Spec my Friend - £500

syke · 25 Mar 2006 at 22:40

Explict, he wont be buying for a few months. But he said he could get £700 max.

Explicit · 25 Mar 2006 at 23:21

Syk3 said:
Explict, he wont be buying for a few months. But he said he could get £700 max.

That would be a more realistic budget for a decent rig.

Single core:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3700BNBOX) (CP-121-AM)
£149.17
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£70.44
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£111.57
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-121-SP)
£211.44
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31637) (HD-001-HI)
£52.82
Samsung SH-W162C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) (CD-068-SA)
£23.44
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
£61.04
Logitech Internet Pro Keyboard (Black) - OEM (KB-011-LG)
£10.52
Logitech S96 PS/2 Optical Wheel Mouse Black - OEM (KB-046-LG)
£6.46

Total inc VAT: £696.90

Dual core:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£211.44
Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS)
£76.32
OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
£105.69
XFX GeForce 7800GT Extreme Edition 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT70G-UDF7) (GX-070-XF)
£176.19
Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 NCQ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A30356) (HD-000-HI)
£37.54
Samsung SH-W162C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) (CD-068-SA)
£23.44
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
£61.04
Logitech Internet Pro Keyboard (Black) - OEM (KB-011-LG)
£10.52
Logitech S96 PS/2 Optical Wheel Mouse Black - OEM (KB-046-LG)
£6.46

Total inc VAT: £708.64

Or even:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£211.44
Gigabyte K8NMF-9 nForce4 Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-041-GI)
£49.29
OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
£105.69
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-121-SP)
£211.44
Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 NCQ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A30356) (HD-000-HI)
£37.54
Samsung SH-D162 DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM (CD-002-SA)
£12.87
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
£61.04
Logitech Internet Pro Keyboard (Black) - OEM (KB-011-LG)
£10.52
Logitech S96 PS/2 Optical Wheel Mouse Black - OEM (KB-046-LG)
£6.46

Total inc VAT: £706.29

syke · 26 Mar 2006 at 00:14

which, in your opinion is best?

Explicit · 26 Mar 2006 at 00:45

I would prefer dual core myself as most games will slowly but surely start becoming optimised for it. As for the graphics, it would depend on the monitor size and screen resolution. But there's no doubt the X1800XT is better than the 7800GT.

Since he is buying in a few months time, prices will probably drop and he might even be able to increase his budget slightly. £750 can get you the best of all three rigs above i.e. X2 3800+, X1800XT, GeIL 2GB RAM, full atx mobo etc.

ACESHIGH · 26 Mar 2006 at 08:16

Dual core will surely be the best longer term solution.
Add 2 gig ram & decent graphics & your set for years of enjoyment.

syke · 26 Mar 2006 at 14:18

Explicit said:
I would prefer dual core myself as most games will slowly but surely start becoming optimised for it. As for the graphics, it would depend on the monitor size and screen resolution. But there's no doubt the X1800XT is better than the 7800GT.

Since he is buying in a few months time, prices will probably drop and he might even be able to increase his budget slightly. £750 can get you the best of all three rigs above i.e. X2 3800+, X1800XT, GeIL 2GB RAM, full atx mobo etc.

ok, what about pushing it for £750?

Explicit · 26 Mar 2006 at 15:11

Syk3 said:
ok, what about pushing it for £750?

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£211.44
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£70.44
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£111.57
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-121-SP)
£211.44
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31637) (HD-001-HI)
£52.82
Samsung SH-W162C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) (CD-068-SA)
£23.44
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
£61.04

Total inc VAT: £742.19

Xplo · 26 Mar 2006 at 15:28

MB-120-AS Asus A8N5X nForce4 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-120-AS)
£49.95 £49.95
MY-006-OK OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
£89.95 £89.95
GX-121-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-121-SP)
£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-048-SO Sony DWG120A 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-048-SO)
£24.95 £24.95
CA-001-AR Arctic Cooling T2 Silentium Silent Midi Tower Case - 450W Seasonic Silent PSU (CA-001-AR)
£49.95 £49.95
CP-126-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
£214.95 £214.95
KB-046-LG Logitech S96 PS/2 Optical Wheel Mouse Black - OEM (KB-046-LG)
£5.50 £5.50
KB-013-LG Logitech Deluxe Keyboard (White) - OEM (KB-013-LG)
£5.95 £5.95
Subtotal £643.10
VAT £112.55
Total £755.65