels down alot!! I use the PC for HD movie playback and I can't hear it all. Silentpc say it is one of the best cases for keeping the noise down :)

And Alphaomega had offered some help to build your new Pc, so no worries there either :)
 
Jet-set-Jim, I was just browsing the classifieds on this and guess what I found for sale, for the amazing price of ÂŁ1750, a dell 710 H2C.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4688333&posted=1#post4688333

If you can get him to post some pictures of it and ask him a few questions I am sure you can bargain him down a little.

If I lived in England, I would buy it in a flash. Those 710H2C's are beasts and are really quiet as well.
 
Jet-set-Jim, I was just browsing the classifieds on this and guess what I found for sale, for the amazing price of £1750, a dell 710 H2C.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4688333&posted=1#post4688333

If you can get him to post some pictures of it and ask him a few questions I am sure you can bargain him down a little.

If I lived in England, I would buy it in a flash. Those 710H2C's are beasts and are really quiet as well.

This is essentially watercooled and unless you are looking for a really overclocked machine and can monitor the system I would avoid.

Also the SLI doesnt show that big of an improvement to warrant the price of it.

No offence reaper its a very nice machine but very high maintenance and the cooling unit is going to be expensive if it goes.
 
Alpha, lol, This machine is bargain at that price. Dell builds high end machines really well. And as for maintenance, what maintenance?? Fill it with fluid XP, it never has to be replaced or refilled or anything. I have my own machine water cooled and haven't opened replaced or refilled the coolant in the last year. ZERO effort, and completely silent.

And what price?? The 710H2C is a steal at that price, He is getting dual 8800GTX's for less than the price of one!! AH man He would be a fool not to at least inquire into it.

And watercooled is the way to go for silence!! It might be used for people to get higher overclocks, but anyone that I have installed water cooling systems in for want it for the peace and quiet, not for the performance increase. And as well as that, watercooling extends the life of your computer. As it keeps the components very cool.

And for a highend machine, anything that goes in it is going to be expensive to replace, but, the 710 H2C is covered by at least a 2 year XPS warrenty, that covers EVERYTHING!!! As for the cooling pump, you can replace it for less than a ÂŁ100. But these machines are built to last and are extremely high end build quality.
 
AlphaOmega, Reaper, thank you both for your advice. As it happens I was gravitating towards the very OC machine that you indicate, AlphaOmega... however this monstrous Dell looks very tempting too.

I shall consider further. By the way, thank you AlphaOmega for your kind offer re. building a PC... I live in West London so probably won't take you up on it, but I find it heartening in today's less than friendly world that there are folk around who will put themselves out to help near-strangers. The gesture is much appreciated.
 
Good luck Jet-Set!! AS you can see high end machines are a passion of mine :) So let us know what you get and hope it works well for ya.
 
Just an update - in the end I went for the Overclockers.co.uk option - the Ultima OC 8800GTX:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-032-OK&groupid=43&catid=781&subcat=

I was tempted by the Dell, but one of the problems with the Dell that I've just replaced is that some of the parts weren't compatible with non-Dell upgrades (ie. couldn't fit a quiet cooling solution to the CPU as it used Dell-specific fittings).

Well chuffed with my new rig though - very fast, fairly quiet and I like the flexibility/options that it offers. Good service from overclockers too.

(Not too sure about the plethora of glowing internal lights etc - but I'm sure that I can knobble them via the BIOS).

Thanks again, alphaomega and Reaper

:thumbsup:
 
:thumbsup: top system - stonkingly fast also - enjoy - good choice!
 

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