Pure Gaming Machine

[Weng]

Hey Guys, know I haven’t been on for a while but been hard at work saving the pennies to build myself a pure gaming machine ! (hopefully)

So this is where you guys come in, I have come up with a list of components I’m after and I’m just wanting advice or views or guidance ! hope you guys can help me out and give me some ideas..............................

The Following List is: -

19" Hyundai Imagequest q995 Silver
£145.64 inc from Aria

Lian-Li PC-6070A
£126.90 inc from Aria

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR AGP
£149.23 inc from Aria

160G Maxtor DMax+9 SATA150/7200 8MB
£74.03 inc from Aria

Intel Pentium 4 3000 (HT,RET,800)
£158.63 inc from Aria

Zalman CNPS7000A (462/478/754) Cu
£36.43 inc

Asus P4C800E Deluxe
£130.43 inc from Aria

TwinMOS 1GB (2x512MB) DDR PC3200 Dual Channel Kit (MY-007-TM)
£129.19 inc from OC

Zalman Ultra Quiet PSU 400W
£69.33 inc from Aria


The only concern I have is that I need a DVD writer but have no idea which one and not to sure about the ram, will I need better ram????????

[mike_w]

TwinMOS is good if you're on a budget, but if you have plenty of cash then you could get better e.g. Corsair.

9800 Pro sounds good, although a new X800 might be better if you have a lot of cash. You can also get it cheaper from Scan.

Also, are you planning to overclock?

[iMc]

Also i think a Tagen 480W or CWT 500W would be a better psu. At least on a price>performance basis.

I can vouch for the CWT they are v. good. Not seen a Tagen in action but lots of people say they are great.

I agree with mike w in that a new X800 card would be btr and more future proof if this is a pure games machine.

[Weng]

lol undecided about overclocking been there done it, fried stuff hmmmm I see what you mean about getting a card for the future but is the new ATi Radeon X800 Pro worth £300 plus and what about the ATi Radeon 9800XT??????! Could really do with advice on what DVD writer to get . . . . . . .

[mike_w]

ATI Radeon 9800XT gives you only a small performance boost, but is much more expensive. RIght now, the 9800 Pro probably gives you the best bang for your buck, but the X800 is faster and much more future proof.

[Weng]

If i did go with a X800 would this mean i would need a more powerful cpu to get the full affect of the card?????????????????????

I really need a pure gaming machine as I’m current computer is a laughing stock with all my mates who have just upgrade themselves! lol we are talking XP1800 that was o/c, that fried and replaced with a 1.2 Duron which i got for a tenner and a ti4200 4x AGP!

So you can see why I need to make up for my crimes..........................

[mike_w]

What is your budget? How much are you willing to spend on a CPU and graphics card?

[Weng]

well so far the cost is £1050 with cables etc. and if i got a X800 it would be about 1220! still need a dvd writer soooooo dunno what cpu do u have in mind?

[mike_w]

The new 939s (Athlon 64s) look interesting. They already have good speeds, and the socket should be around for a while, so you can upgrade later. Might have to wait a bit for prices to go down though. Otherwise, there's the Athlon 64s that are already out (socket 754 or something like that). Not too sure about all the new CPUs though, somebody else can probably tell you better information.

[SMPer]

i think u might want to consider changing ur platform..from the reviews i've read Athlon 64 family is the way to go for gaming machine..just a thought

[Weng]

i'm now looking at the Athlon 64's 747 sockets, what mobo would everyone suggest and are there any dual channel ones????????

[Weng]

lol ok meant 754

[spazman]

For DVD writer go NEC 2500a or 2550, they are the daddys, and cheap as a chips.

[Weng]

thanks

[john-boi]

Yep the NEC 2500 is a good solid machine.
But bear in mind the dual layer DVD writers are here and only around another £15-£20 more so if you need to burn over 8gb rather than 4 go for one of those

[SMPer]

i'm now looking at the Athlon 64's 747 sockets, what mobo would everyone suggest and are there any dual channel ones????????

for socket 754 mobo u can't go wrong with the Via K8T800 Pro chipset from top manufacturers (Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, MSI)..it all depends on what features u want on board.. if u want to save some money n get a no-frill mobo.. i think Asrock K8S8X will suit u.. it's based on the SiS 755 chipset which is a good performer..

socket 754 doesn't support dual channel memory..u need socket 939 or 940 for that..though i'd say for Athlon 64 u wont see much different between single n dual channel most of the time cos the on-chip memory controller is top notch!