Custom desktop build spec *FINAL SPEC ADDED

Ben:

Ben:

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Ben
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Hey everyone,
Thought about building a custom pc last year, learnt some stuff and then about about it.
Well now my current PC is running slow I'm looking at the idea again.

I have this spec from last year...


CASE & POWER SUPPLY
Corsair Obsidian 650D
£138

MOTHERBOARD
Asus P8P67 B3 Rev
£116

PROCESSOR (CPU)
Intel Core i7 2600k 3.40GHz (Sandybridge)
£230

CPU COOLER
Cooler Master Hyper 212 PLUS & Thermal Paste
£33

MEMORY
Corsair Vengeance 16gb (4x4GB)
£77

VIDEO CARD
Use Current - I 'think' is 256mb NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
IS THIS COMPACTIBLE?

STORAGE
Use Current HDD
OCZ 60GB Vertex Plus SSD

OPTICAL DRIVE
Use Current

Is there anything there that could be changed/updated?

Thanks
 
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I'd go with the P8P67 rather than the LE. It has a far more robust supply voltage system which helps with overclocking (I've seen reviews that say the LE is less stable than other boards in the Asus P8P67 series). Only about £15 more...

You can get faster processors now, but if you're going to overclock, they probably aren't worth it.

Which SSD you looking at?

Which OS are you using? You'll need a 64bit OS to use more than 3.x GByte of memory.

If you are using Win7 and depending on how much you run at once, you may find that 16GB will be faster - I have 16GBytes, currently in use 6.5GBytes, in Standby (i.e. cached) 9GB.

Otherwise looks great :)
 
arad85 said:
I'd go with the P8P67 rather than the LE. It has a far more robust supply voltage system which helps with overclocking (I've seen reviews that say the LE is less stable than other boards in the Asus P8P67 series). Only about £15 more...

You can get faster processors now, but if you're going to overclock, they probably aren't worth it.

Which SSD you looking at?

Which OS are you using? You'll need a 64bit OS to use more than 3.x GByte of memory.

If you are using Win7 and depending on how much you run at once, you may find that 16GB will be faster - I have 16GBytes, currently in use 6.5GBytes, in Standby (i.e. cached) 9GB.

Otherwise looks great :)
Click to expand...

Ok thanks, the P8P67 it is.
I guess I would look at overclocking it after I've had it a while.
(need to learn how first haha)

Haven't got a clue about which SSD to be honest, any recommendations?

Windows 7 64 bit.
16Gb ?! Wow ok I'll bear it in mind

Thanks! :)
 
Ben: said:
Ok thanks, the P8P67 it is.
I guess I would look at overclocking it after I've had it a while.
(need to learn how first haha)
Click to expand...
It's really easy. About 3 numbers to change in the BIOS.

Ben: said:
Haven't got a clue about which SSD to be honest, any recommendations?
Click to expand...
I'd start looking at the scores here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/SSD/65 and judge by what you're willing to pay.

If you're just using it as a system disk, the sequential and random read performance is probably most important. The SandForce based controllers use compression before writing which increases read and write speed, but will slow down if you are using already compressed data (e.g. images/videos etc) to the disk a lot.


Ben: said:
16Gb ?! Wow ok I'll bear it in mind
Click to expand...
It's not really that expensive at the moment to stick another 2x4GByte modules in. BTW, when I said standby, I didn't mean low power standby, but standing by to be used (i.e. the OS has read data from disk so it will be quicker to load if I want it).
 
onomatopoeia said:
First computer I built, in 1994, had one 16MB stick of RAM. Cost me £330 just for the RAM.

Those were the days :lol:
Click to expand...
Hah... I paid £100 for 16kBytes of memory for my BBC-A to make it into a 32kByte BBC-B!

I also remember buying - I think - 2MBytes (although it could have been 8MBytes) of memory for a DEC-MicroVAX in the late '80's. We couldn't afford the standard DEC part so managed to source a third party suppliers at half the price. From memory, it was £8000............

Yes, that's KILOBytes and MEGABytes and no, the right numbers of zeros are there after the £ sign ;)
 
I read somewhere that having the OS on the SSD means that from the moment you press on button it will load the OS in just a few seconds. Whereas having it on a HDD can take a minute or so.

