New PC spec ideas..

[tigerboyce]

Hey,

My brother is planning to be building a new pc soon and is thinking of buying the components and were trying to build up a spec for gaming and general use that is within the 500-600 pounds price range.

I havnt really been following prices or new items that are out for about 4 months so i could do with a few suggestions. If possible trying to get an E6420 with 2gb ram and the best gfx card available with whats left.

It will be a full PC so will be needing a monitor, and OS probably vista home premiuim but may use ubuntu if it comes to it.

Ok, heres what i started on but its very quick 15min job..

LN18121
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420, Socket 775, 2.13 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail £97.89 £115.02

LN15070
Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3 iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £52.69 £61.91

LN11596
2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12 £52.95 £62.22

LN15216
520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty £54.89 £64.50

LN11544
250 Gb Western Digital WD2500JS Caviar SE, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms £33.28 £39.10

LN19006
Samsung SH-S203/BEBN 20x DVD±R, 16x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM inc. Nero £15.49 £18.20

LN9072
CoolerMaster Centurion 5 Silver Case Black Body (Silver Trimmings) w/o PSU £31.50 £37.01

Ok i still need the monitor which will be 100ish which leaves the Graphics card and An OS. I think the only option is to go for an 8600 but im not sure what. Also the other components are far too expensive, but im not sure of the cheaper substitutes such as the PSU, mabye the processor, but dont want to OC.. case is also a random choice..

as you can see we need some suggestions and alterations please

thanks.

[CooperXS]

How about getting AMD instead?
Nice dual-core CPU and mATX 690G chipset mobo will cost you 100 quid total. That leaves more money towards graphic card. And IMO getting 8800GTS instead of 8600 will benefit gaming alot more than paying extra for Intel based rig.

As for OS I think if you'll order all the parts in one place you probably could arrange getting an OEM Windows Vista which will be lot cheaper than getting retail copy.

[NightshadowUK]

For £600 I'd have something like this:

- AMD AM2 Athlon 64 5200+ ~ £81.02

- Abit KN9-S NF550 ~ £46.91

- 2GB Corsair TwinX PC5400 4-4-4-12 ~ £51.16

- 250GB Samsung SP2504C ~ £37.87

- 256MB Power Color RX1950XT ~ £116.24

- Antec NSK4000 ~ £28.78

- 430W Seasonic S12II-430 ~ £52.28

- Samsung SH-S203/BEBN ~ £18.20

- 19" LG L194WT ~ £123.25

Total ~ £555.71

-------

Then you're free to choose an O/S.

[tigerboyce]

yeh its obviosly going to be an OEM vista, but im sure i could find a cheaper monitor. The only other thing is that i would want to change the x1950 for a dx10 card but im not sure what is a good value 8600 as there are too many models!!. Yes, Yes i know a x1950 is alot more power for less money but It seems slightly pointless to me buying old technology and as long as its good enough to play which im sure it is, its not all about benchmarks. He only plays WoW and will be playing the newer games such as bioshock ut3 etc etc

[joshwa]

I'd recommend buying a Dell Vostro (dell.com/uk small business, vostro, tower, second one along).

You get a basic PC with 1 yr warranty, 22" TFT widescreen, Vista Business for £290 inc VAT (+£60 for post), then get a PCI-Express GFX card of choice (£90 ATI X1950) , and a better / faster dual core / quad core CPU (2.4ghz quad core £170), and it's comes to £610.

Alternatively upgrade the RAM to 2gb, and get a 19" widescreen TFT instead for around the same price

[tigerboyce]

Hmm, i dont think i really want to Get into that sort of thing josh but i think i know where im going now. Going from Nightshadows basis i came up with:

LN14337
Abit KN9-S, NF550, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £39.93 £46.91

LN17167
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £55.99 £65.79

LN12200
2Gb (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 £43.54 £51.16

LN19006
Samsung SH-S203/BEBN 20x DVD±R, 16x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM inc. Nero £15.49 £18.20

LN19088
430w Seasonic S12II-430 PSU, 12Cm fan, active PFC RoHS +80% £44.49 £52.28

LN16098
19" Mirai DML-519W100 Silver/Black LCD, 1440x900, 8 ms, 500:1, 300 cd/m2, Widescreen, Speakers £93.79 £110.20

LN11461
250 Gb Samsung SP2504C SpinPoint P120, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 9.0 ms, NCQ £32.23 £37.87

LN18202
256MB MSI 8600GTS Overclocked, PCI-E(x16), Mem 2100 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 690 MHz, 2x DL DVI-I/HDTV, HDCP £104.89 £123.25

LN16569
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 5200+ Dual Core 2.6GHz, 2x 1MB Cache, Retail £68.65 £80.66

Net Total £499.00
Carriage £0.00
V.A.T. £89.25

TOTAL £588.25



As you can see the only thing that im missing is the Case. Im having trouble with it getting a good one within buget, but i was reading custom PC and came across the Antec Sonata III. To me it looks like a very nice Case and comes with a Antec EarthWatts 500 Watt power supply Which looks like a pretty decent power supply thatis 80%+ and looks reliable. This Case is only £70-80 and the PSU is woth about £50 alone which seems like a good deal.

any thoughts?

