Some advice please :)

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Hlebio

Hlebio

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First time buyer.. advice please?

Hey guys.

I have been saving some money up for a while now in order to purchase a new PC for myself. My current PC is a good 8 or so years old and I think it's time I brought a gaming machine for myself so I can play the latest games and such.

I've got £800 right now, and the only thing I need is the base unit. Would £800 be enough to get a beasty games machine that will handle all the latest games, and many more for the next 2 or so years (with only small upgrades needed, i.e graphics card etc)?

I'd also like to go Dual Core if possible, but I'm not sure if I have enough to do that? I was thinking perhaps if I don't, it would be a good idea to only get 1gb of RAM now, and spend more money on getting a Dual Core processor, or on another area of the PC, perhaps the motherboard? Then buy another 1gb of RAM when I've saved up some more money.

So to summarise I want,

Motherboard
Dual Core Processor
Graphics card for gaming
At least 120gb hard drive
DVD-RW
Plus all the other basics, PSU etc.

I won't be overclocking...

Wanna play the latest games on high settings too.

I've been looking at the posts round the forum and it seems you are all a nice helpful bunch so hopefully you can come up with something for me.

Thanks ever so much.
 
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Well i'd get them to spec you first..see what they come up with. If Explict, or anyone else like that posts.. that should be the best spec you can get for the £ :).
 
You could look at something like this:

CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£169.95 £169.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.95 £15.95
MB-046-MS MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-046-MS)
£64.95 £64.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£89.95 £89.95
HD-001-HI Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31637) (HD-001-HI)
£44.95 £44.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£25.95 £25.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£64.95 £64.95
GX-060-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-060-PC)
£264.95 £264.95
Subtotal £741.60
VAT £129.78
Total £871.38

I know its £70 over budget but you could drop the gfx card down to an X1800xt and that would then be about in budget, or you could find the extra £70 and have an awsome rig.
 
IwantanewPC said:
Is there a huge gulf in quality between the 1800 and the 1900? Cause I'd imagine with an 1800 that'd still be an awesome rig for him.
Click to expand...

The X1800XT is still an awsome card, and the system above with one of those instead of an X1900xt would still be awsome. Currently there is not a huge gulf in performance.

The only thing that the buyer would need to take into account is that the X1900XT has newer instruction sets etc than the 1800 and should therefore be more futureproof.

Also please be aware that they are no longer producing the x1800 because it has essentially been replaced by the 1900.
 
Just quickly looking through this isnt a bad rig and gives you some scope for upgrading, slightly over budget and im not sure about the PSU that comes with the case. im assuming you dont need a monitor/keyboard, etc.

CP-126-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
£219.95 £219.95
MB-066-MS MSI RD480 Neo2 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-066-MS)
£64.95 £64.95
MY-006-OK OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
£94.95 £94.95
HD-088-MD Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-088-MD)
£52.95 £52.95
GX-048-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£214.95 £214.95
CA-004-AS Asus TA-210 Series Midi Tower (Black) - 360W PSU (CA-004-AS)
£34.95 £34.95
CD-043-LG LG GSA-H10ABAL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-043-LG)
£22.95 £22.95
Subtotal £705.65
VAT £123.49
Total £829.14

If you are looking to overclock at all you might want to get some better quality ram but at stock this should be a very nice gaming rig. With the crossfire board you also have the option to get another card later on. The sound on this motherboard is great so you dont need an extra sound card. if you are looking to overclock you might want a case with better airflow and a better heatsink, but again this is a good gaming rig at stock :)
 
barney said:
Just quickly looking through this isnt a bad rig and gives you some scope for upgrading, slightly over budget and im not sure about the PSU that comes with the case. im assuming you dont need a monitor/keyboard, etc.

