Spec me for £400

viperfx

viperfx

viperfx

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ok by the end of next week or 2 i will have 400 pounds to spend.

I want to buy a pc. I will use it for gaming and usual surfing. Also some web development. Im thinking of getting cheap parts so i have decided to get AMD processor and a nvidia card (cause of compatible issues with some games, such as free ones).
Here is a list of what i think i should buy, please post any suggestions and some feedback please.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200 2.70GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £52.89
Asrock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £40.24
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK) £33.34
Zotac GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (ZT-98GES4P-FDR) £94.29
OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply £60.94
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS) £40.24
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.09
NZXT Guardian 921 Crafted Series Tower Case - Black (No PSU) £68.99

= £407.02

ocukbasket.jpg
 
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Hi there, I had one of those Samsung drives and it failed after a few months (stopped reading DVDs) Also, some of those OCZ PSU's use Fuhjjhu caps which like to burst.

I'd suggest a Corsair PSU and LG drive. I've used both and they have been impeccable.

Also, if you can stretch it get a Core 2 Duo setup and a 500GB HDD, as it will give you far more breathing room as regards processing power and space. Failing that, get a motherboard which is compatible with Phenom CPUs so you have some upgrade path in the future.
 
Monkeynut said:
Hi there, I had one of those Samsung drives and it failed after a few months (stopped reading DVDs) Also, some of those OCZ PSU's use Fuhjjhu caps which like to burst.

I'd suggest a Corsair PSU and LG drive. I've used both and they have been impeccable.

Also, if you can stretch it get a Core 2 Duo setup and a 500GB HDD, as it will give you far more breathing room as regards processing power and space. Failing that, get a motherboard which is compatible with Phenom CPUs so you have some upgrade path in the future.
Click to expand...

OK then. im likely to only use this for 2 years max. So i want something that gonna last that long, dont think i will really upgrade ... not sure...

Im just looking for something that fits in my budget - £400.

I am thinking about Dual core intel but its the price, and i really dont need that big HDD, its not needed? Im used to keeping things clean, since i have a laptop with 80GB of space. I just want something that can play games smoothly and with reasonable eye candy.

I could wait 5 more weeks and buy something for 500 pounds but not sure if its worth the wait, or money..
 
If you can stretch to 450 you can get C2D, done this set up for you, it has better case & PSU too

400775.jpg


Edit sorry just noticed I clicked on wrong RAM, stick with the OCZ stuff you specced, thats what I meant to click on anyway
 
Ahh that looks good, guess i might wait a bit. Thanks.

Just remembered that i dont have enough money to buy monitor so im gonna have to use my 13 inch monitor from my old computer ... is this gonna actually affect anything?

Is the 4GB ram needed? or is 2GB enough or 3?...
 
Youre best with 4, 2 struggles to cope with modern things now, and its best to keep in dual channel
you can use your monitor, you'll just have to use the DVI to VGA adapter, though I do recomend you get a new one soonest :)
 
95thrifles said:
Youre best with 4, 2 struggles to cope with modern things now, and its best to keep in dual channel
you can use your monitor, you'll just have to use the DVI to VGA adapter, though I do recomend you get a new one soonest :)
Click to expand...

How much are they? Also i did look for prices on monitors on here, and they start at like 100 pounds lol.... dunno if im willing to spend that much.
 
I agree with the spec from 95thrifles, although i would make one slight change.
Get the OCZ ram over the OCuk value, as i would think it would be slightly better and its still the same price!

Also, i take it you already have a 64bit OS?
 
Ging3r said:
I agree with the spec from 95thrifles, although i would make one slight change.
Get the OCZ ram over the OCuk value, as i would think it would be slightly better and its still the same price!

Also, i take it you already have a 64bit OS?
Click to expand...
Thanks.

Nope, Dont have the OS yet. Isnt there something i can do to make it 400? instead of 450..... But i was thinking of getting 32 bit vista... is 64 bit that much better?
Dont want to wait 3 weeks.
 
You could drop the price by £22.50 if you went with this case:

Coolermaster Elite 330 Midi Tower Case - Black (No PSU)

However it only comes with 1 case fan, so you might want to add another one:

Akasa AK-191-SM Smoke Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin

It really depends if you care about what your case looks like I guess. I quite like the antec 300 but its no longer a budget case like it used to be.

Actually, this case looks a bit better and it comes with 2 fans:

Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Rev.4 Zen Case - Black (No PSU)
 
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You should get 64bit if your using 4GB of ram, 32bit only recognises 3 and a bit.
And as Fobose said, the Coolermaster case will save you a few £
 
and abit have gone bust so you'll have no support
If youre desperate to shave £££'s you could get this case which comes with PSU, its reliable enough, but not as good as the one specced earlier, thats £30 there though
 
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