Advice on new system

[Enzouk]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and am looking to place and order for a complete system including monitor (preferably 19inch wide), speakers, keyboard and mouse. Unfortunately I'm on quite a tight budget and don't really want to spend more than £700. I'd like to be able to play games like Half-life 2, STALKER and Oblivion to a decent standard. I have come up with the following spec list:

MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£52.86)
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail
(£21.14)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC)
(£93.99)
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£19.96)
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528)
(£58.74)
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£105.74)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD160HJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
(£41.11)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
(£56.39)
Logitech Z-4 2.1 40 Watts Speakers - Retail
(£52.82)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU
(£46.99)
Asus VW192S 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor -
(£126.89)

Sub Total : £575.85
Shipping : £14.95
Vat : £103.39
Total : £694.19

This will the first PC i have built so I'm not sure if there would be any problems with compatibility with the above components so any comments or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Nymins]

For an extra ~£80 you could get a good C2D system going. This is what i have came up with:

I know its a good wee bit over your budget, but i think it would last much longer than the AMD setup.

 

[Enzouk]

I wasn't sure that at the lower speeds the C2D would make that much difference but if its better obviously I'd go for that instead. I was wondering if that ram is inferior in some way to the brand names?

 

[Cupra]

id get that spec but id change the screen to a belina and the 2.1 to a 5.1 speakers

 

[semi-pro waster]

I wasn't sure that at the lower speeds the C2D would make that much difference but if its better obviously I'd go for that instead. I was wondering if that ram is inferior in some way to the brand names?

Welcome to the forums, the 6300 is roughly equivalent to an X2 4400 at stock speeds but is likely to overclock far further as well. The Ram is just bog-standard PC6400, nothing wrong with it at all.

You could knock around £20 off Nymins specification by picking the Gigabyte S3 and going for a 4300 instead which wouldn't signficantly impact on the systems performance at all.

 

[Enzouk]

Thanks for the replies. I have make some changes and come up with the following. I quite like those Logitech speakers so I think I'll stick with those, but chip, memory and motherboard will be fine like that?

Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail
(£21.14)
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£19.96)
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528)
(£58.74)
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£105.74)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD160HJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
(£41.11)
Logitech Z-4 2.1 40 Watts Speakers - Retail
(£52.82)
Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail
(£110.44)
Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£70.49)
OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
(£79.89)
Belinea 1925S1W 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver
(£123.36)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU
(£46.99)

Sub Total : £621.85
Shipping : £14.95
Vat : £111.44
Total : £748.24

 

[hp7909]

{snip}380W SmartPower PSU{snip}

Think the X1950Pro will need a-little bit more juice than that. Regardless, 380W will limit your upgradability head room

 

[Nymins]

The 380w should be ok for the X1950pro and since its Antec it should be high quality. But i would upgrade if your getting a better graphics card in the future.