Not Just Another Build Thread (Well, Maybe not)

Helix86

Helix86

Helix86

Associate
Joined
13 Aug 2006
Posts
10
Location
Portsmouth+Birmingham
Hello everyone! first of i'd like to say thankyou for this wonderful forum, i have learnt a lot so far, and hope to learn more.

Right well, i have been using a Sony VAIO GRT815M for around 3 years, it has served me well however, the DVD drive has died, and the screen is on the way out. The cost of repair is to high, so im looking for a new machine. I originally planned to buy another laptop, as im at university and the portability is helpful, however i just cannot bring myself to pay the premium over a desktop!

I've also always wanted to build my own desktop, and her eis my chance!

Here is my current laptop Spec (For those who are interested)

P4 Northwood 2.8ghz CPU
512mb 266 (i think) Ram
64mb Nvidia 5600 GPU
15" 1024x768 Black Onyx Display.

The last spec is especially hurtful, i really really hate this resolution!

anyway, my budget is Approx. £1000, though as a student i need my beer money and would like this to be as low as possible!

This is the current spec of my build, and i'd like your opinion on it! More importantly, are there any parts that youd reccomend over the componants i have chosen?

PS, i have got the bits and bobs from all over the place, but i didnt think it would be appropriate to post these is an overclockers forum.

AMD X2 3800+ AM2 Socket £105.69
ASUS M2N4-SLI AM2 £73.44
SANSUN true 450W PSU £24.99
THERMALTAKE VC2000BNS 'Mambo' £32.84
KINGSTON valueRAM 1GB 667MHZ £58.76
ZALMAN CNPS7000b_CU Cooler £22.03
BFG GeForce 7900GT OC 256MB £180.89
LITEON DRW-6516OP-05C £21.44
MAXTOR 6L30050 DiamondMAX 300gb Hard Drive £62.27
SondBlaster Audigy SE 7.1 Sound Card £18.74
Viewsonic VX2025 20.1" Display £293.75

TOTAL £894.84

Right so a few points:

Everything there is subject to change, except the resolution of the monitor. After having this crap display for 3 years, i really want a high resolution panel!

Im not bothered about SLI, and i have no preferecnce between intel and AMD, or Nvidia and ATI.

Bear in mind that price doesnt include the speakers and K/M, i just haven't decided on thise yet.

Now onto conroe, after reading several reviews, the E6300 along with the DS3(?) seem like a dream come true. Im new to overclocking, but im willing to learn if it allows me to get better value for money. the problem, is, the increase in cost. i make the upgrade around an extra £50, and i think id need to get better ram to to get that FSB high, though im not sure about that!

Anyway i look forward to your feedback, will be really helpful to hear from you guys!

Cheers!

Phil
 
Oh, i say i wont change the resolution, but im willing to change the monitor, if a better+/cheaper 20" is around!
 
Welcome to the forums :)

I took into account everything you said and everyone on here at the moment are saying go conroe because its better (and it is lol), so I made up the following spec for you.
I will also try doing a amd am2 spec for you to try and get the price down a bit because I know your on a tight budget and the conroe spec is high. That being said though, you could lower the ram to 1Gb but it would be best to get 2gb if you can :)

Shopping Cart (Prices in British Pounds)
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
£107.95 £107.95
HD-089-MD Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 300GB 6V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-089-MD)
£56.95 £56.95
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£89.95 £89.95
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
£109.95 £109.95
CD-078-SA Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) (CD-078-SA)
£20.95 £20.95
CA-026-TT Thermaltake VC2000BNS Mambo SuperMidi Tower - Black (CA-026-TT)
£27.95 £27.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£126.95 £126.95
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HS-003-SY)
£26.95 £26.95
CA-005-SK FSP Sparkle AX500-A Blue Storm 500W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-005-SK)
£49.95 £49.95
MO-051-VS Viewsonic VA2012W-2 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-051-VS)
£212.95 £212.95
Subtotal £830.50
VAT £145.34
Total £975.84

I will post back soon with a AMD AM2 spec :)

Edit: I changed monitors because the one above was cheaper (still the same resolution though) :)
 
