Possible new Build

[WantoN]

Hey fellas

I'm considering a new build, but am entirely out of the loop in regards to current technology

I'm not sure whether to go dual core or just a high-end 64 bit, I'm also trying to decide between ATI and Nvidia (I've always leant towards ATI in the past, and as such was considering getting a crossfire enabled motherboard, there's an Asus one which looks sexy. I've also always been an AMD fanboy, but again, am way out of the loop. I'll be looking for at least a Gb of ram, preferably something cost effective but overclockable.

So, could you fellas mock up a few possible solutions for me to look into. I'll sort the case myself, I'm after a ceiling of about £900 for the components. I've a 480w TT Butterfly I could use, but with the possibility of SLI/Crossfire I assume I'll need a new one.

Spec away

Ant

EDIT: Oh and just so you can tell me what sort of step up I'll be looking at, my current rig :

Abit Nf7-s v2.0 w/ Mantary d26 Modded Bios
Barton 2800+ @ 2,300
Gb Twinmos PC3200 @ 200fsb (11-3-2-2)
Radeon 9700 pro @ 333/333
80gb WDC 8gb + Samsung Spinpoint 160gb on IDE
TT Butterfly 480w

 

[WantoN]

Is this just the box without an OS, or do you need screen/keyboard/mouse/OS/speakers?

Got an mx1000, decent logi keyboard, and a Samsung SyncMaster 913n. As stated, I'm just after the components for my new rig. I'm doing some research as we speak, but enlightened suggestions from people who've used or know of the suggested products would be very helpful.

Ant

 

[WantoN]

There is £30 for a case there, but you might be looking at spending around £50 on a good one so its a little over budget. I could have specced it with some G.Skill HZ RAM and an X1800XT, but it would probably better to OC the 3800 and put the RAM on a divider. And then the X1900 would give you ample graphics performance. I reckon the PSU could cope, its fairly new right?

Cheers for that mate The £900 is excluding the case, I'll be picking something out and giving it a gutting and a rework

From when I used to tinker a lot, I remember putting AMD systems on deviders severely impacted the performance, i take it this is no longer the case?

Ant

 

[WantoN]

What about pentium / SLI options fellas?

Cheers,
Ant

 

[WantoN]

ATI have the edge over nVidia when it comes for graphics, and AMD are miles ahead of intel when it comes to gaming. I don't think you're going to get many sensible specs for that combination.

Fantastic stuff cheers guys

Is it worth investing any more in the motherboard? I've seen Asus options priced almost double this.

Also, a PSU wasn't listed, and I'd feel comfortable with a bit more juice. Also, the hiper modular solutions look snazzy, and I'm VERY fussy when it comes to cable mess.

Ant

 

[WantoN]

For a crossfire motherboard you cant beat an A8R-MVP.


Well you can: an A8R32-MVP - but that isn't released yet.

What's the difference between this, and the previously specced mobo?

Ant

 

[WantoN]

Also, is it worth getting an arctic GPU cooler? Will I see much overclocking potential with stock cooling?

Ant