Check my spec <£1000

cheesyface · 8 Apr 2006 at 19:13

Check my work <£1000 - Build failed

Lo peeps.

Gonna build a new pc so that I'm not always the last person into a new round of bf2... Also want to run Oblivion with as much candy as possible. I've got a 17" tft, so am going to be running at 1280x1024 max. And will probably not be overclocking as I'm to lazy.

How does the following spec look?
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM) £119.95
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS) £59.95
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC) £139.95
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC) £194.95
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) £55.50
Plextor PX-130A DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM (CD-026-PL)£15.95
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)£15.95
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN) £29.95
Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP) £52.95
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS) £49.95
Subtotal £735.05
VAT £128.64
Total £863.69

Thanks,
Cheesy.

cheesyface · 8 Apr 2006 at 20:17

Is it really worth going dual core? I can't see that its going to have a vast improvement whilst gaming over the single core chip. And I can always upgrade to a dual core in the future if I need it.

Thanks.

cheesyface · 9 Apr 2006 at 01:35

Is the 3800 x2 really worth it over the 3700 when I'm only going to be gaming and its £60 difference. I'd buy a dual core processor if it would mean better gaming, but if I'm just going to be playing a lot of bf2, bf:dc, cs:s and oblivion is it worth spending the extra now on a dual core?

cheesyface · 9 Apr 2006 at 12:22

You evil people. Looking around at the tests and benchmarks the x2-3800 doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the 3700 on games, so I might just add another £100 to me spec and get a x2-4200.

Still under £1000 though

cheesyface · 9 Apr 2006 at 14:33

Does the DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D support Sata-II? Looking at the spec it doesn't sat it does.

cheesyface · 9 Apr 2006 at 15:12

Thanks chaps.

Just ordered:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC)
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN)
Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP)
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS)
Plextor PX-130A DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM (CD-026-PL)

cheesyface · 11 Apr 2006 at 20:09

New build won't boot..

Hi.

I have just finished building the spec above and it doesn't dp what its supposed to

When I press the on switch the psu kicks in, the lights on the mobo light up but it doesn't do anything. None of the fans start,nothing.

I've checked all my cables etc and can't find the problem

Any advice?

Thanks.

cheesyface · 12 Apr 2006 at 00:06

Stupid me didnt put all 24 pins in the atx plug

Fixed that, but having lots of problems now. Can't get onto the net cause the drivers don;t work (maybe because its dual core) and tried updating the bios but it won't recognise my floppy drive. Gonna start using a hammer in a mo...

arrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
For some reason it all spins up OK, but when it goes through the cmos screen thingy the fan on the Freezer decides to stop running.
I've taken out one of the memory chips but its isn't even getting into windows now.

cheesyface · 12 Apr 2006 at 11:51

hmmm.

You'll all be pleased to know I have got some things working on my new pc (now online). I'm a bit concerned about the fact that it sees my x2-3800 Manu core as a 10200+ Clawhammer socket 754..

Have I screwed the pooch again?

cheesyface · 12 Apr 2006 at 14:13

Why does it feel like I'm talking to myself - I'm sure my sanity's still intact.

Looks like I have fixed my booting issue, the memory timings were set to auto and were at 2.5-3-2-5. But the Tcl for my memory is marked as 2, changed this manually and it seems to run a bit better now.

Still have the issue shown above with my "Clawhammer", is it something to do with the frequencies on my cpu?

cheesyface · 12 Apr 2006 at 14:33

haha, your a genius.

I've updated everything in sight apart from the tool I was using to check it all :rolleyes:

Your help is very much appreciated.