New £1k PC Spec

[EdinAndy]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently wondering whether to upgrade my current PC (XP2200, 512MB, X800Pro) after trying to play the Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter demo and almost crying. I know that people are making a lot of Intel's new processors and the dispointment of AM2, but as the AM2 4200+ is the same price as the Socket939 4200+ was back in march when I last looked - I don't feel that the AM2 is a bad option.

I'm basically looking for a new full PC, I've got a 17" Iiyama CRT that I still really like so probably not looking for the move to a TFT quite yet. I've never been much of an overclocker - so the PC will most likely run at stock its whole life.

Here's a first stab at a spec:

CP-168-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-168-AM)
£219.95 £219.95
MB-069-MS MSI K9N Platinum nForce 570 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-069-MS)
£99.95 £99.95
MY-084-CR Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA667) (MY-084-CR)
£116.95 £116.95
GX-079-LT Leadtek GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-079-LT)
£199.95 £199.95
CA-005-AK Akasa Eclipse-62 Aluminum Case (CA-005-AK)
£69.95 £69.95
CD-030-PL Plextor PX-716AL Dual Layer Slot Loading 16x16 DVD±RW ReWriter - Retail (CD-030-PL)
£67.95 £67.95
HD-017-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2004C 200GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-017-SA)
£46.95 £46.95
CA-045-AN Antec NeoHE 500W Modular ATX2.0 PSU (CA-045-AN)
£59.95 £59.95
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS)
£49.95 £49.95
HD-001-OK OcUK Value Floppy Drive - Black (HD-001-OK)
£5.95 £5.95
Subtotal £937.50
VAT £164.07
Total £1,101.57

Thanks!

 

[EdinAndy]

Thanks to everyone for their input!

Agreed on the 4400+ over the 4200+, I didn't know about the cache thing!

I don't think I can stretch to a 7800GTX, and I think I want to stick to the nVidia route having had ATI cards for years now - I'm still not sure their drivers are as stable as nVidia's (hoping not to start a war here! )

Trying to keep a control of the costs as the PC was supposed to be £1000 not £1100 (oh well!) - I've knocked the memory down to 1GB. Does anyone feel that makes a big difference with current games. It would be an easy upgrade to add an extra GB without throwing away the first GB further down the line wouldn't it?

Unsure about sticking with 939 over AM2 (although Explicit's spec looks really good) as it's a dead end when it comes to upgrading?

OK - Here's where I am right now:

MB-069-MS MSI K9N Platinum nForce 570 SLi (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-069-MS)
£99.95 £99.95
CA-005-AK Akasa Eclipse-62 Aluminum Case (CA-005-AK)
£69.95 £69.95
CD-030-PL Plextor PX-716AL Dual Layer Slot Loading 16x16 DVD±RW ReWriter - Retail (CD-030-PL)
£67.95 £67.95
HD-017-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2004C 200GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-017-SA)
£46.95 £46.95
CA-045-AN Antec NeoHE 500W Modular ATX2.0 PSU (CA-045-AN)
£59.95 £59.95
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS)
£49.95 £49.95
HD-001-OK OcUK Value Floppy Drive - Black (HD-001-OK)
£5.95 £5.95
MY-081-CR Crucial 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2 PC2-4200C4 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT6464AA53E) (MY-081-CR)
£58.95 £58.95
CP-169-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-169-AM)
£284.95 £284.95
GX-076-XF XFX GeForce 7900 GT Extreme Edition 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT71G-UDER/UCE7/UCER) (GX-076-XF)
£184.95 £184.95
Subtotal £929.50
VAT £162.67
Total £1,092.17