Check my spec for £1.2k quiet gaming rig...

[VenomByte]

Okay, time for an overhaul. My old comp (XP2600+, 512MB DDR, geforce 6800) has been great for the last couple years with the occasional gfx card upgrade, but is now starting to struggle a bit with newer games. I'm taking the opportunity to build a new system from scratch.

The budget is around £1.2k, but that's not set in stone - I'll happily got to £1500 or so if it's worth it.

The goal is a new system (minus the keyboard, mouse, monitors, and optical drive, which I will keep from the old system) which will be a seriously powerful gaming rig which is also very quiet.


Here are the bits I've come up with so far:

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) 1
£194.95 £194.95
Asus A8N-SLi Premium nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-111-AS) 1
£104.95 £104.95
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM) 1
£284.95 £284.95
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC) 1
£139.95 £139.95
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA) 2
£54.95 £109.90
Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-021-EN) 1
£78.95 £78.95
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 7.1 EAX Sound Card - OEM (SC-037-CL) 1
£29.95 £29.95
Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 Speaker System (SP-000-AL) 1
£49.95 £49.95
AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) 1
£14.50 £14.50
Subtotal £1,008.05
VAT £176.41
Total £1,184.46

(The case I'm buying elsewhere for around £60, which is not included in the spec)

Any thoughts? Any important bits I've missed?

I'm not sure if it makes any difference whether I go for the A8N Sli premium or deluxe.
I'm also tempted to replace 1x spinpoint with a 74GB raptor in a silentmaxx enclosure, but I'm not sure exactly how quiet this will be and I'm wondering if it might get a bit hot?

I'll probably make my decision and place the final order at the weekend.

 

[triggerthat]

I'd recommend you upgrade the X1800XT to a 1900XT.

 

[Devlish]

I read somewhere that it may be worthwhile switching the 4400 with an Opty 170 and overclocking that puppy. Cant remember where and I may be talking out my butt but something to consider.

 

[Ak!ta]

Good Specs.... Couple of things:
If your building a system from scratch, you obviously want to "future proof" it as much as poss (lol), so you should bear in mind that AMD are bringing out new chips soon and so the price of current chips will fall (hopefully !!!) maybe worth waiting?
Also you say you want a seriously powerful gaming rig... then why have ATI gfx card with SLI enabled Mobo? personaly i would to choose either Nvidia gfx with your chosen board, or maybe the Sapphire PURE Innovation Gruper Radeon Xpress 200P (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-001-SP) with your chosen Gfx card.
That way you always have an option to go Crossfire / Sli in the future when theres more games around to utilise it...
You could also look at the dual core Opterons, and upgrading one of your HDD's to a Raptor ?

MB-001-SP Sapphire PURE Innovation Gruper Radeon Xpress 200P (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-001-SP)
£114.95 £114.95
CP-148-AM AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM)
£269.95 £269.95
MY-079-CS Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS)
£124.95 £124.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£194.95 £194.95
HD-015-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
£93.95 £93.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£60.95 £60.95
CA-021-EN Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-021-EN)
£78.95 £78.95
SP-000-AL Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 Speaker System (SP-000-AL)
£49.95 £49.95

Subtotal £988.60
VAT £173.01
Total £1,161.61
*** and enough change for a good game ***

 

[GAMEfreak]

a 4400+ or oppy 170 is overkill if you ask me. get a 165, and spend your saving on the 1900xt rather than 1800xt. it will give the greatest games to games and graphic intensive work.

 

[tbz_ck]

I vote for waiting for Socket M2 systems to become available and the new ATI chipset motherboards. We are also on the threshold of the 7900 series of GFX card coming out so now is not a great time to shop for a future proof high end system. If you can wait (and your current specs say you can IMO) then wait a month or two and see whats available then.

if you buy now it'll be obsolete by the end of the week (gfx wise at least)

T

 

[Ak!ta]

a 4400+ or oppy 170 is overkill if you ask me. get a 165, and spend your saving on the 1900xt rather than 1800xt. it will give the greatest games to games and graphic intensive work.

OR..........go with a lower CPU and go with one of the current bundles on offer.. if you add some £ then u could get the x1900xt Crossfire bundle !!!

You say you have £1500 sooo...............

HD-015-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
£93.95 £93.95
CA-021-EN Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-021-EN)
£78.95 £78.95
SP-000-AL Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 Speaker System (SP-000-AL)
£49.95 £49.95
BU-001-AT ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X Crossfire Bundle / MSI RD480 Neo2 / Corsair 1GB PC3200 C2PT - Bundle (BU-001-AT)
MY-030-CS Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2 (MY-030-CS) 1
MB-066-MS MSI RD480 Neo2 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-066-MS) 1
GX-046-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO) 1
GX-045-CO ATI Radeon X1900 ***Crossfire Edition*** 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-CO) 1
£782.80 £782.80
CP-151-AM AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM)
£224.95 £224.95
HD-047-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD)
£47.95 £47.95
Subtotal £1,278.55
VAT £223.75
Total £1,502.30

 

[Ak!ta]

a 4400+ or oppy 170 is overkill if you ask me. get a 165, and spend your saving on the 1900xt rather than 1800xt. it will give the greatest games to games and graphic intensive work.

