Another Spec thread :-)

Melkor · 7 Apr 2006 at 14:33

Hi,
My first custom, mainly for gaming and also a little bit of movie editing. Need everything except optical drives. Budget is at £2k.

Currently I'm looking at a X1900XT. Not looking to crossfire it but I'm not sure which one to get. Read some good reviews on the Saphire. .

For the Proc I was thinking about the AMD fx60. But then I keep hearing about the overclocking-friendly optys. Not a big overclocker here, but I'll be using this for a long time so would like somthing stable.

I'm in a mess with the Mobo. Everywhere I see its Crossfire this SLI that. Dont they make any pure single card performance mobo's anymore?

For the RAM Corsair 2GB DDR should be sufficient.

I was looking at some generic 250GB SATA HDs, but the raided-raptors sound nice. I also have a plain ATA HD, will it be possible to add it to the SATA mix?

I will also need a new monitor to show the full powers of the x1900. I would like a LCD but I'm afraid of dead pixels and and the like.

No idea which Case to get. A Thermalake 500W should be enough to power this beast hopfuly.

A G5 or DiamondBack with a generic keyboard should be good enough.

Any help appreciated

melkor

lee87 · 7 Apr 2006 at 14:54

How about this, I chose a X2 4400+ instead of a FX60 as I don't think it's worth the extra money. I put in a Dell 24" widescreen which should take advantage of the X1900XT.

CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM) 1
£279.95 £279.95
HD-015-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD) 1
£93.50 £93.50
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HY-003-SY) 1
£26.95 £26.95
MB-131-AS Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
CA-002-SS Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS) 1
£87.95 £87.95
CA-038-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-038-LL) 1
£47.95 £47.95
MO-001-DE Dell Ultrasharp 2405FPW 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey (30906) (MO-001-DE) 1
£589.95 £589.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) 1
£94.95 £94.95
GX-060-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-060-PC) 1
£259.95 £259.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 1
£55.50 £55.50
KB-069-LG Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse (KB-069-LG) 1
£31.95 £31.95
KB-047-MS Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard v1.0 - OEM (N8600004) (KB-047-MS) 1
£9.95 £9.95
Subtotal £1,678.50
VAT £293.74
Total £1,972.24

Naffa · 7 Apr 2006 at 15:20

This spec is slightly over budget but has pretty everything you need.

CP-148-AM AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM)
£274.95 £274.95
MB-118-AS Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi X16 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-118-AS)
£114.95 £114.95
GX-072-XF XFX GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT71F-YDLR) (GX-072-XF)
£324.95 £649.90
HD-015-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
£93.50 £93.50
HD-048-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 200GB 2000JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-048-WD)
£49.95 £49.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.95 £15.95
CA-015-TT Thermaltake VB1000BWS Soprano SuperMidi Tower - Black (CA-015-TT)
£42.95 £42.95
CA-006-HP Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP)
£52.95 £52.95
MO-013-AC Acer AL2416Ws 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-013-AC)
£519.95 £519.95
Subtotal £1,815.05
VAT £317.64
Total £2,132.69

You've got SLI 7900GTXs so running at a nice res for the 24" monitor with lots of eye candy shouldnt be a problem

Got a nice 200GB Western Digital and a 74GB Raptor to play around with. Opteron 170 as they overclock like a dream.. should be seeing 2.6Ghz easily providing its a good one.

in short.. a nice spec

lee87 · 7 Apr 2006 at 15:29

naffa said:
has pretty everything you need.

Except RAM.

