Is there such a thing as too powerful??

S

StuPC

Member
Hi everyone,

I'm a new boy on the forums here, but seeing all the incredibly helpful advice and comments given here I wanted to ask some opinions on my hoped-for new PC.

I've currently got a two-year-old but quite heavily modified Dell Inspiron with a Q6600 processor, 60Gb SSD+1Tb WD Green HDD, 1Gb ATI 5770 and 3gb of RAM. I've been very happy with it and really enjoyed getting to grips with boosting and upgrading parts when I could afford to.

But I've just gotten a little bit of extra cash (basically, about £900 to spare) and was planning to upgrade to this beast -

COOLERMASTER SILEO 500 QUIET MID TOWER CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-870 Quad Core (2.93GHz, 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
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

3rd Graphics Card
NONE

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB OCZ VERTEX 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD (upto 285MB/sR | 275MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
NONE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NONE

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply & Case Cooling
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)

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

I'd love to hear what people think/recommend - I want the quietest, fastest and most powerful PC I can get for £900, something that can do some very high-spec gaming+a bit of video and not even break a sweat.

And, let's be honest, something that will make me smile just *looking* at it and knowing I have a monster of a PC! :-D I'd like it to be pretty much untouchable for at least a year or two...
The processor choice is between an i5 760 and an i7 870, but would I really be just as happy (and richer) with an i5 processor?

I'm planning to keep the 5770 until I can afford something better in a few months time (hence no graphics card).
I'm also going to sell the old SSD, but keep the HDD with all my media and documents on it and transfer that straight to the new PC.

Any advice or observations or suggestions would be really welcome!

Cheers,
Stu
 
Sleinous

Sleinous

Author Level
Ah was going to suggest keeping old ssd, scrapping new one - still new tech and theyll lose their value so quickly. Depending on what gpu you want later, id upgrade that psu, tx 750w tx 850w?
 
S

StuPC

Member
Thanks Sleinous!
I wanted a new bigger SSD because the old one's gotten a bit full so this seems a good time to get a bigger one (HDD isn't even half full yet!)
Regardng the PSU - does it really need that much extra? I'll be getting a new GPU as I said, but otherwise I'm not expecting any massive upgrades (not planning on TWO GPUs or anything like that!)
 
Evil Tactician

Evil Tactician

Gold Level Poster
To future proof your suggested spec, I would make the following adjustments:

HDD
Use your existing solid state drive - saving a ton of cash, which can be used for more important parts.
Buying a second 1TB 6Gb/s WD HDD to make up for the storage space. You will run games absolutely fine from that as well, reserve the SSD for things that really need it / run system files off it.

Ram
Ram is relatively inexpensive these days, and since your build supports it, I would definitely go for 3x2 GB (6GB) in Triple Channel set-up, rather than 4GB Dual Channel. 4GB is fine right now, but you'll be happy you went with 6GB in a year or so!

PSU
I'm with Sleinous on this one, bump it up to a more powerful PSU. It's not that much more expensive and it's going to make your machine a lot more future proof. Trust me, you DON'T want to end up having to replace the PSU because you underdid it - it's a pain in the backside and will end up being more expensive. It's a component you don't want to try and save money on - the lifespan of all other components depends on it!

GPU
You could consider a second 5770, they're not that expensive and it would get you some additional life out of the current one as well? You can delay having to upgrade to more expensive graphics cards this way until either prices of existing cards drop or something better hits the market. Just an idea I wanted to bring to the table.
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Prolific Poster
Evil Tactician said:
Ram
Ram is relatively inexpensive these days, and since your build supports it, I would definitely go for 3x2 GB (6GB) in Triple Channel set-up, rather than 4GB Dual Channel. 4GB is fine right now, but you'll be happy you went with 6GB in a year or so!
Click to expand...
The i7-870 runs memory in dual channel so it would be better going with either 4GB or 8GB.
 
S

StuPC

Member
Thanks, guys, some excellent things to think about here. I'll probably stick with 4Gb of RAM and consider upgrading to 8Gb later. A more powerful PSU definitely sounds like a good investment, but I'm torn regarding the SSD... :-(
 
S

StuPC

Member
OK, I've taken all that onboard and decided to reuse the SSD I already have (for just the OS), get a 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX for everything else, bump the PSU up to a 600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail, and - most significantly IMHO - go for 64-bit Win7 with 8Gb of RAM. I've been a resolutely 32-bit man before but am now just about persuaded that 64-bit is the way forward, and since without the new SSD I can afford the extra RAM I've decided to take the plunge!

Going to look into upgrading the graphics card after Christmas some time - although, my current/old motherboard doesn't support PCIe x16, so it'll be interesting to see what sort of difference that makes in the new system that does...

Thanks again for the advice, guys! :)

-Stu
 
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Sleinous

Sleinous

Author Level
Ye, if you went 32bit, you may as well go for the Celeron (which is still dual core lmao) Good choices!
 
S

StuPC

Member
Gah! I've ordered the rig but had a sudden panic about my choice of case!
Since my PC sits in the bedroom less than two metres from my bed I need it to be quiet (as does the wife!) but also want it to run cool. So the question is: does anyone know how noisy the Maelstrom t900 case is compared to the Sileo (which is obviously built for quietness)?
Would I better going with the t900 and spending the money saved on a Titan Fenrir Evo CPU cooler?
Or would the Triple Copper Heatpipe Cooler (which I've already added) do the job OK?

The Maelstrom also looks cooler than the Sileo IMHO. ;-)
 
S

StuPC

Member
Actually, scratch the Maelstrom idea, I just measured my desk and it wouldn't fit underneath! In fact, even the Sileo is going to be a squeeze. :-(
What are people's opinions on "The Stylish Black Trigon Case" noise and cooling-wise...?
 
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