BiFocal me a gaming rig please :)

mark_johnson · 28 Feb 2006 at 14:45

Im looking to build a new rig for gaming, i havnt built a pc for about 12 months so im a little rusty and need your help.

Im currently running a

amd xp 2400
1gb ram
abit raid m/board
geforce 4 440

I have a Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case and their 450W Smart Power psu so i dont need a case or psu and i dont need a monitor

Id like a
64 bit amd
2gb ram
ati x1600/1800 gfx
sata hdd
not really sure on motherboard because theres so many

Can someone please spec me a system then? Cheers

Spending upto a grand

mark_johnson · 28 Feb 2006 at 14:57

Oh meant to say i dont need a dvd drive or floppy either

muckymick · 28 Feb 2006 at 15:04

DFI LanParty UT RDX200CF-DR Crossfire (Socket 939) Motherboard (MB-017-DF) £146.82

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM) Price: £144.47

Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31636) (HD-002-HI) £ 75.14

Thermaltake Big Typhoon 4 in 1 Heatpipe (Socket 939/754/775/478) CPU Cooler (CL-P0114) (HS-007-TT) £25.79

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) £234.94

G.Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit (F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ) (MY-008-GS)£152.69

NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE) £29.32
Grand total £808.17

Then overclock to 4000 speeds !

lee87 · 28 Feb 2006 at 15:05

I chose a dual core opteron which should overclock quite well, some good clocking ram and motherboard.

CP-148-AM AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM) 1
£269.95 £269.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 1
£60.95 £60.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF) 1
£79.95 £79.95
MY-007-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS) 1
£129.95 £129.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO) 1
£309.95 £309.95
Subtotal £850.75
VAT £148.89
Total £999.64

mark_johnson · 28 Feb 2006 at 15:07

lee87 said:
I chose a dual core opteron which should overclock quite well, some good clocking ram and motherboard.

CP-148-AM AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM) 1
£269.95 £269.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 1
£60.95 £60.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF) 1
£79.95 £79.95

MY-007-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS) 1
£129.95 £129.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO) 1
£309.95 £309.95
Subtotal £850.75
VAT £148.89
Total £999.64

Thanks for the specs so far guys

I dont know a lot about these opteron cpu's what is the diference between these and the 64's

Dreadi · 28 Feb 2006 at 15:12

opteron are better chips

lee87 · 28 Feb 2006 at 15:18

There isn't really any difference between the opteron dual cores and the AMD64 X2 cpus.
If you don't want to overclock then i'd change this to a X2 4400+. If you will overclock then get a Opeton 170.

If you do overclock i'd also get a better cooler, a Artic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro is good and only £17.

frogboy · 28 Feb 2006 at 15:27

Abit AX8 VIA K8T890 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-063-AB) - £59.95

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) - £109.95

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 NCQ 160GB ST3160812AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-050-SE) - £49.95

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM) - £122.95

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) - £199.95

Subtotal £542.75
VAT £94.99
Total £637.74

If you are not overclocking and want to save money..

mark_johnson · 1 Mar 2006 at 09:03

Thanks for the great replies, you have given me a lot of good idea's. Im going to drive to overclockers this afternoon (only about half an hour away) and pick up some new bits, still not fully decided yet though, quick few questions whats the better x1800xt card? the msi or the powercolor one? if a get an opteron 170 which dfi board would you reccomend? Cheers

mark_johnson · 1 Mar 2006 at 09:05

also if it worth paying extra for the 512 mb g/cards instead of the 256 ones, will i notice much difference in games?

volt9291 · 1 Mar 2006 at 09:09

lee87 said:
I chose a dual core opteron which should overclock quite well, some good clocking ram and motherboard.

CP-148-AM AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM) 1
£269.95 £269.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 1
£60.95 £60.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF) 1
£79.95 £79.95
MY-007-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS) 1
£129.95 £129.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO) 1
£309.95 £309.95
Subtotal £850.75
VAT £148.89
Total £999.64

Go for this mate. it will play all games very well! nuff said :cool:

ACESHIGH · 1 Mar 2006 at 10:23

mark_johnson said:
also if it worth paying extra for the 512 mb g/cards instead of the 256 ones, will i notice much difference in games?

The X1800XT cards (256 & 512MB) are the best bang-per-buck cards at the moment. Faster than the 7800GTX, not too far behind X1900XT.

If you game at 1280x 1024 or higher then the 512MB card is the better choice. But if you cannot stretch to the 512MB card dont worry get the 256MB version, as it will still be faster than any card within its price rang & up to £100 over. If you game below that resolution, both cards perform pretty close & so the choice is easier - get the cheaper 256MB card.

As for the difference bewtween the MSI & PowerColor 512MB cards, they are both stock designed cards so not much, other than maybe differnet software in box.
*** PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB now £258.44 Including VAT ***

The AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM) is a great CPU. Would be well matched to the
DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)