Here Goes.......

rmuir · 9 Apr 2006 at 00:26

After much deliberation ( and one head gasket repair later ) finances have been reorganised and i reckon i will be ready to start building soon. Opinions on this spec please. I could maybe spend another £1-150 but.... will be used for tinterwebnet, games ( fm06 and some recent ) in fact would happily get rid of ps2 if system was good enough. mainly use the 'station for GTA and Pro Evo. cheers folks

Gigabyte K8N SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-040-GI)

£54.95

BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-019-BG)

£134.95

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)

£55.50

BenQ DW1650 16x16 DVD RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - Retail (CD-001-BQ)

£21.95

Logitech UltraX™ Media Desktop - OEM (KB-065-LG)

£29.95

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-131-AM)

£77.95

Antec Performance TX640B-EC Black MiniTower Case - 400 Watt SmartPower PSU (CA-034-AN)

£61.95

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)

£49.95

BenQ FP51G 15" LCD Monitor (MO-017-BQ)
£94.95

Subtotal £582.10
VAT £101.87

Total £683.97

Jack Bauer · 9 Apr 2006 at 00:31

You will need a heat sink in with that. If you where going to put more money into I would up the processor. Also you might consider a Crt monitor as you will get a bigger one for the price if you have the desk space.

rmuir · 9 Apr 2006 at 00:33

booo. forgot the cooler.

would i be better getting a retail jobbie?

Jack Bauer · 9 Apr 2006 at 00:37

not unless the warrenty is important to you. You get 3 years with the retail. Otherwise get the OEM and a desent HS/F. Thats not to say that the retail one is rubbish, just not the best.

rmuir · 9 Apr 2006 at 00:42

and, to satisfy my curiosity, the gfx is ok? it will do the job for a while, yeah?

this is a first ever go. so, adding points as i go along, what tools will i need?

is there plenty of guidance/instruction included with the gear?

Jack Bauer · 9 Apr 2006 at 00:46

The card is excelent for the price. You can always get better, just depends how much you want to spend. Next card worth getting after that is the x1800xt or 7900 GT.

As for help are you refrering to building it? If so I think there is a sticky in the general hardware section. Or google build PC. It aint hard and all you need is a screwdriver. Just remeber to earth your self on the copper of a radiator ever now and then while handling the hardware.

rmuir · 9 Apr 2006 at 00:59

cheers.

now all it gotta do is order!

many posts await! ha.

Jack Bauer · 9 Apr 2006 at 01:00

Have fun

rmuir · 9 Apr 2006 at 01:02

one last q.

from 'her indoors'

if i was to buy a system to match the one spec'ed above on the high street, how much?

Chris19 · 9 Apr 2006 at 01:36

rmuir said:
one last q.

from 'her indoors'

if i was to buy a system to match the one spec'ed above on the high street, how much?

You cant really tbh Pc world, Dixsons, Currys etc havent heard of the word Graphics card when i was last in (When 7800 had been out for a while just before the realse of the 7900) the best card they had on sale was an 6800 and best in an machine was an 6200

rmuir · 9 Apr 2006 at 01:39

slightly different. but any better?
MB-040-GI
Gigabyte K8N SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-040-GI)
£54.95
£54.95
CP-121-AM
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3700BNBOX) (CP-121-AM)
£127.95
£127.95
MY-061-CS
Corsair 1GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT400C3) (MY-061-CS)
£47.95
£47.95
GX-019-BG
BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-019-BG)
£134.95
£134.95
HD-054-SE
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 NCQ 120GB ST3120813AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-054-SE)
£44.95
£44.95
CD-068-SA
Samsung SH-W162C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) (CD-068-SA)
£19.95
£19.95
CA-034-AN
Antec Performance TX640B-EC Black MiniTower Case - 400 Watt SmartPower PSU (CA-034-AN)
£61.95
£61.95
KB-051-MS
Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 Black - Retail (BV3-00007) (KB-051-MS)
£23.95
£23.95
MO-006-HY
Hyundai ImageQuest Q770S 17'' Perfectly Flat CRT Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-006-HY)
£64.95
£64.95
Subtotal £581.55
VAT £101.78

Total £683.33

Jack Bauer · 9 Apr 2006 at 02:17

Bit tired now and my eyes dont seem to be working, see you have gone for a better cpu tho, that will help as the other one was borred line for bottle necking your system.

One last thing, be carefull with the wireless mouse/keyboard. There responce time aint normaly great making them rubish for games. If you want wireless look at the lazer ones or even better ask in the relavent forum section. I got a microsoft one for £35 microsoft comfort i think it was. I sent it back the same day and now Ive got a Saitek gaming keyboard and a logitech MX510. Both on cable and both excelent.

As for a high street price a lot as gaming pcs are relatively unknown off line unless you want a 6200 with 512 MB of ram

ACESHIGH · 9 Apr 2006 at 07:12

rmuir said:
slightly different. but any better?
MB-040-GI
Gigabyte K8N SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-040-GI)
£54.95
£54.95
CP-121-AM
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3700BNBOX) (CP-121-AM)
£127.95
£127.95
MY-061-CS
Corsair 1GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT400C3) (MY-061-CS)
£47.95
£47.95
GX-019-BG
BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-019-BG)
£134.95
£134.95
HD-054-SE
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 NCQ 120GB ST3120813AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-054-SE)
£44.95
£44.95
CD-068-SA
Samsung SH-W162C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) (CD-068-SA)
£19.95
£19.95
CA-034-AN
Antec Performance TX640B-EC Black MiniTower Case - 400 Watt SmartPower PSU (CA-034-AN)
£61.95
£61.95
KB-051-MS
Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 Black - Retail (BV3-00007) (KB-051-MS)
£23.95
£23.95
MO-006-HY
Hyundai ImageQuest Q770S 17'' Perfectly Flat CRT Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-006-HY)
£64.95
£64.95
Subtotal £581.55
VAT £101.78

Total £683.33

I would go for this spec. This should last you a while.
Generally store purchased pc's have crap graphics, so this would be much better for your needs.

hp7909 · 9 Apr 2006 at 07:45

if not too late..

Don't skimp on Hard Disk space (120GB :eek:

) and or Power supply (400 Watt :eek:

)!

Although you can upgrade them later, I'd make the most of this first opportunity you have to buy them.

Basically what i'm saying is get a bigger hard drive 200GB+ (2 if u can) and or a 430W+, reputable PSU.

From experience, a 'killer' system (+ broadband) will fill up the hard disk much quicker (incl. backups). PSU is where there nasty experiences & surprises, e.g. upgrade a component (say GFX or even add another hard disk) and find system doesn't boot :mad:

brightside_ · 9 Apr 2006 at 10:02

mate, space is decided by the person. I use one 74GB Raptor in this Rig, so you'd reccomend me to get two monster drives too?

Hard drive space is one of the easiest to upgrade later so if thats all he wants at this point, it's simple

Jack Bauer · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:14

He is right in that if you upgraded your graphics card in the future you might need a new power supply, however the one you have is fine for that system so dont panic and go for a 500 W