Explicit · 7 Apr 2006 at 18:59

If you're getting a 24" monitor then Crossfire/SLI is a must with a £2K budget. If 20" then you can get away with one X1900XTX or 7900GTX (out of stock though)

Melkor · 7 Apr 2006 at 19:24

Ooh is that so? Then that could change many things in my list as 20" screen is quite a bt less than a 24"

Anyways this is what I have come up at the moment, thanks to both -

MO-001-DE Dell Ultrasharp 2405FPW 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey (30906) (MO-001-DE)
£589.95 £589.95
MB-131-AS Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS)
£99.95 £99.95
HS-015-TT Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 (Socket 939/754) CPU Cooler (A1838) (HS-015-TT)
£12.95 £12.95
KB-069-LG Logitech G5 Gaming-Grade Laser Mouse (KB-069-LG)
£31.95 £31.95
CA-022-TT Thermaltake PurePower TWV 500W ATX2.0 Modular PSU (W0057) (CA-022-TT)
£64.95 £64.95
CP-148-AM AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM)
£274.95 £274.95
HD-048-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 200GB 2000JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-048-WD)
£49.95 £49.95
HD-007-WD Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB WD360GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-007-WD)
£62.95 £62.95
OS-002-MS Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (E85-04026) (OS-002-MS)
£79.95 £79.95
CA-054-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL)
£48.95 £48.95
MY-039-CS Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS3 (MY-039-CS)
£109.95 £109.95
GX-112-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-112-SP)
£269.95 £269.95

Subtotal £1,696.40
VAT £296.87
Total £1,993.27

Monstermunch · 7 Apr 2006 at 19:40

Right, here we go....

CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£279.95 £279.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.95 £15.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£79.95 £79.95
MY-057-OC OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC)
£139.95 £139.95
GX-087-AS Asus ATI Radeon EAX-X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-087-AS)
£329.95 £329.95
HD-001-HI Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31637) (HD-001-HI) x 4 (Raid0+1)
£44.95 £179.80
CA-010-TT Thermaltake VA3000BWA Tsunami Dream SuperMidi Aluminium Tower - Black (CA-010-TT)
£63.95 £63.95
CA-009-TG Tagan TG580-U15 580W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-009-TG)
£89.95 £89.95
MO-009-NE NEC MultiSync® LCD20WGX2 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-009-NE)
£329.95 £329.95
Subtotal £1,509.40
VAT £264.15
Total £1,773.55

This will leave you £200+ for your speakers, mouse, keyboard etc. The four Hitachi drives will be faster, cheaper and more reliable than raptors (which are overhyped IMO)

I'd avoid the crossfire motherboards if I were you, they seem to be very troublesome. A lot of RMA's and general problems, the DFI I specced you is about the best on the market. I have heard as well that the Asus X1900XTX is about the best around also.

The 20.1" Widescreen is regarded as the best all rounder available at the mo, 6ms and an IPS panel, whereas the dell 24" are a TN panel which is the cheapest and they are only 16ms response time, which IMO isn't quick enough for gaming (8ms ideally)

As for the processor, it's just a matter of choice really, either the 4400+ X" or the Opteron 175.

Explicit · 7 Apr 2006 at 19:50

Melkor said:
Ooh is that so? Then that could change many things in my list as 20" screen is quite a bt less than a 24"

Well, I wouldn't like to have one X1900XT run a 24" 1920 x 1200 resolution for gaming. Imagine the crappy FPS

Monstermunch · 7 Apr 2006 at 20:12

Explicit said:
Well, I wouldn't like to have one X1900XT run a 24" 1920 x 1200 resolution for gaming. Imagine the crappy FPS

Totally agree, plus the fact that above this size don't tend to be anywhere near as fast like 16ms vs the 6ms or 8ms on the 20" models. Also the panel quality is generally much better with 20" IPS panels etc vs the crappy TN Film panels for the 24".

Don't forget as well that if you're sitting too close then you won't actually be able to see the whole screen at once, making it harder to play games.

Melkor · 7 Apr 2006 at 20:52

Ah thanks guys, gracias mucho

Naffa · 8 Apr 2006 at 01:12

lee87 said:
Except RAM.

hmm.. youre right

maybe its cos i thought that theres one gig of video memory, some of that could be used as system memory :cool: