another spec thread!

Droid · 6 Aug 2007 at 08:20

final spec-check before i purchase...

wanted to upgrade my system for £500/£550, already have decent psu/drives so wanted to upgrade processor/mobo/ram/gfx. and also get a new monitor.

did a bit of research, what do you think of this spec?

LN17509
320MB XFX 8800GTS XT, PCI-E (x16), Mem 1700MHz, GPU 560MHz, 96 Streams, 2x Dual Link DVI/HDTV £155.49 £182.70
LN17547
Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI NF650i SLi, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £63.30 £74.38
LN17304
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300, Socket 775, 1.80 GHz, 800MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail £62.99 £74.01
LN12200
2Gb (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 £43.54 £51.16
LN13080
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core / Core2Duo Ready £13.49 £15.85
LN17097
19" LG L194WT, Silver/Black, Widescreen, 5 ms, DVI/VGA, 1440x900, 2000:1 £104.89 £123.25

Net Total £443.70

Carriage £9.93

V.A.T. £79.39

TOTAL £533.02

any comments welcome.

Alex UK · 6 Aug 2007 at 09:11

I realize this is a little over budget, but this is a much better option:

OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£178.59) £151.99

Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
(£88.11) £74.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail
(£58.74) £49.99

LG L204WT 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black
(£164.49) £139.99

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit
(£68.14) £57.99

Sub Total : £474.95
Shipping : £9.95
VAT : £84.86
Total : £569.76

Droid · 6 Aug 2007 at 13:24

Alex UK said:
I realize this is a little over budget, but this is a much better option:

OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£178.59) £151.99

Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
(£88.11) £74.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail
(£58.74) £49.99

LG L204WT 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black
(£164.49) £139.99

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit
(£68.14) £57.99

Sub Total : £474.95
Shipping : £9.95
VAT : £84.86
Total : £569.76

im no expert, but this looks very similar. what makes it better?

melbourne720 · 6 Aug 2007 at 14:44

Droid said:
im no expert, but this looks very similar. what makes it better?

He specced better memory, and a bigger monitor. I'd go with Alex UK's memory, but otherwise they are quite similar.

Both good specs IMHO.

Alex UK · 6 Aug 2007 at 15:00

melbourne720 said:
He specced better memory, and a bigger monitor. I'd go with Alex UK's memory, but otherwise they are quite similar.

Both good specs IMHO.

Yep, and also a P35 motherboard which will support future Intel CPU's.

melbourne720 · 6 Aug 2007 at 15:05

Alex UK said:
Yep, and also a P35 motherboard which will support future Intel CPU's.

Good point, but you've left him on stock cooling

Alex UK · 6 Aug 2007 at 15:10

melbourne720 said:
Good point, but you've left him on stock cooling

That's true, although he could add a ACF7 for an extra £17.

melbourne720 · 6 Aug 2007 at 15:33

Alex UK said:
That's true, although he could add a ACF7 for an extra £17.

Very true.

@OP - did you get all that?

Droid · 6 Aug 2007 at 17:49

melbourne720 said:
Very true.

@OP - did you get all that?

yea, thanks for the help guys.

one last thing, is that motherboard compatible with my non sata hardrives?

Droid · 24 Aug 2007 at 21:26

ok, ive decided to up the price a little so i can get one of those dell screens everyone is banging on about, can you just have a quick look over these items, just want to make sure im getting the best for my money and all the items are cross compatible!

Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail

OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775)

Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit

Droid · 24 Aug 2007 at 22:05

Droid said:
ok, ive decided to up the price a little so i can get one of those dell screens everyone is banging on about, can you just have a quick look over these items, just want to make sure im getting the best for my money and all the items are cross compatible!

Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail

OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775)

Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit

anybody?

truebluecfc · 24 Aug 2007 at 22:08

Looks perfect

Kalpsn2000 · 24 Aug 2007 at 22:11

Looks good to me. :cool:

Alex UK · 25 Aug 2007 at 00:08

Absolutely perfect, don't change anything!

artaxerxes · 25 Aug 2007 at 00:30

Waaa-aaaah I want one.

Absolutely sterling mate. What PSU do you have already out of interest?

Droid · 25 Aug 2007 at 08:15

thanks for the confirmation guys, put in my order last night (good ol' interest free creditcard!)

artaxerxes said:
Waaa-aaaah I want one.

Absolutely sterling mate. What PSU do you have already out of interest?

just opened up my case to check, probably a good contender for the dustiest pc ever...

its a Tagan TG480-U01 480W Power Supply ( http://modtown.co.uk/mt/review2.php?id=taganpsu )

that should be sufficient shouldnt it? or does that need upgrading too?

Droid · 29 Aug 2007 at 20:19

so my order should be delivered tomorrow, anyone interested in pics of the build in process? theres nothing exciting in it but i know some people like that kinda stuff

funksteruk2 · 29 Aug 2007 at 20:33

your psu might be ok, personally i would have gotten a 600watt, 8800s need a canny supply but you might be ok for now

Droid · 29 Aug 2007 at 21:12

i decided to get a
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
in the end, just to be sure