A possible build. Is it worth proceeding?

droog

droog

droog

Associate
Joined
23 Oct 2004
Posts
45
I just picked up this board and CPU at a car boot-sale ( yes, I know its sad, but the bird wanted to go. Honest guv. :D) today for 25 quid. He originally wanted 50. Its a Asus A8n-SLI SE and the CPU is an opteron model 146. From what I can find out this is 2.0GHz single core.

I was thinking of splashing out around 180-200 on a flash graphics card a new psu, memory, case etc. I already have a 22 inch Belinea monitor.

I play some games, or rather try such as FIFA, Tiger Woods and Oblivion. I want to be able to play without them crashing. So long as the quality is good. No need to see every spot on their faces.

For the past few years this is what I've been using:

Asus A8 Deluxe
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200
2x512 Ocz DDR PC3200
Radeon 9800 pro............trusty old bugger.

Anyways............... any advice will help and thanks
 
PSU, case and memory will take you up to around 150 on its' own i would imagine ( if you want a nice case)

Could you re-use your current case, it'd give you more money for gfxx =)
 
Firstly... thanks for replying. My old case is a coolermaster and anyway I'm giving that set-up to me nephew. I'm ok to shell out between 50-100 for a new case. Nearer 50 would be better. Leaves more for a better PSU. I was just wondering if the CPU is any good? Would it be compatible with any of the 8800 cards?

Thanks again for replying.
 
The CPU is really asking to be overclocked if you want to pair it with a decent graphics card, I'd consider a 3850pro for ~£100. Given what you have and what you need to complete the system I'd consider something like the below parts, unfortunate for you that DDR is about double the price of DDR2 now. :)

Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £87.99
(£103.39) £87.99
(£103.39)
Sub Total : £200.97
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £36.91
Total : £247.83
 
Thanks for taking the time to price that lot up. As regards the card that you mention, would that play COD 4 ok?

Excuse my ignorance but why would DDR be more expensive than DDR2?

Thanks again.

BTW I've never overclocked so wouldn't know the first thing about overclocking the CPU. Still theres always a first time. :D

Forgot to mention I have a 500gb samsung sata hard drive as well.
 
Last edited:
The graphics card is pretty good so should play COD4 fine (albeit I don't know the requirements) it doesn't quite compare to the 8800GT but I think it will be a better match for the CPU. If you can get a 512mb version relatively cheaply (i.e. £20 difference or less) then it would be a good idea to go for that instead of the 256mb since you have a fairly large monitor.

DDR is older and new motherboards generally only support DDR2 now so it comes down to the level of demand unfortunately, more sales of DDR2 mean the economies of scale kick in, that plus the fact that if you are upgrading an older system which uses DDR you have no choices so it is a sellers market.

There is a good sticky in the overclocking sub-forum about the basics of overclocking that you might want to take a read of and perhaps do a search to see if anyone else has asked about that particular motherboard and CPU combination. If you still have any questions after that then feel free to ask in there, I'm sure someone will be happy to help. :)
 
I had a feeling that was the reason for the memory being more expensive. I spose thats why socket 939 CPU's are pricey compared to the AM2 ones. I reckon then its the graphics card with 512 and I quite fancy this case: Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case - EarthWatts 500W PSU for £72.84 inc Gordons slice for the Mps slush funds.

The main reason I've never tried overclocking is I've never wanted to knacker me puter as I also use it for trading, but now I have a Macbook Pro as a back-up.

Thanks again for the replies.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom