Turtle
18/8/07 01:15:18 PM
Overlord
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Mainly upgrading for bioshock/spore(lol) and because of getting my first tax return :) I also do photo/video editing and modelling/programming (comp sci @ uni).
I've had a look at a fair few other threads and put together my own:
cpu Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU 2X4Mb; Quad Core $349.00
mobo Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P R 1.x MB P35 775 PCI-E DDR2 $227.00
ram 2x 2gig DDR2-667 Kingston RAM PC2-5300 $240.00
gfx Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GTS 320M 16X PCI-E $427.00
hdd 500Gb WD 7200RPM SATA2 16M HDD 16Mb Cache; $158.00
hdd os 80Gb WD 7200RPM SATA2 HDD 8Mb Cache $69.00
burner Pioneer DVR212 Black SATA DVD Writer 18X $49.00
case Antec Performance P182 Black ATX Case $209.00
psu CoolerMaster Extreme Power 550W PSU. $97.00
Total: $1,825.00
Note: Prices are from WA, austin.net.au ple.com.au netplus.com.au simline.com.au
Queries:
1. Also after a Keyboard(wireless)/mouse(wired) combo, any suggestions?
2. I'm not 100% sure on the PSU, would it be better getting Antec EarthWatts 430W ATX Power Supply $108? I'm not sure which brands are quality sorry.
3. I've heard new gfx cards are coming out soon, would it be worth waiting?
4. I know there's nothing that's "future proof" but i'm hoping with the quad core, decent gfx and 4gig ram it stays alright for at least a year or two.. or am I stretching it? -----
nomis/batty/turtle/fork
nenenenennee BATWOMANNNN <3
RAWR
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gollynamedslash
18/8/07 02:05:31 PM
Apprentice
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you could go the Logitech Internet 350 Keyboard and Mouse Combo $25 from MSY, however both are wired im afraid. You could always go for them seperatly.
As for the PSU, it seems a bit sus because its that cheap. You probably should go for the Antec, but dont quote me as im not familiar with CoolMaster.
The only other thing is that unless you have a 64 bit OS, you wont be able to use 4 gigs of ram. Apparently a 32bit OS can only address 3.3gigs of ram, but would utilise less than that anyway. You may want to consider the 2 gigs of ram for now. Even if you are trying to futureproof, you can still purchase more in the future.
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[Antec 900][P35-DS3P][E6600][HD2900XT][2G Kingston PC-5300 667mhz][600W Zalman ZM600-HP][Seagate 320gb SataII][Asus Lightscribe][SB X-Fi Xtrmgamr Fatality Pro]
All this and more coming soon to a PC near me
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Turtle
18/8/07 02:40:03 PM
Overlord
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Thanks for the info, will have to check which version of Vista I can get through uni (i know it's business, but 32 or 64?)
I guess the next question is would it be a big increase from my current computer..
athlon64 3200+
nvidia geforce 7800 GT
2gig ram -----
nomis/batty/turtle/fork
nenenenennee BATWOMANNNN <3
RAWR
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nukejockey
18/8/07 03:04:03 PM
Champion
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Quote by Turtle
Thanks for the info, will have to check which version of Vista I can get through uni (i know it's business, but 32 or 64?)
I guess the next question is would it be a big increase from my current computer..
athlon64 3200+
nvidia geforce 7800 GT
2gig ram
Should be, but depending on how happy you are to wait it would be more beneficial for you to wait for the next gen cards to arrive near the end of the year. -----
Quote by donaldo74
if you still feel the same right after you blow then its love.
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gollynamedslash
18/8/07 05:18:44 PM
Journeyman
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yer it should be a big increase from you current rig, especially in the CPU/GPU department. You should notice heaps better performance with the Q6600, and likewise with 8800GTS.
