GolfGTIforum.co.uk
General => General discussion => Topic started by: Jimp on 09 August 2011, 11:50
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I'm building a new rig at the moment and need a hand with processors. I'm looking at Intel i3 and i5 processors and wondering, is there a point in paying more for a quad core i5 when the dual core i3s have hyper threading? Would there be a difference in real-world performance? Let's assume I'm usually running a game (SC2, WoW, TF2, etc), Teamspeak, Winamp, some messenger program and maybe Firfox with plenty of ram.
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Yes, go for an i5 sandy bridge :)
Lots of performace and scope for overclocking etc and they are not to expencive either,
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i5-2500-s1155-sandy-bridge-quad-core-33ghz-gpu-850mhz-6mb-cache-95w-retail (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i5-2500-s1155-sandy-bridge-quad-core-33ghz-gpu-850mhz-6mb-cache-95w-retail)
:cool:
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Unfortunately that one is too expensive :cry: The budget for the build is tight so I'm wondering is the extra €50+ for an i5 processor worthwhile over an i3 like this one. (http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/21_CPU/productdetails/20070428/Processor_1_x_Intel_Core_i3_2100__3_1_GHz_/BX80623I32100/default.aspx)
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Yes, go for an i5 sandy bridge :)
Lots of performace and scope for overclocking etc and they are not to expencive either,
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i5-2500-s1155-sandy-bridge-quad-core-33ghz-gpu-850mhz-6mb-cache-95w-retail (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i5-2500-s1155-sandy-bridge-quad-core-33ghz-gpu-850mhz-6mb-cache-95w-retail)
:cool:
+1
best value chip you can get at the moment
the i3 is real entry level, it should cope with the games you've mentioned, HT is much better than it was on the P4 chips, but some games and apps still struggle on it in comparison to actually having 4 physical cores.
If you're on a budget then you'll probably want to consider an AMD system, AMD can't touch intel at the moment, but they are pretty good value; personally I'd pay the extra €50 as it's going to significantly increase the life of the system.
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I went down the AMD route :)
You will get better bang for your buck with an AMD, Motherboards are cheeper too but if your on a budget any cheap processor will be out of date within a year, as said spend a little more and you have several years out of it :cool:
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What is your budget and ill spec you a system.
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Budget is an absolute max of €600, preferably closer to €500.
4 gigs of Corsair ram comes in at a very reasonable price, as does a hard drive and case+psu. I was looking at an Asus ATX motherboard since they quite good and there's room for upgrading to a LGA 1155 socket i7 when funds allow in a few months time. The gfx card was going to be an Asus GTS 450. The final €100->€200 is for the processor.
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Dont skimp on products at the start or else you will just have to rebuy them to play any modern games.
This is a very cheap build with decent components.
All products from: http://www.overclockers.co.uk
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-130-MS") £173.99
1 x Asrock Z68 PRO3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-052-AK") £99.98
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-367-IN") £89.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-212-CM") £66.98
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX V2 '80 Plus' 500W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUK) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-034-CS") £52.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA") £40.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-203-CS") £27.98
Total : £567.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/GX-130-MS_60.jpg) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-130-MS") (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/MB-052-AK_60.jpg) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-052-AK") (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CP-367-IN_60.jpg) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-367-IN") (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CA-212-CM_60.jpg) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-212-CM") (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CA-034-CS_60.jpg) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-034-CS") (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/HD-082-SA_60.jpg) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA") (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/MY-203-CS_60.jpg) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-203-CS")
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Scan.co.uk is cheaper on almost everything :D
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Thanks for that Evoss :afro: The ram, case, psu and processor are the exact ones I had looked at :grin: Only differences are the gfx card and this motherboard:
ASUS_P8P67_LE_B3_Revision_Motherboard (http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/15_MOBO/02_INTEL/productdetails/20078251/ASUS_P8P67_LE_B3_Revision_Motherboard_ATX_/90_MIBDZA_G0EAY00Z/default.aspx).
