Spec an Xmas PC for my son..

Magic Man

Magic Man

Magic Man

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24 Jul 2003
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Looking to build a new machine for my son for Christmas (he'll be 9)

No need for monitor, keyboard, mouse etc. Purely the tower components.

Was hoping for something around a 6300 or better, 1GB RAM. Mainly for games, e.g. Battlefield etc.

Price around £500.

Cheers...
 
Cheers guys, much appreciated.

Budget perhaps could go a little higher, what would 2GB add?

I know BF2 benefits but am I going to notice that much with other titles for the time being? I'm currently running BF2 with 1GB on a PIV2.8 and a 9800pro.

Saying that, will be building my own new machine soon (6700, 2GB, 8800GTX currently specc'd :D )

As for BF2, yep, there's no blood. To be honest he was playing BF1942 and other titles since he was 5. Was quite amusing to see him beat other players online. There's no bloody violence and no language so no real difference than any other child playing soldiers... And I make sure that he knows it's only a game and that real war is and was not nice and he respects all those that fought and died in such conflicts.

Thanks again...
 
Didn't notice that this had some extra posts added after my last... :D

The 2GB is still an option for now, haven't ruled it out. Thanks for the other specs, much appreciated.

It'll be HIS first PC but he's been playing on and off my setups since he was 5 (maybe even a little bit younger on some other games like Tweenies, Action Man etc. :) ) Saying that, he's had an XBox on a 14" TV for two years so is accepting of the lower resolution etc.

And just in case anyone is wondering, he does go out, he plays football for the local team every Sunday for 2 hours and trains for an hour mid week :)

Thanks again.
 
Just a quick check.

Is the Sonata II a decent case/PSU combination? The only issue I have is that you need to open the door to power it on?

Any other decent looking case/PSU combinations for around £80 or less?

Cheers..!
 
Hogthrob said:
...The door hinges right back so that it lies (almost) flush with the side of the case, so you can leave it open and it doesn't get in the way that much. It's not that much of a faff to open it, to be honest.
Click to expand...

Ah, good, thanks.
 
Quick check again... :)

Looking like this at the moment:-


Case: Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case £78.71
CPU: E6300 (Retail) - £129.24
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA_945PL_S3 - £62.26
Memory: GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - £93.99
Graphics card: OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB - £117.49
HD: Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - £30.54
Optical: Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - £19.96
OS: Windows XP Home - £62.26

Total: £594.45

Forgot the OS so had to add that...

Does the Sonatta II PSU have a PCI-E graphics power connector? Any other issues?

Any idea when the Sonatta II will be back in stock?

Also, after reading some reviews on another site, are there any issues with the PSU supplied in the Sonatta II...?

Thanks again all...
 
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Re. the case, may just get a good separate PSU (e.g. enermax 400W or the like) and a no PSU case, e.g. the Akasa Zen looks quite good.

I'll wait on the 2GB, adds too much to the cost atm to be honest. Always an option in the future though.
 
Down to this...

Case: Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case - No PSU £31.71
PSU: Enermax Liberty 400W ELT400AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU - £46.99
CPU: E6300 (Retail) - £129.24
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA_945PL_S3 - £62.26
Memory: GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - £93.99
Graphics card: OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB - £117.49
HD: Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - £30.54
Optical: Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - £19.96
OS: Windows XP Home - £62.26

Total: £594.44

Should do him well... :D
 
Thanks again guys for all the comments, very grateful.

May go for the 1950 then if it's better than a 7900GS.

Anybody else had issues with the Gigabyte board? Never tried an ASROCK before...
 
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As a follow up to this and after a few concerns (mainly to do with the 945 chipset) I upped the budget and changed the PSU to a Corsair 520W, the mobo to a Gigabyte DS3 and, wait for it... upped the memory to 2GB of Geil 6400 ULL. :)

So my £500 original budget ended up around £750...

I'm fairly sure this will do him well though, and if not, I'm having it :D
 
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