New pc

A friend of mine is wanting a new pc, will be used for online gaming, a bit of office work, family photos etc...

Can you spec a pc that will play the latest games, BF2 etc for cheaper or find the parts cheaper?

These prices include VAT

£128 AMD (Venice) Athlon 64Bit 3200+ Socket 939pin 512k L2cache 90nm Retail Boxed Processor
£73 Antec Neopower 480 Watt - Power Supply ATX V2.0 24pin UK
£189 Connect3d Radeon X800 XL 256mb DDR with VGA DVI-I+TV PCI-E
£141.50 Western Digital Raptor 74gb E-sata - 10krps 4.5ms 8mb Cache
£100 Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI Skt939 nForce4 SLI Chipset DDR400 PCI-E USB2.0 LAN SATA Retail Box
£32 LG GSA4163 16x DVD R/RW/RAM Internal Dual Layer IDE OEM Black Drive
£65.42 Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS 7.1 PCI Soundcard With Dts Support
£188 Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB)

£86 Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case
£8.17 Vantec SF8025L Stealth 80mm fan - Retail
£6.99 Vantec SF9225L Stealth 92mm fan - Retail
£9.34 Vantec SF12025L Stealth 120mm fan - Retail

£51.41 Logitech LX700 Cordless Keyboard and Optical Mouse - Retail Box

£223 Viewsonic VP171S-2 17" TFT 8ms 500:1 (1280x1024) (Analogue/DVI-D) Monitor - Silver (3 Years On-Site Warranty)

£30.40 Creative Labs Inspire T3000 2.1

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by madman045

£73 Antec Neopower 480 Watt - Power Supply ATX V2.0 24pin UK

£141.50 Western Digital Raptor 74gb E-sata - 10krps 4.5ms 8mb Cache
£100 Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI Skt939 nForce4 SLI Chipset DDR400 PCI-E USB2.0 LAN SATA Retail Box
£65.42 Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS 7.1 PCI Soundcard With Dts Support
£188 Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB)

£51.41 Logitech LX700 Cordless Keyboard and Optical Mouse - Retail Box

£223 Viewsonic VP171S-2 17" TFT 8ms 500:1 (1280x1024) (Analogue/DVI-D) Monitor - Silver (3 Years On-Site Warranty)

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I would try to get a Tagan psu rather than the Neopower, not that the neopower is bad but its quite expensive

If its only for a bit of gaming, storing pics and doign family stuff then its crazy to get a Raptor. 74gb isn't a lot of storage and you don't need something that fast to play games on. You can get a good 160gb sata drive by seagate hitachi or any other reputable manufacturer for £60 and you won't notice the difference in speed and will get a lot more value for money

Not sure what the gigabyte board is like but I think you may be better getting the new version of the Asus A8N sli with the heatpipe passive chipset cooler as it looks like you're trying to make a relatively quiet system

There is no need for an addon soundcard unless you are a sound nut as almost all motherboards have decent built in sound, I think the A8n has pretty good 5.1 built in.

2gb ram is a pretty big expense when at the end of the day its more of a convenience than a necessity for bf2. You could pick if 2x512mb sticks for £70ish rather than £190 for the 2gb and not notice a massive difference.

I was never one for wireless mouse and keyboards but that does seem quite expensive, maybe they're good quality but even so...

£223 is also a lot of money for a 17"tft when you could probably find a 19" one for that price and easily get a decent 17" one for £180 or a more basic 17" for under £150.

Rest of the parts seem fine tho!

Thanks Dark Horse, I see what you mean regarding the HDD, does the Asus come with Sata 2 connectors?

For the TFT, just trying to make sure they get a decent one as they will be playing BF2, CS, maybe Wow etc..

Standard Keyboard & Mouse can be done :)

As for the ram, Will drop it to 1gb.

