Spec a gaming rig please

Cemetery · 5 Aug 2006 at 10:12

My brother has just got Oblivion & it is running reaaaallly slowly on his pc at the moment (currently has an xp1800 & 512 meg of ram to give you an idea of what his pc is like) & is after something semi future proof so he doesn't need to upgrade againon the next game he buys.

His ideal budget is £700 but could go up a bit depending on the gains, maybe look to a couple of hundred more. Think he is going to need a mobo, cpu, gfx, (soundcard if not built into mobo) psu & ram. May need a case (he has an old lian li thing but think it could do)?

Any recommendations?

PinkFloyd · 5 Aug 2006 at 10:21

MB-101-AS Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS)
£56.95 £56.95
MY-039-CS Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS3 (MY-039-CS)
£114.95 £114.95
GX-047-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3056) (GX-047-CO)
£189.95 £189.95
CP-126-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
£109.95 £109.95
CA-025-EN Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN)
£59.95 £59.95
Subtotal £531.75
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.95
VAT £94.63
Total £635.33

Was thinking of speccing conroe, but AMD 939 is so damn cheap at the moment

means you can splash out even more on the graphics.

Cemetery · 5 Aug 2006 at 12:22

Having not looked at pc hardware in ages, are there not better gfx cards to get or 2 run in sli mode maybe would that not be better? Also would that PSU be powerful enough. Also given he wants a bit of future proofing would conroe be a better way to go?

GhostRider · 5 Aug 2006 at 12:46

MB-073-MS MSI 965P NEO (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-073-MS) 1
£69.95 £69.95
CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN) 1
£214.95 £214.95
MY-014-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR) (MY-014-GS) 1
£106.95 £106.95
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-009-TG Tagan TG580-U15 580W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-009-TG) 1
£69.95 £69.95
Subtotal £588.75
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.95
VAT £104.60
Total £702.30

I think you should be looking at a conroe for now. I would't blow all the budget on a graphics card when directx 10 ones will be out in a year.

I would think his Lian Li case will be fine. Is it the PC 7 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/LianLi_Cases.html they've been around for ages

Monstermunch · 5 Aug 2006 at 13:16

I agree with Ghostriders spec above.... that's the sort of thing you should be looking at. Except maybe the ram, personally I would stick to Corsair or OCZ as they've proven to be more reliable over the years.

PinkFloyd · 5 Aug 2006 at 13:54

G.Skill RAM is the best you can get at the moment.

Both are good spec. After speaking to Asgard with his 3.5GHz conroe he has said that it isn't much quicker in games than his 2.7GHz Oppy (which I bought off of him)

If your using it purely for gaming get a nice graphics card and save the momeny and go 939, its still fast enough.

wannabedamned · 5 Aug 2006 at 14:14

PinkFloyd said:
G.Skill RAM is the best you can get at the moment.

Both are good spec. After speaking to Asgard with his 3.5GHz conroe he has said that it isn't much quicker in games than his 2.7GHz Oppy (which I bought off of him)

If your using it purely for gaming get a nice graphics card and save the momeny and go 939, its still fast enough.

I agree with the RAM. Definately, It's what i have, And its allowed me to hit almost 3ghz on my OPTY 146. With the timings spec'd. And without being silly with volts.

As for the 939 thing, Thats what i'm on at the moment. And am not planning on changing for anything other than maybe a dual core 939 processor.

But I would keep in mind that DX10 is getting closer. I am actually buying a 6800, with 12pipes soon. Just because its a good card and cheap. So that in the future i'll beable to get the DX10 card I want.

So my advice,

Go with a 939 dual spec, Go with Gskill RAM, and go with a cheaper graphics card. JUST so that in the future you will have LOADS of money to buy a lovely DX10 Graphics card.

When I say a cheap graphics card, I just mean don't be buying a 7950 or anything daft

Monstermunch · 5 Aug 2006 at 15:21

I agree that the Gskill has the best specification and tightest timings for the money at the moment. However there are quite a few issues with the Gskill ram and some of the Conroe motherboards, and Gskill has been know to produce some shoddy quality stuff in the past. Whereas Corsair and OCZ have been reliable for many years.

The Corsair PC6400 C4 is about £40 more than the Gskill, but I think that the price reflects the quality.

Cemetery · 6 Aug 2006 at 19:19

Budget has been upped to £1200 with an absolute max of £1500. Can someone respec for me? Definately thinking of going the Conroe route so based on that if possible. Much obliged

GhostRider · 7 Aug 2006 at 19:07

CP-136-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6700 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.67GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-136-IN)
£339.95 £339.95
MB-020-DF DFI Infinity 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-020-DF)
£129.95 £129.95
GX-045-CO ATI Radeon X1900 ***Crossfire Edition*** 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-CO)
£214.95 £214.95
GX-053-HT HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-053-HT)
£194.95 £194.95
MY-092-CS Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (MY-092-CS)
£124.95 £124.95
CA-024-EN Enermax Liberty 620W ELT620AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-024-EN)
£84.95 £84.95
Subtotal £1,089.70
VAT £190.70
Total £1,280.40