£1300 Games custom spec from Scan - please advise

[pussycat]

Hi

I have £1300 to spend on a Games pc.
I have decided to purchase from Scan.
I have never built a pc before.

This is the spec
all opinions welcomed
especialy on the RAM, graphics card and processor.


LN8282 Akasa Eclipse-62 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End

LN8944 Akasa Maxi-View Side Panel for Eclipse-62 Case

LN9153 Asus A8N-SLi (Standard), ATX, DDDR400, PCI-E, Gbit Lan, USB 2.0, 1394, 8ch Audio, 4 x SATA, Raid

LN11095 535W Enermax FMA SLi EG565AX-VE(W)-SFMA (20+4) SLi PCI-E READY aPFC Quiet

LN10563 AMD Athlon 64 4000 32/64Bit CPU S939 "San Diego" Retail inc Heat Sink Fan & 3 Years Warranty LN11157 Toshiba SD-M2012CBB Black x16 DVDROM (x48CD) with DVD-RAM/DVDR/RW Playback

LN9889 1Gb Corsair XPERT XL (2 x 512MB) PC3200(low latency) 2x64Mx64, non-ECC 2x184, unbuffered, 2-2-2-5

LN10455 250Gb Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 10 (7200rpm,16MB) SATA NCQ - Lead Free

LN11466 256MB XFX PCI-E Extreme Edition GF7800GT *450 Core 1.05Ghz Mem* (256bit) ViVo 2xDVI

LN7120 Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD+Int USB2 7 in 1 Card Reader (SM/MMC/SD/CF/MD/MS) Fits in 3.5" FDD Bay

LN10458 NEC ND-3540A Black 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD-Writer OEM UK

LN11157 Toshiba SD-M2012CBB Black x16 DVDROM (x48CD) with DVD-RAM/DVDR/RW Playback

LN9456 Logitech Cordless Internet Desktop Pro - Black Keyboard & Optical Mouse OEM

LN9059 Altec Lansing VS3151R Versatile 5.1 flat-panel speaker system with wireless remote

LN8599 120mm Coolermaster Internal Case Fan with BLUE LED (S12-EB)

LN4534 UV (Ultra Violet) - Original Branded Cold Cathode Case Lighting Kit CE Approved

LN11573 45cm Akasa SATAII (3G) Cable Blue with UV £3.95 £4.64

LN7924 45cm Akasa Round Floppy Drive Cable £1.39 £1.63

Thanks

[herman368]

1) get the a8n sli premium
2) unless ur OCing ditch that corsair high end stuff, value ram is much better value for money.
3) get a SATAII drive either a samsung spinpoint or a maxline III
4) you can get cheaper 7800gt's and OC them to GTX speeds
5) get a 480W tagan 2 force sli, it dont look like you need 525W....
6) i dunno bout ur accessories but i reccomend a saitek eclipse, and ditch some of those cables: they are included with mb.

also i never liked the look of that akasa case, get ur self a nice looking case from xcase.co.uk (cough raidmax ninja cough)

[alexander]

And Get 2GB of RAM.

Battlefield 2 always used to constantly crash and be slightly jumpy with 1GB but now with 2GB I haven't had any crashes atall and can play it with everything on max.

[kempez]

Get 1 x GTX - why would you need the power of 2 x GT's??

Keep the Corsiar but get 2 x 1gb

[Dark Horse]

Case: Your call but £90 is a lot for a case when you can get decent ones for £50 ie
Coolermaster cavalier

Psu: Enermax as you have or tagan are good, don't skimp whatever you do.

Mobo: A8n-sli premium has a silent heatpipe. £20 more but worth it to shut the fan up

Cpu: Not sure the extra is £90 is really worth it for 4000+ over 3700+

Ram: Unless you're overclocking (and even then the corsair stuff isn't that great) i'd ditch that ram for 2 x1gb of corsair value select. Will make games play a lot smoother especially bf2.

Graphics. 7800gt is good.

Optical drives: Your call, I've never had a need for two though

Accessories etc: You won't need data cables, mobos come with them these days.

[herman368]

Get 1 x GTX - why would you need the power of 2 x GT's??

Keep the Corsiar but get 2 x 1gb

did he say he was gettin two?

[nate247]

I would definately suggest going for the Samsung Spinpoint P120S (250GB) SATA II drive. Its very quick and very very quiet. I thought my Seagate Barracuda was good until I got one of these. Very impressive.

I know that alot of people like the ASUS motherboard, me included. But if you are planning on overclocking, by all accounts the DFI Lanparty UT SLI-D motherboard is about the same price and you can eeek a bit more performance out of it. Not sure if it is available from Scan though sorry, (poss a crap suggestion in which case) lol.

Again, I am a big fan of the Tagan U22 PSU, but just looked on Scan and doesn't look like they stock Tagan Shame really as its very quiet / stable.

If you are set on ordering it all from Scan, my only change would be the Hard Drive. Not sure on ram I am afraid so will let the others advise

[Dark Horse]

I know that alot of people like the ASUS motherboard, me included. But if you are planning on overclocking, by all accounts the DFI Lanparty UT SLI-D motherboard is about the same price and you can eeek a bit more performance out of it. Not sure if it is available from Scan though sorry, (poss a crap suggestion in which case) lol.

Again, I am a big fan of the Tagan U22 PSU, but just looked on Scan and doesn't look like they stock Tagan Shame really as its very quiet / stable.

Scan and DFI can't agree on RMA policy I think so not right now...

However they do stock tagan:

http://www.scan.co.uk/search/search....agan&Submit=Go

[RDL]

I think the spec is pretty good. I am also a fan of the A8N, and the Akasa Eclipse (which is a very good case!) You could always add a raptor in for games.

[nate247]

I have the Akasa P180 case which I can safely say is the absolute daddy of silent cases for under the £100 mark. Its going for approx £90 these days but again I am noit certain Scan sell it.

Worth looking at some reviews though, its getting best buy's all over

[Sabre]

I have a very similar system, and am very happy. I would personally go for the premium asus board and ditch that fan. Stick with vaule DDR RAM and get yourself 2 GB. I would drop down to the GT card because this card can be OCed to GTX speed, which is lets face it the only difference. As for CPU go for the best you can afford so I think your right with the dual core selection.

[nate247]

Doesn't the GTX also have 4 more pixel pipes than the GT which should make it a better performer at the same clock speed???

Also the GT will be very hard pushed at these clock speeds where as the GTX will not be as laboured and in theory have the ability to be overclocked still further.

[Sabre]

Doesn't the GTX also have 4 more pixel pipes than the GT which should make it a better performer at the same clock speed???

Also the GT will be very hard pushed at these clock speeds where as the GTX will not be as laboured and in theory have the ability to be overclocked still further.

I apologise your right .... i will punish myself accordingly !

[[DW]Cougho]

Personally id go for another PSU. Enermax have a quality reputation but mine hasnt lived upto it.

1. I use the noisetaker and if this is their "Quiet" line i dread to think what the others are like.
2. Random problems booting up, it used to (although not of late) simply turn off before getting into windows (just as the scrolling bar came up).

When i next overhaul my PC im getting a PCP&C PSU.

[nate247]

I apologise your right .... i will punish myself accordingly !

Sarcasm, wow

[Sabre]

As mentioned above, go for the TAGAN, they are highly recommended for a reason ....