The only other question i have is what would be the best things to change if the buget could be upped a little closer to £700. Preferably £650 as the prehipherals still need to be included. Something like a E6550 and a DS3? Or just Stick AM2 5200 and get a Sli Mobo or would that be a waste of money?

[TMD]

Thats not a bad spec for the money...but i would be seriously tempted to push the budget a bit mroe like you mentioned and go for Intel C2D...they are brilliant chips and are much better than the AMD offerings atm imho.

[Biscuit]

as cooper Avoid 8600GTS really not worth the money. Either go for the 1950XT as nightshadow sugested or try and get a bit more cash together and get a 8800GTS. An XT would be better/the same than the 8600GTS and a 8800GTS really would whup both, they kick so much ass and you really would notice the difference. If your worried about DX10 which is why u avoided the x1950XT then dont because there is little chance the 8600 is gunna perform well in DX10 games anyway.

[Thorsson]

DX10 is a red herring. By the time decent DX10 games come out we'll have newer and considerably faster cards. From NVidia at any rate; not sure what ATi (AMD) will produce.

[Blitzen]

Why buy old technology such as the AMD offerings when its peanuts more for the better Intel solutions.
You would be far better off going with your first choices in the opening post but maybe scale down a little on the CPU. (This for instance: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=577091 ) If you save yourself £40 there then you are almost there for the 8800GTS instead of the ATI cards (which, no matter how good they are) are also old technology.

If you go AMD and ATI then you will be needing an upgrade again within 9 months to play any of the newer games at any kind of half decent resolutions.

Note:
Tigerboyce
Not being funny fella but would you pay £600 for that i??? I wouldnt.

Take a look at this. Everything you need for £660 (you may be able to get free carriage on this aswell).


Nothing skimped on.
Up-to-date technology.
A fast DX10 card.
Even DVI widescreen monitor.

I agree......the CPU isnt the best......but at least you would have the other hardware to be able to upgrade it in 6-7 months time. Even though its not the best...its still bloody fast.

[Biscuit]

Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 £74.84
2Gb (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667) £51.16
Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3 iP965 £61.44
430w Seasonic S12II-430 £52.28
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit 1Pk OEM £65.79
Samsung SH-S203/BEBN £18.20
19" Daewoo HL920W £117.37
250 Gb Samsung SP2504C SpinPoint P120 £37.87
CoolerMaster Centurion 5 £37.01
320MB Leadtek 8800GTS £180.94

Total £696.9 Exc delivery

Anyone make it cheaper?

Edit: damn!
my build but with psu & case swapped for blitz's suggestions: Atntec NSK6500, new total £668

nice build blitz

[Blitzen]

Anyone make it cheaper?

I have...with quicker memory and a better mobo.

[tigerboyce]

Well yes, im definetly weary about buying the x1950 just to get the higher frames rates that dont actually make any difference to the human eye when the 8600 series is still playable and will be for at least a year.

As for the cpu/mobo i didnt say that i was set on AMD as i stated above of the option of swapping the two for an E6550 and a DS3 which was about £50 more. I will try to fit in the 8800 if i can, but that also bring the need of more power and a higher and also the need for a more stable PSU which is more costs..

edit: yeh those builds look pretty decent to me ill also have a go at shopping around

[Biscuit]

I have...with quicker memory and a better mobo.

you missed out a dvd drive

Well yes, im definetly weary about buying the x1950 just to get the higher frames rates that dont actually make any difference to the human eye when the 8600 series is still playable and will be for at least a year.

As for the cpu/mobo i didnt say that i was set on AMD as i stated above of the option of swapping the two for an E6550 and a DS3 which was about £50 more. I will try to fit in the 8800 if i can, but that also bring the need of more power and a higher and also the need for a more stable PSU which is more costs..

edit: yeh those builds look pretty decent to me ill also have a go at shopping around

Its not just about framerates whn u bring the 8800 into it, you canhave all the bells and wistles on and its so much smoother. The power requirements are vastly overrated, you could easily get away with a decent 480w psu, even the one that comes with the case bliz suggested would be fine

[Blitzen]

you missed out a dvd drive

ALright.....so £18 on top (Then knock off the £14 carriage )

[Biscuit]

personally i would pay a little extra and get a nicer monitor though. The LG nightshadow or the Daewoo i suggested would look a lot nicer for the £15-25 extra. Remember a monitor is not a one build solution usually, people keep these through a few builds so its advised to do the best you can.