Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Just from the overclockers site this is the sort of stuff i would go for Asus P5E-VM HDMI Intel G35 Micro-ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £94 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £152.74 Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX (2x1GB) £42 Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD2500AAKS) £45 Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £65 LG Blu-Ray Rewriter £180 Your Case £124 That comes to over £700 though which is over your budget. Has built in HDMI though and no need for a graphics card. If your not going to be playing games you won't need one anyway. Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Thanks for the info Scott Having a standard case is not a huge problem as I can loose it in a cupboard somehow, I just wanted the media case so that it would be on display along with my stereo/DVD surround/Sky Box etc etc. You've listed two hard drives on your spec, is that necessary? Will Windows run a lot better with it's own HD or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 You've listed two hard drives on your spec, is that necessary? Will Windows run a lot better with it's own HD or something? If you had windows installed on one and then games etc. etc. installed on the other you might notice some small performance increase. Chances are you wouldn't even notice though. However, you're not someone wanting to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the PC so that's not important. It might however be a good idea to have two discs, any important documents etc. on one drive you could copy over to the other physical drive so that it's safe in the event of a disc failure. But equally you could just burn them to a CD or copy to a memory stick or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I always recommend 2 harddrives. There are quite a few reasons. 1 If its a mediacenter you are quite likely to store a lot of media. Seasons of series' etc. This can take up a lot of space and the more space you take up on a HDD the slower it will become. If windoze was on the same HDD as the packed one it would slow down quite a bit. However if you keep it on a seperate HDD that you keep as lean as possible you shouldn't notice any slowdown over time. 2 Most viruses on the internet target windows and windows related programs. When you get a virus its best to format the entire HDD. If you had all your eggs in the one basket this would mean losing most of the stuff you had. Keeping it on a seperate HDD means you won't lose anywhere near as much information. 3. When it comes time to reformat its a lot less hassle to completely wipe a HDD and restore from a backup or just reinstall. If you only have 1 HDD you will need to back stuff up to CD/DVD etc or you simply won't be able to perform a full format which isn't ideal. There are a few more reasons but those are my main ones. I know that partitioning the HDD can achieve similar results but i always notice a drop in performance with a partitioned harddrive, for obvious reasons. A mediacenter case is always a good idea for being on show. Its also a good idea when you are actually going to be using it as a proper mediacenter. If i were in your shoes i would build a PC very similar to the one i listed. TBH i think i would build one exactly like i listed only i would shop around for better prices on certain parts. The processor is actually a bit of overkill but it will help with the bluray etc so its a pretty good spec PC. I have a keyboard for my mediacenter but its rarely used. Most of the time i use my mediacenter remote. I'm running windows Vista and as soon as it boots up it loads into Mediacenter. From there i have access to all of my favourite shows along with around 8000 karaoke songs and 1000 albums for the party's. I also use it to record directly from my cable box using a TV card. All thats missing from mine is a Bluray/HD DVD player to make it complete. I'm actually thinking about buying one now lol Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 1 If its a mediacenter you are quite likely to store a lot of media. Seasons of series' etc. This can take up a lot of space and the more space you take up on a HDD the slower it will become. If windoze was on the same HDD as the packed one it would slow down quite a bit. However if you keep it on a seperate HDD that you keep as lean as possible you shouldn't notice any slowdown over time. That's not correct, a drive with 10GB free space is not going to be any slower to access files on it than one with 100GB free (assuming files are not fragmented to hell). Your other two examples could also be solved by partitioning a single hard disc, as you in fact mention yourself, but that wouldn't help if your hard disc had died rather than just needing a reformat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 I totally understand the point of a seperate hard drive but I don't see it as a necessity. Only last week did I have to wipe my laptop completely and re-install XP, this was the first time I've had to do that in my 2 years of ownership. And tbh it hasn't been that much of a ball ache as I have all my photo's and music backed up on an external HD. So I don't think I can warrant the expense of a back-up drive. Scott, how much did your Elonex system cost you to biuld? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 That's not correct, a drive with 10GB free space is not going to be any slower to access files on it than one with 100GB free (assuming files are not fragmented to hell). Your other two examples could also be solved by partitioning a single hard disc, as you in fact mention yourself, but that wouldn't help if your hard disc had died rather than just needing a reformat. Well in my experience it is. Run Nero HDD speed test on an empty HDD Fill the HDD halfway Run nero HDD speed test If you don't see a difference i want your HDD. Partitioned HDD's run slower than non-partitioned HDD's too. Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SILKYSMOOTH Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Is it actually that hard to build your own PC? NO but there are some good websites that you can have it built to your spec and quite cheap too, saving you the trouble of building it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I totally understand the point of a seperate hard drive but I don't see it as a necessity. Only last week did I have to wipe my laptop completely and re-install XP, this was the first time I've had to do that in my 2 years of ownership. And tbh it hasn't been that much of a ball ache as I have all my photo's and music backed up on an external HD. So I don't think I can warrant the expense of a back-up drive. Scott, how much did your Elonex system cost you to biuld? It was around £400 all in IIRC. The processor was 2nd hand from ebay. I got the Barebones case for 150. I added the processor, 2gb of ram, a 320gb (i think) hdd, a dvd-rw, a 256mb GFX card, a wireless card and a wireless keyboard/mouse. I don't really store any media on the mediacenter though. I keep it all on my main PC which has just over 1.3tb of space on it. I then connect wirelessly to watch whatever i want. I also have a "mediacenter" in my bedroom so i thought a central location for everything would be much better. I leave my main PC on all the time so it means i can switch off either of my mediacenters and still have access to the files. Extra HDD is just an optional extra. Personally