Spec me please

xirokx

xirokx

xirokx

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Joined
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N.W London
Hi,

I have £500 to spend on a new rig please can someone provide a spec?

I would like it to have a dual processor (AMD), an SLI mobo, I need a PSU, a nice case, excellent graphics card and a HSF...with keyboard n mouse.

I already have 2 IDE HDD's so won't be needing any of those....

If the costs are over £500 do not worry as I would like to have a good graphics card that is future proof...

I wont be overclocking as I don't know how to...

Please help

Thanks in advance...
 
Best I could do... :(

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail - £206.74
OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit - £52.82
OcUK GeForce 7900 GT 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £234.94
Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard - £76.32
Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply - £84.54
Thermaltake VA3000SNA Tsunami Dream SuperMidi Aluminium Tower - Silver - £70.44

TOTAL --- £725.80
 
You dont need an £80 psu and a £70 case.

Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU costs £70.

Taking it down to £645.

An Akasa Ultra Quiet 460W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.0 costs £53 inc vat

An Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU costs £35 inc vat.
 
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The above looks good, but with Vista (Dx10) coming, you wouldnt want to get a 2nd non Dx10 card for SLI at that time i would imagine, better to get a Dx10 card. As such, it may be better to get a cheaper & faster card like this .. then get a Dx10 card when out.

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£199.69*Including VAT
 
I was thinking more of :

2gig ram dunno which make, whats the difference?
A 512mb card not 256 prob nvidia as opposed to ati dont ask me why
A 580w psu
A 4200

Like I said dont mind if it exceeds 500 however must be capable of handling vista and be furture proof.....

You forgot keyboard n mouse.....hmmmm

Thanks so far really appreciate ya help
 
xirokx said:
I was thinking more of :

2gig ram dunno which make, whats the difference?
A 512mb card not 256 prob nvidia as opposed to ati dont ask me why
A 580w psu
A 4200

Like I said dont mind if it exceeds 500 however must be capable of handling vista and be furture proof.....

You forgot keyboard n mouse.....hmmmm

Thanks so far really appreciate ya help
Click to expand...

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£326.59

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£105.69

Gainward BLISS GeForce 7800 GT "Goes Like Hell" 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GWGFFX7647) (GX-026-GW)
£246.69

DFI LanParty UT NF4 SLI-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-013-DF)
£111.57

Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS)
£103.34*

Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-038-LL)
£56.34*

Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 - Black/Silver (KB-073-LG)
£41.07


Total = £991.29 including VAT

That should just about do it. Though i included the X2 4400+ due its larger L2 cache.
 
I was really hoping to order everything last night.....any responses would be deeply appreciated

Thanks

P.s. can you kindly help me answer these questions?

1) What the diff between Geil 2gig Ram and lets say OCUK 2 gig ram? Is it all to do with the make only?

2) Graphics card : It was suggested I go for the 7800 256mb however I thought a card with a higher mb i.e. 512 would be better? Please explain this further...

3) Also I was of the thinking to run an SLI mobo and dual processor you need at least 580w to make it future proof? Is this correct?

4) I have seen a lot of DFI lan Party mobo being suggested when ppl are requesting a spec however is this mobo as quiet and as good as the Asus mobo?

5) Whats a Dx10 card? how do they differ from non Dx10 cards? Is it worth me waiting for one instead of paying a lot of money out now?

6) Why do people have 2 gfx cards now instead of 1 other than the reason more is better? Would I need 2? Especially if I am building a rig with these bits? Is there 1 card equivilant to 2 or is that just a no no? Sorry may seem a silly question but I thought I'd ask lol

I just wanna get the right parts so I wont have to upgrade for the next year.....please help?
 
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How's this? Based on nvidia as requested.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£191.47
DFI LanParty UT NF4 SLI-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-013-DF)
£111.57
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£105.69
OcUK GeForce 7900 GT 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-037-OK)
£234.94
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN)
£35.19
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£70.44
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.22
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (KB-072-LG)
£23.44

Total inc VAT: £787.96





But you would be shooting yourself in the foot if you didn't consider the ATI option:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£191.47
Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£75.14
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£105.69
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£246.69
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN)
£35.19
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£70.44
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.22
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (KB-072-LG)
£23.44

Total inc VAT: £763.28
 
1. Largely just quality, but also the memory timings vary (CAS latency, etc) - lower the better. Wouldn't say its worth going for any of the insanely priced kits, but GeIL value is nice stuff and fairly cheap so its worth getting ahead of the OCUK Ownbrand, I'd say.
2. Its not how much memory it has, its how it uses it that counts - no point in storing loads of textures if the moment it tries to render anything it dies. Get the X1800XT 256mb that's on special at the minute, they're great and its insanely cheap right now.
3. Quality over quantity. SLI motherboard doesn't make any difference to the power drain unless you're actually running SLI. Really, a good quality 500w or so would be a nice idea, but above that starts to become overkill if you're talking top brand stuff and not too much in the way of extras and no SLI.

