£600 budget

manic111 · 8 Mar 2008 at 01:52

As above-effectively want it to run games as well as possible. Looking for something with 32bit vista, and Im after as much RAM as possible (thinking 2*1GB and 2*512mb sticks). Hows this? Went with the 3870 for the possibility of crossfire later on.

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC2-5300C4 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC2-5300C4 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator - Black (No PSU) Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator - Black (No PSU) £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
OcUK ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT 512MB GDDR4 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail OcUK ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT 512MB GDDR4 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V 610W Power Supply PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V 610W Power Supply £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £63.99
(£75.19) £63.99
(£75.19)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS) Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS) £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Samsung SH-S203PRSMN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail Samsung SH-S203PRSMN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail £19.99
(£23.49) £19.99
(£23.49)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2200 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.20GHz (800FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Duo E2200 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.20GHz (800FSB) - Retail £48.99
(£57.56) £48.99
(£57.56)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00715) Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00715) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-5300C4 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-5300C4 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) £27.99
(£32.89) £27.99
(£32.89)
Sub Total : £497.89
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £89.40
Total : £600.24

semi-pro waster · 8 Mar 2008 at 10:37

That looks basically fine although I'd approach the Ram question from the other side and buy 4gb Ram and accept that you'll lose about 500mb of it but that you could use it if you ever upgrade to a 64bit OS rather than going for the middle ground of 3gb. Additionally you will probably find that PC6400 is little more expensive if at all.

Can I ask why you specifically want 32bit Vista though? It seems to me that one of the primary benefits of Vista is in the fact that it is 64bit and can cope with greater amounts of Ram easily.

yantorsen · 8 Mar 2008 at 11:03

I'd drop the CPU cooler and get an 8800GT myself.

manic111 · 8 Mar 2008 at 12:12

semi-pro waster said:
That looks basically fine although I'd approach the Ram question from the other side and buy 4gb Ram and accept that you'll lose about 500mb of it but that you could use it if you ever upgrade to a 64bit OS rather than going for the middle ground of 3gb. Additionally you will probably find that PC6400 is little more expensive if at all.

Can I ask why you specifically want 32bit Vista though? It seems to me that one of the primary benefits of Vista is in the fact that it is 64bit and can cope with greater amounts of Ram easily.

Were it for me I would take 64bit, but it's for a mate who isnt quite so computer literate-how is the compatibility coming along?

Can see your point about getting 4gb of 6400 anyway, might be worth a though.

Yantorsen, I think its worth having a better cooler for the CPU (especially a 2200 which needs clocking) then a GPU which will cost another £30 for not loads of performance difference-plus the mobo supports crossfire, which could be useful in future.

How is that mobo by the way? Ive seen some good reviews, but never used MSI before.

semi-pro waster · 8 Mar 2008 at 12:22

I'm not running Vista myself yet although I've got a new and unopened copy of Ultimate sat at home waiting for the next PC build I do. I have been led to believe though that compatability problems are pretty minimal at this point in time and it is only a few old programs/hardware that have any issues at all.

I do understand that since it is for a mate you really want something that will just work without any issues since you don't want to end up acting as tech support every day.

Not sure about the motherboard, I've not used MSI myself but the P35 is pretty solid and well tested by now so it should be fine.

yantorsen · 8 Mar 2008 at 18:45

You can OC it far enough on the stock cooler, but I guess if your thinking of going crossfire at some point may as well get the ATi.