Would you be kind enough to comment on proposed PC Spec?

[AshMcD]

Hi all. For those who provided advice on my PSU issue the other day I thank you. But I sat back and had a think about it and I really need to build a new computer! So I've been having a think and a look around and I was hoping for some guidance.

Budget is £400 ish (To include windows 7)

I'm not a hardcore gamer although do enjoy car games and the odd point and click (C&C etc) type effort. No video encoding. Generally use my PC to watch DVDs/use the net and play games.

Here we go!

CPU: Core 2 Duo E7400 2.80GHz £82.27
GPU: 512mb Gainward GTS250 £68.97
MB: Asus P5KPL SE £43.67
RAM: 4GB Corsair TwinX DDR (1066) £43.53
HD: 500GB Samsung Spinpoint £44.14
PSU: 500W Silverpower SP-SS-500: £48.29
Optic: N/A Lightscribe drive £20
O/S: Windows HP 7 - £70

Total: £420.87.

Comments and suggestions are most welcome. I've read about the Conroe CPUs apparantely being excellent as we as the Phenoms being a bit cheaper for reasonable performance.

Many thanks!

Ash

[ed^chigliak]

If that 500GB drive is 2x250GB platters it will not be as fast as a 640GB drive that is guaranteed to have 2x320GB platters. The higher the density of information on the platter the faster the drive will be as a general rule. There might be some single platter 500GB drives around these days but you will need to be especially careful what you buy if they don't have a unique model number for the single platter version.

I think I would be more tempted with the AMD X3 CPU which is a similar price to the C2D you have chosen.

GTS250 Green Edition is a few pounds cheaper on today only until lunchtime tomorrow.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hi all. For those who provided advice on my PSU issue the other day I thank you. But I sat back and had a think about it and I really need to build a new computer! So I've been having a think and a look around and I was hoping for some guidance.

Budget is £400 ish (To include windows 7)

I'm not a hardcore gamer although do enjoy car games and the odd point and click (C&C etc) type effort. No video encoding. Generally use my PC to watch DVDs/use the net and play games.

Here we go!

CPU: Core 2 Duo E7400 2.80GHz £82.27
GPU: 512mb Gainward GTS250 £68.97
MB: Asus P5KPL SE £43.67
RAM: 4GB Corsair TwinX DDR (1066) £43.53
HD: 500GB Samsung Spinpoint £44.14
PSU: 500W Silverpower SP-SS-500: £48.29
Optic: N/A Lightscribe drive £20
O/S: Windows HP 7 - £70

Total: £420.87.

Comments and suggestions are most welcome. I've read about the Conroe CPUs apparantely being excellent as we as the Phenoms being a bit cheaper for reasonable performance.

Many thanks!

Ash

Ditch the E7400 and get an X3 720 for around £89:

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

More and more games are becoming multithreaded so a triple core will be better in the long run.

Get an Asus M3N78-VM motherboard for around £46:

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

The motherboard is very well specced for the price.



I assume that you specced the 500 GB Samsung HD502IJ Spinpoint F1:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500-G...ache-89-ms-NCQ

This drive is a good alternative too:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500-G...MB-Cache-89-ms

There is also the WD 640GB Caviar Black for around £50 and Samsung F1 1tb for around £57 too:

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

The RAM is on offer too:

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

The GTS250 is also on offer for around £66:

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

The rest of the spec looks fine IMHO.