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- Joined
- 14 Sep 2007
- Posts
- 10
I was hoping some kind soul can give me some advice. My Mum and my Dad both need computer upgrades and they must be identical but not looking to spend huge amounts of money.
Basically they will be used for light gaming and general applications. The most important thing is that they should be stable, cool and quiet(ish) as previous computers that they've had that run in the enviroment where they are tend to overheat for some reason even at stock.
They currently have
Dad:
MS6570 Athlon XP3200, 1GB DDR, Geforce 7600GS
Mum:
Abit KT7 Athlon Socket A 1733, 1GB SDRAM, FX5200.
I'm amazed my mum's managed to live so long and my Dads is so unstable its untrue.
I don't need HD's I think as my Dad has 2x120GB SATA's in his.
I do need new cases, maybe new PSU's and coolers.
I'm looking at suggesting three price tiers of the following
Basic:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.30GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail AMD - £55
MSI K9N Neo V3 nForce 560 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £45
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £70
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - £35
= £205 (x2 - £410)
Intermediate:
Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM - £90
MSI K9N Neo V3 nForce 560 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £45
Dabs Value Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 PCIE DUAL DVI TVO £80
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit 0 £60
= £275 (x2 - £550)
Top:
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM - £160
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £65
HIS ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro iSilenceIII 512MB DDR2 HDTV/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £70
OR
Asus ATI Radeon EAH2600XT HTDP Silent 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £65
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit - £60
= £355 (x2 - £710)
Personally I think the "basic" spec is going to make a good machine. My Dad is adamant he is not going to upgrade to Windows Vista so I don't need to make it Vista compatable so DX10 doesn't really matter.
Considering I also have to add cases and cooling onto that I think two machines based on the "top" spec will be out of the question and although I'll have a nice processor I'll have to cut corners elsewhere in order to make it even barely affordable.
As the only game the machine will have to cope with will be LOTRO my rig is an old Athlon X2 4200+ socket 939 running DDR and I can run on max'd out settings so I feel this is the more sensible option for my parents.
Thanks for reading so far!
Here's the questions I'd like to ask
1) Do you think I'm on the right track with my assessment of the specs? Cosnidering there's no Audio/Video and only light game use?
2) Adding the 6000+ to the "basic" spec. I feel that the extra speed comes at not that much more price. Or would it be better to spend the money on 8500 as opposed to 6400 Ram?
3) If my Dad did want to go for the "top" spec should I go for another motherboard? I'm not really up on my Intel mobos so can't really tell why some are double the price of others. Could you suggest a "better" Intel mobo to suggest to my old man?
4) I'm worried once again that on the "top" spec I've cut corners on the graphics card and that kind of processor would be pointless without a 8800 or 2900 attatched to it?
5) Alternativley considering this doesn't have to be Vista-proof would it be better to SLi two 1950Pro's?
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post and I look forward to hearing your views.
p.s. if you have any suggestions for affordable but effective cooling and cases I would be eager to hear your views
Basically they will be used for light gaming and general applications. The most important thing is that they should be stable, cool and quiet(ish) as previous computers that they've had that run in the enviroment where they are tend to overheat for some reason even at stock.
They currently have
Dad:
MS6570 Athlon XP3200, 1GB DDR, Geforce 7600GS
Mum:
Abit KT7 Athlon Socket A 1733, 1GB SDRAM, FX5200.
I'm amazed my mum's managed to live so long and my Dads is so unstable its untrue.
I don't need HD's I think as my Dad has 2x120GB SATA's in his.
I do need new cases, maybe new PSU's and coolers.
I'm looking at suggesting three price tiers of the following
Basic:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.30GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail AMD - £55
MSI K9N Neo V3 nForce 560 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £45
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £70
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - £35
= £205 (x2 - £410)
Intermediate:
Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM - £90
MSI K9N Neo V3 nForce 560 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £45
Dabs Value Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 PCIE DUAL DVI TVO £80
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit 0 £60
= £275 (x2 - £550)
Top:
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM - £160
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £65
HIS ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro iSilenceIII 512MB DDR2 HDTV/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £70
OR
Asus ATI Radeon EAH2600XT HTDP Silent 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £65
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit - £60
= £355 (x2 - £710)
Personally I think the "basic" spec is going to make a good machine. My Dad is adamant he is not going to upgrade to Windows Vista so I don't need to make it Vista compatable so DX10 doesn't really matter.
Considering I also have to add cases and cooling onto that I think two machines based on the "top" spec will be out of the question and although I'll have a nice processor I'll have to cut corners elsewhere in order to make it even barely affordable.
As the only game the machine will have to cope with will be LOTRO my rig is an old Athlon X2 4200+ socket 939 running DDR and I can run on max'd out settings so I feel this is the more sensible option for my parents.
Thanks for reading so far!
Here's the questions I'd like to ask
1) Do you think I'm on the right track with my assessment of the specs? Cosnidering there's no Audio/Video and only light game use?
2) Adding the 6000+ to the "basic" spec. I feel that the extra speed comes at not that much more price. Or would it be better to spend the money on 8500 as opposed to 6400 Ram?
3) If my Dad did want to go for the "top" spec should I go for another motherboard? I'm not really up on my Intel mobos so can't really tell why some are double the price of others. Could you suggest a "better" Intel mobo to suggest to my old man?
4) I'm worried once again that on the "top" spec I've cut corners on the graphics card and that kind of processor would be pointless without a 8800 or 2900 attatched to it?
5) Alternativley considering this doesn't have to be Vista-proof would it be better to SLi two 1950Pro's?
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post and I look forward to hearing your views.
p.s. if you have any suggestions for affordable but effective cooling and cases I would be eager to hear your views