Thinking about it... you would gain more by dropping the Cpu speed and upping the Gfx card - as GAMEfreak says and go with a lower CPU and go with one of the current bundles on offer.. if you add some £ then u could get the x1900xt Crossfire bundle !!!

You say you have £1500 sooo...............

HD-015-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
£93.95 £93.95
CA-021-EN Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-021-EN)
£78.95 £78.95
SP-000-AL Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 Speaker System (SP-000-AL)
£49.95 £49.95
BU-001-AT ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X Crossfire Bundle / MSI RD480 Neo2 / Corsair 1GB PC3200 C2PT - Bundle (BU-001-AT)
MY-030-CS Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2 (MY-030-CS) 1
MB-066-MS MSI RD480 Neo2 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-066-MS) 1
GX-046-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO) 1
GX-045-CO ATI Radeon X1900 ***Crossfire Edition*** 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-CO) 1
£782.80 £782.80
CP-151-AM AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM)
£224.95 £224.95
HD-047-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD)
£47.95 £47.95
Subtotal £1,278.55
VAT £223.75
Total £1,502.30

 

[Larok]

I'd be wanting 2gb memory in a system. Also look at the zalman 9500 cooler and the 7700gpu fan. Silent max hardrive gets my silent vote also.

 

[Ak!ta]

Yeah... my fault i thought that was 2GB.

HD-015-WD Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
£93.95 £93.95
CA-021-EN Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU (CA-021-EN)
£78.95 £78.95
SP-000-AL Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 Speaker System (SP-000-AL)
£49.95 £49.95
CP-151-AM AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM)
£224.95 £224.95
HD-047-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD)
£47.95 £47.95
BU-002-AT ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X Crossfire Bundle / Asus A8R-MVP - Bundle (BU-002-AT)
GX-046-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO) 1
GX-045-CO ATI Radeon X1900 ***Crossfire Edition*** 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-CO) 1
MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS) 1
£724.85 £724.85
MY-006-OK OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
£89.95 £89.95
Subtotal £1,310.55
VAT £229.35
Total £1,539.90

 

[XtAsY]

I would also recommend you go for the SoundBlaster X-FI line up of cards as opposed to the Audigy 4 pro, the X-FI Fatal1ty FPS is a very good card. As for waiting for socket AM2 to come out, I think its a VERY good idea and you wont regret it. You will be futureproofing yourself a lot, the multi core CPU's will be arriving on socket AM2 without a doubt.

 

[BigDom]

Woah crossfire and quiet.. not sure they mix...

also I'm guessing the current monitor max's out at 1200x1024 (i.e. is 19" or less).

That means Crossfiring is pointless as a X1900XT is plenty enough. Heck a X1800XT is probably enough. 4400+ make sense for the 1meg cache etc.

Gone for quiet where possible. Passive mobo, quiet CPU cooler, quiet PSU. Only noisy thing will be the X1900XT on full load but the Zalman cooler may work fine. It'll almost certainly fit but as it's not on the compatability list (or the non-compatability list) I won't reccomend it, however a mail to Zalman will tell you yes or no.

Nice thing with this rig is the mobo has close to Xi-Fi sound quality, so no point having an extra sound card.

CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£284.95 £284.95
MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£69.95 £69.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£99.95 £99.95
GX-060-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-060-PC)
£309.95 £309.95
HD-024-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA)
£48.95 £48.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£24.95 £24.95
CA-008-TG Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£59.95 £59.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.50 £14.50
Subtotal £913.15
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £9.95
VAT £161.55
Total £1,084.65

 

[VenomByte]

Some interesting feedback here so far, thanks for that. May be worth while waiting, but there is *always* something better just around the corner.

In this case I'm not convinced it's worth waiting for Socket M2 since they'll be very high priced to start with, and it's also likely to be a few months before the motherboards catch up with it. Not to mention that I'm not really convinced DDR2 is going to be much of a serious benefit.

Will probably wait to see the 7900 benches now though. It's never easy to choose the right graphics option... particularly as I'm not convinced SLI or crossfire are good value for money. Sure, performance will be blistering, but one top end gfx card on a good rig is more than enough to run everything at top settings. I'd sooner save the spare cash and put it towards upgrading the graphics card at a later date when there are better ones available, rather than suddenly find myself with two rapidly ageing cards.

