Spec Meh A Student *** PC!

jcb33 · 15 Sep 2006 at 18:56

Well, I am about to become a student, Of no less the University! I Was going to study from home, however the traveling each day, especialy when weather be bad could prove... well some what troublesome. Ergo I have made an informed decision, to try and track down some so so cheap student accomodation! What-What.

As I will be living away from my flat, I will not have my PC with me, and as I love my PC Considerably (Is emotion for a PC wrong?) I will not be taking her with me, with the risk of A) Transport damage and/or B) Theft.

My current PC is:

AMD Atholon 4800+ X2
2GB DDR Ram
600GB HDD
ATI Radeon X1900XT-X 512MB

Now this is a great PC, it runs everything I want it to, plays all the games I have etc....

Now I need a spec for a new computer, that will fit into somewhat of a budget, as... I kind of spent most of my savings on this beast thinking I would be staying at home.

The course I will be doing will involve heavily on C++ and JAVA programing, As well as Graphics Design, So I need a PC that can do all of the above, and not to slowly... I know my current CPU Would own almost anything but as im not taking it with me.... It will need to be able to render things fast, compile code etc etc.

I will also want it for my leisure time, to play games like: Half Life 2, Battlefield 2, Star Wars Galaxies, World Of Warcraft, Oblivion Etc, All of which I can currently play with maxed out settings... something that I do enjoy, but dont realy expect from a budget PC.

Because I will be coding I have already decided it will be benificial to purchase a dual monitor set up, I have been advised to do this by several coders, so think it would be a good plan. However Im not sure on which budget 19" TFT's To get

Now Finaly I have set a budget of between £500-600, I think that I will be able to get a decent system for this... BUT im not sure, a quick recap:

Must be able to:

Play Movies<<Duh
Play TV<<No TV Set
Play games with good quality settings
Graphics design
Code C++ and JAVA
Surf The Web

Etc Etc

Budget Around £500-600, Give or take.

Idealy I would love a dual core CPU, as I know how much faster these are to single cores, But realy im not sure what would be a good spec. Thanks for your help.

Jcb33!

Raikiri · 15 Sep 2006 at 19:06

The £600 with the monitors?

Down to £690 with dual 19inch widescreen monitors, dual core, 1gb ddr2, 7600GT...

jcb33 · 15 Sep 2006 at 19:09

Raikiri said:
The £600 with the monitors?

Down to £690 with dual 19inch widescreen monitors, dual core, 1gb ddr2, 7600GT...

Nah, £600 for a base unit, I should realy do £600 with monitors, but im gonna leave aside £240 for the monitors, I will be eating beans on toast for the first 12 months but its worth it

ste_bla · 15 Sep 2006 at 19:10

Your goign to have the same problem transporting your new pc so why not take your old one and get a good insurance cover, lot cheaper..

Just an idea makes more sense to me than getting another pc

jcb33 · 15 Sep 2006 at 19:12

ste_bla said:
Your goign to have the same problem transporting your new pc so why not take your old one and get a good insurance cover, lot cheaper..

Just an idea makes more sense to me than getting another pc

Well Im gonna have to cart it back every weekend, whereas If I build a second PC it will be left there... not being funny but I cant cope without a PC even for 2 days, and I have to come back at the weekend so im still clased as living here, and so I can get to my sunday work

Raikiri · 15 Sep 2006 at 19:15

HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
MO-005-BE Belinea 1925S1W 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-005-BE)
£112.99 £225.98
CD-045-LG LG GSA-H10NBAL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-045-LG)
£15.99 £15.99
CA-052-AN Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-052-AN)
£43.99 £43.99
GX-074-LT Leadtek Winfast DTV1000-T Digital TV Tuner Card (GX-074-LT)
£29.95 £29.95
CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)
£94.99 £94.99
MB-147-AS Asus M2N-E (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-147-AS)
£57.99 £57.99
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£129.99 £129.99
GX-042-OK OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-042-OK)
£99.99 £99.99
Subtotal £724.82
VAT £126.85
Total £851.67

That look ok? 2GB ram, good graphics (roughly a 7800GTX), dual core etc.

jcb33 · 15 Sep 2006 at 19:25

Raikiri said:
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
MO-005-BE Belinea 1925S1W 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-005-BE)
£112.99 £225.98
CD-045-LG LG GSA-H10NBAL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-045-LG)
£15.99 £15.99
CA-052-AN Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-052-AN)
£43.99 £43.99
GX-074-LT Leadtek Winfast DTV1000-T Digital TV Tuner Card (GX-074-LT)
£29.95 £29.95
CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)
£94.99 £94.99
MB-147-AS Asus M2N-E (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-147-AS)
£57.99 £57.99
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£129.99 £129.99
GX-042-OK OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-042-OK)
£99.99 £99.99
Subtotal £724.82
VAT £126.85
Total £851.67

That look ok? 2GB ram, good graphics (roughly a 7800GTX), dual core etc.

