Another £1500 gaming PC spec-me-up

[DJsean]

I noticed PinkPig has pretty much asked this question in an earlier thread. I don't want to overclock at all - I just want out-of-the-box performance AND stabillity. As I have this difference I didn't want to muscle in on Pinkie's thread and get asking for my own changes.

I must also stress that I want the following included to come within budget

Shopping Cart (Prices in British Pounds) REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
SW-022-MS Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition inc. SP2 - OEM (SW-022-MS)
£83.95 £83.95
Subtotal £83.95
VAT £14.70
Total £98.65

I need it ALL - Rig, monitor (larger than 19" if poss), Speakers, mouse and k/board.

Happy speccing!!

 

[PinkPig]

You really want the x64 edition? From what I've heard it has more issues than benefits....

 

[DJsean]

I just thought the most up-to-date OS may be the best choice but I'm open to suggestions if people think otherwise. I have no plan to put this PC on a network so if I was not going XP 64-bit would you suggest XP home?

 

[semi-pro waster]

I don't know anything about speakers so I've left them out(I just use my Hifi, goes louder than most speaker sets I know of ) but there is still room in the budget to include them and the monitor is just the first one larger than 19". Other than that all the components are good solid performers which don't need tweaking.

CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£289.95 £289.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO)
£304.95 £304.95
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM (OS-001-MS)
£52.95 £52.95
MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£69.95 £69.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£99.95 £99.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£65.50 £65.50
KB-072-LG Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (KB-072-LG)
£19.95 £19.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£28.70 £28.70
HD-056-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 NCQ 200GB ST3200827AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-056-SE)
£58.95 £58.95
MO-015-AC Acer AL2016Ws 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-015-AC)
£239.95 £239.95
Subtotal £1,230.80
VAT £215.39
Total £1,446.19

 

[DJsean]

Is the power supply in the Sonata powerful enough for all that hardware? Also, is the 4400 worth the considerably higher price tag over the 3800? I know the 1Mb L2 cache would be nice and higher native clock speeds but I'm thinking of getting the Philips 200W6CS 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - A few more £'s and would consider the CPU as a worthy sacrifice to fund the change. Will I, as a non OC-er, notice much difference in games/multi-tasking between the RAM you spec and some lower latency GSkill etc? Also, is the MSI Crossfire board solid enough for my needs? If I had to pick between the Asus and MSI would there be a massively clear outright winner?

And......... Nice to see you again semi-pro. I've not been on here for a LONG time and I'm really rusty on what's what - your input is always appreciated.

 

[semi-pro waster]

The PSU is fine, it is a good brand and 450w is easily sufficient for the proposed hardware.

If you want the monitor then you could probably drop down to the 3800 with no real problems or if you are unlikely to be running more than one process at a time you could go for something like the San Diego 3700 or 4000 and save a bit of cash because they are single core. As far as I can remember the X2 3800 is about equivalent to having 2x A64 3200, one for each core and the 4400 is about 2x 3700 but you are only likely to notice much of a benefit when multitasking at the moment until more software is created utilising dual cores.

I'm not sure about the Ram, I'd suspect the Gskill to have more of a benefit while overclocking than running at stock speeds but maybe someone else can advise further.

Again on the motherboard I'm not totally sure but I think the Asus has a marginally better chipset and some people (BigDom especially) have recommended it as a good motherboard. I'd doubt there to be too much difference performance wise though.

 

[Naffa]

You really want the x64 edition? From what I've heard it has more issues than benefits....

i will back you up there, from experience it is more annoying because loads of 32bit programs detect your os and if it detect x64 it wont install.. even though its compatible it wont run because it isnt one of the recomended operating systems.. this happened with Doom3 and RealPlayer.. both can be made to work but with a bit of tweaking.. but why bother Windows 32bit > Windows 64bit imho.

 

[Webzta]

I use xp-64 with no issues, apart from my tnt2 after 6800gt died

erm XP Home is garbage, atleast get pro.

 

[semi-pro waster]

erm XP Home is garbage, atleast get pro.

I do use XP Pro myself because I do use the improved networking but if people aren't going to be using the networking features what are the main benefits to Pro over Home? I'm asking because I don't really know and garbage seems a strong term for what is basically the same OS as I understand it

 

[Naffa]

MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£69.95 £69.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£99.95 £99.95
GX-060-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-060-PC)
£314.95 £314.95
HD-023-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-WD)
£33.95 £33.95
MO-012-AC Acer AL1916W 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-012-AC)
£159.95 £159.95
CD-033-LG LG GSA-4167BAL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-033-LG)
£23.50 £23.50
CA-012-TT Thermaltake VA3000BNA Tsunami Dream SuperMidi Aluminium Tower - Black (CA-012-TT)
£61.95 £61.95
CA-006-HP Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP)
£51.95 £51.95
CP-129-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4800CDBOX) (CP-129-AM)
£399.95 £399.95
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM (OS-001-MS)
£52.95 £52.95
KB-015-SK Saitek PZ30AU Eclipse Illuminated Keyboard (KB-015-SK)
£24.95 £24.95
KB-005-RA Razer DiamondBack Magma 1600dpi Gaming Mouse - Retail (KB-005-RA)
£26.95 £26.95
Subtotal £1,320.95
VAT £231.17
Total £1,552.12

everything there minus the speakers because i didnt know if you wanted 5.1 or 7.1 etc.. and because i didnt want to go too over

 

[PinkPig]

Saying "XP Home is garbage" is ridiculous, unless you want complicated user management or to connect to a domain there's no difference at all between them, the vast majority of home users are perfectly fine with Windows XP Home.

