Spec check

IamMed

IamMed

IamMed

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Joined
2 Oct 2003
Posts
1,161
Location
Porthcawl (S.Wales)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £52.99
Gigabyte GA-P31-ES3G Intel P31 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £40.99
OCZ Titanium 4GB (2x2GB) Edition DDR2 PC2-6400 Dual Channel £42.54
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB TV-Out/HDTV/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £44.99
Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD10EADS) £57.99
LG GH22NS40 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.99
Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 Power Supply - Black Nickel £54.98
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £45.99
2x Akasa AK-191-SM Smoke Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin £11.48
OcUK Value PS2 Keyboard £4.99
Logitech S96 PS/2 Optical Wheel Mouse Black - OEM (953688-1600) £5.99
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 32-Bit - SP3 - OEM (N09-02215) £66.99
Total : £448.90

System will be used for web browsing / downloading / watching movies.

Have a total budget of £450 to play with, spec look ok?

I'm unsure on graphics card, it won't be used for gaming at all, will at some point be used for watching full HD films though, is it already overkill?
 
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It is a bit overkill if you don't plan on playing games, this mobo+ CPU combination would be a better bet and cheaper.

118x2.png


Also, I suggest dropping the PSU down to this, even 400W is overkill. Everything else should be great.
 
cmndr_andi said:
It is a bit overkill if you don't plan on playing games, this mobo+ CPU combination would be a better bet and cheaper.

118x2.png


Also, I suggest dropping the PSU down to this, even 400W is overkill. Everything else should be great.
Click to expand...

£108.98 for above CPU + Mobo

The intel chip and board are £93.98.

System isn't for me, it's for a friend and he want's to get the best he can get for £450 as he doesn't intend upgrading again for ages (currently has a Socket A XP2500, 1gb DDR1, 128mb 9700!!).

I'd rather get the 500w as this machine will also be used for testing out my hardware if I have problems and my stuff is usually more power hungry.
 
IamMed said:
£108.98 for above CPU + Mobo

The intel chip and board are £93.98.

System isn't for me, it's for a friend and he want's to get the best he can get for £450 as he doesn't intend upgrading again for ages (currently has a Socket A XP2500, 1gb DDR1, 128mb 9700!!).

I'd rather get the 500w as this machine will also be used for testing out my hardware if I have problems and my stuff is usually more power hungry.
Click to expand...

Aye, the chip and board are more but you won't need the graphics card as the intergrated graphics on the 985G can do HD video decoding including blu ray - so the total cost is less, the power consumption is less and the CPU is faster too.
 
Did consider onboard but need a card tbh, currently his PC is hooked upto a 22" TFT monitor and a 28" CRT television so would need the traditional TV output for now.

He is talking about getting a HDTV at some point in the future though so need the option of HDMI later on which can be done with a DVI>HDMI convertor.

So Ideally it needs to be 2xDVI + TV Out.

Is there another card that has 2xDVI + TV Out that is quiet and can do 1080P which is cheaper than the 4650?

I was going to just get a second hand 3850 but he wants everything to be new :(
 
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I thought you said they had a socket A machine... how were they running that on a 22" and a 28"? Was it both at the same time? Also, am i missing something here but what exactly is a TV out? Scart?
 
What is the connection he will use to hook it up to the CRT?

I ask because the 985 board has got DVI, HDMI and D-Sub outputs. The onboard card is only a 4200, but if its just desktop stuff and films it should be fine.

But if this doesn't pan out, the spec you have in the OP is fine. Though I suggest not getting XP. Windows 7 now costs £66 to pre-order and he can use the free Release Candidate in the mean time. Not only is windows 7 newer with many more features, it also comes with the 64 bit version included in the box - so he can address all of his RAM.
 
Superewza said:
I thought you said they had a socket A machine... how were they running that on a 22" and a 28"? Was it both at the same time? Also, am i missing something here but what exactly is a TV out? Scart?
Click to expand...

Er quite easily, DVD and AVI's are fine on socket A.

TV Out is Component/S-Video, most graphics cards have this them but newer cards and onboard cards are replacing them with HDMI.

Middle connector:
graphics-card-3.jpg


cmndr_andi said:
What is the connection he will use to hook it up to the CRT?

I ask because the 985 board has got DVI, HDMI and D-Sub outputs. The onboard card is only a 4200, but if its just desktop stuff and films it should be fine.

But if this doesn't pan out, the spec you have in the OP is fine. Though I suggest not getting XP. Windows 7 now costs £66 to pre-order and he can use the free Release Candidate in the mean time. Not only is windows 7 newer with many more features, it also comes with the 64 bit version included in the box - so he can address all of his RAM.
Click to expand...

TV uses S-Video/Component which hooks up to standard TV Out pictured above.

I will just keep the spec as it is then :)

The guy the system is for is passed retirement age and happy with XP, he found vista was confusing and annoying so rather than take a gamble on windows 7 it's best to stick to what he knows.

Thanks for the suggestions though :)
 
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