CP-126-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
£219.95 £219.95
MB-066-MS MSI RD480 Neo2 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-066-MS)
£64.95 £64.95
MY-006-OK OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
£94.95 £94.95
HD-088-MD Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-088-MD)
£52.95 £52.95
GX-048-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£214.95 £214.95
CA-004-AS Asus TA-210 Series Midi Tower (Black) - 360W PSU (CA-004-AS)
£34.95 £34.95
CD-043-LG LG GSA-H10ABAL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-043-LG)
£22.95 £22.95
Subtotal £705.65
VAT £123.49
Total £829.14
Click to expand...

the 4200+ isnt best buy for value in that build i mean you either go for the 3800+ and overclock or the 4400+ but not inbetween lol (L2 cache = double with 4400+) ;)
remember, Clock speed can always be added after! not Cache size!

the best bet in my opinion would be to spend most of your money where you want the performance I.E Dual core, which then you upgraded around (GPU, more ram etc) and therefore got the ability to always increase you build's power if needed.

if you went with X2 3800+ and overclocked you could get the X1900XT, however...bear in mind that DirectX 10 And sockets such as AM 2 are around the corner, if you can wait you would get better stuff for cheaper and be ready for the next era of gaming (for a while at least) and also there is this PhysX gaming which puts more pressure to the wallet... :(

just food for thought of course
 
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One with an nVidea card for you

CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£169.95 £169.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.95 £15.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£89.95 £89.95
HD-017-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2004C 200GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-017-SA)
£52.95 £52.95
CD-038-PO Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16 x 16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-038-PO)
£22.95 £22.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£64.95 £64.95
GX-033-GW Gainward BLISS Geforce 7900 GT "Golden Sample" 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-033-GW)
£249.95 £249.95
Subtotal £666.65
VAT £116.67
Total £783.32
 
Wait!? You're crazy man. I cannot wait, I've been waiting for ages.. I can't take it no longer!

I should've mentioned that I have no intention to overclock. I don't want to blow up my house.. :(
 
Booner! said:
the 4200+ isnt best buy for value in that build i mean you either go for the 3800+ and overclock or the 4400+ but not inbetween lol (L2 cache = double with 4400+) ;)
remember, Clock speed can always be added after! not Cache size!

the best bet in my opinion would be to spend most of your money where you want the performance I.E Dual core, which then you upgraded around (GPU, more ram etc) and therefore got the ability to always increase you build's power if needed.

if you went with X2 3800+ and overclocked you could get the X1900XT, however...bear in mind that DirectX 10 And sockets such as AM 2 are around the corner, if you can wait you would get better stuff for cheaper and be ready for the next era of gaming (for a while at least) and also there is this PhysX gaming which puts more pressure to the wallet... :(

just food for thought of course
Click to expand...

Yeah i would have put the 4400 in and completely agree but was trying to keep within budget :) If your not going to overclock i would personally go for the 4200 or if you can add a little more to your budget the 4400.

The X1900XT is a brilliant card but so is the X1800xtx and its about £100-200 cheaper. With the x-fire board you have the option of getting an X1900XTX later on and using it with your X1800xt which gives you a little more mileage on your system. I wouldnt worry too much about physics cards. By the time you need them for games they will have had to make them a LOT cheaper.

Of course if you wait you will get the same or better stuff for cheaper but that is always the case.

Either way a 4200 and X1800xt or a 3800 and X1900xtx it will still be a great system.
 
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well put it this way the 165+ is a great clocker with 2Mb L2 cache, the way to look at it is effectively 2 X A64 San diegos with 1Mb cache each at 1.8Ghz with some great stepping that allows you to clock the hell out of them! ;) they dont call it OcUK for nothing! the opty is basically a spin off server chip which people are cottoning onto as better bang for buck against X2, however now AMD are planning to make less optys and as a result increase price so X2 sells better ;)

but saying that the X2 is a nice chip which i plan on buying into soon
 
£17 for an audigy 2 ZS if not, unless you spend money on an X-hifi, thing is you want dual core, so maybe best to spend money on the dual core and nice DFI lanparty board with good onboard soung, then when needed spend out on upgraded sound card later on, thats what i would do :p
 
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