Please could you cast your expert eyes over this new build

[CM2242]

Hi Guys,

I would be grateful if you could cast your expert eyes over this spec. I’m gonna use existing monitor key-board and mouse. So really I’m just building a new box, or should I say attempting to! This box will be for home accounts and surfing the web.


My budget will be about £800 - £850, nearer the £800 mark if possible. onto my spec:

Dabs Xtreme DFI S939 Xpress 200 CrossFire
£97.86
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ Socket 939 1MB Inc Fan
£149.16
Crucial CT2KIT12864AA667 2x1GB PC2-5300
£136.73
Gigabyte VGeForce 6600GT 128MB PCI-E DVI-I
£94.92
Maxtor One Touch III 300GB Combo USB2 Firewire
£145.32
Sony CRX320AE/U 52x32x52x16x Combo kit Internal
£22.09
D-Link DSL-300T ADSL Modem
£32.93
Akasa Eclipse 62 PC EATX Midi Tower Case - Black
£84.84
Akasa Active PFC 550W PSU with Sanyo Denki Fan
£81.01


Total £844.86

Many thanks in advance.

CM2242

[dave87]

Jus wondering, why a crossfire board and a Nvidia card? get something like the A8N from Asus. Also the Maxtor One Touch is an external drive - unless you already have a hard disk your going to use, and that is simply for storage, then try something like a SATA Maxtor or Seagate.

Otherwise it looks good - though i would consider a 6800gs if you plan to do any gaming

Dave

edit - also your ram is DDR2 - which wont work with S939 Athlons - try getting some DDR-3200

[s29feb]

Ram is DDR2?

Can't use it if it is

[Turk]

Even though DFI RDX200 is a cracking board, due to its southbridge, the board does not have SATA 2 or NCQ support. Depending on how you want to use your external hard disk, you might also reconsider your choice as it also has poor USB2 performance as pointed out in many reviews including the following

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2572&p=11

Also if you are planning to do a bit of gaming you might want to spend £30-£40 more and purchase a 7600GT instead of the 6600GT.

Good luck with the new rig

[ExceededGoku]

AMD Athlon 64 3700 + Socket939 , San Diego Core, 2.2GHz , 1MB Cache, Retail £148.48
Abit KN8 SLi NF4 SLI , S939 , PCI-E (x16) , DDR PC3200 (400), SATA II , SATA RAID , ATX £75.18
2GB (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX PC3200 (400) 184 Pin Non-ECC Unbuffered CAS 2-3-3-6 £139.81
580W HiperPower Type-R Modular Red PSU Quiet Dbl Fan aPFC ATX2.2 20/24 Pin £59.93
Akasa Eclipse-62 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End £78.60
LG GSA-4167BAL Black 16x16 ±R Super Multi Dual Layer DVDRW/RAM Writer OEM UK £25.54
D-Link DSL-300T ADSL Ethernet Modem UK £31.73
250 GB HGST (IBM/Hitachi) Deskstar T7K250 , SATA II , 7200 rpm , 8MB Cache ,NCQ £66.38
256MB ATI Radeon X1800 XL PCI-E All In Wonder (x16) Mem 1000 MHz , GPU 500 MHz ,16 Pipes VIVO £200.93


£826.58

That's the computer I specced for you, I sent you a PM so I can send you the excel document through email.

[nvening]

If there is no gaming then that gpu is overkill, dont spend more than £40, just to be good for runnning simple 3d apps like google earth.

Also that motherboard is overkill, spend just £60 for your needs.

Also that case needs to have two fans added. However i strongly recomand you cange it for the quieter, cooler and cheaper (inc fans) Antec P180 and also change the PSU to a Tagan (mabe a seasonic) and dont waste money on 500+w, a 480 is more overkill still!

Also scan.co.uk is a much better store and if you make 30 posts here you get free delivery.

[K22]

I don't suppose you want to spend the whole £800 if u don't have to right! nvening is starting to guide you in the right direction

If it was me, I'd go for OEM wherever possible, you can download the drivers you need with the system you're already using. The manuals are always available in PDF format should you feel that you need them.

If it was up to me, I'd build you something like this

K8N Neo4-F Skt939 nForce4 PCIE SATA ATX - £46.32 @ Savastore
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice Socket 939 512KB Inc Fan - £89.96 @ Dabs
DabsValue GF 7300GS 512/128MB TC PCI-E - £43.96 @ Dabs
1GB (2X512MB) Corsair Value Select PC3200 (400) Twin Pack - £46.99 @ Scan
Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW DL DVD Writer + 10pcs DVD+R - £27.32 @ Scan
250 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 , IDE, 7200 rpm , 16MB Cache - £54.93 @ Scan
ADSL Nation X-Modem M3 Ethernet ADSL Modem - £34.83 @ Broadbandbuyer
Akasa AK-P400FG 400w PSU- £42.24 @ EclipseComputers

I feel the choice of case should be down to your personal taste, so I've left that one out

Total is only £386.55. If anyone wants to tell me that you couldn't do accounts, surf the web... and then some with that machine, then you're in the wrong forum. If you want to spend the whole £800, then by all means, we can create something to suit your budget Let us know!!

K22

[CM2242]

Hi Guys

First off thanks for the quick replys, as you can see I'm extremely new to this. But do find it very interesting, my first mistake was checking out the "New Build" when I'd being up 23 hrs obviously not a good idea.
Not sure which way to go as regards to going for a budget pc or a more expensive one, my line of thinking was get the best I can afford and it 'll be better when I need to upgrade.
I'm going to have a second look at what to buy and get back to you.
Thanks again for your help and quick response.

CM2242

[nvening]

Well if you are not gaming there is no need for a powerful (all be it an 6600gt) GPU. Also if you are not overclocking or need a SLI/ crossfire or other special features then a cheaper motherboard id fine.

[schmunk]

Hi CM2242

If you are seriously not contemplating playing games on this PC, then K22's spec is pretty much on the money.

If you're concerned about noise, you might want to spend some of your surplus on noise-reducing coolers, such as maybe a Scythe Ninja for the CPU. Alternatively, you may want to buy a better monitor or keyboard/mouse (I don't know what yours are like at the mo, but for instance a decent 19" TFT beats the ass off a 17" CRT). Otherwise, save your money and spend it on booze!

[taqie]

if its just for surfing the web, the spec is surely overkill, 2Gb for web surfing?? even the budget is too far stretched, for a budget pc, 500-600 quid is enough. Spend the rest for a good 19" widescreen tft.

[trojan698]

Avoid the crossfire board unless going crossfire, they're a nightmare apparently.

[CM2242]

looks like I'll be getting a more modest box then. thanks for the quick response. will let you know how I get on.