Shopping Cart (Prices in British Pounds)
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
HD-089-MD Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 300GB 6V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-089-MD)
£56.95 £56.95
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
£109.95 £109.95
CD-078-SA Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) (CD-078-SA)
£20.95 £20.95
CA-026-TT Thermaltake VC2000BNS Mambo SuperMidi Tower - Black (CA-026-TT)
£27.95 £27.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£126.95 £126.95
HS-003-SY Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe CPU Cooler (Socket 478, 754, 939, 940, LGA755) (HS-003-SY)
£26.95 £26.95
CA-005-SK FSP Sparkle AX500-A Blue Storm 500W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-005-SK)
£49.95 £49.95
MO-051-VS Viewsonic VA2012W-2 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-051-VS)
£212.95 £212.95
CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)
£89.95 £89.95
MB-060-GI Gigabyte GA_M57SLi-S4 nForce 570 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-060-GI)
£79.95 £79.95
Subtotal £802.50
VAT £140.44
Total £942.94

Here we go, not much of a price difference in it though :)
 
jake, id be tempted to go for the gigayte ds4 in the conroe spec for a few pounds more. Also go for the seagate 7200.10 hard drives as they offer the best performance for a 7200rpm drive and also have a 5yr warranty.
 
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
MO-051-VS Viewsonic VA2012W-2 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-051-VS) 1
£212.95 £212.95
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL) 1
£109.95 £109.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) 1
£126.95 £126.95
CA-012-AN Antec Super LANBOY Aluminum Super Mini Tower Case - No PSU (CA-012-AN) 1
£29.95 £29.95
CA-025-EN Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN) 1
£59.95 £59.95
CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN) 1
£107.95 £107.95
HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE) 1
£52.55 £52.55
CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE) 1
£19.95 £19.95
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI) 1
£89.95 £89.95
SC-043-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM (SC-043-CL) 1
£48.50 £48.50
Subtotal £858.65
VAT £150.27
Total £1,008.92
 
cheers Jake :)

A few questions..

The CPu heatsink you chose, is it better than the Zalman?

THe 1800XT, is it capable of playing games at the screen resolution?

I have read the ds3 is best for FSB overclocking, which the e6300 needs, is the ds4 better then?

The new montior you have chosen, how does it compare to the vx2025?

cheers again mate!
 
UKTopGun said:
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
MO-051-VS Viewsonic VA2012W-2 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-051-VS) 1
£212.95 £212.95
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL) 1
£109.95 £109.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) 1
£126.95 £126.95
CA-012-AN Antec Super LANBOY Aluminum Super Mini Tower Case - No PSU (CA-012-AN) 1
£29.95 £29.95
CA-025-EN Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN) 1
£59.95 £59.95
CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN) 1
£107.95 £107.95
HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE) 1
£52.55 £52.55
CD-035-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE) 1
£19.95 £19.95
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI) 1
£89.95 £89.95
SC-043-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM (SC-043-CL) 1
£48.50 £48.50
Subtotal £858.65
VAT £150.27
Total £1,008.92
Click to expand...

is that a better case and power supply? and do i need the X-Fi, what are the advantages over the audigy 2 se?
 
The heatsink is widely used by overclockers because it cools the cpu so well, allowing for a better overclock.

The graphics card can handle large resolutions upto 2560x1600.

The DS4 motherboard comes with extras, such as: Firewire and other things similar that you may not need and its almost £20 more. Someone else will be able to tell you what else it has better than me. It offers the same overclocking and reliability as the DS3 but like I said, £20 more.

The new monitor doesn't have DVI. It has VGA only. If this is a problem, you could go for the monitor you originally picked out. Your graphics card will probably come with a converter though for DVI to VGA, so that you will still be able to use the monitor by using the converter :)
 
I have always thought that my onboard sound is good enough. So I would say, don't buy a sound card and save yourself some money, if you think you need it, you can always get it in the future.

I used to have a super lanboy case and they look nice and they are made better than thermaltake cases but its small inside and makes it harder to move around inside it. This can make it harder building the computer.
 
jake000 said:
The heatsink is widely used by overclockers because it cools the cpu so well, allowing for a better overclock.

The graphics card can handle large resolutions upto 2560x1600.