If i were you i would still only go with the 2 gigs of ram regardless of which OS you end up choosing, unless you intend to have multiple large applications running at once. For me a game like BF2 takes about 500-600mb of ram while playing, that still leaves me with at least 400mb ram free for other processes. I dont believe ive ever had less than 100mb ram free at any one time on my pc. 2 gigs would be plenty. So unless you plan to have mutiple applications, (and large apps like games, video editing software, not like IE, or MSN) open at the one time, i would go for the 2 gigs and put the rest of the money towards and soundcard or something else. -----
[Antec 900][P35-DS3P][E6600][HD2900XT][2G Kingston PC-5300 667mhz][600W Zalman ZM600-HP][Seagate 320gb SataII][Asus Lightscribe][SB X-Fi Xtrmgamr Fatality Pro]
All this and more coming soon to a PC near me
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Turtle
19/8/07 02:06:03 PM
Overlord
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Thanks for the help guys, and very good point gollynamedslash i've always wanted a real sound card :) Any suggestions for about $120?
I'm currently using (descent but can't remember exact name and not at home) wireless headphones and while they're awesome and handy i'm not sure if they're the best for gaming ie getting the best out of bioshock.. =/ -----
nomis/batty/turtle/fork
nenenenennee BATWOMANNNN <3
RAWR
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gollynamedslash
19/8/07 02:36:26 PM
Journeyman
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MSY have the Creative X-fi Xtreme Audio for $95 or the Xtreme Gamer for $155
also check out http://www.pricepoint.com.au/shop/product_info.php?cPath=198&products_id=2623 it may seem cheap, but if your in the market for a cheap reliable sound card for $30, this is your card. This is great if you dont have great speakers, or use headphones.
this is the rest of what price point offer
http://www.pricepoint.com.au/shop/index.php?cPath=198 -----
[Antec 900][P35-DS3P][E6600][HD2900XT][2G Kingston PC-5300 667mhz][600W Zalman ZM600-HP][Seagate 320gb SataII][Asus Lightscribe][SB X-Fi Xtrmgamr Fatality Pro]
All this and more coming soon to a PC near me
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Turtle
19/8/07 03:22:00 PM
Overlord
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I will mainly be using headphones so that sound card looks good, I've been looking in the Audio forum and found the 'Audio Technica
ATH-AD700', at $229 they're a bit pricy but I need something decent and Headphones don't really go out of date with bigger better things so they should last me for quite a while :)
Thanks again for your help, just need to wait for the cheques to come in the mail now! -----
nomis/batty/turtle/fork
nenenenennee BATWOMANNNN <3
RAWR
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wilma
19/8/07 08:21:05 PM
Apprentice
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4gb if you are going 64bit Vista and 2gb if you are going 32bit Vista.
Note that 32bit vista doesn't recognise 4gb of memory!
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000811.html -----
E6420@3.864Ghz | 965 DS3P | TwinXC4@2Gb 483mhz 4 4 4 12 | Powercolor x1950PRO
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confined
19/8/07 10:22:26 PM
Titan
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What monitor/resolution will you be using? As 320MB of video RAM probably won't suffice at higher resolution gaming. -----
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Turtle
19/8/07 11:47:52 PM
Overlord
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I have dual 19" LCD's, both running 1280*1024. What would the next card up be?
edit
So far it looks like:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU 2X4Mb; Quad Core
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P R 1.x MB P35 775 PCI-E DDR2
1x 2gig DDR2-667 Kingston RAM PC2-5300
Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GTS 320M 16X PCI-E
500Gb WD 7200RPM SATA2 16M HDD 16Mb Cache;
80Gb WD 7200RPM SATA2 HDD 8Mb Cache
Pioneer DVR212 Black SATA DVD Writer 18X
Creative Sound Blaster - 5.1 Channel
Antec Performance P182 Black ATX Case
CoolerMaster Extreme Power 550W PSU. ATX, 12cm Cooling Fan, 3x S-ATA, 20+4pin, 1x PCI-E [RP-550-PCAR]
logitech g15
Microsoft IntelliMouse - Explorer 4
Audio Technica ATH-AD700
All up comes to ~2,000 (inc keyboard/mouse/headphones/extra big hdd).
