Upgade Spec Check

[Riyal]

Hi guy its time I upgraded I was looking at getting;

Antec Performance TX1088AMG Metallic Grey Tower Case - 480w Truepower PSU (CA-035-AN) £89.95

Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard £64.95

Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS) £119.95

HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £259.95

AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail £201.95

Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk £79.95

To which I already have;
SB Audigy 2 zs
74GB Raptor.
80GB Seagate Barracuda.
19" iiyama Vision Master Pro 454

Subtotal £816.70
VAT £142.93
Total £959.63

Any thoughts on this setup?

 

[wellibob]

Nothink wrong with what you have said. Of course the more money you throw at it the better. I would consider however going for a 3800 daul core 64, as they appear to clock well, and its pretty much the same price as a AMD64 4gig. Upto you really, but daul core has advantages, and is the way foward.

 

[Riyal]

Thank for the reply.

Looking up the 400+ vs 3800 x2 it pretty easy, as being the same price there a lot of forum threads dotted about.
I think i'll stick with the single core for now, as I tend to play older games the at the moment. Also if i'm sticking to a single core theres very little performance in gaming to be had using a 4000+ over a 3800+ so I can save some cash with;

Antec Performance TX1088AMG Metallic Grey Tower Case - 480w Truepower PSU (CA-035-AN) £89.95

Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS) £64.95

Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 £119.95

HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £259.95

Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk £79.95

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail £164.95

Subtotal £779.70
VAT £136.45
Total £916.15

Quicker to pay off so I can look at getting a TFT for summer

 

[ajgoodfellow]

In all honesty if you're sticking with Single Core get the A64 3700+

It's got 1MB of cache which helps and it's a great overclocker - most of the recent chips are making at least 2.6GHz (FX-55), possibly even 2.8GHz (FX-57)

The extra cache also helps with the smoothness of the system when multi-tasking

Remember - it's easy to clock your CPU and add clock speed but you can't add extra cache!

Check out the Windows x64 thread here and check that you can get the drivers you need for Win x64 before you buy it

 

[wellibob]

Be advised clocking any chip involes a small amount of risk, but if you know what your doing, its pretty easy, and IF your going to overclock, i`d still go daul core 3800 as without too much trouble, it`ll perform more like in the 4200-4400 range. Many future apps will take advantage of daul core inc games, and the cache level whilst only 512k on the 3800, runs pretty sweet.

 

[xirokx]

Hi Riyal,

I was wondering about the following:

a) why have you chosen a case for £90 is it because you like the look of it?
b) If I was getting a x1900 I would definately think about getting a more powerful psu
c) are you aware of the recent issues with your chosen mobo although that said some people have got lucky....
d) dual core is the way forward what happens when you want to play a newer game and realise you should have gone dual core for the same £££?

IMO I think you are not getting the best bang for buck performance despite spending nearly a grand....

Anyhow good luck mate

 

[Riyal]

Cheers for the feedback.

a) The case is pretty ugly to be honest. I was interested in the 480w power suply and the dust filter.

I'm using a Antec PLUS1080AMG with a Antec 480w True Blue 2.0 PSU (forgot I put that in there ) which really kills the need to buy a new case at all. I was holding onto the idea of having the current PC up and running as well, but I have an old case to put that in and at least have internet access while assembling the new one.
Is the 480w sufficient for the x1900xt and at least 2 drives +2 optial dives?

b) By more powerful would you suggest a x2 3800+ or something higher like a x2 4400. I'm coming around to the idea of a dual core now, especially after taking the case off the list, provided I dont require a new power supply I could go for a x2 4400+.
I can see that by sticking to old tech now i'd just end up having to upgrade sooner and I really hate the lag of multitasking too.


c) I have read the threads about the Asus A8R-MVP, and it isnt too encouraging but i've always had good luck with PC components.

Concidering I'm not likley to run 2 graphics cards is a SLI/crossfire board even nessesary?

Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS) is similarly priced.

d) covered this in b.

The rams on 'this week only' offer now too

 

[Monstermunch]

for mobo, get the MSI nF4 Ultra board, it clocks better than the Asus.

Avoid crossfire mobo's they seem problematic in general.

 

[Riyal]

That'd make the new parts;

HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £259.95

Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk £79.95

MY-079-CS Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 £109.95

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail £279.95

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard £64.95

Subtotal £794.75
VAT £139.09
Total £933.84

Taking shape this, I'll have to check out the relative merits of the different nf4 motherboards makes. Theres also the 4200 vs 4400 debate on various forums which i'm leaning towards the 4400.

If all goes well i'm planning to getting it the coming tuesday so I have a few days to finalize the specs

 

[ajgoodfellow]

They all look good to me