Spec A Friend

Jaffa_Cake · 6 Dec 2007 at 23:00

Hi all, I havn't been around for a while and I missed out on the P35 release and the 8800GT's.

I've had a friend ask me for a spec for around £500/600.

He says he would use it for BF2 and Crysis maybe, aswell as other games. He doesn't really want to overclock.

Kodi · 6 Dec 2007 at 23:17

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case (£72.84)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Sound Card (£61.09)
Asus GeForce EN8800 GT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (£152.74)
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) (£76.36)
Coolermaster Real Power 620w Modular Power Supply (£70.49)
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£72.84)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail (£52.86)
Samsung SpinPoint S 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD161HJ) (£34.06)
LG GSA-H66NBAL 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (£18.79)

Decent spec tbh only about £620

paradigm · 6 Dec 2007 at 23:27

That spec is pointless:

1) For a budget machine, running an E2180, why bother with PC2-8500 RAM considering he won't be overclocking?

2) Why bother with a sound card, when the onboard will easily suffice!

3) Why run a 620W PSU, when the 450W, or the 520W corsairs will easily do the trick?

4) Why get a godawful chipset for the motherboard, its only "upside" is SLi compatability, but the PC spec only has one video card, so get a P35 based board.

5) 256MB 8800GT's are crippled, get an HD3870 if your budget is that low, or stretch to a 512MB 8800GT.

paradigm · 6 Dec 2007 at 23:35

I'd go for something like this (although £40 over budget including delivery):

Could drop to a dual core processor and be easily in budget.

Jaffa_Cake · 6 Dec 2007 at 23:46

Ok, thank you for the suggestions. I forgot to mention that he would be needing a monitor. Have bumped down the cpu to a dual core and removed the OS because he owns a copy of Xp which he said he is quite happy with.

Tell me what you think of this:

paradigm · 6 Dec 2007 at 23:48

Other than the fact that I don't feel the 256MB version of the 8800GT is worth parting with the cash for, its a decent spec.

I'd either go with the 512MB 3870XT, or pay the bit extra for the 512MB version of the 8800GT.

Remeber, Crysis needs a LOT of texture memory.

Timdog · 6 Dec 2007 at 23:51

i'd go amd if he isnt overclocking tbh

you cn get a 6400 for almost that price

Jaffa_Cake · 6 Dec 2007 at 23:51

paradigm said:
Other than the fact that I don't feel the 256MB version of the 8800GT is worth parting with the cash for, its a decent spec.

I'd either go with the 512MB 3870XT, or pay the bit extra for the 512MB version of the 8800GT.

Remeber, Crysis needs a LOT of texture memory.

Okay, didn't play Crysis yet and I doubt he will really play it enough to be worth getting the upgrade.

That and the fact its only a 19" monitor.

Thank you for the info paradigim. Will pass him spec

paradigm · 6 Dec 2007 at 23:52

timdog said:
i'd go amd if he isnt overclocking tbh

I wouldn't. Intel are still better clock for clock, and are just as decently priced. Plus, it gives better scope for upgrade to penryn if he should so want to.

Lets face it, Phenom is a complete waste of time.