 

[King_Boru]

Exactly, I find people buy the 'Pro' version becasue it says 'Pro' its like those gaming mice, buy this one becasue it says 'Pro' becasue you'll be able to frag better with a 'Pro' mouse. Maybe windows will run better if they put 'Pro' in its name. what people fail to realise is that its simply down to the advaced networking capability which they will never use in the house.

get the home version. save the pennies.

 

[Chris19]

MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£69.95 £69.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£99.95 £99.95
GX-060-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-060-PC)
£314.95 £314.95
HD-023-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-WD)
£33.95 £33.95
MO-012-AC Acer AL1916W 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-012-AC)
£159.95 £159.95
CD-033-LG LG GSA-4167BAL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-033-LG)
£23.50 £23.50
CA-012-TT Thermaltake VA3000BNA Tsunami Dream SuperMidi Aluminium Tower - Black (CA-012-TT)
£61.95 £61.95
CA-006-HP Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP)
£51.95 £51.95
CP-129-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4800CDBOX) (CP-129-AM)
£399.95 £399.95
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM (OS-001-MS)
£52.95 £52.95
KB-015-SK Saitek PZ30AU Eclipse Illuminated Keyboard (KB-015-SK)
£24.95 £24.95
KB-005-RA Razer DiamondBack Magma 1600dpi Gaming Mouse - Retail (KB-005-RA)
£26.95 £26.95
Subtotal £1,320.95
VAT £231.17
Total £1,552.12

everything there minus the speakers because i didnt know if you wanted 5.1 or 7.1 etc.. and because i didnt want to go too over

yoyu could save money and take the 4400+ instead of 4800+ same cache just need a little over clock

 

[DJsean]

Right then,

Taken on board the comments you have all made and come up with the following. I know I'm about £30 over with delivery but what the hell

Shopping Cart (Prices in British Pounds) REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£184.95 £184.95
MB-066-MS MSI RD480 Neo2 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-066-MS)
£64.95 £64.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£28.70 £28.70
CA-005-HP Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Black UV (CA-005-HP)
£51.95 £51.95
SP-050-CL Creative I-Trigue 2.1 3400 Speakers - Retail (SP-050-CL)
£48.10 £48.10
GX-112-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-112-SP)
£309.95 £309.95
KB-060-LG Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (KB-060-LG)
£27.95 £27.95
KB-001-SL SpeedLink Ultra SL-6466 Flat Illuminated Metal Keyboard (KB-001-SL)
£29.95 £29.95
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM (OS-001-MS)
£52.95 £52.95
MO-003-BE Belinea 102035W 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-003-BE)
£279.95 £279.95
CA-005-AK Akasa Eclipse-62 Aluminum Case (CA-005-AK)
£69.95 £69.95
FG-008-AK Akasa AK174CB-4BLB 120mm Blue LED Fan (FG-008-AK)
£7.95 £15.90
MY-009-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR HS PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2.5 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200USU2-2GBHS) (MY-007-GS)
£124.95 £124.95
Subtotal £1,290.20
VAT £225.79
Total £1,515.99

Opinions/improvements most welcome

 

[semi-pro waster]

Aside from the fact I don't like the look of the keyboard It should all work fine, they are all pretty good parts and do give the opportunity to overclock in the future should you ever feel the need.

 

[DJsean]

I have a feeling I may change the keyboard to the Logitech Ultra-X but not too sure yet. That may well be the one and only thing the missus gets to pick

 

[Naffa]

yoyu could save money and take the 4400+ instead of 4800+ same cache just need a little over clock

I don't want to overclock at all - I just want out-of-the-box performance AND stabillity.

 

[Webzta]

Not sure about the motherboard, Haven't seen any reviews on it, you looked into it?

 

[DJsean]

I was the proud owner of the Neo2 Platinum board a fair while back til I separated from my wife and she took the rig. I loved it but having said that I've never really tested it to its limits.

I found a few peeps on here that have said nice things about it and not seen ANYBODY with a dud one. As for the Asus there are a few horror stories on here with certain RAM types - didn't wanna have a nice pretty box that wouldn't do anything due to dodgy mobo.

I'm up for changing pretty much all of what I've proposed tho except Windows XP Home and the Belinea TFT. So keep the suggestions coming. Currently looking at the possibillity of buying through my dads business so I can get the VAT off so spec may rocket in the next day or so. I'm not pressing the "Proceed to checkout" button til maybe Saturday so there's still time to rip all my hair out again before then if anybody else tempts me with "better" this and "more stable" that.....

 

[Monstermunch]

The PSU is fine, it is a good brand and 450w is easily sufficient for the proposed hardware.

It's not!

If he wants to sli later he cant without upping to at leat 500w. Most card manufacturers now state 400w single card and 500w for sli.