Apart from the the extra cooling technology on that MSI gfx card is there a particular reason you chose it?
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Thanks for that Evoss :afro: The ram, case, psu and processor are the exact ones I had looked at :grin: Only differences are the gfx card and this motherboard:
ASUS_P8P67_LE_B3_Revision_Motherboard (http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/15_MOBO/02_INTEL/productdetails/20078251/ASUS_P8P67_LE_B3_Revision_Motherboard_ATX_/90_MIBDZA_G0EAY00Z/default.aspx).
Apart from the the extra cooling technology on that MSI gfx card is there a particular reason you chose it?
Dont go with that motherboard, it is using the P67 chipset which is a generation behind and if at anytime you wish to upgrade to Intel Ivybridge, then you wont be able to.
I chose that graphics card over yours as in the current market it IS the best bang for buck. Besides that card being the most cost effective card on the market at the moment, MSI have very good warrenty and customer services and that extra cooling means that if in the future it does start to lag on games, using the MSI afterburner software that comes with the graphics card, you can easily overclock it and get even more bang for your buck :)
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Ah I had no idea about Ivybridge. Thanks for all the help Evoss :afro:
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Ah I had no idea about Ivybridge. Thanks for all the help Evoss :afro:
Your welcome :)
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i have just upgraded to an i5 2500k.
i am using the asrock extreme 4 z68 chipset mobo. top bit of kit and is ivy bridge ready. get it here for £135
http://www.dabs.com/products/asrock-z68-extreme-4-lga1155-intel-z68-ddr3-atx-7H3W.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product+search&utm_content=Q200
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Thanks for the link justalex81. I've gone for an Asus z68 mobo for €150 :afro: I couldn't stretch the budget for the gfx card Evoss suggested but still got a 1 gig card so it should last a while. Parts should arrive some time late next week :smiley: All I need now is a monitor :lipsrsealed: Gaming on a 1240x768 crt monitor ftw? :grin:
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still got a 1 gig card so it should last a while.
which card did you get?
the amount of memory on the card has little impact on how long it's going to last :undecided:
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the amount of memory on the card has little impact on how long it's going to last :undecided:
Well yeah, I meant that it is sufficient for the games I will be playing for the next 6-12 months, by which time I can upgrade if needed. This is the card. (http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/10_GRPCARD/11_NVIDIA/productdetails/20066351/Asus_GeForce_GTS450_1024MB_PCI_E_DVI_HDMI/90_C1CPR0_L0UAY0BZ/default.aspx)
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Scan.co.uk is cheaper on almost everything :D
+1 I use Scan for my machines.
Make sure you get paired ram like Corsair, with fast operating speed
4gb of crap ram is a lot worse than 2gb of paired, also make sure you have at least four slots on your motherboard for upgrades as 4gb sticks are far too expensive.
My last machine went on for another 2 years becuase when I speced I made provision for running another GPU in SLI config :cool:
I currently run a 3.2 quad core AMD Black edition running overclocked, ATI something something GPU with 1gb of onboard memory + 4gb of paired corsair.
I can play all my games like DOW and COH on full chat with no lag or frame rate issues, I am lucky also to have 20 meg internet :cool:
The more you spend the longer your machine will play the newest games, but stay away from Alienware or other overpriced systems, you can buy the same spec from scan or O/C for a fraction of the price, who needs an iluminated case with some sh!t alien face on it.......
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but stay away from Alienware or other overpriced systems, you can buy the same spec from scan or O/C for a fraction of the price, who needs an iluminated case with some sh!t alien face on it.......
I'd still Love an Alienware, a Friend just brought one, £3000!
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but stay away from Alienware or other overpriced systems, you can buy the same spec from scan or O/C for a fraction of the price, who needs an iluminated case with some sh!t alien face on it.......
