I've been looking for a new pc for a while now and Vadim seem to be the best place for peace of mind and quality, so its time to go for it!
The basics:
Budget is £2000-2300 ex vat, its flexible if needed but thats the region id like to spend.
Priorites: Running at high resolution (2560) > Noise level > Performance > Looks
Some background
Im a designer by trade, mostly photoshop with some video editing / 3d modelling, and I like to game in my spare time. About 8 months ago I got a new job and decided to invest in a nice new 30" Apple cinema screen, which is beautiful and dramatically helped my workflow, but basically meant I couldnt run recent games anymore My monitors worth more than my pc, and a 7800 GT wasnt up to the task anymore!
I looked at a 8800 ultra, but it was around a year old by this point and didnt seem like a good investment.. so i waited for the 9xxx series. The GX2 came out and well I just wasnt sold by the sli on one card solution, combined with its heat and noise... so i waited for the 280 to come out. With some watercooling im sure it will meet all my needs for a few years to come.. im not looking for ultra high setting bleeding edge gaming, just smooth play at 2560x1600.
Initial thoughts
Im thinking a 280GTX some form of watercooling solution to keep heat and noise down (it'll prob be an all night runner), a nice chunk of ram would be good too but outside that im totally flexible.
Im not looking for flashy lights or UV / window features, just a plain quiet box to sit under my desk.. seems like a waste given what Vadim can do but yeah its for work too so need to tone it down a bit!
Im already running a partitioned Samsung Spinpoint F1 with Vista 64, so not sure if there is any need for HD's unless there is an advantage to having Vadim set one up from scratch as part of the build..
Here is my effort and just under budget. I havent selected an os as you allreay have that and I have put a 1TB spinpoint in just because they are so cheap
Case: Cooler Master COSMOS S (No PSU)
Cabling: Standard Cable Management
Window: none selected
Cooling Mesh: none selected
Airbrushing: none selected
Fans type: Non-LED fans
Cooling: LiquoCool Premium D (CPU+1xVGA+1xChipset)
PSU: Coolermaster Real Power M850W Modular PSU
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe (Intel P45 - 1600 FSB Conroe/Penryn)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Retail (4x2.66GHz 1333FSB 12Mb)
Memory: (2x) G.Skill DDR2-800 2x2048MB PQ Series Dual Channel Kit
Graphics: BFG Nvidia 280GTX OC 1024Mb PCIe 2.0 HDCP
RAID Card: none selected
Hard Drive: 1Tb Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 7200 32mb Cache SATA II
Storage HD: none selected
Optical Drive: SONY-NEC Optiarc AD-7203S SATA 18x DVDRW Black OEM
Optical Drive 2: none selected
Floppy Drive: none selected
PCI card: none selected
PCIe Device: none selected
Sound Card: Creative 7.1 X-FI ExtremeGamer
Operating System: none selected
Secondary OS: none selected
OS Extras: Support CD (Genesis CD)
Building: Standard Build (5-15 working days)
Overclocking: Safe Stable Overclocking (5-40% - CPU/VGA)
Warranty: Deluxe 1 Year Collect and Return-Onsite Warranty (+1 year RTB)
Free T-Shirt: Vadim Computers Baseball T-Shirt (XL)
Packaging: Heavy-duty packaging (Full Towers - 80x80x40)
Heres my effort. i have tried to make it more future proof for you. Quad core, 4gb of ddr3 (and able to upgrade ti 8 later) a 280gtx with potential for SLI later, 2 tb storage with loads of potential for later. £200 over budget but i think you have the best of both with this, fast system,lots of upgrade potential and almost dead on budget.
Custom Fusion-CS-Intel-775G3 system 43889
Case: SILVERSTONE TJ07 Black CASE (NO PSU)
Cabling: Supreme Cable Management (no UV lights)
Window: none selected
Airbrushing: none selected
Cooling: Antarctic Cooling (3-5 Fans digital controlled+VGA/HD Cooling)
Fans type: Non-LED fans
PSU: Coolermaster Real Power M1000W Modular PSU
Motherboard: ASUS Striker II Extreme (Nvidia 790i - 1600/1333 FSB DDR3)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Retail (4x2.83GHz 1333FSB 12Mb)
CPU Cooling: Thermalright IFX-14 CPU Cooler(all CPUs)
Memory: G.Skill DDR3-1600 2x2048MB PI CL7 Dual Channel Kit
Graphics: BFG Nvidia 280GTX OC 1024Mb PCIe 2.0 HDCP
Hard Drive: 1Tb Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 7200 32mb Cache SATA II
Storage HD: 1Tb Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 7200 32mb Cache SATA II
Optical Drive: SONY-NEC Optiarc AD-7203A 20x DVDRW Black OEM
Optical Drive 2: none selected
Floppy Drive: Lian-Li 3.5" Aluminium 25 in 1 Card Reader and USB (Black)
PCIe Device: none selected
PCI card: none selected
Sound Card: Integrated High Definition Audio with Digital Out
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64 bit DVD OEM
Secondary OS: none selected
OS Extras: Support CD (Genesis CD)
Building: Saver Build (10-20 working days)
Overclocking: Safe Stable Overclocking (5-40% - CPU/VGA)
Warranty: Deluxe 1 Year Collect and Return-Onsite Warranty (+1 year RTB)
Free T-Shirt: Vadim Computers Baseball T-Shirt (M)
Packaging: Heavy-duty packaging (Full Towers - 80x80x40)
Changes: Changes to the configuration are possible
^^ no need for packaging when silverstone tj107 case selected remmeber.
