Need a PC fast. £1000 budget.

[MSIC]

Agreed with staffsmike, £190 on 2 gig of DDR is seriously expensive, especially when the cheaper stuff (read 3 to 4% slower only) is about £70! (or even under £45 for 2 gig that'll get the job done, not that i'm advocating it, just demonstrating the price).

3) 2Gb RAM is my minimum, I'd like 4 if possible. What do I use it for? Video Encoding, 3D animation, large spreadsheets, graphics, and gaming.

The 8800GTS 640MB will be great, even for 1920 x 1200 (thought you said you didnt want widescreen!).

[Tarffie]

It is 4gb. 2 sets of 2gb.

[DratUK]

just throw another ram suggestion into the pot

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=26988

If your using XP 32bit drop to 2 Gb the additional 1Gb memory of 4 Gb will not be utilized in 32 bit os, and will more than adequate to run multi tasking games etc.

[IBM]

One thing you can save serious money on is the RAM. I can't recommend scan for ram they are over priced at the moment.

www.crucial.com

Buy some ballistix pc6400 from there. It's around £90 and it's seriously good stuff...easily better than the corsair imo.

That case and PSU is a really good choice. Your PC should run next to silent

That looks good to me. I'd go with 4gig of ram though instead of two - see the post above about the good deals you can get.

Agreed with staffsmike, £190 on 2 gig of DDR is seriously expensive.

You do all realise that RAM is actually TWO batches of 2x1Gb of DDR2?



But point taken, if the Crucial is indeed better RAM then I'll happily pay the money. Although all I could see for similar cash was this 4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpar...270E2AA5CA7304

Is it actually better than the Corsair stuff I had picked out?

I have that gfx card and bought it from there. I got fantastic service..delivery was speedy too..and it's free.

It's a really good card..never had a leadtek die on me.

Exact same GPU huh? Good enough for me.

And I know I really shouldn't ask, but what's the difference between the P35 and the 680i chipset? (presuming it actually is a chipset reference and not something even more obscure).

And I'd think twice about that motherboard cause its kind of expensive. I'm not sure what those 680i boards offer, but the cheaper none 680i motherboards might be plenty good enough. They have good overclocking ability incase you ever wanted to do that, they have room for 4gig of RAM, and they are much cheaper.

The 8800GTS 640MB will be great, even for 1920 x 1200 (thought you said you didnt want widescreen!).

Good point, well made , Although to be precise, my problem with WS is the 1050 verticle res. I'm sure I could get used to working on 1920x1200.

The only thing I'm concerned with now is buying into a soon to be obsolete/superseeded standard that I haven't done enough research about to know of.....please tell me that with the exception of quad core, I'm not missing out on anything that I should be aware of?

[IBM]

just throw another ram suggestion into the pot

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=26988

If your using XP 32bit drop to 2 Gb the additional 1Gb memory of 4 Gb will not be utilized in 32 bit os, and will more than adequate to run multi tasking games etc.

Is that true? Can this system run 64bit XP? Are there any real issues with using 64Bit XP? Last time I checked people were having driver problems, but that's all been swept aside by Vista driver issues. I do a lot of graphics editing at high res, so the extra ram makes a difference.

Does Scan use Google Checkout?

[IBM]

Hey, DVD drive

This any good?

Lite-ON LH-20A1S-11C LiteOn 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8 / -RW x 6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Retail

[MSIC]

D'oh! I now see your 4 Gig. Oh well, just making sure you weren't squandering your money!

[staffsMike]

I did think it was 2GB too..whoops. Still the crucial even in pc5300 guise is better than that corsair stuff imo.

the pc5300 ballistix has 3-3-3-12 timings so will easily clock to pc6400 (and well above) with 4-4-4-12 timings as most of it's users will tell you.

Dabs have the pc6400 for £85 (2GB) so still comfortably cheaper than the corsair while being a lot better. Not that I recommend dab as I hate them but it is cheap there.

[DratUK]

Is that true? Can this system run 64bit XP? Are there any real issues with using 64Bit XP? Last time I checked people were having driver problems, but that's all been swept aside by Vista driver issues. I do a lot of graphics editing at high res, so the extra ram makes a difference.

Does Scan use Google Checkout?

Yes it will run 64 bit and will then utilize the 4Gb. Do a google and you will see.
No Scan doesn't do Google Checkout but keep posting like this and you will qualify for free delivery from Scan.

[staffsMike]

The 680i motherboards an an nvidia chipset. They are able to run SLi and have unlinked overclocking (seperate cpu and memory fsb's) they also have the 1333mhz native fsb which allows for penryn support.

P35 is the new intel chipset to run native 1333mhz and give penryn support..it doesn't feature SLi capabilities or unlinked overclocking but probably runs a bit cooler but certainly doesn't work better..or worse than the 680i.

[MSIC]

No Scan doesn't do Google Checkout but keep posting like this and you will qualify for free delivery from Scan.

Have you seen his post count?

[IBM]

Yes it will run 64 bit and will then utilize the 4Gb. Do a google and you will see.
No Scan doesn't do Google Checkout but keep posting like this and you will qualify for free delivery from Scan.

What about the 64bit issues? Have they mostly been resolved?

And regarding the post count/free delivery I shall say something along the lines of 'imupdent young whippersnapper!' and then give you a Werther's Original.

The 680i motherboards an an nvidia chipset. They are able to run SLi and have unlinked overclocking (seperate cpu and memory fsb's) they also have the 1333mhz native fsb which allows for penryn support.

P35 is the new intel chipset to run native 1333mhz and give penryn support..it doesn't feature SLi capabilities or unlinked overclocking but probably runs a bit cooler but certainly doesn't work better..or worse than the 680i.

So should I be looking at a top end 680i board since they have the added bonus of SLi, unlinked overcloking, and built for penryn compatibility?
Or do the P35 have advantages which make it worthwhile?

Have you seen his post count?

Thanks for that....although in his defence I am utterly noob-like after being out of the self build circles for over two years....

[zephod]

64bit still has compatability issues. I should have noticed this before as i sat in this boat once. Don't bother with the 4gb...2gb in dual channel will be more than good enough for you. Good choice on the p35 mobo over the 680i but you keep adding more and more pricey gfx cards which I'm not convinced you need - still, its your budget. Very jealous that you can claim back VAT btw .

Glad you are building also. Enjoy.

[IBM]

Zephod....looking at the hardware I've got picked out, do you think I'm going to experience many problems getting this rig up and running with XP64? I haven't got the luxury of spending a weekend sourcing obscure drivers for each and every piece I put in there.

I'm looking for a dx10 card that I'm going to be able to play vista games on when I feel that the OS is stable enough, and which isn't going to need replacing for a couple of years. I was perfectly happy with my Radeon 9800xt until recently, so something screaming fast at first and ageing gracefully over time would do me. I'd get the GTX if I could afford it...

And yes, VAT rebates are wonderful....here's hoping my company doesn't go bust otherwise my beautiful PC will get taken by creditors

[staffsMike]

I'd go with 32bit..at least to start with. Get your pc up and running and then if and when you have time have a go at x64.

I've tried it for a weekend and gave up when i couldn't get a driver for my wireless card and had random crashes all the time.

[IBM]

In which case I think I'll stick with the 4Gb and XP 32 since RAMs cheap right now, and I'll be buying matched pairs....