I'd still Love an Alienware, a Friend just brought one, £3000!
alienware pfff it's just a dell in a fancy case, self build FTW
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I had an alienware laptop for the last 5 years. Pricey but I was moving around an awful lot and needed something I could bring with me. Great piece of kit but 3 years in the poor heat dissipation lead to a mobo failure. Replaced it under warranty and it was great again until recently when it started overheating again. Anything more stressful than Youtube or VLC = overheat :cry: But on the plus side I'm settled in the one place for most of the week now so a desktop is viable again :cool: Self build is always the way to go for desktops plus you learn about the latest computer stuff in the process :afro:
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Try http://www.dinopc.com/ (http://www.dinopc.com/). I got mine from there. When I bought it the site had a bug and if you chose a computer and specced it up completely, added it to shopping cart then hit the back button, it'd take you back to the selection page, still fully specced but with original standard price. Added that to cart, deleted the expensive specced up one and checked out :smiley: Didn't go ott too much as otherwise it'd be obvious, but I got about £100 worth of kit free :smiley:
AMD Athlon II X4 635 AM3
Asus M4N68T mobo
4gb corsair 1600mhz RAM
500GB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
700W EZCool Tornado PSU
The I stuck a creative x-fi sound card I had from my old system along with a few extra fans.
Like VW BUSH I'm able to play all the new games with the highest graphic and audio settings with no lag or frame rate issues. The only thing that's letting me down is the screen, the refresh rate isn't able to keep up with the graphics card and I'll get some uneven graphics unless vsync is on. I tried a mates HD sony screen and it was epicly good graphics.
Alienware is overpriced as feck. For the price of a decent alienware you'll get yourself the very best custom built PC available on the market today.
Scan.co.uk
Dinopc.com
overclockers.co.uk
^ They're the places to buy different bits and bobs. Buying a mobo and CPU bundle usually works out cheaper :smiley:
Important to keep it clean too, both as an operating system (disk cleaner, reg cleaner, etc) and physically. Once a month or so I take the side panel off and using a car of compressed air, a small soft brush and a vacuum cleaner I'll clean out all the dust from every corner and from the fans. I use the small brush to carefully run it over the mobo to clean it out too. Be careful doing this though, because of it I buggered up my old system (it did need upgrading anyway). I tried lifting the CPU heatsink and the thermal paste was bonded solid and lifted up all the copper tracks under the CPU, rendering it completely useless.
Oh and upgrading the CPU fan is a must if you overclock it and want to keep it running cool. I've yet to do it though but I still haven't forgotten about it.
(http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/kharekatoh/Untitled-8.jpg)
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I'd still Love an Alienware, a Friend just brought one, £3000!
Your a mug to want an Alienware. The components used in Alienware desktops are terrible. That £3000 AW Desktop could be build for about £1000 easily.
Jimp: That is a media card, it wont last long at all. Will not play BF3 very well.
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Oh and upgrading the CPU fan is a must if you overclock it and want to keep it running cool. I've yet to do it though but I still haven't forgotten about it.
overclock for FTW
(http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn243/The_Ridg/cpu.jpg)(http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn243/The_Ridg/gpu.gif)
I've still got plenty of headroom left on mine if I start upping the voltage :nerd:
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I'd still Love an Alienware, a Friend just brought one, £3000!
Your a mug to want an Alienware. The components used in Alienware desktops are terrible. That £3000 AW Desktop could be build for about £1000 easily.
Jimp: That is a media card, it wont last long at all. Will not play BF3 very well.
The newest thing I'll be playing for a while is SC2 so it's not a big deal really. The price is good and the reviews are good so it suits this build for the time being.
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I'd still Love an Alienware, a Friend just brought one, £3000!
Your a mug to want an Alienware. The components used in Alienware desktops are terrible. That £3000 AW Desktop could be build for about £1000 easily.
Jimp: That is a media card, it wont last long at all. Will not play BF3 very well.
Oh yeh I totaly agree, my current PC cost me to buiuld £1000 and its faster that a £3K Alienware :D
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I'd still Love an Alienware, a Friend just brought one, £3000!
