Gaming PC

[Luke1987]

Hey im a long time reader of these forums but ive never posted before. Im looking to build myself a new gaming rig and i have a few questions and would also like some feedback if theres anything i should change. I have around £950 to spend. I would also like to have a little go at overclocking

The current spec is:

CP-121-AM AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3700BNBOX) (CP-121-AM)
£137.95 £137.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£84.95 £84.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£99.95 £99.95
CA-005-HP Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Black UV (CA-005-HP)
£51.95 £51.95
HD-023-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-WD)
£33.95 £33.95
CA-012-TT Thermaltake VA3000BNA Tsunami Dream SuperMidi Aluminium Tower - Black (CA-012-TT)
£61.95 £61.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO)
£304.95 £304.95
Subtotal £775.65
VAT £135.74
Total £911.39

I see there is a OEM 3700+ which is £20 cheaper both come with heatsink and fan but will the normal clock higher?

Any more suggestions of Mobo or Memory?

Is the X1900 XT worth the extra £££ over the X1800 XT?

The memory and case are on this weeks deals so any qucik replys would be great

 

[Luke1987]

Don't you need any more space than the 80GB you've specced. Other than that, what a great spec!

I have my current 120gb drive which im going to use for stroage (music, videos ect ect). I specced this size SATA for just putting my windows installation and games on with it being a whole load faster than my current 120gb.

Would it be worth buying the OEM and spending the extra £20 on a better HSF to up my possible clocks? Any HSF for around £20 that you could recomend?

Im trying to keep the costs as low as possible so would changing to the GSkill ZX for the extra 30 odd quid really help my clocks that much considering im not looking to push it to the max?(im only a n00b ) just a nice overclock would do.

 

[Luke1987]

yeah it would help as the stock ones, whilst are obviously decent - seem to be a little loud and not as efficient as they could be.

for £20? i strongly recommend the Artic Freezer 64 Pro


it will help, but not HUGELY... the GeIL stuff is still very good memory and will still clock quite nicely

Well seeing as for the same price i can make my rig quieter i think ill just go for the OEM 3700+ and the Artic Freezer 64 Pro

I think im just going to stick with the GeIL if there isnt a huge difference. Im already using more ££ than than i should

 

[Luke1987]

I think the question that needs to be asked is what monitor does he have.. bit pointless going for the x1900xt if he plays at 1280, probably not notice a huge difference against the x1800xt.

I have a 17" CRT which goes up to 1280 x 1024 but hopefully in a few months when i can spare the cash hopefully i can get a TFT.

At 1280 x 1024 i take it there wouldnt be much difference between the x1800xt and the x1900xt in FPS and overall visuals? Roughly how much longer do you think a x1900xt would last before an upgrade was needed compared to a x1800xt?

 

[Luke1987]

if your going to be gaming at 1280*1024 for a big part of the near future, then obviously the x1900 will last longer than if you were at huge resolutions.

you could say something like an x1900 is a bit overkill for 1280*1024 but it will mean you'll be playing games maxed out for quite some time hopefully, obviously its a good choice as well if you plan on buying a HUGE monitor as well.

good choice on going with the OEM 3700 and the Artic Freezer, pretty much the same as you'd pay for the retail processor but now you've got a much better fan too

Yeah i think ill stick with the X1900XT because hopefully i should be getting a nice big tft soon (when the buget allows ). Also for the extra £6 the X1900XT is costing over the PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB i might aswell get the newest tech.

Thanks for help everyone im hopefully going to be ordering tonight but if anyone has any other advice just throw it at me.

 

[Luke1987]

Just thought will i get paste with my OEM 3700+ or will i have to buy some?