Building a new computer for uni

Simonnn

Simonnn

Simonnn

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Joined
16 Jul 2006
Posts
463
Location
Birmingham/oxford
Hi, im wanting to build a computer for my third year at uni, Im studying Architecture and my current laptop really struggles with some of the demanding software we use so, I need a computer thats as high a spec I can get for my money to run these and so i can get back into gaming.

Ive got a budget of £800 and this needs to include a monitor, and then just everything in the case, i've already got keyboard mouse speakers etc.

Ive noticed a few threads asking for builds with this budget but wasnt sure what their use was, it would be really helpful if somebody could spec me a comp as im not too hot on whats what and compatability etc


Thanks

Simon
 
CP-126-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-126-IN) 1
£129.95 £129.95
MB-011-IN Intel DP965LT 965 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-011-IN) 1
£74.95 £74.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE) 1
£52.50 £52.50
CD-038-PO Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-038-PO) 1
£21.95 £21.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN) 1
£65.95 £65.95
MO-005-V7 OcUK Value Video7 L19WA 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-005-V7) 1
£108.95 £108.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) 1
£136.95 £136.95
Subtotal £691.15
VAT £120.96
Total £812.11

If you really need to keep it under £800 then go for the X1800GTO, but the XT is worth the extra £20.
 
Would you prefer mATX or normal ATX cases/system?

mATX would be so much easier to move about, *IF* you do not drive a car...
 
fenderbass86 said:
CP-126-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-126-IN) 1
£129.95 £129.95
MB-011-IN Intel DP965LT 965 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-011-IN) 1
£74.95 £74.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE) 1
£52.50 £52.50
CD-038-PO Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-038-PO) 1
£21.95 £21.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN) 1
£65.95 £65.95
MO-005-V7 OcUK Value Video7 L19WA 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-005-V7) 1
£108.95 £108.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) 1
£136.95 £136.95
Subtotal £691.15
VAT £120.96
Total £812.11

If you really need to keep it under £800 then go for the X1800GTO, but the XT is worth the extra £20.
Click to expand...

Nice spec FenderBass :)

Stelly
 
Thankyou! What would be the benefit of going with intel instead of AMD?

Whats mATX? mini? size isnt really a problem im not really fussed about the case how it looks or anything like that
 
Intel's new Core 2 Duo is the business. At stock (1.86GHz) the E6300 is roughly the equivilant of an AMD X2 4400+, if you overclocked it from stock to 2.4GHz, then it'd be about the same performance of an FX60. At only £150 that's a tasty option to have.

mATX is micro, it's basically a fair bit smaller than a normal pc case.
 
If size don't matter then stick with the ATX layout then.
mATX is mini - smaller, usually better for LANgamers.

Intel Conroe = better performance for the money compared to the 939 AMD - which is basically "dead" for any future. AM2 has the future but personally, I'd stick with Conroe :)
 
fenderbass86 said:
Intel's new Core 2 Duo is the business. At stock (1.86GHz) the E6300 is roughly the equivilant of an AMD X2 4400+, if you overclocked it from stock to 2.4GHz, then it'd be about the same performance of an FX60. At only £150 that's a tasty option to have.
Click to expand...

Agreed, Conroe is the way to go

Stelly
 
That sounds like what I need then, thanks, does that include everything I'd need or is there stuff such as fans or any wiring that is on top?
 
The case I specced comes with one 120mm fan but has space for more. You'll usually get a load of cables and bit's and pieces with the motherboard. Should suit you nicely. :)
 
The other option with the above spec ( which is a great choice) is instead of downgrading the vga card is just get 1GB of ram - which is easily upgradable later ( unlike a VGA card which would need ot be totally replaced)

Either way though you would have a great machine

edit / yes it will run latest games pretty very well - not full shadows or lots of AA/AF due to the vga card, but still should knock yur socks off as it were
 
Don't bother, the next best gfx card is either the 7900GTX (all of which seem to die) or the X1900XT, which cost's £100 more and doesn't give that much increase. I wouldn't pay over 60% more for a better gfx for only 10% increase in performance. Stick with 2GB RAM and an X1800XT.

All rounder, bang for buck systems are the way to go.
 
Simonnn said:
So if i only got 1GB at first what would then be a better option of graphiocs card?
Click to expand...


So I was only meaning if you couldnt afford the £20 or whatever above the £800, rather than downgrading the graphics card, you could potentially save the £20 by changing the ram

I was hoping OCUK would offer 1 stick of DDR2 1GB but looks like they are all 2 stick kits, so its not worth it anyway ( even though it would save the required amount)
 
Ive been doing some more looking around and the only thing im not sure on is the monitor, a tft would be great but for the graphics progs I'll be using i was looking at some bigger CRTs which you seem to be able to get for almost £50 second hand, would a crt be just as good as a tft apart from the obvious space it takes up? I was wondering also if I did that and having an extra £50 to play with what could be done to the spec?

thanks
 
the way I was thinking was that I could get a bigger better screen for the money if I sacrificed space and went with a CRT or is that not the case?
 
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