new budget needing a spec :)

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Soldato
Joined
21 Nov 2004
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Wishaw
okies.


Currently have the following (dont laugh too hard)


athlon xp 2600 @ 2.4ghz
ye olde nforce 2 mobo
1 gig mixed ram(2x512 pc3200)
museum piece ti4200
2x samsung 160gig h/d's pc133
usual selection of optical drives
and a nice shiny silver case :)


now i want to spend not a lot on this and maybe buy some bits n bobs on ebay to spruce this up as a second system




and now the fun part.


i want a new spec system (complete inc monitor mouse/keyboard case etc etc)

i'd consider something a bit different maybe a Pentium M/opteron. etc

i can steal a 160 gig drive and opticals out my other system so dont really need them specced although would be nice with a sata2 drive or similar :)

budget a grand. maybe less maybe more if its worth it.


thoughts please folks.
 
Don't know a lot about intel's so here's a fairly standard AMD spec. Didn't go opteron as I wanted to see if I could get a decent graphics card in. Didn't go X1800 as they are almost out of stock. If your in an overclocking mood you should be able to get some more out of the venice without a problem ( There HAVE been some complaints about overclocking on this mobo however my CPU overclocks just fine on it and the OCUK mega rig uses the same mobo).

GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO)
£309.95 £309.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£99.95 £99.95
MO-026-HY Hyundai ImageQuest B70A 17" LCD Monitor (MO-026-HY)
£142.95 £142.95
CA-048-AN Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
£54.20 £54.20
MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£69.95 £69.95
CP-118-AM AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM)
£104.95 £104.95
HD-024-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA)
£49.95 £49.95
KB-024-LG Logitech MX510 Performance Optical Mouse & Steelpad S&S Bundle - Retail (KB-024-LG)
£24.95 £24.95
KB-015-SK Saitek PZ30AU Eclipse Illuminated Keyboard (KB-015-SK)
£24.95 £24.95
Subtotal £881.80
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
VAT £156.24
Total £1,048.99
 
nice sounding spec although not too sure about the venice 3200 surely theres a better cpu option available
 
sormicoft said:
okies.


Currently have the following (dont laugh too hard)


athlon xp 2600 @ 2.4ghz
ye olde nforce 2 mobo
1 gig mixed ram(2x512 pc3200)
museum piece ti4200
2x samsung 160gig h/d's pc133
usual selection of optical drives
and a nice shiny silver case :)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't laugh, its fairly close to what I have, right now, hence the upgeade in a month and a half when I'll have been paid £1000 of disposable income (low bills, just £100 rent to parents, and phone bills, plus WoW fees as a student)

Here's what I have:
athlon xp 2800 barton @ 2.3ghz
NF-7
1 gig mixed Geil Golden Value 2x512MB @ 7-3-3 2.5
Aging 9800Pro
1 x Samsung ATA133 160GB HD, 1x Maxtor 40GB ATA133 (diamondmax8?) HD
1x 16x DVD (Generic), 1x Samsung DVDReader/CD-Rewriter combo
bog standard cheapy case with generic (Read: pretty crap) 350W PSU


To update this as a second pc, I'd perhaps replace the gfx card, with a second hand 9800Pro, and then it'd have okay, secondary gaming potential, able to run everything with medium to low settings at 1024x768/1280x1024

The spec you've been offered for the new system looks good, but as said, I'd change the mobo to an epox job. It doesn't do crossfire, but it would be a lot more stable, the Asus's seem to be coming down really badly with failures and low operational lives, and besides, if you want crossfire you can get a new R580 mobo when they come out in a few months, and should have a fair few optimisations and improvements.

I'd also perhaps get a 1800xt instead of the 1900xt as it'd cost you 125 less, money you could spend on getting some good clocking/timed G-skill ZX ram, and still have about 60 quid left.
 
Last edited:
fair point but i'm really not liking the sound of that 3200 think that could be a limiting factor
 
one of the main uses of my pc is playing fm2006 which is pretty cpu intensive any thoughts on a replacement cpu for the 3200?
 
If you can stretch to another £90 ish then a 3800 X2 would be a nicer choice. If you can order the card this W/E then getting a X1800XT before then run out is a good option and combined with the X2 would do you great. I just tried to take account for the low availability for the X1800XT but if you order one today you should get one and won't regret it IMO ( and I have done just that myself :) - ordered one today).

i.e. save about £90 on the graphics by going for a 1800XT and use the money for a X2 3800+
 
whats the opinion on the dual core opterons or even going dare i say it intel
 
BigDom said:
If you can stretch to another £90 ish then a 3800 X2 would be a nicer choice. If you can order the card this W/E then getting a X1800XT before then run out is a good option and combined with the X2 would do you great. I just tried to take account for the low availability for the X1800XT but if you order one today you should get one and won't regret it IMO ( and I have done just that myself :) - ordered one today).

i.e. save about £90 on the graphics by going for a 1800XT and use the money for a X2 3800+
Click to expand...

