2 gaming rigs, 2 different budgets

Ok, Im building 2 gaming machines for 2 of my friends. So i need some advice on what to get. I'll break them both down to make it more simple:

Rig 1 - Doesn't need to be a super gaming rig, but needs to run the likes of UT3. I intend to overclock this system since im not expecting a quad core CPU or anything that good, so preferably components that overclock well would be nice.
budget = £600 (can be stretched, but not by a lot, maybe £20 or so)
must have:
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
GFX
Monitor
PSU
Case
Hard Drive
DVD-RW
Speakers (at least 5.1)
Mouse (No keyboard needed)


Rig 2 - Pretty much no limits with this one, spec the best you possibly can. Can be overclocked if needed.
budget = £1000 (can be stretched by maybe £100 if needed, but no more than that.)
must have:
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
GFX
PSU
Case
Hard Drive
DVD-RW

Cheers for any help you can provide me
Andy.

I've just done something for the £600 one, it is about £20 over the budget but that is mainly carriage for the speakers. If the budget is really important then an 8800GT would do instead.

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £42.99
(£50.51) £42.99
(£50.51)
Sharkoon Rush Mouse £13.99
(£16.44) £13.99
(£16.44)
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£18.79) £15.99
(£18.79)
Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case - EarthWatts 500W PSU £66.99
(£78.71) £66.99
(£78.71)
Creative Inspire T6100 5.1 Speakers - OEM £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
OcUK Value L-2041W 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £99.99
(£117.49) £99.99
(£117.49)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2200 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.20GHz (800FSB) - Retail £45.99
(£54.04) £45.99
(£54.04)
Point of View GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (8717344966320) £134.99
(£158.61) £134.99
(£158.61)
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £20.99
(£24.66) £20.99
(£24.66)
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A33423) £33.99
(£39.94) £33.99
(£39.94)
Sub Total : £505.90
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £20.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £92.20
Total : £619.05

whats the e2200 like for overclocking, compared to an e2160? any better? If not, then perhaps an e2160 might save a little money, since im most like going to be clocking it up to the 3ghz margin.

The E2200 has a higher multiplier so it is potentially a bit easier but you still shouldn't have any problems if you used an E2160, I don't think it makes a great deal of difference to the level the chips can overclock to.

for the second one, here is one i specced for the same budget earlier:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £129.99
(£152.74) £129.99
(£152.74)
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775) £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-8000C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ) £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
AcoustiFan DustProof Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin £15.99
(£18.79) £15.99
(£18.79)
Asus Maximus Formula Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £129.99
(£152.74) £129.99
(£152.74)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS) £54.99
(£64.61) £109.98
(£129.22)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - OEM £179.99
(£211.49) £179.99
(£211.49)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-01939) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)

Sub Total : £880.88
Shipping : £12.95
VAT : £156.42
Total : £1,050.25

notice there are two HDDs, that's for a RAID0 setup, those drives are also the low seek-time versions, so that should be fast as a...fast thing on wheels.

you don't need to OS so just remove that and it comes £20 under budget

note that the cpu and cooler should be lapped for best results

How about this.

£600 pc



Slightly over budget. Doh, i forgot to scroll down before doing a screen print. £602 i think it was. Don't know if the mouse and speakers are much cop though.

£1000 pc



Normally i would go for a Wolfdale for a gaming rig but the quad is cheaper than even the E8400 at the moment. Psu is excellent, i have one and it really is extremely quiet and stable. That's really all you need to spend. Under budget too!! Don't know if you need an OS with these either.

***Edit*** Add £30-35 for a decent cooler as i forgot that.

nah, I can take care of the OS but im curious about what you said, regarding Wolfdale CPU's. Would a dual core wolfdale really be better than a quad core for gaming?

Also, in regards to the mouse in the £600 rig, im most likely going to squeeze a razer diamondback in there somehow.

Andeh said:

nah, I can take care of the OS but im curious about what you said, regarding Wolfdale CPU's. Would a dual core wolfdale really be better than a quad core for gaming?

Click to expand...

Pretty much, few games are optimised for dual core, almost none are optimised for quad. If you really want a quad just replace the rocessor with a q6600, I'd have the E8400 though myself, newer tech, and a beautiful overclocker.

Andeh said:

nah, I can take care of the OS but im curious about what you said, regarding Wolfdale CPU's. Would a dual core wolfdale really be better than a quad core for gaming?

Also, in regards to the mouse in the £600 rig, im most likely going to squeeze a razer diamondback in there somehow.

Click to expand...

Just as Ben M says. There are hardly any games that use a quad. We are only just getting games that use dual cores. I only put the quad in because it was cheaper than the overpriced E8400. I have had a E4300, then a Q6600, then a E8500 and now i am back on a E6600 in my gaming rig. I did'nt have a single game that used all cores in the quad, Crysis included. I suffered from degredation with the E8500 because i went past 1.45v with it. Then i got this E6600 off the bay for a bargain and it is an excellent clocker. The Wolfdales are better, 4Ghz being an easy clock with most. No point really having a quad for a gaming rig. Just extra heat to get rid of and a lot more power needed even though two cores will be idle most of the time.

Regards the £600 rig, you could get that mouse you suggested and still be under £620. What i did'nt notice was the extortionate postage charges. £20.95 and £21.25 is ridiculous.

u bought it then?