Build advice please

id_wright

id_wright

id_wright

Associate
Joined
29 Nov 2004
Posts
64
ok, so my psu blew a couple of weeks ago. i bought a new one (seasonic 450w) to see if the old psu took out the rest of the computer with it - no post with mobo/cpu/ram/vids and the graphics card fan didn't spin up, so i'm assuming it's dead. still holding out hope for my hard disks and sound card - am i being overly optimistic?

my budget is £300-£350, and i'll be using the computer for uni work and light gaming (whatever the spec it'll beat my old XP 2400+ based system it is replacing).
am thinking about the following:

Abit KN9
Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Corsair 2GB PC6400 (2x1GB)
OcUK 8600 GT
Hitachi Deskstar 160GB
Akasa Zen Black case
DVD+/-RW

firstly, any comments? alternatives?
the processor is retail - so that means it will come with a cooler right? how noisy will that be? will it also have thermal compound included? is it worth buying a seperate cooler and some arctic silver if i'm not planning to overclock?

many thanks in advance
 
id go c2d if you could stretch a little more or keep your dvd driveand case id go for this


Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86)
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA663) £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £45.99
(£54.04) £45.99
(£54.04)
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Sub Total : £287.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £51.96
Total : £348.86
 
Last edited:
many thanks for your reply
unfortunately not - my old case is cheap and crappy and starting to fall apart, and i want a dvd+-rw to replace my current cdrw - so that spec is over my budget
i (hopefully) don't need as much storage as 250GB right now as i have 160GB already from my dead pc - assuming it works - hence looking at a new 160GB drive. if they are buggered, i'll order another of the same model and set up a raid 0 array.
any other suggestions anyone?
 
I wouldn't rule out the graphics card being OK (this is your chance to upgrade without feeling guilty though); I think you are probably safe to assume that the HD is fine.

Intel if you are up to overclocking, AMD if you don't want to dabble with it.

Edit: Also, look in B-grade for HDs. Will be able to stretch your cash/save some.

Edit2: Woo I've honoured you with my 100th post ;)
 
unfortunately, i'm pretty sure my graphics cards is dead really as the fan didn't spin up as i was trying to boot it. not the end of the world really - it's a fairly venerable 9800 pro - awesome when i first bought it, but doesn't take kindly to oblivion. and as my mobo is dead, i might as well replace everything - guilt free as you say!
oh yeah, and my old hd's are ide, so will be ok for extra storage but not much good for a system disk
thanks for the advice
 
My sister finally parted with her 9800 yesterday :)

Seems like you are itching to do a full upgrade: I'd go for an Intel/ATI spec like paul_64l's but that's just personal preference. As you said, any of these will be a big improvement over your old PC. The Intel route (with the right motherboard) at this stage might give you slightly more futureproofing.
 
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