spec the impossible

englishpremier · 3 Apr 2006 at 19:48

had a request from a mate to build a computer with the spec below

Here is the spec I’m after for my tower unit:

Processor: 4 ghz (or equivalent)
RAM: 2GB
Hard drive: At Least 250GB (350 would be good)
Graphic Card: Standard
DVD/CD RW: relatively fast
Software: don’t need any

before anyone mentions, ive explained to him about the cpu lol...

this is a real challenge since he will need a case/psu too.

the budget is a mighty 400 quid :eek:

the computer will be used mainly for football manager and office/web/movies etc..

nyzrox · 3 Apr 2006 at 19:50

it kinda does look pretty impossible, he will need atleast another 100 i suspect

CP-121-AM AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3700BNBOX) (CP-121-AM) 1
£126.95 £126.95
MB-016-DF DFI LanParty UT NF3 Ultra (Socket 939) Motherboard (MB-016-DF) 1
£64.95 £64.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) 1
£89.95 £89.95
CD-051-LO Liteon SHW-160P6S-01C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Beige) - OEM (CD-051-LO) 1
£22.50 £22.50
GX-003-XF XFX GeForce FX 5200 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (PVT34KNAHG) (GX-003-XF) 1
£24.95 £24.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 1
£55.95 £55.95
Subtotal £385.25
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.95
VAT £68.99
Total £463.19

BigDom · 3 Apr 2006 at 20:10

Definate impossibility.. This is the closes I could get without any real compromises. Standard graphics was a bit of an odd description but I assume you mean gaming so went for a nice ATI card. To get in budget your talking smaller HDD and either a 3000+ Venice or going Sempron/754.

CP-118-AM AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM)
£91.95 £91.95
MB-088-AS Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£59.95 £59.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£89.95 £89.95
HD-018-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA)
£53.95 £53.95
GX-053-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X800 GTO 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-053-PC)
£49.95 £49.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£24.95 £24.95
CA-023-AN Antec SLK1650B Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-023-AN)
£39.95 £39.95
Subtotal £410.65
VAT £71.87
Total £482.52

englishpremier · 3 Apr 2006 at 20:25

yeah i questioned standard graphics too, but apprently he only plays football manager 2006, no 3d shooters, action games or anything like that.

BillytheImpaler · 3 Apr 2006 at 20:28

By "standard" graphics do you mean integrated graphics?

englishpremier · 3 Apr 2006 at 20:54

BillytheImpaler said:
By "standard" graphics do you mean integrated graphics?

id take standard to be something like a 6200 or at a push a 2nd hand 6600.. since you can still play games just without anything special at lower resolutions

BillytheImpaler · 3 Apr 2006 at 20:59

Maybe skip the graphics in this spec and snag something cheap from the MM. Pretty much any GPU from the past few years will fit the bill for what this gent needs.

Havana_UK · 3 Apr 2006 at 21:10

MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£89.95 £89.95
HD-070-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-070-WD)
£73.95 £73.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£24.95 £24.95
CA-023-AN Antec SLK1650B Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-023-AN)
£39.95 £39.95
MB-042-GI Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 nForce 6100 Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-042-GI)
£44.95 £44.95
CP-117-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM)
£74.95 £74.95
Subtotal £348.70
VAT £61.03
Total £409.73

Fraction over, but with only a 3000+ A64.

Why does he want such a fast CPU, but balls all in terms of graphics card?

Hav

Defcon5 · 3 Apr 2006 at 21:11

He doesnt really NEED 2gb ram does he?

BigDom · 3 Apr 2006 at 21:20

I believe Football manager has a lot of maths in it.. hence the processor.

Havana_UK · 3 Apr 2006 at 22:19

I doubt there's enough maths to warrant a 4GHz processor!

Recommended spec is 2GHz, so even if you wanted something faster for it, a 3GHz would be more than adequate.

Hav

bbK · 3 Apr 2006 at 22:31

doubt ull get a pc like that for 400 what u COULD do is buy most of the parts from ocuk and get a gfx card or the ram or something second hand so it stays under 400. Thats all i can think of anyway

PC-M Vip3r · 3 Apr 2006 at 22:35

Are these spec's PC that you guys quoted any good? ecause ive just built a P4 system for 600 and it aint all tht special.

BigDom · 3 Apr 2006 at 22:35

Havana_UK said:
I doubt there's enough maths to warrant a 4GHz processor!

Recommended spec is 2GHz, so even if you wanted something faster for it, a 3GHz would be more than adequate.

Hav

I remember there was a post about one football game, I think FM, where the guy was looking at a serious processer ( dual Core 4400+ or better ) to handle it in a snappy fashion. I don't know how FM works but I am guessing it runs a bunch of leagues, perhaps calculating each and everygame ( i.e. sort of playing it rather than using a weighted random result ).

comradpoplin! · 3 Apr 2006 at 22:42

yes it does exactly that but would it really need a beefy cpu to handle that snappy??

BigDom · 3 Apr 2006 at 22:57

comradpoplin! said:
yes it does exactly that but would it really need a beefy cpu to handle that snappy??

God knows.. not my style of game.

Foxor` · 3 Apr 2006 at 23:05

my brother always complains his p4 3ghz + 1gb ram takes ages in this crappy footy manager game he plays i think its CM2006 tho :s who knows, maybe someone cld try it if they dare

englishpremier · 4 Apr 2006 at 11:49

yeah football manager is heavy on cpu and memory, thought the newer verion does play faster. I doubt any CPU could handle every league running in full detail with maximum database. Not that he would be playing it at that level anyway. It also uses loads of memory.

Anyway i just wanted to get a few specs so i can show him that he will have to compromise on either spec or budget, just so he does have to just take my word for it.

a1ex2001 · 4 Apr 2006 at 12:43

FM is seriously processor hungry I have to keep pushing my opty up just so I can get it a bit quicker, not sure if it's multi threaded for dual cores etc but if the next release is I will be going dual.

spec the impossible

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