Spec check for a friend

Meerkat · 7 Oct 2008 at 14:02

Doing a spec check for my friends PC,

He just wants to see if this will all work and if theirs any alternative hardware.

budget is around £670odd, and would not like to go over.

This is the current hardware spec:
Asus M3A AMD 770 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ)
Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU

Software, case etc:
NZXT Hush Classic Series Silent Midi-Tower Case - Silver
Logitech Ultra-Flat Keyboard (967653-0120)
Netgear WG311T 108Mbps Wireless Desktop PCI Network Adapter
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939)

Thanks.

Skidilliplop · 7 Oct 2008 at 14:12

I'd personally go more with a slower C2D and overclock it. I'd have spec'd more along the lines of what you have in your sig.

Captain_Slick · 7 Oct 2008 at 14:13

I'd swap the case for a cheaper one, and switch the mobo/cpu to the Intel alternatives.

Slightly more expensive, but plenty of upgrade potential and more powerful than the AMD, and he can overclock it if he wants to as well.

Meerkat · 7 Oct 2008 at 15:53

Would their be more power for gaming if I chose the C2D Pentium with the 4870 1GB?

or if I picked a 3.0ghz Wolfdale with a 4850?

Captain_Slick · 7 Oct 2008 at 16:11

Than the AMD? Yeah, the AMD X2 6000+ is getting on now, and isn't as efficient as the latest Core 2 and Pentium Dual Core CPUs.

It might be faster, but it's a dead end route and you'll need to upgrade the motherboard next time you upgrade the CPU. Might as well get a cheap Intel CPU like the one I recommended, and then upgrade to a Quad core when you feel the need to.