Time for a new rig, help!

[dave87]

Having seen the thread about the Gameon lan in Uttoxeter, I'm sorely tempted to sign myself up.

Now, my rig is still in the stoneage (SoA!) so in order to go, I would need a new one.

Now I've got a few bits I can reuse -

DVD-RW
HDD - Recent 320gb SATA drive
Case - Antec P160
Monitor - 17" TFT.
PSU - 500w Seasonic S12.

So, by my reckoning I need:

Mobo
Processor
RAM
GFX Card.


Budget is a moderate one, so a decent dual core is probably the order of the day. Though if a Quad could be included for a reasonable sum then I would consider it. Overclocking isn't the greatest concern, though for things like RAM I'd probably go for 800 instead of 667 stuff.

Games - a mixture - at resolutions of 1366x768 or 1280x1024. Not particularly fussed about crysis, but running current games reasonably well would be nice.

So, Hexus, do your worst!

[shadowmaster]

What budget are we looking at? £200, £300, etc? If you don't give us any boundaries to work (play) in we will go wild

At your res something like an 8800gt 512mb (£75) would do the job nicely. Or if you want a bit more future proofing, an ati 4850 would be a good idea (£110).

[dave87]

£200 would be a comfortable budget, I hadn't really thought much about it as I've been out of the game for so long.

Aftermarket cooling could be an option to, so I could go OEM on the chip itself. I've also got a copy of WinXP which I haven't used since the rig it was on died, so I'll be putting that on.

I also have an MX1000 which I'm quite comfortable using, though I may need a decent wired keyboard

[staffsMike]

I'd be looking along the lines of

Intel E5200 pentium dual ~£55
2GB PC6400 ~30
Mobo ~ Something along the lines of an Asus P5K SE or P43 board for around £55.

That only leaves around £60 for graphics. HD3850 or 9600GT 8800GT or if you can push it a bit more the 9800GT.

[shadowmaster]

I'd be looking along the lines of

Intel E5200 pentium dual ~£55
2GB PC6400 ~30
Mobo ~ Something along the lines of an Asus P5K SE or P43 board for around £55.

That only leaves around £60 for graphics. HD3850 or 9600GT 8800GT or if you can push it a bit more the 9800GT.

The 9800gt and the 8800gt are practically the same thing.

[dave87]

£200 was an entirely arbitrary number.

I was thinking (these are based on the items I looked at a while ago)

E6600, 2gb RAM, P5K around the £60 mark, 8800GT?

Budget isn't tiny, but I don't want to go mad

[Guy]

Q6600 £127.95
Asus P5K £41.00
2GB Corsair DDR2 PC6400 £33.65
512MB 8800GT £99.86

Total £302.46

Or is that a bit more than you wanted to spend?

[shadowmaster]

Q6600 £127.95
Asus P5K £41.00
2GB Corsair DDR2 PC6400 £33.65
512MB 8800GT £99.86

Total £302.46

Or is that a bit more than you wanted to spend?

You can get the 8800gt for £80, so £280 in total.

However if you are willing to spend £100 on an 8800gt, you might as well as spend a little extra and get the 4850 or 9800gtx (which ever one is cheaper).

[Guy]

Ah didnt realise a 9800GTX was only £30 more.

[dave87]

The Q6600 I can get for £119.99 so that may well be on the cards.

What is the thought on the P5K-EPU?

2GB RAM - is it worth getting a single 2gb stick, or 2x1gb?

GFX - is a 9800GT worth £100? Remember I'll only be gaming at lower resolutions - 1280x1024 or 1366x768. Or is it worth stretching to a 4850 at circa £120?

[Guy]

Whats the price difference between a single 2gb stick and 2x1? if its not much then id say get the single stick, maximises your upgrade potential down the line

Not too sure on the Asus im afraid, im more an ABIT fan myself!

Again not too sure about the 9600 either, im sure the rest of the hexus lot will be able to help.

[shadowmaster]

GFX - is a 9800GT worth £120? Remember I'll only be gaming at lower resolutions - 1280x1024 or 1366x768.

Do you mean the 9800gtx? As the 9800gt is basically a renamed 8800gt.

I've seen an ati 4850 for £115 inc, which is a really good price. But TBH at 1280*1024 an 8800gt will be sufficient to run most games at mid/high settings including crysis.

EDIT: If you can stretch for the 4850, then do so as it will probably be more future proof, but with either card you wont go wrong.

[dave87]

Oops, edited my post, I'd spotted an overpriced 9800gt, the others were circa £100.

Same question then, is a 4850 or 9800GTX at £120ish worth the upgrade?

Memory was about 2 quid different if memory serves (geddit? lol) so probably the route I'll go. Unless there's a performance disadvantage of a single stick?

[shadowmaster]

Same question then, is a 4850 or 9800GTX at £120ish worth the upgrade?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-at...--powercolor/1

Here is a review you might be interested in (It has your resolution). For reference the 8800gt is very similar to the 9600gt, maybe a touch faster.

[dave87]

What's the thoughts on these two then:



OR

[Thorsson]

I'd say the 9800GTX was a good buy - it doesn't have the heat problems of the 4850 and it OCs well. You have to step up to a 260 or 4870 to get better, and they're a fair bit more.