Yet Another Spec Request - £700

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Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
139
Location
Liverpool, UK
Hi There...

I've been asked to do a build for my girlfriend - she originally wanted to spend £600, then upped it to £700, and will stretch to £800 if it can really make a difference. Last time I did a build was when the core 2 duos were first coming out, so it's been a while, and I'm a little rusty as to what's out there - this is where you guys come in.

She needs the full rig, including an OS, but doesn't need keyboard, mouse, speakers, or monitor.

She doesn't want it any bigger than her current case, which is an Antec Sonata.

She'd prefer it to be as quiet as possible.

She'd primarily spend most of her time working with The Sims 3 when it comes along, as she was an avid designer in the previous games, and TS2 brought her current system to a crawl, as it sucked up every last bit of RAM there was available to it.
 
How does this look:

CP-244-AM_60.jpg
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £194.99
(£169.56) £194.99
(£169.56)
GX-104-GW_60.jpg
Gainward GeForce GTX 260 Golden Sample "Core 216 55nm" 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) £133.99
(£116.51) £133.99
(£116.51)
MB-168-GI_60.jpg
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £107.99
(£93.90) £107.99
(£93.90)
CA-014-CS_60.jpg
Corsair VX 550W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-550VXUK) £69.99
(£60.86) £69.99
(£60.86)
HD-244-WD_60.jpg
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD6401AALS) £53.99
(£46.95) £53.99
(£46.95)
MY-167-OC_60.jpg
OCZ Platinum AM3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3P1333LVAM4GK) £47.99
(£41.73) £47.99
(£41.73)
CA-101-AN_60.jpg
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £44.99
(£39.12) £44.99
(£39.12)
CD-063-PO_60.jpg
Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.77) £16.99
(£14.77) Sub Total : £583.40 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £89.39 Total : £685.29
 
Cheers for the fast reply guys - any reason why both aim for AMD based systems, and not Intel? Also, what makes the 2nd system the quieter of the two?

I've always preferred GeForce cards myself, but I'm here for help of course...
 
Cheers for the fast reply guys - any reason why both aim for AMD based systems, and not Intel? Also, what makes the 2nd system the quieter of the two?

I've always preferred GeForce cards myself, but I'm here for help of course...

Well because socket 775 is dead now, so if you went for a core 2 duo/quad system then you wouldn't really have much upgrade-ability.

The AMD systems specced are very good and are the latest socket from AMD, being AM3. So, that would future proof you somewhat.

The alternative would be to spec you an i7 system, but that is a little out of reach with that budget.

Finally, both the 1GB 4870 and GTX260 perform on a similar level, so if you really want to go NVidia, then choose the Gainward 260.
 
And the 2nd one would be much quieter because of the case, the antec P series are some of the quietest there are as the panels contain proper layered noise dampening
 
Any suggestions for an aftermarket cooler for the X3? I'd like to keep things cool and quiet...
 
Hi There...

OcUK have ran out of the memory unfortunately - any suggestions for alternative sticks of RAM?

Also the cooler - will the stock one be quiet, or would I be better off opting for an aftermarket one. If so, which one, as I can't seem to find much choice when it comes to AM3 coolers...

Thanks in advance.
 
RAM: either go for the Corsair stuff on TWO, here
or you may want the Kingston here, both are good, the Kingston is faster, but Corsair are prob regarded as better make, though Kingston are fine just Corsair been going longer/have bigger/better rep
Re Cooler, it depends what youre wanting one for, do you want it for getting as good an OC as you can? In which case look at the titan fenrir or sunbeam, or do you want the system as quiet as possible? In which case look at the scythes
The best of both worlds would be a TRUE + 2 noctua p12 fans in push/pull but this is quite a bit more (70 for TRUE + fans vs 30ish for others)
 
RAM: either go for the Corsair stuff on TWO, here
or you may want the Kingston here, both are good, the Kingston is faster, but Corsair are prob regarded as better make, though Kingston are fine just Corsair been going longer/have bigger/better rep
I'll opt for the Corsair, as the Kingston is simply too expensive. Never had any trouble with them in the past.

Re Cooler, it depends what youre wanting one for, do you want it for getting as good an OC as you can? In which case look at the titan fenrir or sunbeam, or do you want the system as quiet as possible? In which case look at the scythes
The best of both worlds would be a TRUE + 2 noctua p12 fans in push/pull but this is quite a bit more (70 for TRUE + fans vs 30ish for others)
It's silence that I'm looking for - perhaps a little experimentation with overclocking in the future, but it's a machine for my girlfriend, so right now noise is the primary issue. I need to consider it in the aforementioned budget too, so I don't want to end up paying an absolute fortune for a cooler and fans.
 
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