Spec Review/Suggestions (£600)

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Dear Spec Gods, do I have to sacrifice a goat or something to get help or can a new member just ask straight away?

Ahem, anyways. I'm looking to build a new computer, I will not be playing any games on it (unless you count the odd game on a VGA emulator) but I will be using it heavily for Photoshop, Illustrator and those types of programs. I'm only looking for base stuff since I already have a monitor, speakers etc.

While waiting for my account to be activated, I looked around and saw the specs you offered other members for similar budgets. Though the majority of those were for gaming. I've created my own list and I was wondering if you could help me, either by making modifications to it or creating specs of your own that you feel will be better suited for what I want to use it for. I want to buy a good processor now to save me money in case I need to upgrade it later for some thing else and I thought that since Photoshop and stuff love RAM, that 8GB would be good enough (I saw a lot of people here recommending the blue Ripjaw as opposed to the red ones, so I went for those).

overclockersukspecs3.png

(Edited with updated prices and specs)

I'm hoping to run Windows 7 on it, I'm thinking that perhaps a better PSU is needed. If there's anything else that I haven't mentioned that I need to mention that might help you, let me know.

Thank you in advance.
 
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Looks like a good spec, can probably be made a little cheaper but I'm too knackered to go sorting through specs at the moment ;)

I'd suggest getting two of the Akasa fans though - I have heard good things about them, and if they are as good as the Noctua fans I have, then they will be substantially quieter than the fan that comes with the case; and if you slow them down with Speedfan or similar, you can make a great noise/flow compromise. Most of the time my fans [including GPU - noctua on 3rd party TRad2 cooler] run just above stall speed and I can barely hear the machine, and I only crank them up for when I'm playing games, where the GPUs voltage controllers appreciate a bit of airflow.

That's a pretty nice spec for £600, although with a bit of creative fiddling, you could probably save a few bob [slightly slower processor, perhaps changing to AM2+ so you can use cheaper DDR2 RAM, etc] but I'll leave that to those who are awake and aren't prone to making glaring errors in their builds, like I am ;)

I think you'll find a quad core machine with 8gb of RAM to be a very, very nice combination...I know I do.
[Q6600/8gb/HD4850/1tb Spinpoint F1]
 
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Cheers, I removed the internal card reader and replaced it with another fan. I can just buy a cheaper external card reader from somewhere.

I'm still trying to decide if that's the processor I want to go for, I've been looking at these:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.83GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail - £171.99


Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail - £159.99

But I don't know if they'll offer significant better performance for the extra cost (especially the Q9550) or if I'll be able to get a good mother board for them for the same price... assuming the Gigabyte one I have in my basket now doesn't work with the Intel ones.

I want to order this sometime early today (take advantage of the week only offers) so that it arrives on Thursday with next day delivery.
 
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But I don't know if they'll offer significant better performance for the extra cost (especially the Q9550) or if I'll be able to get a good mother board for them for the same price... assuming the Gigabyte one I have in my basket now doesn't work with the Intel ones.

I want to order this sometime early today (take advantage of the week only offers) so that it arrives on Thursday with next day delivery.

You wouldn't see much performance increase by switching to a Q9550 and the AM3 Socket has far more longevity than Socket 775 .

The i5 is worth it over an AMD (Just slightly) but the Board cost is higher.

For the Q9950 you're looking at a Socket 775 board which you'd be able to get for under £70.

For the i5 you're looking at the P55 Chipset boards and they can be had for 100-180.

I'd say i5 if you had more cash but as it stands, the AM3 will do fine.
 
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AM3 will be supporting six core CPUs soon [as will AM2+], not sure what is up with Intels roadmap at the moment in comparison, but given the way Intel are mixing and matching their sockets and processors at the moment [S775, s1136, S1366 for Core2, i5/i7 and i7/i9 respectively] it's a fair bet that trying to jump from a mid-range i-series CPU to a top end [IE i5-i7] will probably cost you a motherboard at this rate, whereas with AMD, it looks like it will just be a case of slotting in the new CPU for the next couple of years.

AMD chips might not beat the i5/i7 in benching, but the peace of mind of a relatively stable product line and compatability wins it for me at the moment.
 
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+1 for the build.i think i ll be ordering practically the same.im a photoshop user.
id like to try a few games like the sims 3.that gfx card able to handle that ok and output it via a hmdi cable to a 37" hdtv? And out of interest how can the build be made cheaper? Going for the tricore BE insted of the quad?
 
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Thanks a lot guys, I'll stick with the AM3.

Kickmaass - I gathered from reading around that a quad-core would be better if you're using Photoshop. Though I might be wrong.

There are new deals this week and the AMD Quad-Core BE went down to £149.99.

Would this PSU be better than the one that I have in my specs now?
Antec Basiq Plus 550W Modular Power Supply - £52.99 (This Week Only)


or spend a little more on this

Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK) - £72.99 (This Week Only)


I've decided to wait a few days before ordering in case I find a better collection of parts here.

Edit:

Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H AMD 785G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Would either of these two motherboards be better than the one I currently have planned?
 
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