Advise a lurker on new system

Ranek

Ranek

Ranek

Associate
Joined
9 May 2006
Posts
264
Location
Plymouth
Hey, so I've been a lurker here for awhile but never got round to signing up.

Basically the PC I have now is on the way out and too old to upgrade.
(AMD Athlon 1800+, Geforce mx 420, 512 (not ddr) ram, 80gb hard disk, you get the idea.)

So I have about £500 to spend I can keep the cd-rw drive and floppy drive from my old pc but everything else is gonna go (dvd drive is broken).

I've come up with:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard
GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5
Bundle @ £170.85 at OC

Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JB ATA-100 8MB Cache - OEM @ £42.95 at OC

Need Graphics Card, DVD-RW, PSU and Case.

Graphics card?
Looked at, Leadtek WinFast PCX6600GT-TDH Extreme Edition GeForce PCX6600 GT 128MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail @ £74.95

Is this a good card? Would a 256mb be more beneficial for most games now?
I have no preference for ATI or Nvidia, tho tho i understand only the more expensive ATI cards have SM 3.0 support? Any suggested cards?

It will be used for net browsing etc and also for some gaming would like to be able to run Oblivion, Doom 3, Far Cry, Half-life 2 etc all the games I've missed with this current PC basically.

Any changes to what I've already picked?

All suggestions welcome, cheers for any help at all guys.
 
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BU-015-OK AMD Athlon 64 3000 Retail / Asus A8N-E / 1GB Geil PC3200 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-015-OK)
CP-117-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM) 1
MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS) 1
MY-005-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL) 1
£170.85 £170.85
CA-051-AN Antec SLK2650BQE Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-051-AN)
£45.95 £45.95
HD-047-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD)
£44.95 £44.95
GX-019-BG BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-019-BG)
£119.95 £119.95
CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE)
£19.95 £19.95
Subtotal £401.65
VAT £70.29
Total £471.94

Change from £500 too! :)

I'd recommend a SATA drive instead of IDE, and that's a decent graphics card from the most recent generation.

Hav
 
Here you go sir/madam:
  • AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-130-AM) £61.95
  • Asus A8N5X nForce4 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-120-AS) £44.95
  • OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK) £47.95
  • Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 GTO 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-097-SP) £79.95
  • Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 200GB 6V200E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-090-MD)£45.95
  • NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE) £20.95
  • Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN) £51.95
  • Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) £14.49
  • Subtotal £368.14
  • Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £9.95
  • VAT £66.17
  • Total £444.26
 
the 6600 gt is an ok card, I had it up to the point when I got the 7900 GT which scraped the 6600 on the floor in performance, if you want to play oblivion you would probably have to run the lowest setting though
 
You have just brought a stupid grin to my face as i was looking for a way to justify a better Graphics Card :D

I emailed Overclockers a few days ago and the guy that replied said taht case might be a little small as its a Mini ATX case?

Would 350w PSU be enough? I've heard that PSU's that come with cases are usually cheap or is that not always true?

Edit: Damn you lot are quick will reply more in a mo

I'm a guy btw, sorry to dissapoint anyone ;)
 
Welcome to the forums, Havana_UK's specification looks pretty much ok although I'd change it to the case in hp7909's specification as it has a more powerful PSU. The DVDRW also isn't the most recent but the 3550 is still pretty decent. Interestingly the bundle costs exactly the same if you buy all parts separately so you don't even save any money on it.

//edit Antec do make good PSUs but as I suggest I'd get a 400w version at least just to allow for expansion. The 350w case isn't MicroATX but it is a small tower so if this is a first build may be a little awkward due to the small size.
 
Yes this is a first build so anything to make it easier for myself would be ideal, allthough I have a friend who can help if required.

I like the idea of Havana's spec with the case of HP7909 infact i was just working out the cost of that as you posted.

Strangely I changed the drive to a SATA one yesterday but the shopping basket reverted to the IDE version for some reason.

Thanks for the welcome to the forum as well.

Only problem is my CD-RW and floppy drive are creme as i have a bog standard creme boring case at the moment.

Is it worthwhile adding an extra fan or 2 to the case as I've had overheating problems in the past. Is an aftermarket CPU cooler advisable? I probably won't be overclocking but may in future.

Any particular differences between the 2 motherboards suggested so far? (Asus A8N-E and Asus A8N5X).

I didn't work out the bundle price just goes to show! At least it was helpful in picking compatible components even if it doesn't save any money.

Regards, Rob
 
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SATA is better(although it is a marginal improvement) so just check that when you come to buy it that you get the right one :)

You can normally unclip the front bezel of optical drives and spray paint them if you want, other than that you could see about getting a case with a door or simply ignore it for a while.

The retail cooler will be fine for your uses, if you want to overclock later then I'd buy a cooler then. I don't run any additional fans in my case but it is a fairly hefty steel lump(Chieftec Dragon) so there is more than enough room for air to circulate but may still be worth you getting fans I suppose.