i can't really justify paying the added cash in order to upgrade a 3200 to an X2 3800.

they are pretty much the same chip, just the X2 is Dual Core.

okay Dual Core looks more and more future worthy, but in current single core apps there would be no improvement over the 3200 as they both run the same at stock speeds (2Ghz and 512kb Cache (with 512kb on each core on the X2).

personally i'd drop the x1900 down to an x1800 model, and perhaps get either a A64 3700 or A64 4000 (if budget permits). The 3700+ are currently in quite high demand due to a very good batch being released, some of which are hitting 3GHz on air. (3.2GHz has been the biggest i've seen so far)

as far as the dual core Opterons... only looking at OcUK's prices here, but obviously if your leaving them at stock then it's not worth it as they are pretty damn expensive compared to the X2's... but, you can achieve so much more with the added 1mb L2 cache (per core) and superb overclocking ability.

with Intel, well... i'd leave them for the time being... if you are considering seriously considering Intel, wait until the new Yonah's are out.
 
Intel - too expensive and underperform comparativly to a AMD.
Opterons - Good clockers as allways I believe although seems some debate whether the 4400+ is really any worse than a dual core opty. IMO the 3800+ will do you fine :)
 
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
CP-111-IN Intel Pentium 4 920 Dual Core "LGA775 Presler" 2.8GHz (800FSB) - Retail (CP-111-IN)
£154.95 £154.95
MB-105-AS Asus P5WD2 Premium Intel 955X (LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-105-AS)
£124.95 £124.95
MY-097-CS Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT667D2) (MY-097-CS)
£124.95 £124.95
Subtotal £404.85
VAT £70.85
Total £475.70

The intel dual core base route - as you've been provided with a few amd options, i thought i'd throw in a decent intel one.

You should get a 4Ghz+ O/c easily.
 
Webzta said:
*snip*
The intel dual core base route - as you've been provided with a few amd options, i thought i'd throw in a decent intel one.

You should get a 4Ghz+ O/c easily.
Click to expand...
no graphics card/case/psu/hdd/optical drives ? :p ;)
 
uh huh, if you want to go dual core.. go AMD without question. even at windows based apps, AMD own Intel at dual core.
 
the main app i run is already optimised to take advantage of multithreading duel core chips etc


football manager 2006 :)

i need a major number crunching system for this :)

even consider dropping the gfx going onboard the now and getting a massive opteron or x2 or intel dual core with 2/4 gig of ram :)
 
hehe well I've done my best.. FWIW I'd expect the 3800+ to do you just fine, it reccomends a 2gig processor ( i.e. I assume a XP2000+ or similar ) so a 3800+ should rip through it no problem.
 
CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£179.95 £179.95
MB-087-AS Asus A8N-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-087-AS)
£91.95 £91.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£99.95 £99.95
GX-017-GI Gigabyte GeForce 7800 GT 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) & Quake 4 Bundle - Retail (GX-017-GI)
£184.95 £184.95
MO-026-HY Hyundai ImageQuest B70A 17" LCD Monitor (MO-026-HY)
£142.95 £142.95
KB-058-LG Logitech Cordless Optical Desktop Rechargeable Black/Silver - OEM (KB-058-LG)
£29.95 £29.95
CA-027-AN Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN)
£27.50 £27.50
CA-045-AN Antec NeoHE 500W Modular ATX2.0 PSU (CA-045-AN)
£62.50 £62.50
Subtotal £819.70
VAT £143.45
Total £963.15

hows about that one then?

im new to spec'ing people.. so im probally missing some stuff but i think its good :)
 
i wasn't aware that FM2006 was suited for Dual Core?
also didn't notice that you said you could take out the HDD and Opticals drives, so here ya go... no HDDs or Opticals in sight.
Dual Core Opty, very good for clocking, with some great ram with it as well.
Dropped the 7800 as per everyone elses spec down to a 6800GS because lets face it, if your main interest is FM2006 - your not after great graphics. ;)


MY-007-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS)
£129.95 £129.95
GX-034-OK OcUK GeForce 6800 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-034-OK)
£114.95 £114.95
KB-024-LG Logitech MX510 Performance Optical Mouse & Steelpad S&S Bundle - Retail (KB-024-LG)
£24.95 £24.95
KB-041-LG Logitech Ultra-X Keyboard - OEM (KB-041-LG)
£17.95 £17.95
MO-022-SA Samsung SM-913N 19" LCD Monitor - Silver (MO-022-SA)
£169.95 £169.95
CA-056-CM Coolermaster Cavalier 3 - Black (No PSU) (CA-056-CM)
£56.50 £56.50
CA-005-HP Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Black UV (CA-005-HP)
£49.95 £49.95
CP-151-AM AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM)
£229.95 £229.95
MB-040-GI Gigabyte K8N SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-040-GI)
£54.95 £54.95
Subtotal £849.10
VAT £148.60
Total £997.70
 
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