New build advice (£1100)

Pookie Bear · 28 Jun 2006 at 23:33

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster here

My current machine is way out of date, enough so that current games (as I'm primarily a gamer) are played at 800x600 with low detail and no extras and, as I'm sure any other gamers out there will agree, it's just not cutting it any more. My Oblivion slideshow was the last straw!

I've spent the last month looking everywhere for articles on a good system. I've been AMD for the last six years, but now it feels like Intel have stepped up to the plate and made an offering I feel I just can't refuse (do I need to say the C word?

).

It takes some doing for me to put together enough cash for a new build of this magnitude and I can only afford to upgrade a single component once a year or so, sometimes less often. Having read a fair few spec advice posts on here, I know there's a fair few of you who like to spend other people's money and I would greatly appreciate any advice any of you could offer on building a new machine for my gaming which isn't going to leave me in the same lurch in two years time - so something that will have plenty power behind it, but still give me reasonable upgrade options for the next two or three years.

Thanks in advance for any help on offer...

Skid

(edit: I have a useable keyboard, decent mouse (MX518), and a 17" TFT which I love to bits, so they're fine. It's just the box.)

KizZ · 28 Jun 2006 at 23:35

Do you need any peripherals?

edit: just saw your edit

KizZ · 28 Jun 2006 at 23:43

Conroe system:

CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN) 1
£214.95 £214.95
MB-151-AS Asus P5B (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-151-AS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
CD-037-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-037-NE) 1
£19.95 £19.95
CA-005-SK FSP Sparkle AX500-A Blue Storm 500W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-005-SK) 1
£49.95 £49.95
GX-086-LT Leadtek GeForce 7950 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-086-LT) 1
£344.95 £344.95
HD-070-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-070-WD) 1
£64.95 £64.95
CA-038-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-038-LL) 1
£47.95 £47.95

Subtotal £942.60
VAT £164.96
Total £1,107.56

Will play any game at high res maxed out and you got a huge HDD to store your games, music, HD videos and etc.

p4radox · 28 Jun 2006 at 23:52

Difficult to better Kizz's spec really. Personally I would get a smaller HDD and spend more on a DFI mobo and get a Freezer 7 Pro or Scythe Ninja cooler with a Nexus fan or something. Minor changes though

Pookie Bear · 29 Jun 2006 at 11:32

Thanks for the advice. That does look a monster setup - and would do me just fine. I guess now it's just a case of waiting for Conroe to land.

Thanks again!

Skid

Explicit · 29 Jun 2006 at 11:40

Edit: nevermind

Stelly · 29 Jun 2006 at 12:05

KizZ said:
Conroe system:

CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN) 1
£214.95 £214.95
MB-151-AS Asus P5B (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-151-AS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS) 1
£99.95 £99.95
CD-037-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-037-NE) 1
£19.95 £19.95
CA-005-SK FSP Sparkle AX500-A Blue Storm 500W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-005-SK) 1
£49.95 £49.95
GX-086-LT Leadtek GeForce 7950 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-086-LT) 1
£344.95 £344.95
HD-070-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-070-WD) 1
£64.95 £64.95
CA-038-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-038-LL) 1
£47.95 £47.95

Subtotal £942.60
VAT £164.96
Total £1,107.56

Will play any game at high res maxed out and you got a huge HDD to store your games, music, HD videos and etc.

That looks pretty cool

Stelly

Pookie Bear · 29 Jun 2006 at 13:57

Stelly said:
That looks pretty cool

I was impressed too - even more so by the 1g graphics card. That should last a fair old while......it's got 8 times as much memory as my current one (Radeon 9800 Pro)!

Looks like it's time to drag the cards out and get spending.

Does spending large amounts of dosh make anyone else happy and sad at the same time?

Pookie Bear · 30 Jun 2006 at 09:28

I've got another question.......

I've read some more threads about DX10 and the fact that a whole new set of graphics cards will come out to take advantage of DX10 specifically.

I really need a system that I'm not going to have to upgrade in a year. Do you (and I mean YOU as in whoever reads this

) think that getting the 7950GX2 now still a good option, or would I be better off getting a card which gives me decent performance and putting something away for next year when the DX10 cards are more readily available?