The motherboard in the bundle has a slightly better chipset as it is Nforce4 ultra based rather than just Nforce4, if memory serves that allows SATA II compatability amongst other things but not any huge differences.
 
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Ok hopefully last few questions now.

The 7600GT is looking like a nice card, It says 128bit though whereas most cards seem to be 256 bit?

I've no idea of what that refers to other than something to do with memory, but essentially does it matter?
 
Ranek said:
Ok hopefully last few questions now.

The 7600GT is looking like a nice card, It says 128bit though whereas most cards seem to be 256 bit?

I've no idea of what that refers to other than something to do with memory, but essentially does it matter?
Click to expand...
Funny you should ask, see here :p
 
Sounds like it should make a significant difference, but i suppose the 7600GT has a "decent quality" 128bit bus and so it wont hinder it much? Cheers
 
CP-118-AM AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM) 1
£83.95 £83.95
MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS) 1
£54.95 £54.95
MY-005-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL) 1
£49.95 £49.95
GX-080-LT Leadtek GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-080-LT) 1
£111.95 £111.95
HD-047-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD) 1
£44.95 £44.95
CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE) 1
£19.95 £19.95
CA-048-AN Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN) 1
£51.95 £51.95
Subtotal £417.65
VAT £73.09
Total £490.74

The CPU has a better multiplier on it than the 3000+.
 
Ok think i'm pretty much decided now just few last niggles.

1. Any other opinions on 3000+ vs 3200+ is it worth the extra £18 (Retail)
Difference between OEM and Retail is £5 on 3000+'s but £13 on 3200+? :S

2. Which is the best brand 7600 GT to choose? They all seem to be clocked slightly differently on core and memory, so which is the best performance/value/reliability etc?

3. The case can have a 120mm fan on the front I understand from http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=00381, so i'll prob pick up a 120mm fan.

But what is the 80mm chassis air guide? another fan slot somewhere? Worth dropping an 80mm fan in there?

Rob
 
Ranek said:
Ok think i'm pretty much decided now just few last niggles.

1. Any other opinions on 3000+ vs 3200+ is it worth the extra £18 (Retail)
Difference between OEM and Retail is £5 on 3000+'s but £13 on 3200+? :S

2. Which is the best brand 7600 GT to choose? They all seem to be clocked slightly differently on core and memory, so which is the best performance/value/reliability etc?

3. The case can have a 120mm fan on the front I understand from http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=00381, so i'll prob pick up a 120mm fan.

But what is the 80mm chassis air guide? another fan slot somewhere? Worth dropping an 80mm fan in there?

Rob
Click to expand...
For that diffrence you can pick up Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) £14.49 which will be much better (cooling & noise) than the stock Heat Sink & Fan (HSF).

EDIT: I think you just need another 120mm fan for intake (which is highly recommended). With the 120mm back/outtake fan included, I don't think you need the 80mm fan. Might even make the system noisier :)
 
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Any advice on the 2 questions above?

1. Any other opinions on 3000+ vs 3200+ is it worth the extra £18 (Retail)
Difference between OEM and Retail is £5 on 3000+'s but £13 on 3200+? :S

2. Which is the best brand 7600 GT to choose? They all seem to be clocked slightly differently on core and memory, so which is the best performance/value/reliability etc?

The Nvidia PCI-E pages seem to be down at the moment as it redirects to the mainpage. :S
 
The 3200 has a 10x multiplier as compared to the 9x on the 3000, there probably won't be much difference at stock speeds but if overclocking then a 10x multiplier means your Ram doesn't have to hit such high speeds if you are matching FSB. That said A64s can work with a memory divider without too much in the way of issues it appears so I'd say that unless you are thinking about clocking the 3000 with or without the Arctic Freezer 64 would do you fine.

I don't think there is much of a difference in reliability between the various brands OcUK sell, if you are willing to spend the £145 then the XFX GeForce 7600 GT XXX Edition, the Leadtek GeForce 7600 GT Extreme and the Gainward BLISS GeForce 7600 GT "Golden Sample" should be your choices I'd say, pick one at random or for the bundle, whichever suits you :)
 
Thankyou to everyone thats given me advice, I'm going to go for:

Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
£51.95 £51.95
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD)
£44.95 £44.95
NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE)
£19.95 £19.95
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£54.95 £54.95
GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
£49.95 £49.95
XFX GeForce 7600 GT XXX Edition 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT73G-UDD7) (GX-079-XF)
£124.95 £124.95
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM)
£83.95 £83.95
Subtotal £430.65
VAT £75.37
Total £506.02

Last question now, promise :p

Is this 120mm fan ok?
Vantec SF12025L Stealth 120mm fan
Airflow: 53 CFM
Noise Level: 28 dBA
- Speed: 1500 RPM

Seems to be quiet but doesnt shift as much air as some others. Any other reccomendations or is that a good one?

Other than that looks like I'm done!
 
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