Spec Me a new machine.

Continuity · 21 Aug 2007 at 12:58

Hi Guys and Gals...

its been a while since i last bought a new machine, and i would like some help choosing.

Here is what i currently have

2.6ghz Amd Athalon SKtA
1gb Ram
Nvidia 6700 512mb gfx card (AGP)
loads a storage space..

As you can guess this poor machine struggles with anything more complicated than word

So what could you guys put together for me for under £250 to allow me to get back on the technological ladder. I will only be looking for

Mobo
CPU
GFX card

Thanks in advance.
p.s i dont mind either AMD or INTEL

Cheers

mp260767 · 21 Aug 2007 at 13:25

what memory are you planning on using as most new setups are ddr2.

for starters :

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £47.99
(£56.39)

PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 Pro AC Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £81.99 (£96.34)

EVGA nForce 650i Ultra (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (122-CK-NF66-T1) £54.99 (£64.61)

Sub Total : £184.97
Shipping : £8.25
VAT : £33.81
Total : £227.03

Add 1gb of Crucial (2x512MB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT6464AA667) and the total cost is up to £255.

Continuity · 21 Aug 2007 at 13:30

mp260767 said:
what memory are you planning on using as most new setups are ddr2.

for starters :

Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £47.99
(£56.39)

PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 Pro AC Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £81.99 (£96.34)

EVGA nForce 650i Ultra (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (122-CK-NF66-T1) £54.99 (£64.61)

Sub Total : £184.97
Shipping : £8.25
VAT : £33.81
Total : £227.03

Add 1gb of Crucial (2x512MB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT6464AA667) and the total cost is up to £255.

whoops forgot memory...

Thanks, now i know that the money i have isnt really massive amounts, but can i expect fairly good performance from this type of machine, i would like to be able to get back into playing games. Or should i stump up some more money

mp260767 · 21 Aug 2007 at 13:34

Continuity said:
whoops forgot memory...

could drop it below £255 by changing the gfx card for the ocuk version and spending £17 on the Artic Cooling Accelero X2 VGA Cooler (X1800/X1900 Series) to bolt onto it instead of the standard one which tend to be noisy.

if you want to get back into gaming i would change the memory to :

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit.

should get decent performance from the system, not on high detail etc, what resolution do you run at on you're screen ?

Continuity · 21 Aug 2007 at 13:42

mp260767 said:
could drop it below £255 by changing the gfx card for the ocuk version and spending £17 on the Artic Cooling Accelero X2 VGA Cooler (X1800/X1900 Series) to bolt onto it instead of the standard one which tend to be noisy.

if you want to get back into gaming i would change the memory to :

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit.

should get decent performance from the system, not on high detail etc, what resolution do you run at on you're screen ?

My screen is only capable of 1024x786

mp260767 · 21 Aug 2007 at 13:57

Continuity said:
My screen is only capable of 1024x786

reckon that should do you ok then.

Continuity · 21 Aug 2007 at 13:58

mp260767 said:
reckon that should do you ok then.

Cool thanks,

how much more would i be looking at to get me up to being able to run new gamse at high spec...

cos i think im tempted to ***** some more money on it..

mp260767 · 21 Aug 2007 at 14:41

be difficult to say at the mo as games like bioshock, crysis, quake wars are due out soonish so no real benchtests on the full game rather than demo.

Main thing you would need is the 2gb of memory and a quality gfx card, if you're after the high settings i would suggest waiting til at least one of the games is released and check out the bench tests that come out.

Continuity · 21 Aug 2007 at 21:43

mp260767 said:
be difficult to say at the mo as games like bioshock, crysis, quake wars are due out soonish so no real benchtests on the full game rather than demo.

Main thing you would need is the 2gb of memory and a quality gfx card, if you're after the high settings i would suggest waiting til at least one of the games is released and check out the bench tests that come out.

Hmm or should i go for a bundle like this...

This Bundle

or this one AMD which has 2 gb of ram and this card OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail comes in a little over budget at £298....

argh why cant it be simple like the old days

mp260767 · 22 Aug 2007 at 08:30

deffo intel setup, could go with the 2160 processor instead of the 6320 but either would be ok.

i'd check out the bundle as seperate prices and see how if it adds up the same, could go for cheaper memory without changing performance too much.

Continuity · 22 Aug 2007 at 08:39

mp260767 said:
deffo intel setup, could go with the 2160 processor instead of the 6320 but either would be ok.

i'd check out the bundle as seperate prices and see how if it adds up the same, could go for cheaper memory without changing performance too much.

O.k cool, thanks for the advice. Is their a reason why Intel are curretly favoured over AMD. As it was always the other way when i last purchased.

mp260767 · 22 Aug 2007 at 08:44

Continuity said:
O.k cool, thanks for the advice. Is their a reason why Intel are curretly favoured over AMD. As it was always the other way when i last purchased.

just the way processors tend to go lately, used to be amd was for gaming and intel for video encoding etc, then they both decided they wanted everything.