4. Its a quality item and if you want to overclock your computer its a great buy. If you don't its probably overkill and keeping the change is a better idea.

5. Extra features. I don't know exactly what they are, or if they'd be worth waiting for though.

6. You answered your own question - 2 is better than 1 ;) Of course, money wise its not really worth getting two cards, you might as just get one slightly pricer one and pocket the change.

Anyway, make good use of this weeks special offers, they include a rather large amount of what you need with a rather good amount off:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
Price: £175.95 (£206.74)

Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
Price: £63.95 (£75.14 )

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
Price: £89.95 (£105.69 )

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
Price: £169.95 (£199.69 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Enermax Noisetaker 485W EG495AX-VE(G) SFMA ATX2.0 PSU (CA-007-EN)
Price: £44.95 (£52.82)

Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN)
Price: £29.95 (£35.19 )

£675.27 for rather a lot of stuff, I'd say. Edit: I spent way too much time doing that and now it ends up just being a repeat. :p
 
How future proof is the X1800XT 256mb ? The 485w PSU? I dont know why I think I should be going for the 7800 512mb? which card is better?

Does the case have screws? Or is it slots?

Can I attach 3 x 300gig drives to this mobo will the case allow this?

I cant help thinking I should be getting a amd 4200 dual at the minimum??


@ Explicit:

Why would I be shooting myself in the foot if I failed to consider your second option?


Thanks for all your help guys hopefully I can place an order tonight....

How future proof are the rigs you guys have suggested?

I like playing COD2 online and other similar games will these rigs handle these games on max settings?

How quiet would these suggested rigs be?

Please help.......thank you very much indeed especially keep the price to a minimum you guys are great :-)
 
xirokx said:
How future proof is the X1800XT 256mb ? I dont know why I think I should be going for the 7800 512mb? which card is better?
The X1800XT 512MB / 256MB are both better than the 7800GT 512MB. They will demolish the 7800GT without breaking a sweat.

Does the case have screws? Or is it slots?
I'm not sure what you mean by this, but most cases these days have tool-less design with thumbscrews.

Can I attach 3 x 300gig drives to this mobo will the case allow this?
Shouldn't be a problem.

I cant help thinking I should be getting a amd 4200 dual at the minimum??
IMO, the 4200+ is an absolute waste of money because you're paying a huge premium for a 200Mhz speed bump which you can do yourself. It's either the 3800+ (overclocked to 2.6'ish) or a 4400+/opteron 170. In between that you have the opteron 165, which is priced similar to the 4200+ but has 1MB L2 cache per core (as opposed to 512Kb on the 4200+)

@ Explicit:

Why would I be shooting myself in the foot if I failed to consider your second option?
I was only saying that because you said you only wanted nvidia specs, which is a bit silly when investing in computers as the competition in graphics cards is immense. As above, the X1800XT is a great bang-for-buck card, and to say that you only want nvidia means you're limiting yourself.

How future proof are the rigs you guys have suggested?
Well, DX10 cards will be out by the end of the year (i think) which means your graphics card will be obsolete soon (but most games wont need dx10 for quite some time). AMDs socket AM2 is coming out June 6th, but the only major change is support for DDR2 ram. Intel Conroes also set to release end of the year, and the mid-range 2.66ghz version appears to be much better than the current top-of-the-range AMD FX60.

I like playing COD2 online and other similar games will these rigs handle these games on max settings?
Shouldn't be a problem on the X1800XT. Not sure about the 7800GT.

How quiet would these suggested rigs be?
How long is a piece of string? :D They should be "quiet" enough for most people.
Click to expand...
 
The X1800 is a ridiculously fast card, in either the cheap 256mb or the slightly-less-cheap-but-slightly-better 512mb form. You can either get slightly better performance than the 7900 for £35 less or for a tiny amount more get better performance and 512mb of memory on it. The 7800 just isn't worth considering with the X1800s on special offer, it just can't match them on speed or price.
All motherboards have support for 4 devices on IDE and most come with a fair few SATA ports so 3 hard drives isn't a problem.
I've not got that particular case so I can't tell you much about the mountings, just heard from a mate who's got one that its nice and it looks pretty like you asked :p
As for noise, I have the Arctic heatsink & fan that Explicit listed and its very quiet.
Enermax are very good powersupplies, it would handle any of the specified systems nicely and I'm fairly sure it could even handle SLI.

edit: argh, it happened again. Must. Type. Faster. :p
 
is the 512mb version of X1800 a lot better than the 256mb? Do u think I will be ok with 256mb or I should pay the lil extra for 512mb?

Is the psu 485 sufficient?

Is this mobo SLI?

