building gaming pc

phawkins576

phawkins576

phawkins576

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18 Dec 2004
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235
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Northern Ireland
Hi there, going to build a smallish budget gaming pc, dont want to spend more than £1000, but i already have
Socket 939, amd64 3000, 1gig (2x512) dual channel pc3200, 200gb hdd SATA150, geforce 6600gt agp and a good sony 17" TFT.

so really what i need to upgrade is mobo, cpu, graphics card, physx card if its worth it? memory if switching to intel or am2.

what you guys recon i should do... amd socket AM2? or do you recon socket 939 is still good goin?
 
pallys said:
woudnt bother...
Click to expand...

just get an extra 1GB RAM and maybe another hard drive. Saving you £900 :cool:

And Phyx cards are the most pointless hardware upgrades ever EVER.
 
Last edited:
yeah but at the end of the day i need more power for games.. so i need to bother!! looking to get a nvidia 7900GT or GTX... which platform would you go for now though? intel, amd 939 or am2? if i go 939 i can keep my 1gb memory
 
What PSU do you have? Ive specced this, without a PSU.. if you dont have a decent one, drop the 7950GX2 to a 7900GT or GTX or a X1900 XT

MB-142-AS Asus M2N32-SLi-DLX nForce 590 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-142-AS)
£114.95 £114.95
CP-172-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-172-AM)
£189.95 £189.95
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£104.95 £104.95
GX-022-BG BFG GeForce 7950 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-022-BG)
£329.95 £329.95
Subtotal £739.80
VAT £129.47
Total £869.27

s-
 
Although you could stick to 939, it's not really worth it as you'll need new mobo/cpu/graphics anyway so it's not worth it just for some 1gb ram.


Check out some of those conroe spec threads all over the place, they should help.
 
thanks sky3.. thats awesome i will bear that in mind. i have a tagan psu 500Watt with dual pci-express power cables for sli.

priced up a few things on ocuk
Socket AM2
£184 BFG GeForce 7900 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
£82 AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-165-AM)
£105 Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£48 Samsung SpinPoint P SP2004C 200GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
£60 GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)
£57 Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL)

£516

Socket 939
£340 BFG GeForce 7900 GTX OC 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-017-BG)
£78 AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BPBOX) (CP-116-AM)
£66 Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard
£48 Samsung SpinPoint P SP2004C 200GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
£57 Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL)

£589

those are just the more basic packages to give me a bit more power at more of a budget.

So what do you recon i am better doing.. going to AM2 with a 7900GT and DDR2 memory, or sticking 939 with a 7900GTX 512mb... i recon the better graphics card will make a lot more difference than DDR2 memory.
 
Although its pre-built i think this is pretty awesome for the money

- AMD Athlon X2 3800+ CPU running at X2 4600 speeds (2.4GHz)
- AMD Freezer 64 Pro approved AMD Cooler (Silent)
- Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 PCI-Express Motherboard
- G.Skill HZ 2GB Extreme (2x1GB) DDR PC4000 Dual Channel Kit
- 320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 16MB cache SATA-2 Hard Drive
- NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT 256MB DDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- NEC 4570 DVD-RW Black DVD Writer
- Onboard 6 Channel Audio
- Black Floppy Drive
- Antec NSK4400-UK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case
- Antec 380W SmartPower ATX Power Supply

Would need your PSU though..

Price: £619.95 (£728.44 Including VAT at 17.5%)
 
I meant to say i am limited to gaming at 1280x1024 with my tft anyway so a 7900gtx would be more than enough. love playing half life 2 and especially counter strike source, would just be class to play it at 1280x1024 with everything on high along with 4xAA and 16xAF. And the same in F.E.A.R. and any other multiplayers.
 
Heres my stab at another spec, i think this is a very decent spec..if you wanted a monitor that is though - because you'd get the full potential of the GFX Card =)

MB-142-AS Asus M2N32-SLi-DLX nForce 590 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-142-AS)
£114.95 £114.95
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£104.95 £104.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO)
£214.95 £214.95
CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)
£94.95 £94.95
MO-012-AC Acer AL1916WS 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-012-AC)
£144.95 £144.95
HD-095-WD Western Digital Raptor 36GB WD360ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-095-WD)
£68.50 £68.50
Subtotal £743.25
VAT £130.07
Total £873.32

Raptor for either OS or Games :)

s-
 
thats pretty sweet mate thanks a lot for your help!! I am a graphics / website design by day. and work from home. my sony 17" tft does me fine i think at 1280x1024 and it looks really class too.. i dont really see the need in having a bigger monitor or running games at any higher res.. id rather just stick to 1280x1024 res and have higher AA and AF, and amazing high framerate. theres also just something about ati cards i dont like, had 9800pro and hated the ati drivers. pc is in my bedroom also and i have 5.1 surround sound, used to have a tv card but it broke so i took it out , would not mind having remote control for tv card / music etc also.
Although i have said i have a budget off £1000, i also would not mind spending about £500 i dont really care if i have socket am2 or not, although as you say i am changing cpu and graphics anyway so i might as well get am2.
 