Andy

Its got 8 sata ports I think...
check the review here http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/articl...2&pagenumber=1

As for the monitor : 19" 12ms for £185
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=55183

or 17" 8ms for £152 http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=74417

From looking at a review I think the sonata II comes with a 450w psu so you won't need a psu if thats the case (no pun intended)
http://www.futurelooks.com//?m=show&id=156&page=11

One last think is that if they had that kind of budget you could probably bump up the cpu to something like a 3700+ san diego. The x800xl is definately the best value graphics card these days though so getting better is personal preference

Ok, ive revised the spec.

£181.62 AMD (Venice) Athlon 64 3500+ 939pin 512Kb L2 Cache 90nm Retail Boxed
£32 LG GSA4163 16x DVD R/RW/RAM Internal Dual Layer IDE OEM Black Drive
£58.69 Tagan TG480-U01 480W ATX2.0 SLi Compliant Silent PSU
£189 Connect3d Radeon X800 XL 256mb DDR with VGA DVI-I+TV PCI-E
£88.60 Seagate ST3250823AS 250MB 7200rpm SATA 8mb Cache - OEM
£76.32 Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard
£34.02 Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value 7.1 PCI Sound Card - OEM
£66.27 Corsair (VS1GBKIT400) 1024MB (2 x 512MB Matched Pair), DDR400 / PC3200, non-ECC, Unbuffered, CL2.5, Lifetime Warranty
£88.13 Coolermaster Wave Master - Black
£6.71 Logitech OEM Internet Pro Keyboard Black PS2
£12.87 Logitech Black Pilot PS2/USB Optical Mouse
£151.72 Viewsonic VE710S 17" 8ms 450:1 (1280x1024) Monitor - Silver & Black (3 Years On-Site Warranty)On-Site Warranty)
£30.40 Creative Labs Inspire T3000 2.1

£1016.35 inc vat but without software.

Better spec/price?

Thanks

umm... I personally use a 3500+ venice... well... not to say its bad or anything.. I'd say go for the 3700+ San Diego... The extra L2 cache really helps... you could chip a little off the casing and storage for somethign cheaper to fill that £40 quids gap from 3500+ to 3700+.....

But don't be all skeptical.. 3500+ venice is by all rights already a bonafied Intel P4 EE killer in many respects..

Looking better definately.

You could go with that spec or save a few more pennies as the A8N-E (which i'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about but it sounds fine) has built in 8 channel sound
http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=...55&modelmenu=1
so you don't really need the soundcard but personal chouce

One other thing is the case, the wave master is a top case but you can get a perfectly functional and slightly less slick case for half the price.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dark Horse

Looking better definately.

You could go with that spec or save a few more pennies as the A8N-E (which i'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about but it sounds fine) has built in 8 channel sound
http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=...55&modelmenu=1
so you don't really need the soundcard but personal chouce

One other thing is the case, the wave master is a top case but you can get a perfectly functional and slightly less slick case for half the price.

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What case could you recommend? i have built plenty of systems for work, but they are "cheap" & great for minor hand surgery!

Looking good but why spend money now on cheap mouse and keyboard? Afterall they are the business end of any gaming and are quite personal if you see what I mean.

Why not send him off to PC World or another shop and let him get his mits on the kit. Get a personal preference then shop online for a good deal.

P.S. I run a wireless mx1000 and suffer no problems. The mx700 series was hailed as being one of the best wireless mice around. The new wired mx518 is supposed to be a gaming specific rodent.

The Coolermaster Centurion gets a good writeup and has the same features as lot of higher priced cases for only £36 although a bit more with delivery.

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Product...94&GroupID=131


http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2005...530_531/1.html
http://www.vr-zone.com.sg/?i=2122&s=7

Video review at 3dgame man
http://www.3dgameman.com/vr/coolerma...review_02.html

I have an MX700 myself & think its great except the lack of pads it now has...

But they have tried it & didnt really get on with it, will see if they like the mx1000

Dark Horse, will check out the case.

Thanks for your feedback. :)