So what cpu do u think I am better off getting? Considering I dont really want to overclock becuz I don't know how? IS the 4400 a lot more dearer than the 3800?

Should I get 1 SATA drive to handle windows and all other programs and keep the other 2 IDE drives for whatever I need? Why do people have 1 sata at 80g and then use IDE drives? If yes please suggest a SATA drive?

thanks a lot really appreciate your help
 
act smiley said:
edit: argh, it happened again. Must. Type. Faster. :p
Click to expand...

LOL :D

xirokx said:
is the 512mb version of X1800 a lot better than the 256mb? Do u think I will be ok with 256mb or I should pay the lil extra for 512mb?
At higher resolutions, like 1600 x 1200, the 512MB card helps out a lot. But below that, both cards are pretty similar in performace.

Is the psu 485 sufficient?
Yes, the Enermax 485 should be able to handle one decent graphics card, but crossfire/sli might be a lot to ask for.

Is this mobo SLI?
Which mobo? And remember, SLI mobo = useless with an ATI card because it only supports nvidia cards. ATI's equivalent is Crossfire.

So what cpu do u think I am better off getting? Considering I dont really want to overclock becuz I don't know how? IS the 4400 a lot more dearer than the 3800?
Yes the 4400+ does come at a price, but the 3800+ is still a great processor. I would take the 3800+ or opteron 165. We'll help you overclock it, don't worry about it ;)

Should I get 1 SATA drive to handle windows and all other programs and keep the other 2 IDE drives for whatever I need? Why do people have 1 sata at 80g and then use IDE drives? If yes please suggest a SATA drive?
Yeah, most people use a sata drive for OS/Games/Software these days. The Hitachi Deskstar 80GB SATA-II (HD-000-HI) can be had for £37.54 inc vat, and is very fast.
Click to expand...
 
well thanks for all your help and to everyone else I really do appreciate it.....

My head hurts lol

I will delay my order for the moment as I am convinced I maybe able to get a better spec for the same money give or take, I think....

Will carry on figuring it out tomoz....

P.S. I guess I always thought SLI was better than crossfire and nvidia cards were better than ati's......for overclocking and everything else....however I have found out otherwise now so I guess before I part with my cash a lil more research wouldn't hurt....

thanks peeps :-)
 
Below is what I would currently recommend as being best value for money with future proofing in mind. Dual core is definitely the way to go, but I would ignore dual graphics cards as they are a waste of money and a single better gfx card is just as good IMO. They upgrade the gfx tech so frequently these days that by the time a single card needs updating so does a dual setup. With this in mind you don't need an SLI or Crossfire Mobo, just get a good nF4 Ultra board. Crossfire seems to be nothing but trouble with all the threads I have read recently.

The Geil value is good ram and if you are considering clocking there will be a lot of people willing to help you do that. You can get better ram for clocking but you can always run a divider anyway so it's not a necessity.

Because you have Vista in mind with DX10 on the horizon I have specced you a slightly cheaper gfx card with the view that you will probably upgrade towards the end of the year.

I would also suggest the Tagan PSU for future proofing because it is becoming more important to have ample power and IMO less than 500W just wont be enough in a year or so.

CP-152-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£162.95 £162.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£12.95 £12.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£79.95 £79.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£89.95 £89.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£169.95 £169.95
HD-000-HI Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 NCQ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A30356) (HD-000-HI)
£31.95 £31.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£25.95 £25.95
CA-026-TT Thermaltake VC2000BNS Mambo SuperMidi Tower - Black (CA-026-TT)
£27.95 £27.95
CA-008-TG Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£59.95 £59.95
KB-066-LG Logitech Media Keyboard Elite - Retail (KB-066-LG)
£16.95 £16.95
KB-060-LG Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse (KB-060-LG)
£27.95 £27.95
Subtotal £706.45
VAT £123.63
Total £830.08

If you feel you have more free cash than the setup i've suggested then I would recommend that you spend it on an Opty 170 or a 4400+ as mention by Explicit & others above.
 
Explicit said:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-152-AM)
£191.47
Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£75.14
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£105.69
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£246.69
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN)
£35.19
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£70.44
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.22
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (KB-072-LG)
£23.44

Total inc VAT: £763.28
Click to expand...

Unfortunately you want too much for the money you say you want to spend.

Realistically this is probalby the best overall bang per buck system you will get. If not overclocking the X2 4200+ is better though, so you could get the above but with the X2 4200+ instead (or even better the X2 4400+). It would be a great rig & do pretty much all you want. I doubt you could get more for your money than this to be honest. Especially with the weekly offers.

FYI - Vista (new MS OS) will still allow you to use even non DX10 cards, besides if you use Windows XP you wont have a problem, & as for games with DX10, all the early ones will be DX9 (backwards) compatable & they will likely be arround end 2007 or later. So dont get hung up over Vista, tbh its not a real worry..
 
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