Spec Help please :)

Thomo · 14 Jun 2006 at 20:06

Hi could anyone help me with a decent spec for around £400 - £550 I've been looking around the site but i haven't built anything for so long it appears i know next to nothing!

At present i have Athlon xp 2000
512 Ram
Geforce Fx 5700

So something that would give me a good performance increase over this would be good

Ideally I'd like something that would be able to play HL2 / Doom with fairly decent eye candy

But i'm not sure if this will be available with my budget.

Also would have the pre built systems on here be worth the money, or would i get better value for me poundage buying individual parts and building a system myself.

Many Thanks in advance

Thomo

PinkFloyd · 14 Jun 2006 at 20:10

Will you be needing a new case, harddrive? dvd drives? etc
Also monitor ?

Thomo · 14 Jun 2006 at 20:19

Sorry

No need for a monitor,

But everything else including new case, psu etc... I have Seagate hd 7200 Sata-II 8 mb Cache that i bought in error for another PC

If i can use this all the better if it would be no use then not to worry.

Thanks

fenderbass86 · 14 Jun 2006 at 20:23

BG-018-EP **B Grade** Epox EP-9NPA+ SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (BG-018-EP) 1
£40.00 £40.00
CP-131-AM AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-131-AM) 1
£69.95 £69.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) 1
£14.95 £14.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) 1
£109.95 £109.95
GX-061-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-061-PC) 1
£119.95 £119.95
CD-038-PO Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM (CD-038-PO) 1
£21.95 £21.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN) 1
£56.95 £56.95
Subtotal £433.70
VAT £75.90
Total £509.60

That's a really good motherboard, my mate has one and it's very reliable and will overclock the 3200+ CPU nicely. This system will do what you wanted it to do.

Murzo · 14 Jun 2006 at 20:27

CP-117-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM)
£64.95 £64.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£74.95 £74.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£139.95 £139.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£21.95 £21.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£109.95 £109.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£56.95 £56.95

Subtotal £468.70
VAT £82.03
Total £550.73

PinkFloyd · 14 Jun 2006 at 20:37

fenderbass86 said:
That's a really good motherboard, my mate has one and it's very reliable and will overclock the 3200+ CPU nicely. This system will do what you wanted it to do.

Its a good motherboard..... but its a B-Grade one..... so its likely to have loads of bits missing. And perhaps not even work at all.

Thomo · 14 Jun 2006 at 20:46

Thankyou both for the replys. I know its a very subjective question in asking "which one is the best" but i'm going too anyway

Murzo your spec doesn't have a heatsink included in it is this because the CPU is retail and hence has one included?

Also the main difference appears to be around the board and the Graphics cards I apologuise for my simplyness but the cards are fundimentally the same but different brands? is there any performance difference between them?

PinkFloyd · 14 Jun 2006 at 21:40

I would take Murzos spec, pretty much the same as What I would go with with that budget. He hasnt included a case or powersupply though.