spec check (can i do it cheaper?)

eightball103

eightball103

eightball103

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Joined
6 Feb 2003
Posts
74
Location
Maidenhead
Hi guys and gals,

Quick low down, built a new spec for an upgrade in the next week. would like to know if some of the components can be swapped for a cheaper equiv without sacrificing much.
Im not an die-hard OC'er but i will eventually crank this baby up (probably when i realise that i should have bough an AM2 chipset)

Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI premium
CPU: AMD 3800x2 (goin OEM)
Ram: Corsair Twinx 2x512Mb Pc3200
Gcard: Leadtek 6600GT (not the extreme)
PSU: Tagan 530W modular
Case: Coolermaster wavemaster silver (would like a Gigabyte Aurora, but OCuk no stockie :( )

Thats about it, also looking for a 160Gb sata300 Hdd but thats optional

By all means suggest different setups and stuff. Im trying to keep this project as close to £600 as possible.

Ta
-Aj
 
You dont have to buy the case from OcUK you realise. I didn't cos they didn't have mine in stock either.

As for your HDD nearly all HDDs are similarly priced so instead of giving your specific drive I will recommend you either Seagate, Hitachi or Western Digital. Can't go wrong with any :)

SiriusB
 
Htachi... arent they IBM now? i had some bad experiance once with a pair of old Deathstar series disks :p


The main thing im wondering about is PSU's is there a cheaper brand i can go for without sacrificing the stability from makes such as tagan and seasonic?
 
eightball103 said:
Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI premium
Click to expand...
Why????? - You're obviously not planning on going SLI with buying a 6600gt....You DON'T need an SLI mobo! Try looking at the BFG nForce4 Ultra Motherboard


eightball103 said:
CPU: AMD 3800x2 (goin OEM)
Click to expand...
Good chip....clocks well, look at the Arctic Freezer 64 Pro Cooler


eightball103 said:
Ram: Corsair Twinx 2x512Mb Pc3200
Click to expand...
Try the Mushkin Blue HP3200 instead....tighter timings for the same price!


eightball103 said:
Gcard: Leadtek 6600GT (not the extreme)
Click to expand...
Good card for the money....but don't expect it to keep up with the current games....Cos it won't


eightball103 said:
PSU: Tagan 530W modular
Click to expand...
Good PSU, but OTT for your budget. With a budget of £600 you should be looking at something like the Antec Sonata Case with built in 450W PSU. Or if you have to go seperates then look at the Tagan Easicon 430W.


eightball103 said:
Case: Coolermaster wavemaster silver (would like a Gigabyte Aurora, but OCuk no stockie :( )
Click to expand...
As above.....Why waste the best part of £100 of your £600 budget on a case. Look at the Antec Sonata....or if you do have to buy seperates then the Lian-Li PC7 is the best for he money.


eightball103 said:
Thats about it, also looking for a 160Gb sata300 Hdd but thats optional
Click to expand...
Best HDD's on the market atm are the Hitachi Deskstars
 
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eightball103 said:
Htachi... arent they IBM now? i had some bad experiance once with a pair of old Deathstar series disks :p


The main thing im wondering about is PSU's is there a cheaper brand i can go for without sacrificing the stability from makes such as tagan and seasonic?
Click to expand...

No IBM used to make the Deathstar's before they were bought by Hitachi. The current Deskstar series by Hitachi is the best on the market for all round performance & reliability
 
ok so assuming i went single PCIexp board, whats a half way decent budget gcard? i have to admit im still a bit lost when it comes to the gpu wars.

Ill look into the hitachi's now as you say they're better in rep.

i appreciate all the advice btw :)
 
eightball103 said:
ok so assuming i went single PCIexp board, whats a half way decent budget gcard? i have to admit im still a bit lost when it comes to the gpu wars.