Is it best to store the OS, lightroom, photoshop and other programs on the SSD and files/images on a hhd? In terms of speed...
 
Ben: said:
I read somewhere that having the OS on the SSD means that from the moment you press on button it will load the OS in just a few seconds. Whereas having it on a HDD can take a minute or so.
Click to expand...

wouldnt quite go that far, i think windows has a physical limitation as to how fast it can load.

personally i dont think boot times on an SSD are much better than a good 7200rpm mechanical. that said, program launching is much much snappier.
 
Boot time was 26 secs last time I measured it here with an SSD (Win7 64bit Pro and i7-2600K with a few things loading at boot time).
 
neil_g said:
depends where youre timing from too.. need to remember motherboards post at different times depending if checks are enabled etc
Click to expand...
This is after POST - it's a software check so only starts counting when Windoze starts to boot.
 
Looks good. Built a very similar rig s few weeks ago, and I'm loving it!

16gb ram is lovely, and using a ssd is super fast..

Went with a different case to yours as I couldn't fit the CPU cooler snd graphics card In the haf x
 
stokes said:
Looks good. Built a very similar rig s few weeks ago, and I'm loving it!

16gb ram is lovely, and using a ssd is super fast..

Went with a different case to yours as I couldn't fit the CPU cooler snd graphics card In the haf x
Click to expand...

Nice! Better get 16gb then.
Have you got the OS installed on the SSD?
 
yes, install windows 7 ultimate :) works a treat.. just enough room left for skyrim, lightroom, photoshop and bf3 :)

it takes a while to get used to changing where things are installed though :) always installed to my c:, but now its d: :)
 
Ok great!
Haven't got a clue what to do once it's built. In regards to first turning it on and installing OS etc but that's a question for another time.
More importantly, any recommendations for where to buy components from?
 
arad85 said:
Hah... I paid £100 for 16kBytes of memory for my BBC-A to make it into a 32kByte BBC-B!
Click to expand...

I bought the BBC-B straight off :lol: I seem to remember getting a floppy disk interface fitted and a 400K drive (double sided, 80 track, no less) was about £250, I remember sitting in Viglen in north London somewhere watching the start of Live Aid while they soldered the ICs (Intel 8271, which were made from unobtainium, and various 74LS??? TTL logic items I think it was) to the mainboard.
 
Yes.
 
... but they should all be B3 rev now.
 
Hey again!
Added a 'final spec', how does it look?

Went for a different case, same as I've seen in a video on youtube (showing the whole build of almost identical spec)

Everyone know if the graphics card is compactible?

Just the OS to add then I think I'm done.
 
Ben: said:
Hey again!
Added a 'final spec', how does it look?

Went for a different case, same as I've seen in a video on youtube (showing the whole build of almost identical spec)

Everyone know if the graphics card is compactible?

Just the OS to add then I think I'm done.
Click to expand...

Windows 7 64bit.......... Ultimate ;-)
 
Not sure if Ultimate would benefit me much, if I'd use it to its potential etc :/
 
stokes said:
Go bigger!

I put in a 120gig drive and glad i did! Wouldnt be able to survive with a 60gig
Click to expand...

Money! D:
Lol.

If I don't intend on using it as file/image/document storage. That just leaves program's? 60gb not enough then? :(
 
Hmm I wouldn't have any games, just windows, LR, PS and Office. I reckon 60gb would be fine... I hope!
 
With 60G you will want to make sure that Windows Restore is only given a small amount of space and that you have switched off hibernation (the hibernation file must be on your root drive and is the size of your memory system).
 
I run a 60 and its doable with good management. Disable hibernate (should with Ssd anyway), if you're running 16gb ram you can reduce down the pagefile, etc.

I run mine with win 7, LR3, cs3, modern warfare 3, assassins creed, loads of other apps and tools and still have a large chunk free.

Ben: said:
Not sure if Ultimate would benefit me much, if I'd use it to its potential etc :/
Click to expand...

Ultimate is pointless. You probably won't even need professional unless you run a domain network. Home premium will suit 99% of people.
 
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Thanks Neil! I'll go for a 60gb then. No idea what page file is :/
Something I'll learn later :)
 
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