for the sake of £50 i would go for it but tbh its always something that can be added later if you do feel the need. Oh, i only have 1 hdd in my mediacenter and its partitioned but thats coz it only takes 1 hdd lol. In my main PC i have..... Friends - All Topgear - All Scrubs - All Heroes - All The A-Team - All Californication - All Diary of a Call Girl - All Joey - All Knight Rider - All Little Britain - All Married with Children - All Only Fools And Horses - All Prison Break - Season 2 & 3 Quantum Leap - All Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares - All Reaper - Ep1-10 Shark - All Skins - All Smallville - All Star Trek The Next Generation - All Stargate SG-1 - All Still Game - All Street Hawk - All The Simpsons - Seasons 1-18 Thundercats - Season 1 Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps - All Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRalphMan Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 You forgot the pron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 You forgot the pron :d Mine's backed up on my external HDD! Scott - thanks for the info. As I'm a little unsure on what is compatible with what, I've looked at this budget spec system similar to what I want. I've then priced the stuff up individually on the net and can get it all for £298 inc vat. That compared to the £442 overclockers charge for a ready assembled one proves to be quite a saving. This leaves a fair chunk of my budget to buy other things I wanted. Scott, do you buy a new copy of Windows for every system in your house or is there a way around that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Nah, i have an OEM copy Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 And yes, i find overclockers VERY expensive. Especially for pre-built systems by the looks of it. I would still highly recommend a core2duo processor though. Anything from the E6400 on is ideal. Choice of case Core2Duo Processor Micromotherboard (the one i suggested with onboard HDMI would save on a GFX card, you will also be able to find it cheaper) 2GB of ram choice of HDD BluRay player The most expensive thing there is actually the BluRay player lol. Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Thinking about passing on the Blu-Ray player now until prices come down. Yeah the built systems on overclockers are a little pricey - but at least that gives me more incentive to build my own. Last few questions now! Is the Core Duo 2 really that much better than the AMD Athlon 64 X2? Also, I have an OEM copy of Windows - is there anyway I can use that again? Or will I have to buy another copy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Well in my experience it is. Run Nero HDD speed test on an empty HDD Fill the HDD halfway Run nero HDD speed test If you don't see a difference i want your HDD. Run the same test again making sure your files are not fragmented first. Partitioned HDD's run slower than non-partitioned HDD's too. Scott =op Rubbish, the files are still stored on the same sectors on the disc, the read head has to seek to the exact same position regardless of your partition table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Scott, do you buy a new copy of Windows for every system in your house or is there a way around that? Nah, i have an OEM copy Scott =op OEM license still only permits one activation (well one every three months ), perhaps you mean VLK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daston Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 My external HDD died on me the other day lost all my films and progs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Partitioned HDD runs slower because it will be constantly using your OS partition while using the 2nd partition. When not using the 2nd partition it will run at full speed. Indexing of files on the primary harddrive slows down the OS, the more files you have the more indexing that is done regardless of how well defragged your files are. The one i have been using is called Dell OEM. Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Partitioned HDD runs slower because it will be constantly using your OS partition while using the 2nd partition. When not using the 2nd partition it will run at full speed. Indexing of files on the primary harddrive slows down the OS, the more files you have the more indexing that is done regardless of how well defragged your files are. The one i have been using is called Dell OEM. Scott =op That argument is flawed, if you have one large partition but accessing other files on it then it would also be slower than accessing files on a separate disc. It's the same physical disc that's why, whether it's partitioned or not isn't the issue. Indexing also doesn't need to constantly recheck files if they haven't changed An OEM license is an OEM license, it's still only one activation. However Microsoft purge the activation database after three months so you could then activate a second copy. Or you can try convincing them on the phone that your original PC died and you need the license reactivating VLK licenses permit unlimited activations using the same license. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Ok So I have a Dell OEM XP disk, can I use this and my same seriel on another system in any way? Or should I be looking at Vista anyway? - got that on our office PC and not really liking it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Oh no, i don't have an OEM license. I have an OEM copy. I don't need a license key, its activated upon installation. My argument isn't flawed, you just settled my argument. My whole argument has been that 2 HDD's are better than 1 when it comes to speed. Partitioning the Harddrive is one way of overcoming the reformatting drawbacks, having one partition or 1 HDD means you will be using the HDD that the OS is on and that will slow it down. The more files on the OS HDD the more indexing is done and the slower the OS will run. Having a 2nd partition will mean the 2nd partition files won't be indexed but when you access the 2nd partition you are taking away response time from the OS partition...... slower. Partitioning won't make the HDD any faster than if you didn't partition it. Having a seperate HDD will. Not by much of course but as time goes on it becomes more aparent with me hence the reason i reformat every month or so. In fact i just restore my PC from a backup on one of my other HDD's. Saves hassle. Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I love vista, took a bit of getting used to though. I don't know if your CD will work. For XP you need a student key. Scott =op Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 6, 2008 Author Share Posted February 6, 2008 Slight change of subject.... Apart from the risk of import duty is there any reason why I can't buy components from America? This is less than half the price from the US - ASUS P5E-VM HDMI P&P can't be that much - worth the risk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osso Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Considering the Asus P5E-VM is only £105.74 inc VAT here, its hardly worth the hassle.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 Considering the Asus P5E-VM is only £105.74 inc VAT here, its hardly worth the hassle.. Osso, you sir are totally right! For some reason I had £150 in my head, think I've looked at so many component prices it's all become a blur! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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