oh no computer broke need a new one

Arcade · 13 Jan 2007 at 02:19

there was smoke, there was flames, eventually one thing lead to another and to cut a long story short i need a new PC.

i can spend around £400 on parts, CPU, mobo, PSU, RAM, GFX, hard drive.

the only bits i can salvage from my old computer is the sound card, 19" monitor, keyboard & mouse, and 2x512mb pc3200 RAM.
although i'll probably have to get DDR2 ram now? i like the look of AM2

the sort of games i want to play is world of warcraft, dawn of war, quake wars, need for speed, HL2 mods.

as long as these are playable i don't mind. it dosen't have to be state of the art or long term future proof, as i'm only in this country untill september/october time, and it will be left behind.

any specs would be appreciated, ty.

masslac · 13 Jan 2007 at 02:51

I would personally go for:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
£129.24 inc VAT

Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£84.59 inc VAT

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB6400UDC)
£93.99 inc VAT

BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
£88.11 inc VAT

FSP Sparkle Blue Storm 2 400W ATX2.0 PSU
£43.46 inc VAT

Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 160GB ATA-133 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32722)
£39.94 inc VAT

£479, but you will easily be able to sell these parts for a decent price before you bugger off, effectively saving a bit of money.

hp7909 · 13 Jan 2007 at 06:02

If you can stretch to Masslac spec, then that's the one to go for

If not...

Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x512MB) £74.99
OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £91.99
Enermax Liberty 400W ELT400AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLi Compliant PSU £39.99
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £62.99
Abit KN9 Ultra nForce 570 Ultra (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
Sub Total : £324.95
Shipping : £8.95
Vat : £58.43
Total : £392.33

Can't 'salvage' the HD?

Arcade · 15 Jan 2007 at 12:30

thanks for the help, i think i have everything sorted now.

i just have 1 problem, which i'm confused about, but i'm sure its a silly question.

but if you got a nforce motherboard, do you have to buy nvida gfx cards? or will the ATi ones work with it?
i'm sorry.

steve258 · 15 Jan 2007 at 12:35

Yes ATI card will work on nVidia chipset and nVidia card will work on ATI chipsets either.

Arcade · 16 Jan 2007 at 20:03

just incase anyone was interested, i went with almost the exact same spec as hp7909 advised. except i went a little cheaper on the motherboard to fit in a better gfx card and better PSU and a HDD.

(if i had more to spend on it, i would have gone down the Core 2 DUO path)

Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x512MB)
Gainward BLISS GeForce 7900 GS "Golden Sample" SILENT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
OCZ ModStream 450w ATX2.2 Power Supply
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
Abit KN9 nForce Ultra (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

came to £420.58 inc VAT.
now all i've got to look forward to is an evening of trying to glue all this together.

thanks

kmistry · 16 Jan 2007 at 20:07

Nice one, it's a good choice, my friend has the same PSU and its great, the modular cables are a great help! you will be well on your way with that spec

t31os · 16 Jan 2007 at 21:11

I'd take the Liberty over the OCZ.

I'd also opt for a Palit (OCUK branded) 7900 since they are cheaper and clock well (apparently re-badged golden samples).

Hades · 16 Jan 2007 at 22:35

Why not look at buying used parts instead? Get a cheap socket 939 setup. Then sell it again when you leave and lose almost no money.

hp7909 · 17 Jan 2007 at 04:12

Arcade said:
just incase anyone was interested, i went with almost the exact same spec as hp7909 advised. except i went a little cheaper on the motherboard to fit in a better gfx card and better PSU and a HDD.

(if i had more to spend on it, i would have gone down the Core 2 DUO path)

Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x512MB)

Gainward BLISS GeForce 7900 GS "Golden Sample" SILENT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

OCZ ModStream 450w ATX2.2 Power Supply

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail

Abit KN9 nForce Ultra (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

came to £420.58 inc VAT.
now all i've got to look forward to is an evening of trying to glue all this together.

thanks

Nice

Enjoy the build & post up build pics (if you can/want)