Another Spec Thread

[Dartanion]

Hi guys,

I am looking to upgrade my aging PC.

My current Spec is:

Athlon XP Barton 2500+
1GB PC3200 RAM
ATI Radeon 9800SE (softmodded to pro) thanks to OCUK a long time ago.

Looking to buy new:

Motherboard
CPU and Cooler
RAM
Graphics Card
PSU
Hard Drive

I'm not exactly rolling in it but do however want something good with the ability to play Oblivion and I don't want to have to upgrade soon.

Created 2 Specs as follows but not sure whats best and also how I could make them cheaper. If I can make them cheaper then I might be able to get second monitor too. For dual 17".

Spec 1:

AMD Athlon X2 3800 Retail / Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe / 2GB Corsair XMS PC3200C2PT Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-059-OK)
Price: £306.85 (£360.55 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-049-CO)
Price: £119.95 (£140.94 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 300GB 6V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-089-MD)
Price: £56.95 (£66.92 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP)
Price: £54.95 (£64.57 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Total: £632.98


Spec 2:

AMD Athlon X2 4200 Retail / Asus A8N-SLi Premium / 2GB Geil PC3200 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-049-OK)
Price: £305.85 (£359.37 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Leadtek GeForce 7900 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-081-LT)
Price: £141.95 (£166.79 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 300GB 6V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-089-MD)
Price: £56.95 (£66.92 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP)
Price: £54.95 (£64.57 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Total: £657.65

Maybe I'm not even close with my specs would appreciate some help as It's been a while since i upgraded.

Also I've never specced intel before, is it worth it or is that just gonna break the bank? And I'm usually an ATI man but willing to consider NVIDIA if its better now.

Also will be playing all games at 1280X1024.

At least these specs show you my ball park spec and price range. Though hopefully the price can be lower. Maybe I'm speccing above what I really need.

Thanks very much in advance

Tom

 

[Dartanion]

Have been reading peoples posts about conroe. what would be the equivilent conroe spec? I have no idea.

thanks

Tom

 

[p4radox]

Well this is what I'd go for:
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£89.95 £89.95
CP-137-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-137-IN)
£136.95 £136.95
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
£124.95 £124.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£126.95 £126.95
CA-000-SS Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-000-SS)
£39.95 £39.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£44.95 £44.95
Subtotal £563.70
VAT £98.65
Total £662.35

+an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro which are currently out of stock. The above would probably clock to over 3GHz and be far faster than anything from AMD for the same price.

 

[Dartanion]

hmm, so the x1800 instead of x1900. seems like i'd be losing out going the intel route then? or are the processors that much better.

 

[p4radox]

I'd only really conisder going with AMD for a new system if it needed to be very cheap. The Core 2 Duo is a lot faster for pretty much everything at the moment and clocks very highly.

The 1800XT is faster than the 1900GT, or so I am led to believe. This is reflected in the slightly higher price.

 

[Dartanion]

ok thanks very much. does anyone else have an opinion? will overlocking to 3Ghz be easy? also this is not the Conroe chip? is that a big problem?