Your a mug to want an Alienware. The components used in Alienware desktops are terrible. That £3000 AW Desktop could be build for about £1000 easily.
Jimp: That is a media card, it wont last long at all. Will not play BF3 very well.
Oh yeh I totaly agree, my current PC cost me to buiuld £1000 and its faster that a £3K Alienware :D
So why on earth would you want an Alienware?
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I dunno always wanted one since I was about 11, plus, there is the braging rights and they look amazing!
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I dunno always wanted one since I was about 11, plus, there is the braging rights and they look amazing!
I suppose when you were 11 they looked cool, but they are cheap and tacky.
People get slated for saying they have an Alienware PC, I would not brag about having one ^^.
Build your own and it looks 100000x better.
http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/
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People get slated for saying they have an Alienware PC, I would not brag about having one ^^.
+1
people buy alienware for the same reason they buy apple; they are ignorant.
all it shows is you've got some money and either no taste or no knowledge about computers; ultimate gaming machine? no quad SLI, no SATA III, no native USB 3, you get some fancy fans though :laugh:
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People get slated for saying they have an Alienware PC, I would not brag about having one ^^.
+1
people buy alienware for the same reason they buy apple; they are ignorant.
all it shows is you've got some money and either no taste or no knowledge about computers; ultimate gaming machine? no quad SLI, no SATA III, no native USB 3, you get some fancy fans though :laugh:
I built my own beast of a gaming pc and i own 2 macbook pros in this house so im ignorant?
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People get slated for saying they have an Alienware PC, I would not brag about having one ^^.
+1
people buy alienware for the same reason they buy apple; they are ignorant.
all it shows is you've got some money and either no taste or no knowledge about computers; ultimate gaming machine? no quad SLI, no SATA III, no native USB 3, you get some fancy fans though :laugh:
I built my own beast of a gaming pc and i own 2 macbook pros in this house so im ignorant?
Too be honest, I have never seen the reason to get a Mac over a PC, since a PC can do the same and more. However, Mac laptops are of good quality, shame they have the wrong OS on them :drool:
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People get slated for saying they have an Alienware PC, I would not brag about having one ^^.
+1
people buy alienware for the same reason they buy apple; they are ignorant.
all it shows is you've got some money and either no taste or no knowledge about computers; ultimate gaming machine? no quad SLI, no SATA III, no native USB 3, you get some fancy fans though :laugh:
I built my own beast of a gaming pc and i own 2 macbook pros in this house so im ignorant?
Too be honest, I have never seen the reason to get a Mac over a PC, since a PC can do the same and more. However, Mac laptops are of good quality, shame they have the wrong OS on them :drool:
True but macs are quick i realise they are not as easy to use as a pc hence why i have both but for general use ie word photoshoping and browsing for me mac wins hands down and even gaming is getting better but obviously thats why i have a pc as for gaming of course Mr Gates cant be beaten :D But to say people who buy macs are ignorant is a bit rude...
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True but macs are quick i realise they are not as easy to use as a pc hence why i have both but for general use ie word photoshoping and browsing for me mac wins hands down and even gaming is getting better but obviously thats why i have a pc as for gaming of course Mr Gates cant be beaten :D But to say people who buy macs are ignorant is a bit rude...
sorry but you're wrong the spec on the latest MBP is good but it's not great, you really have to plump on the options to get close to a medium spec dell and even then you're looking at a massively over priced system, look at the dell precision line will easily dominate the MBP (for a similar price) with dual SSD drives (you can even go up to 32GB of RAM) and proper hardware GPU acceleration for PS.
Ignorant may have been a little harsh but it was late, maybe consumers is a better description :kiss:
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True but macs are quick i realise they are not as easy to use as a pc hence why i have both but for general use ie word photoshoping and browsing for me mac wins hands down and even gaming is getting better but obviously thats why i have a pc as for gaming of course Mr Gates cant be beaten :D But to say people who buy macs are ignorant is a bit rude...
sorry but you're wrong the spec on the latest MBP is good but it's not great, you really have to plump on the options to get close to a medium spec dell and even then you're looking at a massively over priced system, look at the dell precision line will easily dominate the MBP (for a similar price) with dual SSD drives (you can even go up to 32GB of RAM) and proper hardware GPU acceleration for PS.
Ignorant may have been a little harsh but it was late, maybe consumers is a better description :kiss:
I dont recall mentioning spec? i said it was quick! maybe read what i wrote and my macbook pro from switching on takes about 10 seconds before im browsing the net...i have owned many laptops none do this! as i said im fully aware a pc is a better choice or windows laptop and there are 1000s of cheaper better laptops overall! but my point is do not say that because someone like a product that they are ignorant! Im not a computer Noob I just like tha macbook for daily general use over pc nothing else!
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takes about 10 seconds before im browsing the net...
So does my PC, if not quicker.
In the day, MBP were the king to be fair, however laptops have come on leaps and bound and out do the MBP in every aspect apart from the exterior shell.
Still they are pretty to look at :)
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Wow so from full shutdown your pc can be turned on and away you go within 10 secs? if so i think its time to update my pc haha
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Wow so from full shutdown your pc can be turned on and away you go within 10 secs? if so i think its time to update my pc haha
Yep :)
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/HD-021-CS_200.jpg)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-021-CS&groupid=1657&catid=1660&subcat=
The power of Solid State Drives :)
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Yup im going that way when i upgrade some components but have no need the thing plays anything i chuck at it at max so will get round to ssd :D
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I would go for SSD, but I have not got a spare £100... :undecided:
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I would go for SSD, but I have not got a spare £100... :undecided:
You only need it to hold the operating system.
1 x OCZ Vertex 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX30G) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-013-OC") £49.99
Total : £52.97 (includes shipping : £2.48).
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/HD-013-OC_60.jpg) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-013-OC")
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I've been running OCZ Vertex 2E since last year, best thing I ever did was go down SSD route, I recommend a 60GB/64GB drive, with Win7 installed and tonnes of programs you'll be hitting around 50% capacity, in my opinion don't go with 30GB drives as you'll soon have it near full capacity and I hear its best to keep SSD's under 75% capacity for optimum performance.
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Storing the OS on a solid state drive is a brilliant idea. Do you guys store other programs on there or just the OS?
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Yes on the SSD are Windows 7 Home Premium and all programs I've added. Documents, Music, Downloads etc folders are mapped to my D drive (sata HDD) and I also install all games to the D drive. :wink:
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Storing the OS on a solid state drive is a brilliant idea. Do you guys store other programs on there or just the OS?
OS and applications I often use.
My motherboard also uses my SSD as a huge cache xD
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just to point out that a windows 7 professional installation with office and all updates carried out takes up 25gb. 30gb for a boot drive is too small unless you're not planning on installing much else or you're still on xp
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I would go for SSD, but I have not got a spare £100... :undecided:
You only need it to hold the operating system.
1 x OCZ Vertex 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX30G) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-013-OC") £49.99
Total : £52.97 (includes shipping : £2.48).
(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/HD-013-OC_60.jpg) (http://"http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-013-OC")
Just ordered one from SCAN and a CPU water cooling unit :)
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just to point out that a windows 7 professional installation with office and all updates carried out takes up 25gb. 30gb for a boot drive is too small unless you're not planning on installing much else or you're still on xp
Office is not the operating system, it is a budget, so it is ONLY for the OS, so this serves its purpose fine.
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just to point out that a windows 7 professional installation with office and all updates carried out takes up 25gb. 30gb for a boot drive is too small unless you're not planning on installing much else or you're still on xp
Office is not the operating system, it is a budget, so it is ONLY for the OS, so this serves its purpose fine.
i didn't say it was an operating system. I said that windows 7 professional with microsoft office installed (most people use office) with all microsoft updates applied uses 25gb of space.
Also by the time that 30GB drive is formatted it will actually be just under 28gb.