The DS4 motherboard comes with extras, such as: Firewire and other things similar that you may not need and its almost £20 more. Someone else will be able to tell you what else it has better than me. It offers the same overclocking and reliability as the DS3 but like I said, £20 more.

The new monitor doesn't have DVI. It has VGA only. If this is a problem, you could go for the monitor you originally picked out. Your graphics card will probably come with a converter though for DVI to VGA, so that you will still be able to use the monitor by using the converter :)
Click to expand...

The graphics card may be able to handle that resolution, but im talking about playability. At the moment i enjoy BF2, but im a keen gamer, so will the 1800XT handle current games and future games at the res? say by reducing other options
 
I would have thought it was able to, yes. Also as far as I know from looking at some reviews, the x1800xt is better than the 7900GT that you where interested in and so, should last longer for you :)

Edit: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

The above hard drive specified in another spec is a faster hard drive, so you might want think whether you want a faster hard drive or the extra 50gb if you went with the maxtor?
 
Last edited:
jake000 said:
I would have thought it was able to, yes. Also as far as I know from looking at some reviews, the x1800xt is better than the 7900GT that you where interested in and so, should last longer for you :)

Edit: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

The above hard drive specified in another spec is a faster hard drive, so you might want think whether you want a faster hard drive or the extra 50gb if you went with the maxtor?
Click to expand...

He could always get the 320gb version for £10 more also :).

Helix86 said:
is that a better case and power supply? and do i need the X-Fi, what are the advantages over the audigy 2 se?
Click to expand...

Case: Its a highly recommended case round here, along with the Lian-li PC7+.

PSU: Anything from Enermax, Tagan, Seasonic, FSP, OCZ etc. should be good.

Sound: I'd recommend getting the X-fi because you will lose a few FPS running at such large resolution (unless you turn your graphics down) but all of that will be forgotten if you have a good sound setup.
 
dont get the lanboy its too small, you might wanna look at the sonata 2, but the psu might not be enough in that.
 
Right so here is the updated spec!

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz
£119.98
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
£104.58
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2
£132.69
Viewsonic VA2012W-2
£250.22
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI
£149.17
Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case
£32.84
FSP Sparkle AX500-A Blue Storm 500W ATX2.0 PSU
£58.69
LiteON DRW-65160P-05C DVDRW+-
£21.44
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache
£61.75
Zalman CNPS7100 CPU Cooler
£22.27
Soundblaster Audigy SE 7.1
£18.74

TOTAL: £972.37

So how does that all sound, i chose a different case as the 'lanboy' was said to be to small, and the other mentioned was twice the price.

What you reckon? any other ideas

Cheers for all the help so far guys, i really appreciate it!
 
Úlfhednar said:
That spec is almost identical to what mine will be in a couple of days, except I opted for the Scythe Ninja CPU cooler over the Zalman. :)
Click to expand...

Sweet, i wasnt sure that i could fit the ninja in there with the 1800XT, that cooler looks massive!

i also heard that the new conroes are pretty damn clockable with stock coolers, so though that any good dedicated solution would do the job, or am i mistaken? please correct me if i am wrong!
 
Helix86 said:
Sweet, i wasnt sure that i could fit the ninja in there with the 1800XT, that cooler looks massive!
Click to expand...
It looks about the size of a Freezer 64 Pro to me, which I currently have sat in my case, and there was bags of room left between that and my X1800XT so I wouldn't worry about it. :)

Helix86 said:
i also heard that the new conroes are pretty damn clockable with stock coolers, so though that any good dedicated solution would do the job, or am i mistaken? please correct me if i am wrong!
Click to expand...
I would never overclock with stock cooling anymore, but that's just me. :p I never really used to be interested in overclocking so I would just do it as far as the stock cooler would let me, then I went aftermarket for the first time and got much bigger clocks. Was addicted from then on!

If like me you're setting off with the magical goal of 3-3.5GHz overclocks on that E6300 then you will definitely need something like a Ninja IMO.
 
Hi guys, bringing this thread fro mthe dead with a question:

i have read a few bad stories about the DS3, mainly incompatability with certain RAM types. so my question is am i going to have issues with the Geil RAM? its a confusing issue...
 
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