FYI, my main monitor runs at 1280x1024 on a 19" TFT.

Chances are whatever I buy will be expected to last 2-3 years (as with the last rig) with minimal changes in that time, besides new graphics cards. After that I'll likely buy a whole new system again in any case... so I'm not overly worried about needing to be able to upgrade the processor.

Lots for me to think about...

 

[XtAsY]

In this case I'm not convinced it's worth waiting for Socket M2 since they'll be very high priced to start with, and it's also likely to be a few months before the motherboards catch up with it. Not to mention that I'm not really convinced DDR2 is going to be much of a serious benefit.

Socket AM2 products have already been confirmed to only be marginally more expensive and the new AM2 will be using DDR2 800 RAM which isnt even out yet, and it guarantees to bring a good performance boast (why would AMD bring out a socket that gives less performance or the same performance as the current gen now?) It will also probably have very few faults when it arrives as it is basically just like a standard current socket 940, all that will be changed is the memory controller, so it should be very reliable indeed. Anyway, it really is to you, but i say since it is due out at the beginning of June, which isnt far now, it just might be worth waiting for.

 

[MichaelHo]

Hi,
i was in the exact situation a couple of months ago, after research this is the spec that i got:
GX-047-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-047-HT)
£339.95 £339.95
MY-007-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS)
£129.95 £129.95
CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£284.95 £284.95
MB-001-SP Sapphire PURE Innovation Gruper Radeon Xpress 200P (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-001-SP)
£114.95 £114.95
CA-024-LL Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower (No PSU) (CA-024-LL)
£114.95 £114.95
CA-002-SS Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS)
£87.95 £87.95
Subtotal £1,072.70
VAT £187.73
Total £1,260.43

well within your budget for an excellent future proof system, you can overclock this system when needed. and if u search around mayb you can find a few of the components cheaper somewhere else and save a couple of squids.

 

[BigDom]

Hi,
i was in the exact situation a couple of months ago, after research this is the spec that i got:
GX-047-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-047-HT)
£339.95 £339.95
MY-007-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS)
£129.95 £129.95
CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£284.95 £284.95
MB-001-SP Sapphire PURE Innovation Gruper Radeon Xpress 200P (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-001-SP)
£114.95 £114.95
CA-024-LL Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower (No PSU) (CA-024-LL)
£114.95 £114.95
CA-002-SS Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS)
£87.95 £87.95
Subtotal £1,072.70
VAT £187.73
Total £1,260.43

well within your budget for an excellent future proof system, you can overclock this system when needed. and if u search around mayb you can find a few of the components cheaper somewhere else and save a couple of squids.

I believe people are having issues with the Sapphire Motherboards.. whilst none to my knowledge of the Crossfire boards are perfect, the best is the Asus to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Explicit]

AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM)
£317.90
Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£82.19
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC)
£164.44
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO)
£381.82
Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
£110.39
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£71.62
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£70.44

Total inc VAT: £1198.80

 

[BigDom]

AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM)
£317.90
Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£82.19
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC)
£164.44
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO)
£381.82
Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
£110.39
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£71.62
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£70.44

Total inc VAT: £1198.80

Nice enough spec except... Raptor != Quiet.

 

[Explicit]

Nice enough spec except... Raptor != Quiet.

Just thought it would be ideal for a gaming machine, but yeah it's not the quietest

 

[ACESHIGH]

Woah crossfire and quiet.. not sure they mix...

also I'm guessing the current monitor max's out at 1200x1024 (i.e. is 19" or less).

That means Crossfiring is pointless as a X1900XT is plenty enough. Heck a X1800XT is probably enough. 4400+ make sense for the 1meg cache etc.

Gone for quiet where possible. Passive mobo, quiet CPU cooler, quiet PSU. Only noisy thing will be the X1900XT on full load but the Zalman cooler may work fine. It'll almost certainly fit but as it's not on the compatability list (or the non-compatability list) I won't reccomend it, however a mail to Zalman will tell you yes or no.

Nice thing with this rig is the mobo has close to Xi-Fi sound quality, so no point having an extra sound card.

CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£284.95 £284.95
MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£69.95 £69.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£99.95 £99.95
GX-060-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-060-PC)
£309.95 £309.95
HD-024-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA)
£48.95 £48.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£24.95 £24.95
CA-008-TG Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£59.95 £59.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.50 £14.50
Subtotal £913.15
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £9.95
VAT £161.55
Total £1,084.65

Have to say this rig gets my vote. Very good spec & should last that 2-3 years wanted.
As for waiting dont really see the point myself, you can always wait for the next new thing, besides for AM2 you will have to pay big bucks for a CPU as i only see the FX-62 & Athlon 64 5000+ listed for early on.
As for the 7900 series, dont look that impressive by early posts!

Make your spec & buy is my advice!