Speccing around £800?

addylad · 14 Aug 2007 at 22:29

Hi,

I was just wondering what order to place your components in, when on a budget, e.g. which is the most important?

Also, what would you recommend for a system to do gaming, music and heavy graphics and web designing, for around £800-900. I think a Creative X-Fi Soundblaster would be useful, as well as a Nvidia 8800GTS 320MB graphics card. I also would like longevity, e.g. support for future DDR3 and Core 2 Quad upgrades as well as any other new technologies. Integrated Wi-Fi would be great, although I am prepared to pay for a separate card to go in the PCI slot.

Thanks for your help,

-A

yantorsen · 14 Aug 2007 at 23:02

what res will you be playing at?

do you want to oc?

do you need drives, case, os?

addylad · 15 Aug 2007 at 17:44

well, probs between 1 280 x 1024 and 1 680 x 1 050 (19/20in monitor)

i am willing to oc, as long as the benefits are good enough

one drive, case, os

thanks,

-A

yantorsen · 15 Aug 2007 at 17:53

wht size hdd? vista or xp?

the shadow · 15 Aug 2007 at 17:55

Some thing like a quad with 2hardrives, 4gigs?vista.etc :cool:

yantorsen · 15 Aug 2007 at 17:56

Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black) Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black) £72.99
(£85.76) £72.99
(£85.76)
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £5.99
(£7.04) £5.99
(£7.04)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Tuniq Tower 120 Blue LED CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) Tuniq Tower 120 Blue LED CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £26.99
(£31.71) £26.99
(£31.71)
Asus DRW-1814BLT 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - Retail Asus DRW-1814BLT 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - Retail £17.99
(£21.14) £17.99
(£21.14)
Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £53.99
(£63.44) £53.99
(£63.44)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £184.99
(£217.36) £184.99
(£217.36)
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NQ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NQ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £149.99
(£176.24) £149.99
(£176.24)
Sub Total : £755.89
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £134.55
Total : £903.39

if you really want a sound card then get the audigy for £16, or drop down to a dual core to get one or drop down to the 320mb gfx. That should spec should oc to.

truebluecfc · 15 Aug 2007 at 17:58

Well if your looking to do any seriuos Gaming on it, a general rule of thumb is to buy the best graphics card your budget allows you and really a £800-£900 budget you can easily afford a 8800 GTS 640MB or a 2900xt.

For future proofing your probably best getting a P35 Motherboard which supports DDR2 & DRR3 RAM as these support the new Intel CPU's and DDR3 Memory.

stickroad · 15 Aug 2007 at 18:00

I dont belive in ddr2+ddr3 Motherboards to be honest.

By the time DDR3 becomes productive enough to buy, your more than likely to have 4GB of DDR2 and would you really change 4GB of DDR2 Ram to 2GB Of DDR3 RAM?

truebluecfc · 15 Aug 2007 at 18:02

stickroad said:
I dont belive in ddr2+ddr3 Motherboards to be honest.

By the time DDR3 becomes productive enough to buy, your more than likely to have 4GB of DDR2 and would you really change 4GB of DDR2 Ram to 2GB Of DDR3 RAM?

I totally agree, its like buying a SLI board for the future if you ever decide to go SLI, your more likely to buy a new gen card as your current card will more than likely be fairly old.

yantorsen · 15 Aug 2007 at 18:08

might wanna add a bigger psu to tht spec to for furure proofing.

truebluecfc · 15 Aug 2007 at 18:10

Well if he bumps it upto the Corsair 620W then I'd think its pretty future proof afterall Nvidia's new cards are gonna be using less power than the 8800's are currently.

addylad · 15 Aug 2007 at 18:40

cheers for the help.

i'd be happy with a core 2 duo e6750, 8800 gts 320mb, 2 gig ram and a top ddr2 motherboard if anyone can recommend one.

worst thing that can happen is bottlenecking :eek:

and probs a 500gb hdd or 320gb i'd be happy with, can always upgrade.

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case I like this.

The more money i can save the better.

thanks again

yantorsen · 15 Aug 2007 at 18:45

addylad said:
cheers for the help.

i'd be happy with a core 2 duo e6750, 8800 gts 320mb, 2 gig ram and a top ddr2 motherboard if anyone can recommend one.

worst thing that can happen is bottlenecking

and probs a 500gb hdd or 320mb i'd be happy with, can always upgrade.