Ill look into the hitachi's now as you say they're better in rep.

i appreciate all the advice btw :)
Click to expand...
IMO the best gfx card on a budget that will still be okay for a while with the newest games is:

PowerColor ATI Radeon X800 XL 256MB DDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-038-PC) £105.69 inc
 
This could be suitable if you are willing to compromise on your case and the Ram to get a better graphics card. A64s can be run on dividers for overclocks I beleive quite easily if necessary

CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£159.95 £159.95
MB-000-BG BFG RNF4U nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-000-BG)
£59.95 £59.95
GX-121-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-121-SP)
£159.95 £159.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£11.95 £11.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£56.95 £56.95
MY-005-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
£49.95 £49.95
Subtotal £498.70
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £9.95
VAT £89.02
Total £597.67

//edit no it is fine to use ATI hardware with Nvidia and vice-versa, you will suffer no performance loss.
 
eightball103 said:
surely if i mix an ati board with an Nforce chipset ill suffer a performance loss? thats my experience in the past anyway.
Click to expand...
No you won't suffer eny performance loss. IMO the ATI's are better cards in many ways and don't forget that until recently the nForce boards have been about the only good available option for the AMD chip.

If you're using a single card setup it won't make any difference that it is an nVidia motherboard....The GeForce cards work just as well in Crossfire motherboards!

The only thing that you can't do by using an ATI card with an nForce mobo is having dual gfx cards......But IMO waste of money anyway.
 
semi-pro waster said:
CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£159.95 £159.95
MB-000-BG BFG RNF4U nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-000-BG)
£59.95 £59.95
GX-121-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-121-SP)
£159.95 £159.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£11.95 £11.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£56.95 £56.95
MY-005-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
£49.95 £49.95
Subtotal £498.70
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £9.95
VAT £89.02
Total £597.67
Click to expand...

I think that is idealy what im looking at... i think ill bust my parents for a little extra cash and do the mushkin ram. Thanks for you help peeps. This forum is a major credit to the enthusiast community. i hope this post will run on for a bit becuase i have a week before i buy and will end up tweaking that setup as i go no doubt.

-aj
 
eightball103 said:
True... if you have the option... you'll spend money on it. :)
Click to expand...

Unless you have a monster screen and run games at resolutions better than real life, then Crossfire/SLi is wasted.

SiriusB
 
eightball103 said:
I think that is idealy what im looking at... i think ill bust my parents for a little extra cash and do the mushkin ram. Thanks for you help peeps. This forum is a major credit to the enthusiast community. i hope this post will run on for a bit becuase i have a week before i buy and will end up tweaking that setup as i go no doubt.

-aj
Click to expand...

Totally agree, Semi-Pro's spec is exactly what I would recommend. The only suggestion I would make is that you go for 2gb ram....if not the Mushkin blue then go for the green!
 
What else is comparable to the BFG mobo? i was looking at asus offerings and msi but neither seem as well featured. what about abit and the others? worth considering? :confused:
 
eightball103 said:
What else is comparable to the BFG mobo? i was looking at asus offerings and msi but neither seem as well featured. what about abit and the others? worth considering? :confused:
Click to expand...

Now that OCUK no longer sell the MSI Neo4, unfortunately no. The best nForce4 Ultra board is the DFI Ultra-D but that's £94inc..... The Asus board is fine unless you want to look at overclocking because it's not very good at it.

The DFI is the best for clocking and the most versatile, the BFG is a good substitute on a budget and will clock reasonably well.

The Abit & Gigabyte boards are old and the BFG is better spec'd.

While we're on the subject of mobo's....anyone know why OCUK stopped selling the Epox boards?
 
just looking at am2 prices... might be better if i pay the little extra and go am2 for future proofing.

Found the MSI k9n platinum to be a well recived mobo, couple that with the AM2 eqivilent of afformentioned spec, change the ddr to ddr2 and bobs your uncle. its a bit over £600 but not by much.

Im glad epox are still in the game. ive bough and sold many epox boards over the years. ive been happy with them and as far as i know the people i sold them to are happy with them.
 
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