Looking for a base unit. Am I on the right track...

grumpycrab

grumpycrab

grumpycrab

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Joined
18 Mar 2005
Posts
74
Need help building a good value game rig (base unit only w/o OS, budget
£700). I've had a quick scan of other posts and they generally include a monitor which I already have. Oh, and I like RAID0 but I'm sure somebody will tell me I should spend my cash on a faster processor (or other).

This is my 1st pass...

Asus A8N-Sli SE nForce4
(I like the option of adding another GPU in 2 years time. I guess there is no major difference between SLi or Crossfire as far as this upgrade plan goes ?)
£67

OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit
£117 (might have to slim down to 1GB)

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (no point in getting less than this I guess)
£100

RAID0
2* WD 1200JS or
2 * SAMSUNG Spinpoint P120
£120

X1900XT (perhaps totally OTT for budget. I need something I'll be able to double-up with in 2 years time)
£300

Approx £700 plus...
Case/PSU anything (suggestions please)
DVD drive anything

Do overclockers provide anything like this prebuilt ?

Cheers
--
Ian
 
They do provide them in pre-built systems, but i would recommend choosing individual components, as you then get what you want, if i was you i would get an athlon 3700+ and a freezer 64 pro fan, as this is one of the best fans available.....

As for your gfx card, good choice, but i must say u have chosen an SLi motherboard but a ATI gfx card?, if you are looking at going crossfire/SLi then choose an crossfire motherboard for ATI cards, and nvidia cards for SLi.....

Crossfire mobos = ATI cards
SLi mobos = nvidia cards

As for the differences, im not too sure, but crossfire is supported by all games as far as i know because of the way it renders, but SLi is currently not supported by all games, though im sure this will change in the future.

As for PSUs i'd say go for a tagan or enermax, but im not 100% on these, see what others say...

as for a case it depends what you want out of it, look nice? run quiet? im not an expert on cases but these are the things to keep in mind.....

hope this helps :)
 
Last edited:
kmistry said:
Try the Asus A8R-MVP its £70 inc VAT and a good board as far as i know
Click to expand...
No RAID. [CORRECTION: sorry, yes it does !] The Delux version (with RAID) is very expensive. So perhaps back to Nvidia...
--
Ian
 
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Pass 2...

Second pass, still about £100 over budget ...

ASUS A8R MVP (AMD, Crossfire, RAID ! )
£70

OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit
£117 (might have to slim down to 1GB)

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (no point in getting less than this I guess)
£100

RAID0
2* WD 1200JS or
2 * SAMSUNG Spinpoint P120
£120

GPU. ATI Radeon X1900 ***Crossfire Edition*** 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-CO)
£300

Approx £700 plus...
Case/PSU anything (suggestions please)
DVD drive anything
 
Just to let you know that ATI cards will work on SLI boards but you wont be able to run two ATI cards on them, but it is always good to have th option of adding a second card.
 
  • AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM) £104.95
  • Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS3 (MY-039-CS) £114.95
  • HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1800 GTO ICEQ3 SILENT TURBO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-054-HT) £119.95
  • NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE) £19.95
  • Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) £14.95
  • Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL) £48.95
  • Tagan TG430-U15 430W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-007-TG) £46.95
  • Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE) £49.95 - New perpendicular recording technology <Clicky
  • Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS) £59.95
  • Subtotal £580.55
  • Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
  • VAT £103.51
  • Total £695.10

hp7909 :cool:

EDIT: Changed to slightly better Corsair RAM :)
 
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That's a very good spec. You should notice the extra cache of the 3700 as well. Is there any particular reason that you want to get RAID 0, or are you just doing it?
 
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