Bear in mind that I've got a monitor which only supports up to 1280x1024 (or whatever it is!) and I tend to use 1024x768.

UUUUUNNNNGGGGHHHHHH.....my head

Stelly · 30 Jun 2006 at 09:39

Skidmark said:
I've got another question.......

I've read some more threads about DX10 and the fact that a whole new set of graphics cards will come out to take advantage of DX10 specifically.

I really need a system that I'm not going to have to upgrade in a year. Do you (and I mean YOU as in whoever reads this ) think that getting the 7950GX2 now still a good option, or would I be better off getting a card which gives me decent performance and putting something away for next year when the DX10 cards are more readily available?

Bear in mind that I've got a monitor which only supports up to 1280x1024 (or whatever it is!) and I tend to use 1024x768.

UUUUUNNNNGGGGHHHHHH.....my head

I can see your point but a lot of people are saying that you wont see many games take advantage of DX10 untill at least a year

Stelly

KizZ · 30 Jun 2006 at 09:47

BTW, whats the minimum PSU requirements for the 7950 GX2?

Stelly · 30 Jun 2006 at 09:50

KizZ said:
BTW, whats the minimum PSU requirements for the 7950 GX2?

I have near people looking at 600 - 700w PSUs!

Stelly

hp7909 · 30 Jun 2006 at 10:03

Skidmark said:
I've got another question.......

I've read some more threads about DX10 and the fact that a whole new set of graphics cards will come out to take advantage of DX10 specifically.

I really need a system that I'm not going to have to upgrade in a year. Do you (and I mean YOU as in whoever reads this ) think that getting the 7950GX2 now still a good option, or would I be better off getting a card which gives me decent performance and putting something away for next year when the DX10 cards are more readily available?

Bear in mind that I've got a monitor which only supports up to 1280x1024 (or whatever it is!) and I tend to use 1024x768.

UUUUUNNNNGGGGHHHHHH.....my head

7950GX2's overkill for that monitor/res, plus the fact Vista will bring DX10 cards just get this:

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) £136.95 - on This Week Only
Samsung SM-920N 19" LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-043-SA) £155.95
Subtotal £292.90
VAT £51.26
Total £344.16
Cheaper than 7950GX2 & will handle anything you throw at it!

Seriously, 17-inch's a joke these days, especially @ 1280x1024! Keep it & use as a second screen for multitaksing, etc :cool:

div0 · 30 Jun 2006 at 10:07

Skidmark said:
I really need a system that I'm not going to have to upgrade in a year. Do you (and I mean YOU as in whoever reads this ) think that getting the 7950GX2 now still a good option, or would I be better off getting a card which gives me decent performance and putting something away for next year when the DX10 cards are more readily available?

Bear in mind that I've got a monitor which only supports up to 1280x1024 (or whatever it is!) and I tend to use 1024x768.

UUUUUNNNNGGGGHHHHHH.....my head

IMO you should get something like a 7900gt anything else is almost certainly going to be wasted at those resolutions....

Save the money and upgrade the graphics card in a year or so - by then DX10 may be more of an issue and you'll be able to have a good choice of cards!

Certainly DX10 isn't worth worrying about just now - and I really think you'd be wasting money on a GX2. Save the money and buy a 7900gt

Pookie Bear · 1 Jul 2006 at 07:51

Thanks again

This is all sinking in, honest.

ACESHIGH · 1 Jul 2006 at 08:35

Agreed with the 17" TFT you would be just as well off getting the Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) £136.95 - on This Week Only.

[BTW the 7950GX2 has only 512MB usable memory as its 512MB per card]

FrankJH · 1 Jul 2006 at 08:39

As stated anything above a 7900GT / X1900Xt would be wasted on a 17" and I am not 100% sure that conroe board will work with the GX2 ( is it on the relatively short compatability list)

Why not get an SLI / Xfire board with a single card - and then when you have enough to upgrade your monitor ( which you may want to do in a surprisingly short amount of time) you can think about the 2nd card then?

GhostRider · 1 Jul 2006 at 13:16

Another vote for the X1800

Pookie Bear · 2 Jul 2006 at 15:06

Ok - guess I have more to think about....