Gaming Workstation for under £400

g9015395 · 14 Oct 2007 at 18:38

The fishdude gave me a really good start:

Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£76.36)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
(£68.14)
Samsung SH-S203NBEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£19.96)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS)
(£64.61)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
(£44.64)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£77.54)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail
(£58.74)
Sub Total : £348.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
Shipping : £9.95
VAT : £62.80
Total : £421.68

I was wondering if there was an AMD based solution, i have peripherals am a member of MSDN-A so have an OS, i have a power supply and i have a case...

Used for gaming, word processing, internet use and development and programming...

Thanks for the replies guys, money is burning a hole in my pocket...

Thanks

G9015395

semi-pro waster · 14 Oct 2007 at 22:26

What is your current PSU? It may be that you don't need the Corsair in the specification there or if the budget is tight then the Corsair VX 450w might be a better option.

You could go AMD but if you are willing to overclock a little then Intel is the way to go.

g9015395 · 15 Oct 2007 at 17:23

I was thinking of pushing the budget and getting a
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6400+ Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
Good or bad idea?

Powersupply says max 400W

Cr0fty · 15 Oct 2007 at 17:28

For the price an intel chip would be better. And i'm not sure, but i think you'll need a new psu...

g9015395 · 15 Oct 2007 at 17:31

I hope i dont need a new PSU....

You recon intel gives you a lot more for your money?

Cr0fty · 15 Oct 2007 at 17:36

Well you could get a cheap intel chip ( 2180 ) and a cooler...then clock it to 3ghz+
Which is much better value. As amd chips don't clock as well.

g9015395 · 15 Oct 2007 at 17:40

overclocking aside, the basic chips....?

semi-pro waster · 15 Oct 2007 at 18:25

Well if you are going for the X2 6400+ Black edition then you have totally shot your budget, it costs £140 on by itself. If you aren't going to be overclocking much or at all then something like this is probably a good option and it comes in just about bang on the £400 that you initially said.

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300C4 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) £34.99
(£41.11) £34.99
(£41.11)
Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £65.99
(£77.54) £65.99
(£77.54)
Asus M2N4-SLI (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Samsung SH-S203NBEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (0A33435) £41.99
(£49.34) £41.99
(£49.34)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £66.99
(£78.71) £66.99
(£78.71)
Sub Total : £329.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £59.65
Total : £400.53

HangTime · 15 Oct 2007 at 18:39

I don't think there's much wrong with that initial spec tbh. When overclocked it will likely be faster than a comprable X2 setup.