To Build or to Buy that is the question?

Naux · 21 Jun 2006 at 14:10

I'm a novice when it comes to building a PC but if its cheaper I'd like to give it a go! I'm not a serious gamer but I'd like to be able to play new games at a decent level hence the need for a new rig.I've got £800 to spend.

The following is the spec for a Desktop available for £795 incl VAT + Delivery

•AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ with HT Tech.
•Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
•New Aluminium ATX Midi Tower(Wave) +550W PSU - Black
•ASUS A8N-SLI PCI-Express Mainboard - ATX
•1024MB DDR400 Memory - PC3200 (2x512)
•250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
•SONY 16x Dual Layer DVD-Re-Writable +R/-R/RW
•512MB DDR2 nVIDIA GeForce 7300GS - TV out- DVI - PCI X (256Mb SMA)
•19" Viewsonic VA 912 Digital & Multi Media Flat Panel Display
•7.1 Channel Surround Sound Audio (on-board)
•Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse
•Free Microsoft® Works® 8.5 + 60 Days Microsoft Office Trial
•Classic Warranty - 3 Years Back-to-Base - Parts & Labour

Can you guys build a similar rig for cheaper??

Please bear in mind that I'm not really going to be able overclock things and I would not recognise uncompatible components or potential botttlenecks in possible system setups even if they jumped up and bit me!!

Thanks!!!

Stelly · 21 Jun 2006 at 14:19

Its always good to build your own computer, gives you experience and I think its fun too... something to be proud of

Stelly

Explicit · 21 Jun 2006 at 14:23

Naux said:
I'd like to be able to play new games at a decent level hence the need for a new rig.

Naux said:
The following is the spec for a Desktop available for £795 incl VAT + Delivery

•AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ with HT Tech.
•Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
•New Aluminium ATX Midi Tower(Wave) +550W PSU - Black
•ASUS A8N-SLI PCI-Express Mainboard - ATX
•1024MB DDR400 Memory - PC3200 (2x512)
•250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
•SONY 16x Dual Layer DVD-Re-Writable +R/-R/RW
•512MB DDR2 nVIDIA GeForce 7300GS - TV out- DVI - PCI X (256Mb SMA)
•19" Viewsonic VA 912 Digital & Multi Media Flat Panel Display
•7.1 Channel Surround Sound Audio (on-board)
•Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse
•Free Microsoft® Works® 8.5 + 60 Days Microsoft Office Trial
•Classic Warranty - 3 Years Back-to-Base - Parts & Labour

That is a crap card. Sorry.

Deffo build your own.

Naux · 21 Jun 2006 at 14:34

I thought that was a crap card but was not sure.

I'm hoping someone will come back with some better & cheaper setups!!!

toxic · 21 Jun 2006 at 14:39

£800 for a decent system with a monitor etc. isnt all that much to pay...however I guess you could probably do better than that. Is it for gaming? How much do you have to spend?

Mr Men · 21 Jun 2006 at 14:40

toxic said:
£800 for a decent system with a monitor etc. isnt all that much to pay...however I guess you could probably do better than that. Is it for gaming? How much do you have to spend?

Read the 1st post

Not a serious gamer

Has £800 to spend

toxic · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:04

Asus M2N-E (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-147-AS)

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-088-MD)

Acer AL1916WS 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-012-AC)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)

BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-019-BG)

Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-052-AN)

NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE)

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)

Creative Inspire 5.1 P5800 Speakers - OEM (SP-043-CL)

Logitech UltraX™ Media Desktop - OEM (KB-065-LG)

mmmmm....slightly over £870....It would be a far better performing gaming machine though than above due to the graphics card. Also...I havent included Windows.
Any ways to knock money off?

Stelly · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:10

toxic said:
Asus M2N-E (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-147-AS)

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-088-MD)

Acer AL1916WS 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-012-AC)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)

BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-019-BG)

Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-052-AN)

NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE)

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)

Creative Inspire 5.1 P5800 Speakers - OEM (SP-043-CL)

Logitech UltraX™ Media Desktop - OEM (KB-065-LG)

mmmmm....slightly over £870....It would be a far better performing gaming machine though than above due to the graphics card. Also...I havent included Windows.
Any ways to knock money off?

