Advise a lurker on new system

Ranek · 12 May 2006 at 15:45

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.

Ranek · 12 May 2006 at 16:06

You have just brought a stupid grin to my face as i was looking for a way to justify a better Graphics Card

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

Ranek · 12 May 2006 at 16:17

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

Ranek · 12 May 2006 at 16:30

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 · 12 May 2006 at 16:53

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

Ranek · 12 May 2006 at 17:10

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 · 12 May 2006 at 19:05

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

Ranek · 12 May 2006 at 19:43

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

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!