phawkins576 said:
thats pretty sweet mate thanks a lot for your help!! I am a graphics / website design by day. and work from home. my sony 17" tft does me fine i think at 1280x1024 and it looks really class too.. i dont really see the need in having a bigger monitor or running games at any higher res.. id rather just stick to 1280x1024 res and have higher AA and AF, and amazing high framerate. theres also just something about ati cards i dont like, had 9800pro and hated the ati drivers. pc is in my bedroom also and i have 5.1 surround sound, used to have a tv card but it broke so i took it out , would not mind having remote control for tv card / music etc also.
Although i have said i have a budget off £1000, i also would not mind spending about £500 i dont really care if i have socket am2 or not, although as you say i am changing cpu and graphics anyway so i might as well get am2.
Click to expand...

ok :) ill have a little stab again

s-
 
Syk3 said:
Although its pre-built i think this is pretty awesome for the money

- AMD Athlon X2 3800+ CPU running at X2 4600 speeds (2.4GHz)
- AMD Freezer 64 Pro approved AMD Cooler (Silent)
- Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 PCI-Express Motherboard
- G.Skill HZ 2GB Extreme (2x1GB) DDR PC4000 Dual Channel Kit
- 320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 16MB cache SATA-2 Hard Drive
- NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT 256MB DDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- NEC 4570 DVD-RW Black DVD Writer
- Onboard 6 Channel Audio
- Black Floppy Drive
- Antec NSK4400-UK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case
- Antec 380W SmartPower ATX Power Supply

Would need your PSU though..

Price: £619.95 (£728.44 Including VAT at 17.5%)
Click to expand...

I'd go for that... it comes with everything for a decent price, just needs your PSU.

Or...

CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)
£94.95 £94.95
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£104.95 £104.95
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-024-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA)
£34.95 £34.95
CA-054-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL)
£48.95 £48.95
MB-147-AS Asus M2N-E (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-147-AS)
£59.95 £59.95
Subtotal £483.70
VAT £84.65
Total £568.35

s-
 
phawkins576 said:
yeah but at the end of the day i need more power for games.. so i need to bother!! looking to get a nvidia 7900GT or GTX... which platform would you go for now though? intel, amd 939 or am2? if i go 939 i can keep my 1gb memory
Click to expand...

id still say dnt bother cuz u wont notice much difference from your current system, certainly not £500+ return...

but if u wanna, then hold out for a conroe system...
 
phawkins576 said:
Hi there, going to build a smallish budget gaming pc, dont want to spend more than £1000, but i already have
Socket 939, amd64 3000, 1gig (2x512) dual channel pc3200, 200gb hdd SATA150, geforce 6600gt agp and a good sony 17" TFT.

so really what i need to upgrade is mobo, cpu, graphics card, physx card if its worth it? memory if switching to intel or am2.

what you guys recon i should do... amd socket AM2? or do you recon socket 939 is still good goin?
Click to expand...
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, Sell it and buy this:

CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
£214.95 £214.95
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£94.95 £94.95
MY-092-CS Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (MY-092-CS)
£124.95 £124.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO)
£214.95 £214.95
HD-078-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-078-SE)
£62.95 £62.95
CD-033-NE NEC ND4571 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-033-NE)
£22.95 £22.95
CA-054-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL)
£48.95 £48.95
CA-025-EN Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN)
£59.95 £59.95
Subtotal £844.60
VAT £147.81
Total £992.41


Then use the spare money to go on holiday or something! :)
 
You really dont seem to know what you are doing. You are on 1GB RAM. Get an extra 1GB = £40

The only other thing you need to better is your graphics look for something similar to a 6800GT. Anything else you are throwing money away.

And why do people want to throw money at the rig and use a crap monitor :confused:
 
my monitor is not crap, it may only be 17", but its good quality, looks great and 1280x1024 is more than enough res for me, youd have to be blind to need a bigger screen than 17"
 
19" is a bit pointless unless you have poor eye site or watch movies. 20" and bigger have more pixels on the screen and are far from being pointless :P

Your system looks fine to me. If you want a new proccessor get a conroe. There is only a small increase (5-10%) when going from 939 to AM2

If you want games running on full settings get the 1800 or 1900 on special depending on finances but consider directx 10 cards will be out in a year.

Don't get a physics card.

Personally i think 1 gig of ram is fine at the moment, its all i use.
 
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