an ideal system that needs to be check over

[blackthunder36]

hi i have been thinking about building my own system for the past few weeks i have a specifacation ready but i want some one to point out anything wrong with it before i start buying the components

m/board asus p5n73 am (intel)
cpu intel pentium dual core e5200 2.5ghz
ram 2gb pc2 6400 / ddr2 800 ( no idea what make )
psu sv 400w silent load 20 & 24 sata
hdd 160gb samsung spin point sata 8mb
video
card xfx geforce 8400gs 512mb pci-e 16
dvd rom sony dru-8605 22x dvdrw

i have left out the case due to the fact i have an unused on lying around

i do not mind if any one has any suggestions that i could change because i haavent got a buget sorted out yet

[Fraz]

Ideal for what? Being 2 years out of date? Or are you heavily constrained by budget?

[Hyperviper34]

Have a look at the BBBB should give you some more recent idea's.

[blackthunder36]

well yeah i am on sort of a tite budget up to £300 or 350 if i can
because i still have several games that do not work on the one am using at the moment

[staffsMike]

Asus 740G Motherboard ~£45 (I would go with a nice Asus 780G -EM board though)
Amd 7750 X2 ~£58
4GB PC6400 RAM ~£40
Coolermaster Elite 340~£28 + 2x 120mm fans ~£12
OCZ modXstream 400W ~£45 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152509
Force3D HD4830 ~£80
320GB Samsung ~£35
Optical drive..

Might come to a little over £350 but that will wipe the floor with the PC you specced. There are savings to be made on that but that is what I would build.

[Pob255]

Asus 740G Motherboard ~£45 (I would go with a nice Asus 780G -EM board though)
Amd 7750 X2 ~£58
4GB PC6400 RAM ~£40
Coolermaster Elite 340~£28 + 2x 120mm fans ~£12
OCZ modXstream 400W ~£45 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152509
Force3D HD4830 ~£80
320GB Samsung ~£35
Optical drive..

Might come to a little over £350 but that will wipe the floor with the PC you specced. There are savings to be made on that but that is what I would build.

Come on mike, not quite "wipe the floor" the e5200 and 7750 x2BE are tradeing blows esp when you include overclocking

The main area in your list that is a massive improvement is the gpu and I agree with you there.
the 8400gs shouldn't even be looked at if gaming as a 2nd hand high end 7series or X1xx series would wipe the floor with it and probably cost the same
I'll add that the 9800gt should also be considered as an nvidia alternative to the 4830.

I'd also agree on the hard drive, that or on of the WD 320gb single platters, would be a good improvement.

It's a bit hard to say for sure as the op didn't include any prices so some of thoes bit could be real bargins. (if the 160gb hd he listed is half the price of a 320gb then it may be better to get 2 and raid them)

[staffsMike]

The GPU is what I meant sorry and thus overall gaming performance.. not the CPU.

Yeah the E5200 and 7750 are very similar.. which is why I would get the better (imo) AMD platform.

[blackthunder36]

rite i have do some math
m/board £37.55
cpu £50.25
ram £15.95 - the make is samsung
psu £11.33
hdd £26.95
gpu £26.08
dvd £17.20
total minus op system
= £185.31

all items are from aria pc technology

now anyone have any idea what the best op system is for this spec

[sadbuttrue]

With 2gb of ram your only sensible choice is Windows XP 32bit.

Can't you increase the budget somewhat? The gfx card and psu are weak links, regardless of what the other components are.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

rite i have do some math
m/board £37.55
cpu £50.25
ram £15.95 - the make is samsung
psu £11.33
hdd £26.95
gpu £26.08
dvd £17.20
total minus op system
= £185.31

all items are from aria pc technology

now anyone have any idea what the best op system is for this spec

Buy a better PSU. Unless you want to have a good chance of borking your computer then spend more on it!! Also go for a hard drive with at least 8mb of cache as this will speed up things a lot!!
If you are gaming the minimum card I would go for would be an HD4650 GDDR3(not the GDDR2 version which is much slower). If you are willing to spend more a HD4670(around £60) or a 9600GT(around £70) will be much faster for gaming purposes.

Here is a review of a similiar HD4650 GDDR3 graphics card:

http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/ind...1&limitstart=3

Any graphics card under a HD4650 GDDR3 will be pointless for most modern games unless you want to play at a very low resolution and at low graphical settings!!

This is what I would get:

AMD X2 7750 - £58.36

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155158

motherboard - £36.95

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148025

HD4650 GDDR3 - £52.95

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151454

2x1gb RAM - £20.99

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114728

350W Silverstone ST35F PSU - £22.99

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

DVD rewriter - £13.79

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

Western Digital 250gb Hard Disk - £34.49

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

Coolermaster RC330 case - £27.93

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...Scan-Exclusive

OS - Vista Basic 32 bit - £67.84

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Micro...t-1Pk-OEM-(DVD)

Ebuyer has free postage for orders over £49.99 and Scan has free postage for Hexus members who have 20+ useful posts. The Scan Today Only special offers will last until the midday on Monday.

Including the postage cost at Scan(around £12) the total build cost comes to around £350.

[Sputnik]

The 7750 is cheaper at Scan

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The 7750 is cheaper at Scan

A few more quid saved:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...B-Cache-Retail