New PC Rebuild! :help:

[StevenF]

Good card for the price yeah. Certainly enough for your screen.

The E7200 is a 45nm chip, one of the very new ones. Overclocks very well making it a bargain in that respect.

If you aren't overclocking though it will make little difference. I'd personally drop down to the the E2220.

Thanks again, Mike. I read some reviews and apparently it can be overclocked very well - someone got it to 3.3Ghz. I'll add that to the list.

Is the case I posted any good? Which of the 2 gfx cards would you recommend?

Thanks again,
Steven

[StevenF]

OK, I think I've decided on this, just need to wait a little on funds.

Case: Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core E2220 2.4GHz (800MHz) Socket 775 1MB L2 Cache
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L iP31 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
Graphics Card: Zotac 8800GT 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
Hard Drive: Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache - OEM
Memory: 2GB Dane-Elec Celenade Major, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 6

Total: £309.20

Does that seem ok?

[Noxvayl]

I'd honestly swap out 2 components:

2Gb Corsair XMS2 instead of the memory you specified
Gigabyte HD4850(unless you want to order the components right away then you could get the slightly more expensive Sapphire) instead of the 8800GT.

They cost a little bit more but are MORE than worth the extra money

[Eddd]

OK, I think I've decided on this, just need to wait a little on funds.

Case: Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core E2220 2.4GHz (800MHz) Socket 775 1MB L2 Cache
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L iP31 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
Graphics Card: Zotac 8800GT 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
Hard Drive: Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache - OEM
Memory: 2GB Dane-Elec Celenade Major, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 6

Total: £309.20

Does that seem ok?

Yeah, looks pretty good for the money. Just a few things to think about:
- Do you already have an OS? If not you need to buy one or get Ubuntu.
- As Exhail said the memory you chose doesn't look to good and if you are planning on overclocking I doubt it will cope to well. Get 2 sticks of Corsair instead.
- Do you need 500GB for your system? You could save £20 or so by getting a 120GB or so and if you need more space you could always buy another harddrive. Although that drive does look good for the price...
- I'm not sure how well the Case + PSU combos are from Coolermaster. Anybody know? If not, it'd be worth looking into.
- If you're planning on overclocking, you'll need a heatsink as the intel stock cooler is naff above stock speeds. Have a look at the Scythe Mine - and don't for get the thermal paste.

[staffsMike]

Looks good to me. The HD4850 will last a good while but given the reasonably low resolution of your screen the 8800GT will do the job very well and it's a good price. Ebuyer have the HD4850 for £125 in stock (last night anyway). I would get the slightly better ram though, even though that stuff should be fine for overclocking given that it won't go over stock speeds most likely.

[StevenF]

Actually, this is the hardrive that I meant to post: Maxtor 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM

As for ram, the Corsair would be better.

My CPU is a AMD Athlon 64 2.20Ghz 3500+, is the new one which I've posted much of an upgrade?

I just need to decide if this (the whole computer) is something I need or just something to throw more money at.

[EarlGrey]

The E2220 is dual core, so yes it will be a big upgrade.

The 4850 is just a little extra, and will be a much better graphics card in the long run.

You never really need a new PC unless the old one is dead, put you'll be much happier with the new one, which makes it very much worth while

[Eddd]

How about just upgrading it then? Keep the case, psu, hdd and optical drives and then just change the mobo, ram, graphics card and cpu...

[staffsMike]

the new PC as it stands would most likely bie a big jump in performance for you. You will be set for gaming power for a good few years I would think. Obviously it will drop and drop until you are back at this point again but for the money it's a pretty good PC

Only you can really decide if you need it though.

[StevenF]

Yeah, looks pretty good for the money. Just a few things to think about:
- Do you already have an OS? If not you need to buy one or get Ubuntu.

- Do you need 500GB for your system? You could save £20 or so by getting a 120GB or so and if you need more space you could always buy another harddrive. Although that drive does look good for the price...

OS, now there's a question. I think I still have my old XP disk but I think vista would be nice to have - I have it on my laptop. Getting a new OS would add a lot more onto to the total cost though, that's the problem when building your own computer I guess, you don't get an OS pre-installed. But saying that, with the parts I'm getting, it would probably be faster running XP?

I probably don't need a 500GB hard drive, I could probably settle for Hitachi 250GB Hard Drive SATA II 7200RPM 8MB Cache - OEM and put the saved £20 towards the HD4850.

[Noxvayl]

OS, now there's a question. I think I still have my old XP disk but I think vista would be nice to have - I have it on my laptop. Getting a new OS would add a lot more onto to the total cost though, that's the problem when building your own computer I guess, you don't get an OS pre-installed. But saying that, with the parts I'm getting, it would probably be faster running XP?

I probably don't need a 500GB hard drive, I could probably settle for Hitachi 250GB Hard Drive SATA II 7200RPM 8MB Cache - OEM and put the saved £20 towards the HD4850.

Good idea with the hard drive but 8Mb cache seems pretty low for a 250Gb... look for the 16Mb cache versions like this maybe> http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=816357

If your not too happy about spending more for a new OS you can keep XP, should run well on the PC. Can always get Vista later when a DX10 game comes out you really would like to play in DX10

[Thorsson]

Most would say stay away from both Hitachi and Maxtor HDDs. Not the most reliable around. And I'm not keen on CM's cheap PSUs (and the more expensive ones are overpriced).

[StevenF]

I've got a few more questions

- Would it be worth upgrading to the E4600

- I'm still have no idea what case/psu combo to go for. I had a look at a few and I quite like these:

ATX Computer PC Case
EZCOOL H550
Atrex 9003-B4
EV Black Mid Tower Case
EzCool N630

Just a few

[staffsMike]

The CPU isn't really worth it. If you are going to get that just get the E7200.

EzCool.. no no nooooo

Stick with a good brand PSU. Try and get a decent case that doesn't try and hack your fingers off and sound like a jet plane to

[TAKTAK]

like mike says....... AVOID ezcool if you want your PC to last more than 1 hour......

stick with brands like: corsair/enermax/seasonic for powersupplies

remember that you want a case that you can work with that isn't going to try and eat your face or pop your ear drums.........

something like a coolermaster, silverstone etc

or if you want to splash out alittle more (i.e. save up a little more) a Lian Li

edit cos of SiM: antecs are good too

[SiM]

Antec make fantastic cases at all budget levels, and some come with decent PSUs too