I'm excited ^_^
Edited by Turtle: 20/8/2007 12:51:23 AM -----
nomis/batty/turtle/fork
nenenenennee BATWOMANNNN <3
RAWR
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schplade
20/8/07 02:34:34 AM
Guru
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Ditch the 80GB hard drive and just get a bigger main hard drive then partition it for windows/storage.
Stick with the 4GB of ram if you can afford it, ram is cheap atm and eventually you most likely will move to a 64bit os when applications start coming out in it and drivers become more regular so you might as well have it ready for you, also I don't believe that 2GB is enough for a high end system any more, if you like to play games and leave things open or do any kind of rendering it helps a lot and games will always be needing more and more memory. -----
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Turtle
20/8/07 09:10:36 AM
Overlord
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I heard there was a decent speed increase with os/pagefiles on different drives, is this not true?
Also I believe I can only get 32bit Vista through uni. When I finally get my hands on 64bit would it be easy to upgrade or would I need to wipe everything?
I should probably also ask, what items would be the hardest to find so I can get them first then the rest when next pay comes in?
Edited by Turtle: 20/8/2007 10:18:17 AM -----
nomis/batty/turtle/fork
nenenenennee BATWOMANNNN <3
RAWR
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schplade
20/8/07 11:55:32 AM
Guru
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It is only a decent speed increase if you start running out of memory and actually start using your page file for whatever you are doing at the time, mostly it wont have an affect.
You will most likely have to re-install vista to move to 64bit but that is why you make a "vista/applications" partition so when you do have to format it that is all you lose and it wont be so hard to get everything back, of course you should also be doing regular backups of your important data anyway so it shouldn't matter if you lose it all ;).
Also the items that are hardest to find depends on the stores you are going to... but I believe most of the things on your list would be fairly easy to find, maybe the headphones might be harder to get? -----
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inatey2
20/8/07 07:25:10 PM
Disciple
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Quote by Turtle
Also I believe I can only get 32bit Vista through uni. When I finally get my hands on 64bit would it be easy to upgrade or would I need to wipe everything?
Edited by Turtle: 20/8/2007 10:18:17 AM
are you sure i am an ENGG student at USYD and i got a 64 bit copy and a 32 but i only have one license so i cant use both. -----
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Turtle
21/8/07 07:07:34 PM
Overlord
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I contacted the guy who organises it and he's getting the 64 bit ver put up, thanks inatey2! -----
nomis/batty/turtle/fork
nenenenennee BATWOMANNNN <3
RAWR
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wilma
21/8/07 07:57:55 PM
Journeyman
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Do you mean as an engineering student at a university you get Vista for Free???? -----
E6420@3.864Ghz | 965 DS3P | TwinXC4@2Gb 483mhz 4 4 4 12 | Powercolor x1950PRO
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inatey2
21/8/07 10:57:45 PM
Disciple
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if you do an it related engg. i do FFY, electrical/computer/software stream and i get it. things like civil maybe not. if you didn't get an email about it don't hold your breath. but ask at the link building info desk there is an office were they give them out. don't remember the room number.
FYI, its a single student licence, that can only be installed while your a student, after you are no longer a student you can keep using it but not allowed to install again.
it also have visual studio 2k5, and you can get server 2k3, server 2k, win 2k and a crap load of other MS software, just not office -----
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Turtle
22/8/07 12:33:58 AM
Overlord
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I'm a computer science student at Murdoch (WA) and there's a bunch of programs we can get through the MSDNAA.
I'll be picking up the majority of these items tomorrow, everything still looks up to date and best value for money? -----
nomis/batty/turtle/fork
nenenenennee BATWOMANNNN <3
RAWR
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confined
22/8/07 12:36:54 AM
Titan
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As schplade said you should get a larger HDD than 80GB for your main drive. For an OS only it will be fine but if you're going to install software and games and whatnot on there you'll find you will run out of space sooner rather than later. -----
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