upgrade advice :)

[sp3n]

hey guys
upgrading at the end of this month and would like some advice on the components i have chosen (i cant post links yet):

Asrock 775 DUAL-VSTA £37.14
scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=434321

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 £217.25
scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=430633

250 Gb Western Digital WD2500KS Caviar £52.23
scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=256891

Antec P180b Advanced Tower Case £93.87
scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=396318

Antec NeoHE 430W Modular £62.26
overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Antec_Power_Supplies.html

LG Dual Layer DVDRW £20.97
scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=408896


Total: £483.72

The components im keeping from my existing pc are:
Gainward Geforce 6800GT AGP
1GB DDR400 Geil RAM
Soundblaster Audigy

The next stage of the upgrade will be a new motherboard to replace the temporary ASRock, 2gb ddrII ram and a DX10 gpu but this wont be till 2007.

I really need to get a decent case and PSU as the one I have at the moment has no case fans, is noisy and has very poor airflow so when my gfx card gets hot, everything else does!
I have heard a lot about the P180 and the NeoHE being very quiet and having good cooling, but maybe I should look to replace the heatsink/fans on my GPU as its also quite loud or maybe the case will dampen that sound out?

Is it worth getting a new soundcard as the Audigy is a bit dated now?

Also is setting up RAID0 worth getting another harddrive for? I have read about the speed increase you get with it but dont know much else about it.

PC is mainly used for gaming and multitasking with photoshop, dreamweaver, flash etc.

Thanks for any help in advance

 

[aditya]

my system has an x800xt it used to reach tempetretures of 100 degrees (celcius) and that was in a similar case to what u're old comp is in (e.g. no fans) after i upgraded my case my gpu hardly went over aprroximatley 80 degrees celcius so you should get the p180 (supposedly a very good case my friend has it very happy with it) and test the tempetrures in that and then judge if u need to upgrade, the artic silencer are a very good, affordable solution for the gpu , friend got that too

 

[Sean618]

Why did you choose to the PS as it's the only component not from scan, if you can try and get it all from the same place. Scan has a Hiper 580W modular PS (black) for around £60, which seems better to me. Oh just remembered the Hiper PS has problems with the P180. :?

-Haven't heard much about that mb. Might want to make sure it's all right before you buy.
-The seagate 7200.10 is quite a bit faster and pretty cheap except at scan unfortunately.

 

[sp3n]

thanks for your replies

I chose that power supply because i read that its a good matchup with the p180 case as a few others have issues with that case, such as the hiper 580w.

i am open to suggestions for a different ps, providing its quiet, works well with the p180 and gives me enough power!

i have read alot about this motherboard and its great for upgrading, as i have an decent agp card but want core2duo performance and get to use my old ddr ram until i get the rest of my components next year in time for vista/dx10.

the seagate sounds good, and will probably end up getting that over the WD if its faster.

aditya: i have heard about this artic silencer before but im wondering how difficult it would be to take the heatsink fan etc off my gpu and putting this silencer on - i really dont want to break my card in the process!

 

[Sean618]

Yeah I'm in the same position I bought a secondhand X1900XTX and want to fit a new cooler to it so I'm going to have to take the old one off. I'll tell how it goes as soon as I get all my components.

There other option with the PS is choose another one and buy extension cables, I don't know whether it's a good idea or not though.

 

[Doughbuy]

If your getting a DX10 card, you should get something 600W+ ish, because one of those cards is power hungry enough. If you guys can get a GameXStream or Toughpower or a PC P&C PSU, that would be optimal. Always better to spend a bit more and get more than you need, to underspend and buy again.

Raid 0 offers marginal performance gains, and only on heavy file I/O's. In other words, if your reading or writing a lot, then it's useful, but not really for gaming. Heavy editing and file server, then it would be useful, but most people would then go Raid 1... shrug, your choice.

If you do go Raid, get the new Seagate 320 gig PMR drives, since their faster than convential drives anyways.

 

[13thmonkey]

Virtually a copy of my system. Just added a 2500KS.

I'm perfectly happy with mine, you'll need the ATX extension cables, Scan does sell them.

Go for the Seasonic S12-500 perhaps?

I can't hear my Seasonic (600W) and the fan is nice and slow all of the time, and is generally cool to the touch.

I can hear the case fans, just, but the stock HSF is the loudest part by far.

 

[sp3n]

thats a NICE case.. not as mean looking as the p180b but still im really considering this sonata II case. thats a nice money saver getting the case and powersupply at cheaper than the p180 by itself!

thanks for the advice!

13thmonkey: are you planning on keeping the stock HSF or are the noise levels from it fairly quiet?

 

[13thmonkey]

The sound of the breeze outside the open window covers the sound of the HSF completely, but its what passes for summer here....

In winter it might prove to be more of an issue. However I'd really prefer a board with Quiet System Technology (QST) on board so it wouldn't even start the fan up, especially in winter. But for now it is prefectly liveable with. Much quieter than my old XP.

The panels on the p180 are very odd, most panels go 'ping' when you tap them, these go 'duh' (thats the closest I can get by typing.), sounds like good damping. Its worth it as a case, relatively nice to work in.

I've just discovered a potential problem with my system, installed my Sata WD2500KS yesterday, all went very sweetly, no problems. booted this morning, black screen 'No OS', restarted checked boot settings, booted ok. Left it off for a few hours, turned it on same thing... reboot, ok. I've jumpered it to 1.5. scratching head now, I'll let you know what I find as you'll probably encounter similar issues. I think it is defaulting to the old drive perhaps a spin up time problem from cold for the sata port?