That does look prety nice, the PSU wont fry anything with it being a freebie with the case? had an incident with a Q-Tex once.... Eurgh

Raikiri · 15 Sep 2006 at 19:31

Antec... very good PSUs even their bundled ones. Certaily be up to that system + a little OCing.

jcb33 · 16 Sep 2006 at 00:46

Also whats better

CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)

Or

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz

Or

Intel Pentium 4 945 Dual Core "LGA775 Presler" 3.4GHz

And how do they compare?

Noble-Kebab · 16 Sep 2006 at 00:53

if your doing graphics and stuff just use the one you have now

jcb33 · 16 Sep 2006 at 00:59

Noble-Kebab said:
if your doing graphics and stuff just use the one you have now

jcb33 said:
Well Im gonna have to cart it back every weekend, whereas If I build a second PC it will be left there... not being funny but I cant cope without a PC even for 2 days, and I have to come back at the weekend so im still clased as living here, and so I can get to my sunday work

Topgun · 16 Sep 2006 at 01:14

Why dont you get a cheapie computer and leave it at home for surfing at the weekends. I was a bit apprehensive about taking all of my gear to uni (watercooled rig, tft, high end hifi, laptops, ipod...) but I never had any problems even after four years (fingers crossed). That includes living in halls at warwick and off campus.

I've seen P4 2.6 boxes with a gig of ram and a 15" TFT for £200 which I imagine would do the job nicely.

1. Do not even think about computer games for the first few months at least. If anything leave your gfx card at home.

2. Spend the money on new and trendy t-shirts, jeans and shoes (all you ever need at uni). This is where you do not want to skimp cos first impressions are everything. It's a sad fact but people are shallow and this is something you need to make concessions for.

Just out of curiosity, where are you off to?

jcb33 · 16 Sep 2006 at 01:17

Topgun said:
Why dont you get a cheapie computer and leave it at home for surfing at the weekends. I was a bit apprehensive about taking all of my gear to uni (watercooled rig, tft, high end hifi, laptops, ipod...) but I never had any problems even after four years (fingers crossed). That includes living in halls at warwick and off campus.

I've seen P4 2.6 boxes with a gig of ram and a 15" TFT for £200 which I imagine would do the job.

Hmm supose it would make sense £200-300 over £800.... Could stick a Cheap 7600 to so I could do some games if I had the time at a weekend, Although one thing I would prefer is not to get a 15" tft, the sheer size of them offends my eyes coming from a 20"

, But Even So... I could get a baseunit/build a base unit cheap, + Get a £120 19" for it, still works out much cheaper than £800...

jcb33 · 16 Sep 2006 at 23:33

Ok, Been running through some specs, can you please advise me as to which will be best here?

Spec 1

Abit SG-80DC SKT775 AGP onboard VGA SATA 5.1channel audio mATX
Intel Pentium D 805 Dual Core 64 bit LGA 775 2 x 2.66 GHz 2MB (1 Mb per Core)
Maxtor 160GB 7200 RPM SATAII/300 8MB Cache - OEM
Casecom LG-7760 Black/Silver Trim Mid-Tower Gaming Case - With 350W PSU
Enermax 480W PSU
1GB (2x512MB) Cosair PC3200 Ram
AGP X800XL 256MB Graphics Card
DVD RW Drive - LG

Total Cost £165.43

Spec 2)

Abit SG-80DC SKT775 AGP onboard VGA SATA 5.1channel audio mATX
Intel Pentium D 820 2.8Ghz Skt 775 Fsb 800 2 x 1Mb Cache Retail
Maxtor 160GB 7200 RPM SATAII/300 8MB Cache - OEM
Casecom LG-7760 Black/Silver Trim Mid-Tower Gaming Case - With 350W PSU
Enermax 480W PSU
1GB (2x512MB) Cosair PC3200 Ram
AGP X800XL 256MB Graphics Card
DVD RW Drive - LG

Total Cost £177.86

Spec 3)

