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Thread: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

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    Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    Hi, I would appreciate it if you guys could just have a quick browse over the system spec below. It's for my Dad. He intends to use it for gaming along with general usage. Quite a tight budget of £600 for everything, so I've come up with the follow:

    Motherboard: Gigabyte GA P31-DS3L £48.18
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 £70.44 (Was considering the E2180 for £20 cheaper but decided to go for the 2mb cache... I intend to overclock as much as is reasonable)
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freeser 7 Pro £15.73
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    PSU: 450 Corsair VX Series £43.35
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    HDD: 320Gb Western Digital WD32000AAKS Cavair SE16 SATA II £42.89
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    GFX: 256MB XFX 8800GT PCI-E, 1400Mhz:600Mhz (these are all showing as pre-order from scan, hoping they'll have some in within a couple of weeks (need delivery by 7th December), thoughts? Also, going to be running XP Prof so no need for DX10 but I figure this is still the best card to get?)
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    RAM: 2GB Corsair TwinX XMS2 DDR2 PC2-6400 (5-5-5-12) £37.01
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    Monitor: 19" LG 194WT £113.96 (Not really sure about this. The price is right but I don't know if the monitor is...)
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    Case: Aplus CS-188AF ATX Case (not to keen on the door-front, but Custom PC rates it and it's cheap!)
    Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

    The rest: Sony FDD (£4.57) , Pionder DVR-212 (£18.97), 120mm AKASA AK-191BL near silent fan (£4.69), Asus WL-138g 54G wireless PCI adapter (£4.69), Logitech Cordless Desktop 1500 rechargeable Mouse and Keyboard (£28.31)

    That all rocks in at £606.41, so right on budget. I could downgrade the CPU to a E2180 and put the £20 extra toward a slightly better monitor maybe. I understand the E2180 will overclock quite well, would there be a considerable (£20-like) difference between the E2180 and E4500 once overclocked? Probably a stupid question...

    I also want the computer to have upgrade potential. I believe the motherboard will support the quad cores etc, so my dad could buy one a couple of years down the line and give it a little boost.

    Any thoughts/comments/advice welcome. A few of these items are on Scan Today only, so will prob order tomorrow evening to take advantage of that.

    Thanks!
    ...Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play...

  2. #2
    Yeah dude! NightshadowUK's Avatar
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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    Very good spec for the price and don't worry about the monitor, it's a solid display (my friend has one).

    I'd change a few things in the extras though:

    - Samsung x20 DVD RW SH-S203D ~ £17.61

    Apparently one of the best SATA drives available.

    - 120mm Sharkoon 1000 ~ £6.90

    Much much much better case fan.

    Finally, stick with the E4500 for a CPU - it's well worth the extra £20.

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    • smallstool's system
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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    I have a E2180 that loves it at 3.4Ghz on a Gigabyte board.


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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    I'd strongly recommend against a widescreen 19" monitor. 1440x900 means it won't display the standard resolution of 1280x1024, and it will also be a very... short screen.

    Gaming along with general usage... unless your Dad's gonna watch a heck of a lot of movies/TV shows on there, the being-wide won't offset the disadvantages of puny height res. Get a 19" 1600x1200 display, or look around for a 20" 1650x1080 screen.

    There is this at £124 on Today Only, but it's lacking DVI. This one is 22", and has DVI, but it's £149 (again, Today Only).

  5. #5
    No-one's Fanboi Thorsson's Avatar
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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    I agree with Nightshadow's recommendations, and also PenguinJim's, except having used both extensively I would prefer 20" wide over a 19". 19" is a stretched 17", just like 22" wide is a stretched 20" wide.

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    I have that monitor and love it but I only use it for a bit of gaming and mainly for movies

    Everything else looks pretty good.

    An alternative is to go to AMD rather than Intel. I did a cheap build recently with a £34 asus motherboard (still very good quality and should last a long time I think) and the AMD X2 5000+ black edition. It has an unlocked multiplier so you don't need to overclock the motherboard at all

    Runs nicely at 3.0ghz without changing anything but the multiplier. With a little more voltage it will get to 3.2Ghz or more i'm sure. Also runs stupidly cool. I really like it..shame i've given it to its new owner now lol

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    Hey guys. Thanks for your recommendations!! I'll take on Nightshadow's alternative parts and PenguinJim/Thorsson's monitor advice. I suppose the limited vertical resolution on the 19" widescreen could get quite annoying when displaying standard pages. I hadn't really considered the 22" Cibox monitor because I've not heard of them, but according to the description it's an LG panel and built by Foxconn. I'm sure I could justify the extra £30 for the massive monitor. Why's it so cheap though, is it because it's just a 'stretched 20"' and therefore has quite a large dot pitch?

    Thanks for the comments StaffsMike. For no logical reason I'll prob stick with intel, it just feels more....cosy.

    Incidentally I'm still running a P4 AGP system and this build for my Dad should wipe the floor with it...and I'm the 'enthusiast', oh well!
    ...Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play...

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    22" wide monitors generally use 6-bit panels rather than the 8-bit panels used by their smaller brethren. How much you notice that is arguably down to the individual.

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    Quote Originally Posted by PenguinJim View Post
    I'd strongly recommend against a widescreen 19" monitor. 1440x900 means it won't display the standard resolution of 1280x1024, and it will also be a very... short screen.

    Gaming along with general usage... unless your Dad's gonna watch a heck of a lot of movies/TV shows on there, the being-wide won't offset the disadvantages of puny height res. Get a 19" 1600x1200 display, or look around for a 20" 1650x1080 screen.

    There is this at £124 on Today Only, but it's lacking DVI. This one is 22", and has DVI, but it's £149 (again, Today Only).

    Dont worry about this...I game on a 19" Widescreen and its fantastic.

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    I've always found a 19" widescreen to have more desktop space to work with than the 4:3. They don't, but it just feels like it for some reason. It'll depend what you're doing I guess, but on a 4:3 it's hard to stick 2 windows next to each other, so they inevitably just end up stacked on top of each other, whereas at 1440x900 you can (albeit still a bit narrow).

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    Ordered now guys, thanks a lot for your advice. In case you're interested I went for the 22" Cibox widescreen (along with the Samsung DVDR and snowball fan). Fingers crossed the 8800GT will be in stock soon.
    ...Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play...

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    I was about to suggest you nick that monitor, and give your Dad your old one, but I see you already have a 2407!

    There's an 8800GT thread in Hexus Bargains here which is frequently updated with places that have them in stock, but I expect Scan will have some of those in stock soon, and I doubt you'll get a 256MB card significantly cheaper than that.

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    Quote Originally Posted by Bhazza View Post
    Ordered now guys, thanks a lot for your advice. In case you're interested I went for the 22" Cibox widescreen (along with the Samsung DVDR and snowball fan). Fingers crossed the 8800GT will be in stock soon.
    Didn't know Sharkoon had bought a new 'snowball' fan out

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    Ha, I bet my Dad would love my 2407 but he's not getting it!

    Yeah Amjedm, it's like the golfball version, only cooler ;-)
    ...Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play...

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    Re: Yep, A Spec Check! =)

    good, good, but i see nothing wrong with a e2140 if your overclocking just to reasonable levels. it costs about £40 and even though the multiplyer isnt as advantages ase2160 or e2180 it'll still get to 3ghz no problems!

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