Advice needed for a PC I plan to build

ScottC

ScottC

ScottC

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Joined
26 May 2006
Posts
101
Hi I'm new to the forum, just signed up to try and get some advice about a PC I am planning to build with parts from the overclockers.co.uk shop.

The budget is £300-400 and I'm after one with reasonable gaming functionality (i.e. as long as the game runs smoothly without jumping etc. I'll be happy) and speed. To try and keep the cost down I though perhaps a turbo cache Nvidia graphics card. The hard drive would need to be 100gb+ as I have a lot of music and photo files etc. Really I'm after some advice on what would be the best configuration for this money and model names.

Note: I only need to build the base tower unit as I have the monitor, speakers etc.

Cheers.
Scott.
 
Last edited:
Hi there,

Welcome to the forums, be sure to look at the FAQ, and also use the Search first.

How much space do you need? Will 120GB Hard drive do?

Avoid Turbo Cache!!! expecially if gaming if you ask me as it will hog your system a bit in terms of RAM.

If you are gaming then the main thing at the moment is graphics so you will be wanting to spend quite a bit on that.

Cheers.
 
Conrad11 said:
Hi there,

Welcome to the forums, be sure to look at the FAQ, and also use the Search first.

How much space do you need? Will 120GB Hard drive do?

Avoid Turbo Cache!!! expecially if gaming if you ask me as it will hog your system a bit in terms of RAM.

If you are gaming then the main thing at the moment is graphics so you will be wanting to spend quite a bit on that.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome. About the turbo cache, if I was to have 1gb+ ram would it not balance it out abit or would it be more cost effective to have a high spec graphics card and abit less Ram. 120gb hard drive should be fine, I also have an 80 gig external drive so 200gb should be enough.
 
Don't waste your money on shared GFX memory. A decent gaming machine will cost more than £400, you'll probably need a new PSU also? Games do require a good GFX card...no point getting a new system only having to set to medium detail, no AA etc. No point getting a small HD as cost/GB isn't good value for money (250GB or 320GB best value)

CP-121-AM AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3700BNBOX) (CP-121-AM)
£129.95 £129.95
MY-041-CS Corsair 1GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS2.5 Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT400) (MY-041-CS)
£51.95 £51.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£144.95 £144.95
CA-023-EN Enermax Noisetaker 535W EG565AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-023-EN)
£54.95 £54.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£51.95 £51.95
MB-120-AS Asus A8N5X nForce4 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-120-AS)
£44.95 £44.95
Subtotal £478.70
VAT £83.78
Total £562.48
 
a)BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) £117.44
or

b)BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-026-BG) £76.32

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache £56.34

Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £52.82

AMD Athlon 64 3000 Retail / Abit UL8 / 2GB Geil PC3200 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-047-OK) £237.17

= a)463.17 inc vat b)422 inc vats




a)BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) £117.44
or
b)BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-026-BG) £76.32

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache £56.34

Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £52.82


(Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard £43.42

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail £72.79
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) £68.09

= a)£410 inc vat b) 370 inc vat

or

PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express £123.32


Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £52.82

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6V160E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache £46.94

AMD Athlon 64 3000 Retail / Abit UL8 / 2GB Geil PC3200 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-047-OK) £237.17


£460


or

PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express £123.32


Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £52.82

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6V160E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache £46.94

(Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard £43.42

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail £72.79
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) £68.09

£ 407 inc vat

or

PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express £123.32
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache £56.34

Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £52.82

AMD Athlon 64 3000 Retail / Abit UL8 / 2GB Geil PC3200 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-047-OK) £237.17

£470 incs vat
 
Last edited:
crashuk said:
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express £123.32


Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £52.82

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6V160E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache £46.94

AMD Athlon 64 3000 Retail / Abit UL8 / 2GB Geil PC3200 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-047-OK) £237.17


£460
Click to expand...

That's pretty sweet for the money.
 
Cheers for the responses, I should probably clarify a bit what I am after:

Processor (not really fussed which brand)
1gb Ram minimum
100gb+ serial ATA Hard drive
Nvidia Graphics card, I was looking at the LEadtext Geforce 6200 Turbo Cache model but I'd like to know your opinions on this.
Tower case with power supply
Motherboard, (MSI?)

If I can scrape the cash together I would probably be after a DVD Rom too but that's not too important right now. I really would like to keep it under £400 if possible.
 
Last edited:
I've put this together by just slightly tweaking one of crashuk's rigs, let me know what you think.

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM) £76.32

(Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard £43.42

BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-026-BG) £64.95

Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) £68.09

Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA) £45.77

Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-052-AN) £41.07

Asus DRW-1608P2 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - Retail (CD-016-AS) £29.32

Grand Total: £368.94 Including VAT
 
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express £123.32


Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £52.82

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6V160E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache £46.94

(Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard £43.42

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail £72.79
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) £68.09

£ 407 inc vat
i would go for this and find a £10 case for the mean time or use an old crap case (case is unimportant) this would be good for games.
 
ScottC said:
I've put this together by just slightly tweaking one of crashuk's rigs, let me know what you think.

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM) £76.32

(Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard £43.42

BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-026-BG) £64.95

Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) £68.09

Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA) £45.77

Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-052-AN) £41.07

Asus DRW-1608P2 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - Retail (CD-016-AS) £29.32

Grand Total: £368.94 Including VAT
Click to expand...


Thats not actually all to bad for the price to be honest.

This is what i got

The PSU in this spec may not be up to the job, i don't know

CP-162-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.80GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-162-AM)
£66.95 £66.95
MB-145-AS Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-144-AS)
£59.95 £59.95
MY-083-CR Crucial 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT6464AA667) (MY-083-CR)
£63.95 £63.95
GX-026-BG BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-026-BG)
£64.95 £64.95
CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE)
£19.95 £19.95
CA-051-AN Antec SLK2650BQE Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-051-AN)
£32.95 £32.95
HD-054-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 120GB ST3120813AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-054-SE)
£37.95 £37.95
Subtotal £346.65
VAT £60.67
Total £407.32
 
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