Helping a friend design a computer

[Freaky Dug]

My friend is planning to build his own computer but he doesn't really know much, and neither do I so I'd like some help designing a spec for a gaming pc for about £750. It needs to include a wireless card, XP(we don't like Vista) and two hard drives.

 

[Megahurtz400]

Monitor?

KB + mouse?

 

[ChoÞÞer]

will he be overclocking?
and why not vista? i love it <33

 

[Megahurtz400]

I think vista sucks but might get it for my new build.

dong spec now...

 

[Freaky Dug]

Yes monitor, keyboard and mouse need to be included in the 750.

Overclocking is most likely a no, neither he or I have the guts.

People who's opinions I respect keep saying Vista is awful and a lot of what I've heard about it sounds bad. Plus XP is cheaper and Vista has no actual advantages over it bar DX10 which is being reverse engineered for XP anyway.

 

[stickroad]

Yes monitor, keyboard and mouse need to be included in the 750.

Overclocking is most likely a no, neither he or I have the guts.

People who's opinions I respect keep saying Vista is awful and a lot of what I've heard about it sounds bad. Plus XP is cheaper and Vista has no actual advantages over it bar DX10 which is being reverse engineered for XP anyway.

What do you mean by that?

 

[Megahurtz400]

I really would advise overclocking as you can get a cheap c2s cpu and make it run at a much higher speed. The same speed as a 150 pound chip.

Abd from what i hear clocking the c2d's can be easy, and if you need help you can ask here

EDIT: And why 2 HDDs? Save money and get 1 big one?

 

[Megahurtz400]

Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 NCQ 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)

Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 - Retail Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 - Retail £19.99
(£23.49) £19.99
(£23.49)

Saitek PZ30AU Eclipse Illuminated Keyboard - Blue Saitek PZ30AU Eclipse Illuminated Keyboard - Blue £21.99
(£25.84) £21.99
(£25.84)

OcUK Huntkey 550W PSU OcUK Huntkey 550W PSU £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)

Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)

Creative Inspire T3100 2.1 Speakers - OEM Creative Inspire T3100 2.1 Speakers - OEM £17.99
(£21.14) £17.99
(£21.14)

Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.99
(£15.26) £12.99
(£15.26)

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £53.99
(£63.44) £53.99
(£63.44)

Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB) Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB) £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - (PCI-Express) - Retail £79.99
(£93.99) £79.99
(£93.99)

LG L194WT 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver LG L194WT 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver £107.99
(£126.89) £107.99
(£126.89)
Sub Total : £626.86
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £24.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £114.07
Total : £765.88

 

[Alex UK]

Or possibly this...

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA663) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528)
(£58.74) £49.99

Dell E207WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £164.99
(£193.86) £164.99

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
(£45.81) £38.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail
(£63.44) £53.99

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£93.99) £79.99

Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£70.49) £59.99

Antec NSK6500 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W PSU
(£69.31) £58.99

Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM
(£15.26) £12.99

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99

Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 - Retail
(£35.24) £29.99

Sub Total : £624.89
Shipping : £12.95
VAT : £111.62
Total : £749.46

 

[csmager]

What do you mean by that?

Quite, because it's rubbish. Dx10 is very closely integrated with the Vista Kernel. To get it to work with XP would require any of this stuff to be emulated in software, which would yield absolutely terrible performance.

Useable DX10 on XP will never happen.

 

[stickroad]

Quite, because it's rubbish. Dx10 is very closely integrated with the Vista Kernel. To get it to work with XP would require any of this stuff to be emulated in software, which would yield absolutely terrible performance.

Useable DX10 on XP will never happen.

Correct, i thought that was what he meant.

 

[Freaky Dug]

Thank you very much Alex and Megahurtz.

As for the Vista discussion I seem to have accidentally started , I was referring to this, which from what I've heard sounds very promising, but I may be wrong.

 

[Megahurtz400]

Do overclock it though, im planning on doing my first when i get my new rig