New Rig for £500

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Joined
2 Jul 2005
Posts
710
Hi Gents,

Right, question time.

I've been out of the loop for a few months now and am not entirely sure as to what the best options are for machines. A friend has asked for spec a PC for roughly £500.

He will need the following;

1) HDD
2) GFX card
3) New Mobo
4) PSU
5) Processor
6) RAM

i.e. every thing apart from monitor, mouse, keyboard and case..

I presume an E6300 could be a good way forward, is this still the case?

He will be using it for gaming etc. Is it worth skimping on the gfx card due to some new products which are coming out shortly so swapping it out then could be a wise idea?

Let me know yours thoughts and ideas.

Thanks all,

Agent.
 
Given the budget is pretty tight this is what I'd go for and it offers potential to overclock or upgrade in the future. :)

OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £87.99
(£103.39) £87.99
(£103.39)
Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32728) £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
Akasa Ultra Quiet 460W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.0 PSU - Black Nickel with Blue LED Fan £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
Sub Total : £412.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
Vat : £73.83
Total : £495.72
 
Antec NSK4000 380W
£34.20
Intel Core 2 Duo 6400 2.13Ghz
£133.65
Asus P5GZ-MX
£44.41
Crucial 2GB DDR 533 2x1GB
£84.98
Samsung 200GB 7200rpm
£44.93
ATI Radeon X1950XT 256MB
£149.85

£492.01
 
Thanks for your help guys.

We have pretty much concluded the following;

ntel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £157.99
(£185.64)
Akasa Ultra Quiet 460W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.0 PSU - Black Nickel with Blue LED Fan PSU - Black Nickel with Blue LED Fan £44.99 (£52.86)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM 51.99
(£61.09)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £114.99 (£135.11)
Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99 (£70.49)
Sub Total : £429.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
Vat : £76.81
Total : £515.71

Just I will loan a gfx card for the time being until he has more budget. Probably looking to get a 512Mb card. Will the PSU take that or should I go for a cheaper mobo and get a better PSU?

Thanks,

Agent.
 
Agent WD40 said:
Thanks for your help guys.

We have pretty much concluded the following;

ntel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £157.99
(£185.64)
Akasa Ultra Quiet 460W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.0 PSU - Black Nickel with Blue LED Fan PSU - Black Nickel with Blue LED Fan £44.99 (£52.86)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM 51.99
(£61.09)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £114.99 (£135.11)
Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99 (£70.49)
Sub Total : £429.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
Vat : £76.81
Total : £515.71

Just I will loan a gfx card for the time being until he has more budget. Probably looking to get a 512Mb card. Will the PSU take that or should I go for a cheaper mobo and get a better PSU?

Thanks,

Agent.

Why go for the 6600? The 6300 is much cheaper and can be overclocked easily well in excess of the 6600's stock speeds. There's some GSkill memory on special offer this week which is 4-4-4-12 and is around £116 inc VAT.
 
Hi Guys,

just ordered the following (holding out on gfx card, waiting to see whats going to happen into the future..)

£44.99 x 1 - Gigabyte GA_945PL_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£42.99 x 1 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
£98.99 x 1 - G.Skill 2GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400
£159.99 x 1 - Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
£69.99 x 1 - FSP Sparkle FX600-GLN Epsilon 600W ATX2.0 PSU

Sub-Total: 416.95
Shipping: 8.95
VAT: 74.54
Total: 500.44

What do you all think?

Thanks,

Agent.
 
It looks fine although the 945 chipset might not be so good for overclocking or as fully featured as the 965 chipset as suggested originally but if it does all you need then it looks good. This part is just for information - there were previously some problems with the GSKill and the Gigabyte DS3/DS4, I don't know if it extends down the range but it has been fixed on the DS3/DS4 apparantly so hopefully it will work fine first time.

Be aware that the motherboard doesn't have onboard graphics though as far as I am aware so don't delay on the graphics card choice for too long. :)
 
Hay dude,

Thanks for your advice. I believe the RAM problems have been resolved but there is one way to find out. If it doesn't work then I have 2Gb of GeIL RAM we can try.

As for gfx, I'm going to throw a X850XT in there (tempory bridge) until some slightly better cards come out. i.e. 2 - 3 months time the gfx industry should be slightly more clear and therefore be able to make a slightly more informed decision.

Overclocking, narh.. he don't do it! Loser! So I don't have to worry about changing any of the setting (hence the 6600 over the 6300 'cos we ain't gunna clock).

Thanks for your advice all.

Agent.
 
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