Advice required, best system?

Pygmy_Shrew

Pygmy_Shrew

Pygmy_Shrew

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Joined
7 Jun 2006
Posts
34
Im going to uni soon so I've diverted £1500 my savings to investing in a new machine that will last me for the next 4 years!

Now Im an advid gamer and cant do without them, I'll also be running demanding software like virtual PC on various operating systems, no doubt eventually vista.

I've been looking to buy a premade system, there prices are brilliant and I've specced two machines which I'll list below, Id like your advice on which would serve me better and which is most future proof and less likely to explode over the next 4 years?


The main difference between the two systems is the GFX card and CPU, one being a new Intel Conroe the other being an AMD FX60 also with a beefy(er) graphics card.

Which will perform better for games?

Is the £200 extra for spec 1 worth it?

Any suggestions to what else I could add/remove? A better price from somewhere else perhaps?


Spec 1
CPU
AMD® ATHLON® 64BIT FX60 @ 2.6GHZ 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (939 pin)

Memory
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR400 PC3200 - LIFETIME WARRANTY!

Motherboard
ASUS® A8N-E/M2N-E: DUAL DDR, S-ATA, x16 slot, 3 PCI etc

USB Options
SIX USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT)

Hard Drive
SATA II 250 GB HARD DISK @ 7200rpm 8mb cache

Second Hard Drive
NONE

RAID
NONE

DVD ROM/Combi Drive
16X DVD ROM WITH 48X CD ROM

CD/DVD Writer
NONE

Graphics Card 1
1024MB GEFORCE 7950GX2 (DUAL GPU) PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

Graphics Card 2
NONE

Sound Card
HIGH END ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL SOUND (RECOMMENDED)

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities
10/100/1000 NETWORK CARD FOR BROADBAND

Floppy Drive/Card Reader
1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Case
Stylish Silver/Black Trident case + 2 front USB

Power Supply & Cooling
500W (Peak) Super Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm fan & CPU Cooler

Price £1451

Spec 2

CPU
INTEL® CORE® 2 DUO E6700 (2 X 2.67GHZ) 1066mhz FSB/4MB Cache

Memory
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2-533 PC4200 - LIFETIME WARRANTY!

Motherboard
ASUS® P5W DH DELUXE: DDR2, x16 slot, 975X chipset, 3 PCI

USB Options
SIX USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT)

Hard Drive
SATA II 250 GB HARD DISK @ 7200rpm 8mb cache

Second Hard Drive
NONE

RAID
NONE

DVD ROM/Combi Drive
16X DVD ROM WITH 48X CD ROM

CD/DVD Writer
NONE

Graphics Card 1
512MB GEFORCE 7900GTX PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

Graphics Card 2
NONE

Sound Card
HIGH END ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL SOUND (RECOMMENDED)

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities
2 x 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORTS ONBOARD

Floppy Drive/Card Reader
1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Case
Stylish Silver/Black Trident case + 2 front USB

Power Supply & Cooling
500W (Peak) Super Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm fan & CPU Cooler

Operating System required
NONE

Firewire & Video Editing
1 x FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD

Price £1278

Thank you so much in advance for your replies.
 
Last edited:
Aye, there's so much wrong with that post - your comparitvely new, so people will probably go easy on you, but talking about competitors isn't allowed. In addition, I dare say you'll get a far better pc for your budget if buy all the bits you need (from ocuk obviously!) and build it yourself.

Someone will be along in a second with a spec for you, if not, I'll have a go myself in a minute.
 
OK, here we go...

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
CP-129-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6700 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.67GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-129-IN) 1
£349.95 £349.95
MB-010-IN Intel Extreme D975bx-304 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - OEM (MB-010-IN) 1
£129.95 £129.95
MY-011-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS) 1
£149.95 £149.95
GX-017-BG BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-017-BG) 1
£289.95 £289.95
HD-078-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE) 1
£62.95 £62.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE) 1
£21.95 £21.95
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HS-003-SY) 1
£26.95 £26.95
CA-005-SV Silverstone Temjin TJ04 - Black (No PSU) (CA-005-SV) 1
£60.95 £60.95
CA-002-SS Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS) 1
£76.95 £76.95
AC-000-AC Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (AC-000-AC) 1
£5.95 £5.95
Subtotal £1,175.50
VAT £205.72
Total £1,381.22

There - basically better in just about every way!

The thing is that, while it's the CPU speed and the graphics that are the most eye-catching of your quoted specs, with this spec, *everything* is quality, including the case, psu, mobo, cpu cooler, etc! (Even included some Arctic Silver for you!)
 
Hmmm, thanks for the feedback (removed link, wasnt intentional)

Thing is I really dont have time at the moment to set about building a new rig and Im also notoriously clumsy, Ive broken a 3ghz P4 before ;) not entirely my fault though it stuck big time to the vanilla cpu fan:D
 
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