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case I like this.

The more money i can save the better.

thanks again

the one i speced is DDR2.

antec 900 is fine

personally i'd want more than 320mb hdd

addylad · 15 Aug 2007 at 19:19

cheers, i've got a good idea of what i want now

what do you think of http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-023-OC (PSU - OCZ Stealth...)?

Any good 19/20in monitors about? Also, will I need DVI-D or DVI-I to match up with the 320MB GC?

Thanks a lot, almost done!

Antec Nine Hundred £70.49
OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply £58.74
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £88.11
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £52.86
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NQ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit £64.61
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, S775, 2.66 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail £119.84
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £178.59
Asus DRW-1814BLT 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - Retail £21.49

Any suggestions?

Cheers!!!

m@rty · 15 Aug 2007 at 19:51

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-051-SA&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

thats a pretty good monitor

you can also get it in 22'' if you fancy something bigger.

wuyanxu · 15 Aug 2007 at 20:04

i've also got a £800 budget, here's what im planning to buy:
-q6600 hopefully G0
-a X38 motherboard (for £150)
-NEC DVD RW (heard it's made by Sony, and i move my Sony DVD RW)
-8800GTS 320MB
-500GB Weston Digital SE16 AAKS HDD

and i've already bought:
-LG 22inch monitor (outside of my 800 budget, the 200quid monitor is my birthday present)
-OCZ 2GB PC2-6400 RAM
-Antec p182 case
-Corsair Hx620w PSU

all comes just over £1000, without the monitor, it's just over £800.

im hoping to get this system a new leash of life once the 9800GTS comes out, which is when the bottleneck in the system disappears. (confirmation? )

so i think you've got a bit of headroom for improving your specs. (eg, your power supply and case)

addylad · 15 Aug 2007 at 20:07

cheers m@rty

Samsung SM-920NW 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black
It seems to also come in silver/black and 19in, which I'm happy with, while being roughly £50 cheaper. Just what I needed!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-060-SA&groupid=17&catid=276&subcat=

I won't be having surround sound or speakers that knock you off your feet, I will be having good-quality ones, to sit next to my monitor, loud and clear, but not too much. I guess a £16 sound card would do then? HD audio, of course...

addylad · 15 Aug 2007 at 20:10

wuyanxu said:
i've also got a £800 budget, here's what im planning to buy:
-q6600 hopefully G0
-a X38 motherboard (for £150)
-NEC DVD RW (heard it's made by Sony, and i move my Sony DVD RW)
-8800GTS 320MB
-500GB Weston Digital SE16 AAKS HDD

and i've already bought:
-LG 22inch monitor (outside of my 800 budget, the 200quid monitor is my birthday present)
-OCZ 2GB PC2-6400 RAM
-Antec p182 case
-Corsair Hx620w PSU

all comes just over £1000, without the monitor, it's just over £800.

im hoping to get this system a new leash of life once the 9800GTS comes out, which is when the bottleneck in the system disappears. (confirmation? )

so i think you've got a bit of headroom for improving your specs. (eg, your power supply and case)

nice spec, i think since vista uses more graphics card than it used to, rather than stealing off the processor for bitmaps like in xp.

addylad · 15 Aug 2007 at 20:41

How about dropping down on processor and clocking it up? Also with the Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound also, what one should I get to OC with?

Will Vista Ultimate give me anything more than Vista Home Premium?

And it looks like Audigy 7.1 SE is going to be the sound card, as long as it's better than the motherboard sound?

Thanks everyone!

RJC · 15 Aug 2007 at 20:50

addylad said:
How about dropping down on processor and clocking it up? Also with the Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound also, what one should I get to OC with?

Will Vista Ultimate give me anything more than Vista Home Premium?

And it looks like REMOVE LINK is going to be the sound card, as long as it's better than the motherboard sound?

Thanks everyone!

Link below compares the different Vista options, it depends if you will use the extra features of of Ultimate, Which CPU were you thinking of down grading to.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/choose.mspx

ALSO REMOVE THE COMPETITOR LINK

Rob