Spec me a system please!

[Turbulance]

I've sold off my old system now and I am looking to build a high spec gaming system what with the release of Oblivion just around the corner!

I have saved a little under a grand to build a complete base unit to play Oblivion and other high end games (got a "17 TFT).

Been looking at the x1900's and the the Dual core opterons but I don't know which mother board to get.

Any ideas please?

 

[Monstermunch]

If you're thinking of Opty's then you must be considering clocking... If that is the case then you can't go wrong with the DFI mobo's. Personally i'd get the DFI nF4 Ultra-D

 

[semi-pro waster]

If you don't already have any parts in mind then for pretty much bang on the budget this may be suitable. All the parts are good and the Opteron should be able to clock very nicely.

CP-151-AM AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM)
£221.95 £221.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£79.95 £79.95
MY-000-MK Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) CAS3 (991483) (MY-000-MK)
£139.95 £139.95
GX-046-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO)
£264.95 £264.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£59.95 £59.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£25.95 £25.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£57.95 £57.95
Subtotal £850.65
VAT £148.87
Total £999.52

 

[ACESHIGH]

The above spec looks good to me.

As for the mobo ... DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D, which is in the spec above.

 

[Xionic]

If you don't already have any parts in mind then for pretty much bang on the budget this may be suitable. All the parts are good and the Opteron should be able to clock very nicely.

CP-151-AM AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM)
£221.95 £221.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£79.95 £79.95
MY-000-MK Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) CAS3 (991483) (MY-000-MK)
£139.95 £139.95
GX-046-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO)
£264.95 £264.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£59.95 £59.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£25.95 £25.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£57.95 £57.95
Subtotal £850.65
VAT £148.87
Total £999.52

nice though id pay a lil extra and get the 170.

 

[Turbulance]

Thanks for all the replys and I have been saving up a bit more.

edit* question- how does the Opteron stated here compare to the Dual core 4400+? Is it worth spending the extra money on the 4400+?

edit* would it also be worth considering a crossfire motherboard so I can slap another x1900 in there ina few weeks time?

Also I am looking to do a bit of overclocking

 

[Monstermunch]

Thanks for all the replys and I have been saving up a bit more.

edit* question- how does the Opteron stated here compare to the Dual core 4400+? Is it worth spending the extra money on the 4400+?

edit* would it also be worth considering a crossfire motherboard so I can slap another x1900 in there ina few weeks time?

Also I am looking to do a bit of overclocking

Opty's are basically re-branded FX-60 cores, originally designed for servers. They run cooler and use less power than std chips and tend to be more stable. They also overclock better than the std X2 cores.

As far as the crossfire thing goes, IMO no. 2 gfx cards are a waste of money! Save your cash and just upgrade the card to new tech every 9-12 months. That way you'll always be able to play the latest games as they were designed to be played.

Here's my suggestion, semi-pro's with a few minor tweaks. With future proofing in mind I would go for a more powerful PSU cos I think you may need it by this time next year:

CP-148-AM AMD Opteron UP 170 Dual Core San Diego 2.0GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-148-AM)
£274.95 £274.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.95 £15.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£79.95 £79.95
MY-057-OC OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC)
£139.95 £139.95
HD-002-HI Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31636) (HD-002-HI)
£56.50 £56.50
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£25.95 £25.95
CA-017-TT Thermaltake VB1000BNS Soprano SuperMidi Tower - Black (CA-017-TT)
£39.95 £39.95
CA-008-TG Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£59.95 £59.95
GX-047-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-047-HT)
£304.95 £304.95
Subtotal £998.10
VAT £174.67
Total £1,172.77

 

[Turbulance]

Thanks for the reply, I have heard some good and bad things about the artic cooler cpu coolers, however I was considering a thermalrite solutions as I have allways used them and they have been good for me. Any thoughts?

 

[Monstermunch]

Thanks for the reply, I have heard some good and bad things about the artic cooler cpu coolers, however I was considering a thermalrite solutions as I have allways used them and they have been good for me. Any thoughts?

If you don't like the arctic's then look at the thermaltake 4in1 heatpipe thingy! Either that or a good heatsink and then a std fan with a bracket, some of those setups are rather good.

 

[Turbulance]

Its not that I don't want to use an artic cooler, but I want to see how they compare to the thermalrite equivilants as the thermalrites are more expensive and don't include a fan.