new a64 gaming pc build - any suggestions appreciated

[cj2mrhat]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of buying bits for a new pc - I've a budget of around £550 to spend on the base unit minus the stuff I've already bought - an beantech igloo 4 case (£47) and a geil value 1gb dual channel kit (£63) costing £110 in total. (I already have a soundcard, dvd-writer, dvd-rom drive and a floppy drive from my current pc).

That leaves me roughly £450 to spend on a motherboard, processor, hard drive, graphics card and psu. Basically I want to play games like FEAR with all the the details turned up as smoothly as possible so anything less that an 6800gt or a x800xl is not an option! I'd also prefer pci-e for futureproofing. For the hard drive I've spotted the samsung spinpoint sata2 200gb for £65 and I've basically set my heart on it. For the processor and motherboard I want to go the 939 route but am unsure whether to buy a faster processor (3200) and a cheap motherboard or buy a a64 3000 as cheap as possible and get an overclocking motherboard - preferably msi or epox. I'm not too fussed about the psu - it just needs to handle an overclocked a64 system and a decent graphics card whilst being quiet.

anyway heres the maximum amount I want to spend on each component (including postage!):

processor - £85
motherboard - £80
hard drive - £65
psu - £50
graphics card - £170

add the £110 for the stuff ive already bought and that comes to £560 in total.

Any suggestions?

[Dougal]

You may have to go a bit higher on the processor. Could get one at that price 2nd hand but unlikely.

[seanblee]

You'll be lucky to get a 3000+ A64 for much less than £100 inc - that's about the best price I can find. For £83 inc you can have an MSI K8N SLi Platinum which would be an amazing board. HDD you say you've sorted, so I'll leave that. PSU - I reckon £50 won't be enough for an SLi PSU (cheapest decent one I can spot is a Tagan for £63), so you're looking at something like a 480W Hiperpower Type-R or a 420W Tagan. As for graphics card, I don't think £170 is enough for a 6800 on PCIe - you'd be looking nearer the £200 mark for something like an OEM XFX 256MB card.

All these prices are from Scan btw.

[krazy_olie]

Lowestonweb do a 3000+ venice for £83 but you'll need some cooling for it. I reckon you can get a decent HD for £40-£50 if you need to make some cutbacks.

£170 Won't get you a 6800GT on PCIe, you'll need to spend an extra £30. I think it could get you an x800xl from ebuyer though.

[BUFF]

X800XL £179 got 1 myself & it's a decent card.

I reckon that you should spend a bit more on the PSU too a Tagan 480W or above or equiv.

& remember that you need an OS too - XP Home OEM ~£55

[beca5olo]

Wow really not a lot of slack here. The main thing I would recommend is the MSI K8N SLI Platinum, which would set you back £83.00 inc VAT (from Scan). That wouldn't be too far beyond your budget.

[kevpuk]

6800GTs on PCI-e have dropped (due to 7800s) so could fall into range.....or grab one of someone who has gone 7800 Otherwise, the 800XL is a mighty good card for the shreddies......

[MiNiMaL_FuSS]

cpu: a venice 3000 or 3200 on a DFI board will easily OC to 3500+ and upwards.

Gpu: a 6800GT is probably the way to go at the moment, as you can always add another one in SLI later.

Mobo: As i said any DFI 939 board, lanparty SLI would be good futurproofing.

HDD: Spinpoints are the best drives around, and ultra quiet too, perfect, i love them.

PSU: just make sure its ATX2 and SLI ready and a known make.

[kalniel]

I'd get the asrock m1695 based motherboard for about 48 quid and put the saved money into upping the processor.

Otherwise.. WAIT! Until ATI get their next range of gfx cards out. Should knock a good card into your price range.

[MiNiMaL_FuSS]

NEVER

buy ASROCK, they are no better than PCCHIPS and ELITE systems, they are simply pretty damn bad.

[Dougal]

Asrock are fine. Asus subsidary.

Never had any problems with the systems I've built them on, good workhorses.

[kushtibari]

Think the best recommendations are

3000 Venice
X800XL
K8N SLi Platinum

Running exactly that myself and have no problems running HL2, Far Cry etc @ 1600x1200. The Venice runs at 2.5 all day so don't see any point in getting anything faster. The HiS X800XL is a cracking piece of kit as well. I know some folk knock the MSI board but its lovely and stable for me and I run the cpu at 312x8. Good onboard sound as well.

[Scarlet Infidel]

Not sure if this site is any good (2 days till stock anyway) but £80 for a venice 3000+ cant be bad. Remember to factor in cooling, its important!

[cj2mrhat]

cheers for the helpful replies - I have been scouring the sites for the best prices and that msi sli platinum at scan is a superb price - the only thing is the shipping on top :S (I haven't got enough posts to qualify for free shipping ). As for the graphics card an x800xl is too slow for me in all honesty. I missed an ebay buy it now auction where a guy was selling x800xts (with vivo) brand new for £175 including shipping - but I left it for a day and they were all gone.I also missed a new sli compatible tagan 580w psu going on for a buy it now price of £63 - plus the guy selling it was in my town as well so could have picked it up .

I'm considering buying the rest of the system and leaving the graphics card for a month or so - after ati release the r520 chip the prices for midrange cards should go down quite a bit. For the processor I'm going the ebay route -and for the mobo and psu + hd I'll probably end up going to scan - they have the best prices atm by far.

[krazy_olie]

There was an advert for a cheap 6800GTO (?) for about £180 in the ads at the top of the page, I'll see if I can find it.

[FatBoab]

Lowest On Web have the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum for £78.75 delivered. Not SLI, but I personally don't see that as a problem. I got this exact board from them -- not the greatest etailer experience ever (board arrived bare, still waiting for cables/manual/drivers etc.), but it's up and running... Like kushtibari, I'm running at 312x8 with an A64 Venice 3000+

I got a Connect3D X800XL on ebay for £160, and the A64 for £78, so those are do-able with your budget.

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