druddle

Hi all

I need to get a new PC for home. Dont want a laptop, I want a mini tower with a good spec so I can run all the usual Vista things, plus VMware and a few VMs, do video editing, a bit of music editing, that sort of stuff. Dont really need killer graphics as I dont play games, and dont really need TV cards, etc.

I will get an external NAS box, for most of the storage, and already have screen, keyboard, etc, so has anyone got any recommendations of a good PC to look at ?

Dave

HankScorpio

Not so much a recommendation but me and my boss were looking at the new mini Dells and quite an impressive spec in a diddy box and pretty good connectivity as well.

Dell Studio Hybrid Desktop Details

chrisUK300

iTrader: (10)

Try : : : CyberPower PC UK : : : can specify all the components yourself on there. Decent price too.
Will you be building it yourself?

If you are into video editing I definately recommend you get a quad core processor. The intel Q6600 is a great chip for the price.
I would look at something along the lines of

Intel Q6600 CPU

Get a good quality power supply (most important part of system IMO) Corsair 540W is brilliant

Decent Motherboard ASUS P5KE is pretty good

4Gb RAM by someone like Corsair or OCZ etc

500GB HD Samsung Spinpoint ones are dirt cheap at the moment

The new ATI video cards are really good value. Id go for a 4850

Most motherboards have decent onboard sound but if you want a soundcard a decent one can be picked up for a decent price

Finally an operating system. Might as well go for Vista 64bit to take advantage of 4Gb RAM

Chuck all this in a half decent case, obviously with optical drives and CPU cooler of your choice and I reckon you can pick that lot up for around £500-£600. Obviously will have to pay someone to put it all together unless you feel comfy doing it yourself. Still will come in under your £800 budget.

Hope this helps mate and makes sense (it is late )


Chris

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

Chris has some good advice there

I would go with a standard cooler on the Q6600 if you get the Energy Efficent Version
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

and use a Antec Sonata III case for a quiet PC - PSU already included
Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case - EarthWatts 500W PSU

And if you go the 64bit version of Vista - 8gb for memory could be useful for video editing
GeIL 8GB (4x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB28GB6400C5QC)

Dave.

druddle

Thanks guys. Have had a look at those parts and got it up to about 560 quid at the moment (without optical drive, cables, Vista and cooler....)

Dave

chrisUK300

iTrader: (10)

Good point although if your a bit of a techie geek like me get a decent cooler such as the Thermalright Ultra 120 and get it overclocked. Im running a
Q6600 at 3.4ghz on this cooler. Tis a big cooler though so may have fitment problems in some cases.

Never thought about going for 8GB of RAM, would make sense with DDR2 RAM being so cheap at the moment......might have to upgrade myself now

chrisUK300

iTrader: (10)

Try ADMI Limited - AWD-IT - Computer components video memory hdd motherboard pc modding hardware software abit asus

Seen Vista on there for about £60. Add another £15 or so for optical drive and your ready to go. All cables you need will be supplied with motherboard.

Chris

ChefDude

I got this lot for 900 quid 2 months ago...
Antec Sonata Plus 550 Quiet Midi-Tower Case - NeoPower 550W Modular PSU (Black/Silver)
Noctua NF-S12 800RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin Noctua NF-S12 800RPM 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin
Zalman CNPS9700-LED CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
vista 64bit ultimate
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - Retail (ST310005N1D1AS-RK)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail
Abit IP35 Pro XE Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
OCZ 8GB (4x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Quad Channel Platinum Low Latency XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P8008GQ)
OcUK GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

all from www. overclockers.co.uk, Scan Computers UK: Computer Hardware - All and ebuyer for the vista oem.

it all works with vista 64 - seamlessley.

Also, it all fits in the case too!!!

DemonDave

iTrader: (13)

Agreed - but for someone not overclocking too much I would stick with the standard cooler for ease.

but if I was using a cooler in this case I would use

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775))

chrisUK300

iTrader: (10)

Never used the Artic Freezer 7 but heard good things about it. Didnt realise how cheap they where.

druddle

Right after doing some looking around I have got to this spec...

Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case - EarthWatts 500W PSU
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.00GHZ (1333FSB) - Retail
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB24GB6400C5DC)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB24GB6400C5DC)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB ST3750840AS SATA-II 8MB Cache Hard Drive - OEM
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB ST3750840AS SATA-II 8MB Cache Hard Drive - OEM
Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Pioneer DVR-115DBK 20x DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Any opinions ?

Dave

staffs Mike

A hot running card like the HD4850 isn't best suited to the Sonata III. If you want to keep to that sort of budget then the Antec 300 + corsair 450VX will be a better combo.

If you want to spend a little more, the Coolermaster CM-690 + the same PSU will be fantastic for noise, cable management and especially air flow given it's possible fan arangements.

The Freezer is OK I have one, it's very noisey when it spins up though.

This is better and can be found for £17 on scans today only deals
Scan Computers UK: Xigmatek HDT-S1283 (H.D.T.) 120mm PWM Fan x3 Heat-pipe LGA775/K8/AM2 Cpu cooler Quad Core Ready

(not today though unfortunatly)

I would go for Western Digital 640GB AAKS drives. £50 on scan and they use 320GB platters making them a fair bit faster than 250GB platter based drives

Everything else looks good

druddle

Thanks Mike. I dont need stunning graphics, I am just going on the advice above. Is there another GC you would recommend as I really like the look of that case !!

Dave

staffs Mike

Well the new nvidia 9800GT is the same performance as the older 8800GT but cooler running.

There is always aftermarket cooling solutions for the HD4850, straight out of the box nothing you have to do yourself.

This is sapphires
Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI Dual slot cooler HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

Supposed to be much better on tempreatures

I'd probably go for that one tbh. If you wanted a bit of extra juice, sapphire also do the TOXIC version which uses a fairly expensive zalman cooler which allows them cool running and it is overclocked to hell and back.

druddle

Is there any reason why I should go for SATA DVD drive and not IDE ? Probably only use it for the OS install !!!!

Dave

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

This is a good all rounder tbh, its in your budget but does not include a second dvd writer (less than 20 quid) a floppy drive (about 5 quid) no monitor/keyboard or mouse.

Case Scan Computers UK: Coolermaster Cavalier 3 Black Tower Case w/o PSU £64.99
MoBo Scan Computers UK: Asus P5K-VM iG33, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/800/667, SATA II, uATX, On Board VGA £59.90
CPu Scan Computers UK: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, Yorkfield Core, S775, 2.5 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB L2 Cache, OEM £171.77
Mem Scan Computers UK: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX £41.88
Mem Scan Computers UK: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX £41.88
grap Scan Computers UK: 512MB XFX 9800 GTX+ XT, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 2200MHz GDDR3, GPU 765MHz, 128 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV £164.46
soun Scan Computers UK: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card UK Retail £59.56
PSU Scan Computers UK: 600w Tagan TG-600-U33 2ForceII Intel EPS12V V2.91, standard ATX V2.2, x4 +12V rails, 80% efficiency £68.14
HDD Scan Computers UK: 500 GB Maxtor STM3500320AS DiamondMax 22, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ £43.55
DVD Scan Computers UK: Pioneer DVR-215BK 20x DVD±R, 10x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM £17.35


OS Scan Computers UK: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1* 32Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £63.33

Total

£796.99