Building a new PC this weekend (hopefully) - need some purchase advice

Clark Nova · 5 Jun 2006 at 16:20

I want to build a new PC and would like to do it this weekend if possible. I will use the same HDD, Keyboard, mouse, monitor and case that I currenly have but anything else I imagine I will need to buy new to keep the spec modern(ish). What I have in my current desktop machine:

Athlon 64 3200 Clawhammer (S754)
MSI K8n Neo Platinum motherboard
2 x 512mb Corsair 3700 RAM
160 GB Hard Drive
AGP Sapphire 9800 GPU (BIOS flashed to 9800 Pro)

If I can get stuff from this week only then all the better as it might help to keep the costs down but my budget is going to be around £700. If it can be kept lower without sacrificing performance too much then all the better as the machine is being use to play games on mainly.

Thanks

Murzo · 5 Jun 2006 at 16:35

CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£171.95 £171.95

MY-008-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit (F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ) (MY-008-GS)
£124.95 £124.95

GX-043-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-043-HT)
£174.95 £174.95

CA-026-EN Enermax Liberty 400W ELT400AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-026-EN)
£40.95 £40.95

MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£59.95 £59.95

Subtotal £572.75
VAT £100.24
Total £672.99

Should be more than enough to play the latest games.

SiriusB · 5 Jun 2006 at 16:36

CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£161.95 £161.95
MB-120-AS Asus A8N5X nForce4 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-120-AS)
£42.95 £42.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£104.95 £104.95
GX-043-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-043-HT)
£174.95 £174.95
CD-041-PO Pioneer DVR-111BK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-041-PO)
£22.95 £22.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.95 £14.95
CA-023-EN Enermax Noisetaker 535W EG565AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-023-EN)
£54.95 £54.95
Subtotal £577.65
VAT £101.09
Total £678.74

I dont think I missed anything

SiriusB

semi-pro waster · 5 Jun 2006 at 16:38

I'd probably go for something like this, not radically different from the other suggestions really. You might be better waiting for Conroe to be released though as it may offer more options/cause prices to be reduced.

CA-008-TG Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£61.95 £61.95
CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£161.95 £161.95
MY-006-MK Mushkin 2GB DDR EM3200 Enhanced Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) CAS3 (991461) (MY-006-MK)
£109.95 £109.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.95 £14.95
MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£59.95 £59.95
GX-043-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-043-HT)
£174.95 £174.95
Subtotal £583.70
VAT £102.15
Total £685.85

FrankJH · 5 Jun 2006 at 18:58

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
MB-000-AK Asrock 939SLI32-eSATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-000-AK)
£49.95 £49.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£104.95 £104.95
CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE)
£19.95 £19.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£139.95 £139.95
HD-050-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB ST3160812AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-050-SE)
£45.95 £45.95
CA-007-TG Tagan TG430-U15 430W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-007-TG)
£46.95 £46.95
CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£171.95 £171.95
Subtotal £579.65
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £9.95
VAT £103.18
Total £692.78

This is about the best you can do currently for your money. Apart from non active parts ( ie keyboard, mouse, case) I wouldnt try and move anything across - maybe use your old hdd as a second drive if you have to, but the one above will probably work out faster and more reliable.

Sorry didnt check TWO but that gives you a general idea and they should all work pretty well together. If you want to play current games I would recommend 2GB ram - you could save a little by using your 1GB and only buying 1GB more but that would mean having 4*512mb which would lose you some performance straight away and you would only save about £30 or so

I started mine before there were any replies but I then had to do some proper work - well done guys you have all speced very similarly glad I am not giving out duff info lol