computer spec check

[Nemesis]

Hi, this is my config for a computer that I am going to use for gaming (not the latest titles), photo editing and 3d at a hobby level. My budget is under £800. I have a mouse and screen. Just wondering apart from SLI what the differences are between the mobo i selected and the PRO version. Also will 450W psu be enough because I was considering getting a 600W version but apparently this does not support sli.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost
Motherboard
ASUS® P7P55D-E PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ / SLI SUPPORT
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS450 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11 (price seems to be going down)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD6400AARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply & Case Cooling
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1156 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 32 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
DVI Cable
1 x 2 Metre DVI Cable (£5)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Internet 350 USB Keyboard (£9)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £794.00 including VAT and delivery. * still under budget... nice

 

[Sleinous]

I think, replacing the GTS 250 with a GTS 450, and if not enough room in budget, downgrading that mobo as its more expensive because it has SATA III and USB 3.0. You can add a PCIe USB 3.0 card later, and, SATA III is only really useful for SSDs which you havent used in this build As for the Crossfire support, well you have speced in an Nvidia card so that advantage isnt advantageous either. However, from upgrading to a GTS 450, you should get nice fps on your classic titles. I do like the HDD you have chosen (the 64mb cached one) PSU is fine, stock cpu cooling is fine, CPU is fine, case is nice. RAM is fine, warranty @ silver was good choice too. Looking like a nice build.

 

[Nemesis]

Cheers Sleinous for the comments will probably stick with the original mobo, even after upgrading the graphics card it is still under budget, after a bit of research the design of the board appears to be better quality ignoring the added features. Part of me wonders how worth it it would be to upgrade the graphics up to the gtx460 for £16. otherwise can i expect the gts450 to go down in price anytime soon, it is a new release after all. ps these forums have been v. usefull and everyone helpful.

 

[Phoenix]

The GTX460 is a fantastic card that you should definately consider, you could get the 1GB version and still be £30.00 under budget. Also, I recommend getting the 64-bit version of windows 7 instead of the 32-bit version so that you can utilize the full 4GB of R.A.M. (it doesn't cost any more).

 

[Sleinous]

Ye as Phoenix said basically. I just thought that mobo was a shame as it only has crossfire support which is for linking 2 ati cards and not sli, the nvidia version. Maybe consider upping the mobo to the next one up that supports SLI? As adding a 2nd gts 450 in a few years time will far outperform ont gtx 460 on that current non expandable mobo

 

[Nemesis]

again cheers for the comments. i've changed the mobo and hdd to stay under budget, also i understand i will need to buy a more powerful psu when and if i get sli, hopefully they will be cheaper by then??? if not doesnt really matter. not really sure 64 bits worth the hassle, thanks to both of you

 

[Meds]

To be honest with you going for the 64bit OS shouldn't be a problem at all. I have old software which I used to run on XP (inc games) which work perfectly fine on my 64bit Win 7 OS. If you decide not to go for a 64bit OS, you will not be able to utilize all 4GB and it will also rule out any point of adding more RAM in the future as a 32bit OS is limited to around 3GB max.

 

[Sleinous]

again cheers for the comments. i've changed the mobo and hdd to stay under budget, also i understand i will need to buy a more powerful psu when and if i get sli, hopefully they will be cheaper by then??? if not doesnt really matter. not really sure 64 bits worth the hassle, thanks to both of you

Make sure the mobo youve now chosen has 2x PCIe x16 lanes, and, supports SLI.

 

[Nemesis]

Ordered!! and yes the mobo has 2 pcie x16 lanes at (8x8)
i know i need a more powerful psu before i can sli and it might seem a little weird not getting one now rather than later but my budget realyy is that tight
Still v. excited though !!!

 

[Sleinous]

problem is with x8 /x8 theres not much point in getting the second GPU as they will both be working at half speed roughly. So its either one GPU running at full x16 or 2 runnig at x8 each. Maybe an upgrade on the motherboard side of things would have been better suited. I missed this

 

[Nemesis]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

interesting i've heard that each gpu doesnt gain much more advantage from 16 lanes as opposed to 8 lanes, way i understand it is that its similar to sata 3gbs vs 6gbs on a hdd where the extra bandwidth is unnecesary. maybe i will need to check this though hmmmm???????

***edit ***
considering im using gts 450(s) these tests with 480s (very high bandwidth requiring cards) reassure me a little
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?high=&m=306175&mpage=1#306223

also see

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_480_PCI-Express_Scaling/25.html

 

[Sleinous]

Oh yes lol I forgot youre using 450s, nah this should hopefully be ok then! Yeah its with high end that you're gonna see problems. So now all you need to do is save up for addons in the future?

 

[Nemesis]

Hmm just wondering suppose i went for the 600w psu would i be able to run two gts450's in sli with it
you mentioned the 6pin to molex adapter but i thought that was for use with a modular psu

could someone clear this up for me????

 

[Sleinous]

We have calculated your specification to require around 563W of power including a 20% allowance

So yes, 600W is enough

Second question - I was reading around on forums, some say its fine on non modular but i'd rather you checked with PCS too though

 

[Nemesis]

okkk after a little bit of deliberation im gonna just go for the corsair 650W under the understanding that this will be able to run two gts450s
guessin its alrite to amend an order if its still in proccessing.

 

[Sleinous]

Yep 100% with no charge

 

[Nemesis]

ok my PC is in building now (WOOP WOOP) anyway its waiting for windows 32bit, as can be found out from my sig. Is this normal or a sign to get 64bit???

By sign i mean someone strongly hinting a change to me lol??

 

[PCS]

Get 64-bit. Very few customers order 32-bit these days (less than 5%).

 

[Sleinous]

No point in 32bit, 64bit will soon have more dirvers available than 32bit ever had. 32bit only uses a max of 3.5GB RAM or something? Gorman will enlighten you on teh subject, and unicore processing. Not more than one comand can be carried out at any one time on a 32bit platform.

 

[Nemesis]

aaaaargh cant handle the pressure ... I dont know
Just found this article on GTS 450 SLI scaling
Its quite impressive
I was considering dual booting with a high-ram / 64bit Linux, Help please, based OS anyway and just using Windows for backwards compatible gaming!!

EDIT:
ok apparently main compatibility issues seem to be drivers and lack of 16bit support neither of which really apply to me.
Im in-building and it seems to be waiting for the OS, probably will change but the ammendment charge makes me go 'Meh'