System Spec Help please?

Soldato
Joined
11 Dec 2003
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Sol
Hey there, i've been helping my gf;s uncle out for years, last year built him up a new system,

Sempron 2800
1gb Geil Value PC3200
Abit NF7-S
60GB HDD (Upgraded last week to 120GB SATA)
Antec Quiet Case w/ included PSU
Generic ATI 64mb gfx card

The thing is, the system has started to have some problems, just random freezes after being left alone for 10 mins etc.. and he's getting edgy, i'm trying to explain to him that the fault will be easily fixable, but he's 77, loaded and i think will be worried about this system from now until forever and is just looking to get a new pc straight away thinking it will solve all his problems, main usage is photoshop, photo printing, office, mail, light browsing etc.. nothing too demanding, would happily re0use the antec case, and HDD etc.. but if he's gonna want it, then i'll do it, after all, who am i to turn down the free pieces (He's the kinda guy who just wants it up and running then the previous one never existed)

So a rough spec for him? Won't be making the vista transition, if he's gonna do anything i was thinking a low end AMD x2, 1gb ram, maybe an internal card reader to save him plugging his usb one in etc.. any suggestions on a good spec (no monitor, kb or mouse needed) that might suit his needs (I'm trying to persuade him to take my XP64 3500 w/ 2gb geil and then buy me on, but to no avail :D)

Thanks!
 
Firstly does the CPU fan work? might be overheating if it just freezes.

Secondly, here is a rough spec:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £93.99
(£110.44) £93.99
(£110.44)
Asus M2V (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £43.99
(£51.69) £43.99
(£51.69)
Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT667D2) ( £72.99
(£85.76) £72.99
(£85.76)
Asus GeForce EN7300GS-HTD 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32728) £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Pioneer DVR-111BK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £19.99
(£23.49) £19.99
(£23.49)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £42.99
(£50.51) £42.99
(£50.51)
Lian-Li Silver Aluminium Card Reader £19.99
(£23.49) £19.99
(£23.49)
Sub Total : £370.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
Vat : £66.83
Total : £448.70

Did this in a bit of a rush :p
 
Not too bad, yeah, his cpu fan is spinning etc.. about 40c idle, took the entire pc apart yesterday and rebuilt, but at the time the northbridge cooler (damn Abit nf7 series) wasn't spinning and i'm worrying that may have caused some damage over time? :o
 
AMDX23800+ said:
Overheating MOBO probably would have frozen the computer then.... hope it hasn't killed your MOBO :(

Thats what i'm thinking, just been on the phone to him and he's 100% made his mind up on a new PC, we have the current case which is fine, 80mm front 120mm back atm antec case, 120gb hdd, and his dvd-rw

Soo spec away for upto £400 for the rest of the system! internal black card reader etc.. would be lovely as well as getting his front usb ports in use too, of course! ;)

And if you can get it right down i'll slip in an X2 4600 socket 939 for myself :D hehe
 
Oops, one last thing, ideally a parallel port if possible on the mobo (not sure if they are on ANY modern boards?) failing that i'll have to find a way to do it via a pci parallel port. (he's big into photo printing, 2 usb photo printers and a LPT laserjet.

Thanks!
 
  • AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £93.99
  • Mitsumi FA 404M 7in1 USB 2.0 Floppy & Media Drive - Black £11.99
  • Asus M2NPV-MX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £44.99
  • Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT667D2) £72.99
  • Sub Total : £223.96
  • Shipping : £8.25
  • Vat : £40.64
  • Total : £272.85
EDIT: Mobo's got all the ports you need & good enough onboard graphics :)

Hope you have a decent PSU (i.e. 300W or more)?
 
Last edited:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £93.99
(£110.44) £93.99
(£110.44)
Asus M2V (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £43.99
(£51.69) £43.99
(£51.69)
Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT667D2) ( £72.99
(£85.76) £72.99
(£85.76)
Asus GeForce EN7300GS-HTD 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
OcUK Value 1-Port Parallel Port PCI Card £9.95
(£11.69) £9.95
(£11.69)
Akasa AK-ICR-01 Internal Card Reader £9.99
(£11.74) £9.99
(£11.74)
Sub Total : £270.90
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
Vat : £48.97
Total : £328.82
 
Thanks guys, i have the standard ATX psu that came wirh the case, will i need atx 2.0 for these mobos? I assume so? IF so, a suitable not too expensive psu?

Thanks :)
 
AMDX23800+ said:
I would have thought your ATX would work. However if you need a PSU there are loads of good, fairly cheap ones like this : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-022-AK

ty bud :)

I think we'll just pop that in the basket alongside, as he's one of those kinda ppl who would rather go OTT rather than just whats needed, wish i could have the same carefree abandon :D lol
 
Right, all ready to order for him! thanks! Was soo tempted to sneak myself a C2D bundle in there with it, but my consience got the better of me :( So depressing to see him getting this when i could bung him my 3500 and he wouldn't even come close to testing the capabilities of that! lol
 
haha i'll try, i added in 2 tube of arctic silver 5 and a nice new mouse mat, so thats some sense fo redemption, maybe i'll get abother big cheque too! Now to find a nice X2 4800 or 4600 for myself, decided i'll head C2D sometime mid next year, and this is a cheap way to get myself dual cored for Vista etc.. without the gf slapping me! :)
 
Final order was a combination of specs, but should work nicely :)

Order Confirmation

Dear Mr Tim J Bradford,

This email is to acknowledge placement of order number OC32573.
Order date and time: 28 Nov, 06, 9:37 pm.

Your order consisted of the following items:

Item Qty Price
Belkin 125Mbps Wireless-G Notebook Adapter (F5D7011UK) 1 £18.95
Akasa Rounded Ultra ATA133/100/66 IDE Cable (0.45m) - Black 1 £2.99
Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM 1 £18.99
Akasa Ultra Quiet 400W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel 1 £34.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail 1 £91.99
Leadtek GeForce 6200 Turbo Cache 256MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail 1 £23.99
Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT667D2) ( 1 £72.99
Asus M2V (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard 1 £43.99
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) 2 £11.98
Everglide Titan Monster Gaming Mat 1 £11.30
Linksys WAG354G-UK 4-Port Wireless-G Broadband Modem Router 1 £36.99
Belkin Cat5e Network Patch Cable 3m - Grey 1 £1.95
Sub Total: £371.10
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri) Shipping: £8.95
Total Vat: £66.51
Total inc Vat: £446.56


He also decided to go wireless around the house... :eek: That 20 mins of net usage a week must be a real strain on him! lol
 
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