Cheaper monitor

Stelly

rmuir · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:10

i got a spec at under 800.

but it won't copynpaste...

toxic · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:13

woops...something happened there...

with a single core chip I could just manage the 800. Would still be beter for gaming than the 'buy' option. Also its all AM2 whereas the 'buy' option is socket 939 I think.

Naux · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:13

toxic said:
mmmmm....slightly over £870....It would be a far better performing gaming machine though than above due to the graphics card. Also...I havent included Windows.[/font]
Any ways to knock money off?

I might be able to stretch to £870............does this include VAT + Delivery?

rmuir · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:15

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
MB-101-AS Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS) 1
£56.95 £56.95
CP-121-AM AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3700BNBOX) (CP-121-AM) 1
£119.95 £119.95
CD-033-NE NEC ND4571 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-033-NE) 1
£22.95 £22.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN) 1
£55.50 £55.50
KB-072-LG Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (KB-072-LG) 1
£19.95 £19.95
SP-023-AL Altec Lansing 121i 2.1 Speaker System - Retail (SP-023-AL) 1
£14.95 £14.95
MO-018-OK OcUK Value Hanns-G HC174D 17" LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-018-OK) 1
£89.95 £89.95
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS) 1
£51.95 £51.95
MY-005-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL) 1
£57.95 £57.95
HD-018-SA Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-018-SA) 1
£44.50 £44.50
GX-079-XF XFX GeForce 7600 GT XXX Edition 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT73G-UDD7) (GX-079-XF) 1
£119.95 £119.95
Subtotal £654.55
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £14.95
VAT £117.17
Total £786.67

eventually.......

toxic · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:18

it does include VAT...not delivery. Say 10 for delivery.
Hang about and see what other recommendations are given. As stated above...single core CPU...

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-165-AM)

£100 cheaper than above.

TBH...the buy option seems to be a decent spec. apart from the video card.

Naux · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:21

toxic said:
with a single core chip I could just manage the 800. Would still be beter for gaming than the 'buy' option. Also its all AM2 whereas the 'buy' option is socket 939 I think.

Educate me!!!!

AM2 V'S S939...................Why is AM2 better??

rmuir · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:22

yeah agree. that seems to be the norm, off the shelf jobs have not a bad spec till you get to crappy ram and worse than useless graphics cards.

That said i can't reccomend self building enough. Did it myself in April got loads of tips from the folks on here, service from the good people of OCuK was top notch and, most importantly, the build was not near as daunting as i thot. The most :eek:

moment i had was fitting the HSF... go self build, you won't regret it

NightmareXX · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:27

Naux said:
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ with HT Tech.

Wow X2's now have Intels HT technology

If someones metioned that the X2 has HT technology, I wouldn't trust them as they don't know what they're talking about.

Naux · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:32

NightmareXX said:
Wow X2's now have Intels HT technology

If someones metioned that the X2 has HT technology, I wouldn't trust them as they don't know what they're talking about.

I copynpasted directly off the sellers website!!!!!!!! so I guess they do not proof read their stuff very well !!

toxic · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:32

Asus M2N-E (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-147-AS)

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-088-MD)

Acer AL1916WS 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-012-AC)

BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-019-BG)

NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE)

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)

Creative Inspire 5.1 P5800 Speakers - OEM (SP-043-CL)

Logitech UltraX™ Media Desktop - OEM (KB-065-LG)

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-165-AM)

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS)

Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)

If you can go to 870...thats about the best I can do. Single sore...but with a beter case and a 19" widescreen monitor. Also its AMD socket AM2 which is the latest and better for any future upgrades.
Youll love it

Explicit · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:35

NightmareXX said:
Wow X2's now have Intels HT technology

If someones metioned that the X2 has HT technology, I wouldn't trust them as they don't know what they're talking about.

HT refers to AMD's "HyperTransport" technology, not Intel's "HyperThreading"

toxic · 21 Jun 2006 at 15:35

woops.....£858.93 (add delivery to this)