Quote:
About 8 months ago I got a new job and decided to invest in a nice new 30" Apple cinema screen
ouch that a nice monitor, i would think maybe GTX260 maybe better than 280, sinse it will save you some money, and also performs very well when overclocked a little and does high res gaming, without going over the top.
i suggest get a gtx260 overclock a little and sinse watercooled will run very well, and even upto 280+specs but cheaper.
Case: Lian-Li V2100 Plus Silver
Cabling: Standard Cable Management
Cooling: LiquoCool Antarctic D (CPU+VGA+Chipset)
Fans type: Non-LED fans
PSU: Coolermaster Real Power M700W Modular
Motherboard: Asus P5K Premium Wi-Fi
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Retail (4x2.83GHz 1333FSB 12Mb)
Memory: G.Skill DDR2-800 PK 2x2048MB CL4
Graphics: BFG Nvidia 280GTX OC 1024Mb
Hard Drive: 1Tb Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ 7200 32mb Cache
Optical Drive: SONY-NEC Optiarc AD-7203S SATA 18x DVDRW
Floppy Drive: Lian-Li 3.5" Aluminium 25 in 1 Card Reader and USB
Sound Card: Integrated High Definition Audio with Digital Out
OS Extras: Support CD (Genesis CD)
Building: Saver Build (10-20 working days)
Overclocking: none selected
Warranty: Deluxe 1 Year Collect and Return-Onsite Warranty (+1 year RTB)
Packaging: Heavy-duty packaging (Full Towers - 80x80x40)
£2327.78 inc. VAT
The watercooling is probably verging on overkill (as this doesn't include overclocking), but the above would surely be extremely stable, cool, and quiet. Four CPU cores, 4GB of RAM with tight timings, the GTX 280, a very stylish (but not luminous/glowing) case, and another TB of fast storage thrown in for fun. You could of course save a few hundred pounds by choosing a less extreme watercooling option.
Just wondering, does 4 gig ram like you have^^, but 800 speed, better than having 1066 ram 2 gig?
or is 1066 in 4 gig realy that much more performance than 800 4gig ram?
It's a very small difference, in most of the benchmarks I've seen. Memory timings do affect performance as well (the lower the better), and those G.Skill DDR2-800 modules are 4-4-4-12.
It's only really going to matter if you must have the absolute highest performance in benchmarks etc. As Snaga suggests, an extra gig or two is going to make a much bigger difference than frequency in demanding apps.
Hey peeps hope you all had a good weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped Sclarke out whilst i was sipping beer over the BBQ last night.
A big Vadim to Sclarke.
I've specced out a system for you that falls within your budget: http://www.vadim.co.uk/Custom_Config/43908 and i think that it will suit your needs perfectly. It's got liquicool antarctic d, 4 gigs of ddr3, the gtx280 and quad core processor that we can overclock quite nicely.
I left out the operating system as you can save a bit of cash and just send us your copy of Vista 64 with the product key when you place your order and we can install it for you. I added a 300gb velociraptor and i recommend that you go for it as your system drive and we can leave a spare sata cable and power connector when we ship the system to you, so you can stick your 1tb spinpoint in there and use it as a storage drive.
Wow thanks for all the great welcome and responses! all solid suggestions.
I notice every single build has Coolermaster psu's, is there a reason for this? I remember hearing that Seasonic / corsair used to be considered amongst the quietest but obviously Vadim dont list them.. I've never tried Coolermaster personally and just wondered why everyone seemed to choose it.
@Sabaoth Yeah i noticed that post, useful but not aimed specifically at pushing pixels at this res, which is my main concern. Thanks tho
@Wolf Thanks for being first to post a spec, your right storage is so cheap these days it hard to resist throwing loads of 1Tb drives in.. who needs optical storage for backups anymore!
@Snaga I think your right about DDR3 just for future proofing but I've just gotta have water cooled... mainly because I havnt had it before and it seems so cool on every level
@Shadowcreaper yeah I love my monitor, the Dell 30" was a fair bit cheaper but you cant fault apple style, plus not a single dead or stuck pixel on a screen this size is a small miracle too!
@Fearless Hero Nice, but while im normally not one for overclocking its just too tempting having a watercool setup and experts like the guys at Vadim setting it up..
@Andy Somehow your build seems to have absolutely everything, the only thing i'd change is the tshirt size two quick questions:
1. My vista is OEM, and last time i did a general hardware update it went crazy with verification and such to the point where i had to call MS to re-enable it. Is this going to be an issue?
2. I have a partioned 750 spinpoint with my OS on and a 1tb storage drive, is there any issue me adding both of them back into the new system for extra storage? not really needed but seems a shame to discard it.. would there be any heat / power issues with 3 hd's running?
Thanks again everyone, hopefully in a little over 10-20 days i'll be the proud owner of a Vadim system
My monitors worth more than my pc, and a 7800 GT wasnt up to the task anymore!
hope you all had a good weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped Sclarke out whilst i was sipping beer over the BBQ last night.
to Sclarke.
two quick questions:
