Spec needed

chris06 · 22 Mar 2006 at 21:12

Hi guys,

Im looking to build my first system and have a buget of maximum £1000. I need everything including a monitor.

I will be mainly using it to play games such as bf2, quake 4, serious sam2 ect

I'm not really interested in overclocking as my knowlege is limited

I would like the option to upgrade in the future so would like a sli ready mobo. I'm not a big fan of ati as ive had problems before but i'm open to all suggestions.

As far as cpu i'v been looking at a x2 3800+. Is this about the best option that will fit in the price range?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

fenderbass86 · 22 Mar 2006 at 21:46

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM) 1
£175.95 £175.95
MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS) 1
£59.95 £59.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) 1
£89.95 £89.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE) 1
£24.95 £24.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN) 1
£59.95 £59.95
MO-016-NV Neovo F-419 19" LCD Monitor - Black/Grey (MO-016-NV) 1
£154.95 £154.95
GX-121-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-121-SP) 1
£179.95 £179.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 1
£57.95 £57.95
Subtotal £803.60
VAT £140.63
Total £944.23

I think this should suit your needs.

*Edit* - Just realised you said SLI motherboard, but I've specced an ATI card, so that's pretty useless. Go for the Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard if you really need to.

chris06 · 22 Mar 2006 at 21:59

Hey thanks thas looks pretty cool.

Just wondering though, how much beter is the x1800xt over the XfX 7800GT which is on special offer atm? And then if I added another 7800 at a later date would I see much performance increace?

thanks for the help

fenderbass86 · 22 Mar 2006 at 22:06

Well, the X1800XT wipes the floor with the GTX, let alone the GT, and by the time you add another GT in SLI, there'll be better cards and the 7900GT/X's will be cheaper too. This is why I personally think SLI/Xfire is a waste, just get one decent card.

benjo · 22 Mar 2006 at 22:08

Buying a 7800GT to go into sli in the future isnt worth it. By then.. bigger and better cards will be out

chris06 · 22 Mar 2006 at 22:11

I see your point.

one more question! Do I need to buy any cables or connectors or would I have everything I need if I bought everything above?

cheers

fenderbass86 · 22 Mar 2006 at 22:15

It's all there man, the motherboard box has tons of cables and bits. No worries.

Explicit · 22 Mar 2006 at 22:50

Here's an alternative with an X1900XT

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£206.74
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) **this week only**
£105.69
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-112-SP) **this week only**
£293.69
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 Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN) **this week only**
£70.44
Acer AL1916W 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-012-AC)
£176.19

Total inc VAT: £999.45

You may also want to consider a crossfire mobo. "This week only" prices go back to normal tommorow.

chris06 · 22 Mar 2006 at 23:57

Think I might go for that one but not to sure bout the widescreen so might stick with the other monitor.

I've been reading some of the posts and a lot of ppl say to get a floppy drive. Is there any point?

Explicit · 23 Mar 2006 at 00:15

chris06 said:
I've been reading some of the posts and a lot of ppl say to get a floppy drive. Is there any point?

I would say there's no point. DVDs have become the norm these days, let alone CDs and floppies.

stvmor · 23 Mar 2006 at 00:23

chris06 said:
Think I might go for that one but not to sure bout the widescreen so might stick with the other monitor.

I've been reading some of the posts and a lot of ppl say to get a floppy drive. Is there any point?

It can't hurt to have a floppy and I do very occationaly find it handy

chris06 · 23 Mar 2006 at 14:26

Thanks for the help guys. I dont get paid tll early next week so i missed out on the this week only deals. Jst had a look at the ones this week and have come up with this. Any one see where I could improve things?

Is the x1800xt worth it ova the OcUk 7900 gt?

CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£175.95 £175.95
MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£59.95 £59.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£55.95 £55.95
CD-074-SA Samsung SH-S162A 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-074-SA)
£22.95 £22.95
MY-007-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS)
£121.95 £121.95
GX-048-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£199.95 £199.95
MO-022-SA Samsung SM-913N 19" LCD Monitor - Silver (MO-022-SA)
£159.95 £159.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£59.95 £59.95
Subtotal £856.60
VAT £149.91
Total £1,006.51

Explicit · 23 Mar 2006 at 15:53

chris06 said:
Is the x1800xt worth it ova the OcUk 7900 gt?

Yes, the X1800XT is a great graphics card, you can't go wrong with it. It also has 512MB ram unlike the OcUK 7900GT, which will be handy in the future. Overall, a good spec there

Edit: Just noticed the silver monitor with black case, nothing major though.