New system, uni.

[oshta]

Well, im of to uni in a fortnight, and i still dont have a pc to take


So, heres a quite system i throw together,

Mobo: Gigabyte K8NMF-9 K8-939 nForce4 fsb1600Mhz uATX £50.51
or Foxconn NF48MA-KS uATX S939 nForce, SATA £52.06
Cpu: AMD Athlon 64 3200 32/64Bit S939 Venice 90nm £99.08
RAM: 2Gb (2x1Gb) Corsair DDR400/PC3200 £164.22
HDD: 160Gb SATA Maxtor Diamondmax Plus10 (7200rpm,8MB) £52.51
Gcard: 256MB Leadtek PX6800 GT TDH 6800 GT PCI-E £198.58

And one got an more ideas?
I did think just going Barton2500+, 9600pro, etc. But then i though i'd bite the bullet and go 64bit/PCI-E, is this wise? (ive lready blown the £500 i set myself)
- Also, yes it is MicroATX, and thats the way it is.


Daniel

[kempez]

Lokos pretty damn good mate. Would be nice and quiet and small. Why not

[cadlon]

I presume your gonna drop all of this into a MATX case, Antec Aria or something.

The only thing you need to keep an eye on is power, as your gonna need a fair chuck of power to run that lot.

[oshta]

Yeah, its going to be a Matx case, probberbly a mini-tower like the Qtec ELMicro.

Does anyone have any thoughts on which of thoese two mobos would be best, does anyone know of any other uATX Skt939 boards? There the only two i could find!

Also i think i might have to stick with 1GB of ram, and maybe a lower spec card to cut costs a little


Daniel

[Decemoto]

I did think just going Barton2500+, 9600pro, etc. But then i though i'd bite the bullet and go 64bit/PCI-E, is this wise?

Depends what you want to do with it my friend! For all of your work stuff and some light gaming, the barton will be fine. The only reason that you'd really need anything more is for a better gaming experience, so it's really up to you. As for going with a particular platform for "upgradability", I really wouldn't bother. I usually find that I need to upgrade my motherboard when I upgrade my processor, even if it's the same socket. This is because so many things change. FSB speeds go up, memory changes, graphics cards change platform etc.... My best advice for you is to buy the PC for what you want it to do today, and if it doesn't do what you want in a year or two, think about your upgrades then!

[999tigger]

Nice price for the 3200. I still like the price of the 3000.
I think 1gb of ram is fine although you can buy and sell later.
Unsure about need for the card.I think the hot ones still are 6600gt,x800gt, x800xl and 7800gt. You could ave £100 and go for the x800gt. Depends how seious your gaming is.

[oshta]

Depends what you want to do with it my friend! For all of your work stuff and some light gaming, the barton will be fine.

Ah yes!

Well, as i said, its a PC for uni, mainly it will be used for surfing the net a light work usage and watching DVDs. But also for gaming such as UnrealTournament, NFSu, etc. And also 3d design pakcages such as AutoCad, Solidworks, Proengener, etc.
- So basicaly a all rounder, but im looking for it to last a few years.


Daniel

[oshta]

Ok, ive tryed to save a few £££'s and come up with this

Case: Q-Tec EL-Micro Case With 300W Power Supply . . . . . . . . £25.73
Mobo: Gigabyte K8NMF-9 K8-939 nForce4 fsb1600Mhz uATX . . . . £50.51
. .Or. . Foxconn NF48MA-KS uATX S939 nForce, SATA . . . . . . . .£52.06
CPU : AMD Athlon 64 3000 32/64Bit S939 Venice 90nm . . . . . . . . £82.60
RAM : 1Gb (2x512Mb) Corsair, DDR400/PC3200,CL2.5, . . . . . . . . . £65.33
HDD : 80Gb Samsung SpinPoint (7200rpm,8mb) - SATA . . . . . . . . £40.23
G Card: 128mb XFXGeForce6600std PCI-E DualDVI *Passive H/S* . £72.25
. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . Total . . £336.65


Also, is there any major diffrence between the skt939 and skt754 Athlon64 3000+ ?
- Becuase there seem to be more choise of skt754 MicroATX boards


Daniel

[999tigger]

Sorry backtracking on my previous.If you can get a 3200 for 99 then its not bad value. S939 Venice are more overclockable, but you have limited cooling potential. Id got ati x800gt. Possibly a better power supply and whack the hd up to 200 for £20 on the basis you just dont know what you are going to store as a student. Should see you trhough uni though.

[javalord]

sure 80gb will cut it?

[oshta]

sure 80gb will cut it?

possably not no.
- But other than that?

I partlt went fo that Gcard cos its already passive and hence quite, so saves my the cost of a zalman thing, which would possbally be over speced anyway. Also, its dual DVi, which is good. (might run twin TFT;s at some point)

Also, all these prices are from scan, except the case.


Daniel

[Dark Horse]

I'd think about getting a better graphics card than a 6600 if you're tihnking about gaming. A 6600gt or x800gt would get you much better performance for only £20 more.

Check this graph here for some relevant frame rates:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/gra...charts-07.html

If 80gb isn't enough you can get a 160gb maxtor for £52.51
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=208593

yet 120gb for £49.30
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=62608

Strange...

I wouldn't go s754, its a dying platform and only supports AGP so in a few years time you will have to upgrade the whole lot rather than just buying a new graphics card and cpu as with s939.

This looks like an ok deal for a case and psu:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=136448

[Rohan]

Ok, ive tryed to save a few £££'s and come up with this

Case: Q-Tec EL-Micro Case With 300W Power Supply

Yikes, stay away from a Q-Tec PSU unless you fancy some fireworks. A cheap 300W PSU definitely wouldn't be enough for your system.


Also, I agree with going for a 6600GT instead of a 6600, for the price difference the GT is definitely worth it.

[koocha]

Get an Asus Pundit-R!

I love mine

[Twigman]

if you are going to uni for first year chances are you are in halls with fast network.
You will need:
Any PC
Lots of large Hardrives or DVDRW and loads of blanks.

[arthurleung]

if you are going to uni for first year chances are you are in halls with fast network.
You will need:
Any PC
Lots of large Hardrives or DVDRW and loads of blanks.

Yup Planning to take 12x300 into uni next year Hate DVDs