Abit NF7-s V2.0 Mobo
AMD Barton Mobile 2500+ (Will Reach 2.43Ghz)
Maxtor 160GB 7200 RPM SATAII/300 8MB Cache - OEM
Casecom LG-7760 Black/Silver Trim Mid-Tower Gaming Case - With 350W PSU
Enermax 480W PSU
1GB (2x512MB) Cosair PC3200 Ram
AGP X800XL 256MB Graphics Card
DVD RW Drive - LG

Total Cost £62.79

Spec 4)

ECS 755-A2 Socket754
AMD2800+ mobile (Sempron) CPU and fan
Maxtor 160GB 7200 RPM SATAII/300 8MB Cache - OEM
Casecom LG-7760 Black/Silver Trim Mid-Tower Gaming Case - With 350W PSU
Enermax 480W PSU
1GB (2x512MB) Cosair PC3200 Ram
AGP X800XL 256MB Graphics Card
DVD RW Drive - LG

Total Cost £115.25

Spec 5)

Abit SG-80DC SKT775 AGP onboard VGA SATA 5.1channel audio mATX
Intel Celeron D 351 3.2Ghz Socket 775 Fsb533 256kb Cache Emt 64 Retail Box
Maxtor 160GB 7200 RPM SATAII/300 8MB Cache - OEM
Casecom LG-7760 Black/Silver Trim Mid-Tower Gaming Case - With 350W PSU
Enermax 480W PSU
1GB (2x512MB) Cosair PC3200 Ram
AGP X800XL 256MB Graphics Card
DVD RW Drive - LG

Total Cost £147.08

Ok, So which of the above is best and why? Also what Cooler would you recemend for your selection, to enable some overclocking?

I Also ask with the Pentium 4 Dual Core, How well do they overclock?

Also finaly, will my X800XL Be ok running a dual monitor setup? TY!

rangor gubbins · 17 Sep 2006 at 00:52

RE: spec 3
Not sure if its the best spec, but a thermalright SI-97 plus a good fan should give you top cooling with reasonably low db level. Just make sure you have room in your case for it.

Steve09 · 17 Sep 2006 at 01:41

JCB33 are you doing Computer Science?

I cant remember!

Freakish_05 · 17 Sep 2006 at 09:20

I would also go for Spec 3, just because I'm an AMD Fanboy! But with that chip reaching 2.43 ghz its a good shout!

For cooling I heartily endorse anything by Arctic Cooling or Zalman. Great cooling and crazy quiet! Great for leaving the PC on overnight to download Vista betas

As for your gfx card, my X800XT 256mb coped with two dell 19" tft's at 1280x1024 so I'm sure your X800XL will manage just fine

snowdog · 17 Sep 2006 at 10:49

jcb33 said:
Also whats better

CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)

Or

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz

Or

Intel Pentium 4 945 Dual Core "LGA775 Presler" 3.4GHz

And how do they compare?

core 2 duo definatly
then a64x2
and finally the pressy

about specs : i think raikiri's spec is best, also never ever get a sempron or a celeron, slow as hell , even a 5 ghz celeron would easeley be beaten by a barton 2500 i tihnk.

But from yours: spec 1, as spec 4&5 are rubbish, spec 3 is old (pentiums are faster as old gen athlons) and spec 2 has a less valuable cpu ( the cpu in spec one can be oced to 4+ ghz, just needs very good cooling, see http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/05/10/dual_41_ghz_cores_uk/page19.html, near 3.6 ghz its faster as a x2 4200 )

jcb33 · 17 Sep 2006 at 14:07

snowdog said:
core 2 duo definatly
then a64x2
and finally the pressy

about specs : i think raikiri's spec is best, also never ever get a sempron or a celeron, slow as hell , even a 5 ghz celeron would easeley be beaten by a barton 2500 i tihnk.

But from yours: spec 1, as spec 4&5 are rubbish, spec 3 is old (pentiums are faster as old gen athlons) and spec 2 has a less valuable cpu ( the cpu in spec one can be oced to 4+ ghz, just needs very good cooling, see http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/05/10/dual_41_ghz_cores_uk/page19.html, near 3.6 ghz its faster as a x2 4200 )

How well does the 2.66 clock on air? Equaly how wel ldoes the 2.8

jcb33 · 17 Sep 2006 at 18:08

Also what would be better

Intel Pentium D 805 Dual Core 64 bit LGA 775 2 x 2.66 GHz 2MB (1 Mb per Core)

or

AMD Barton Mobile 2500+ (Will Reach 2.43Ghz)