Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 16 of 30

Thread: building a new baseunit for £600 help needed

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Stroke-on-Trent
    Posts
    477
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    • mt50's system
      • Motherboard:
      • asrock 945DVI
      • CPU:
      • E6300@2250mhz
      • Memory:
      • 2gig ram
      • Storage:
      • 120gig IDE(storage) 80GIG sata(os)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 8600GT 256mb
      • PSU:
      • 380w antec
      • Case:
      • antec nsk4400
      • Monitor(s):
      • 15inc tft/19inch widescreen tft
      • Internet:
      • 20mm virgin

    building a new baseunit for £600 help needed

    hi, i'm posting this for a mate as he is moving from a laptop to a desktop so is going to build himself a new pc(been at uni for 3years so lappy was best thing back then for him)
    now i don't really know much about todays PC's as i ain't upgraded/looked at new hardware for a year or so now, so i'm asking for your help please.

    he's had a quick look on ebuyer and put this list together seems ok to me apart from the CPU seems a little old now and graphics card i think a X850pro would be better?

    he will be using it to play PC games@(we only play Toca atm but GTR etc are what he will want to play)

    the monitor isn't included in the £600 just baseunit.


    here is the list-


    what do you think where can it be improved etc(the ram is 2gig he wants btw)

    thanks

  2. #2
    Senior Member Dark Horse's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    999
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post
    Graphics card would be much better with a 7600gt or x1800gto. Little bit more but far far better value and more modern - sm3 instead of sm2.

    Mobo and processor look fine although a faster cpu might be an idea. X2 3800+ if he can stretch to it, 3700+ sd if not.

    I would think about getting something like an artic freezer 64 pro for cooling as its much quieter and more efficient than the stock cooler.

    There is a psu in the case, doesn't seem a bad deal although it won't be the best psu in the world. May not be a massive issue as the parts aren't high spec.

    I would simply get 2 x 1gb sticks of the cheapest ram possible, it won't affect performance and the money is better spent elsewhere.

    The wireless card seems pretty pricey but I can't suggest anything for it I'm afraid.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    200
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    i wouldn't have any worries about the psu supplied with the case, antec use their own smartpower 450W psu which is very high quality and quiet, and unless he ends up going down the sli route or gets an absolute raft of hard drives, 450w should be more than enough.
    I would suggest an opteron 144 or 146 cpu, (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=311094) as they can be overclocked fairly easily to much higher speeds. I personally wouldn't opt for dual core right now, as i don't think the advantages are very clear.
    Don't bother with the raptor, I'd go for a quieter hitachi or samsung sata2 drive like this one (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=226863)

    For top gaming performance go for this x1800xt for £195 on ebuyer, which outperforms the 7900gt and is cheaper too http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/106035
    plus the antec case the grand total is £613.27 plus p&p, which is free with scan if you are a member on these forums.

    Hope this helps

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    200
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    also, the monitor you're looking at has a pretty slow response time, try this one instead http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=239683

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Stroke-on-Trent
    Posts
    477
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    • mt50's system
      • Motherboard:
      • asrock 945DVI
      • CPU:
      • E6300@2250mhz
      • Memory:
      • 2gig ram
      • Storage:
      • 120gig IDE(storage) 80GIG sata(os)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 8600GT 256mb
      • PSU:
      • 380w antec
      • Case:
      • antec nsk4400
      • Monitor(s):
      • 15inc tft/19inch widescreen tft
      • Internet:
      • 20mm virgin
    Quote Originally Posted by chazt
    also, the monitor you're looking at has a pretty slow response time, try this one instead http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=239683

    cheers the monitor shouldn't be there that was what he was looking at ages ago.

    he wants to get something like a 80GB HDD for windows and then a 250GB ish one for storage. which is how i use mine now so thats cool

  6. #6
    Senior Member MantisCSS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Basingstoke
    Posts
    898
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    some good recomendations there from chazt!!! take it in.
    PowerColor HD 4850 512MB
    Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
    Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz
    Coolermaster Centurion 5 All Black
    Corsair 450W VX 450W PSU
    Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    305
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    if you plan on unlocking and overclocking the gto2 it will beat the x1800gto, otherwise its not a good card and you can get a standard gto for less that should be clocked the same and wont be unlockable

  8. #8
    Senior Member Dark Horse's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    999
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post
    Quote Originally Posted by -ChEM-
    if you plan on unlocking and overclocking the gto2 it will beat the x1800gto, otherwise its not a good card and you can get a standard gto for less that should be clocked the same and wont be unlockable
    The X1800GTO at stock will beat or be equal to an unlocked and overclocked gto2. When you overclock the X1800GTO it will then pull away and also be far better at high res and IQ levels. It also has sm3 as opposed to sm2 so is a much better deal.

  9. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    6
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by mt50
    hi, i'm posting this for a mate as he is moving from a laptop to a desktop so is going to build himself a new pc(been at uni for 3years so lappy was best thing back then for him)
    I am that mate! Thanks for the help so far guys. A chap on another forum posted this and I wondered what you thought of this setup instead of the one that mt50 posted originally:

    Matt,
    The cpu you have chosen are been phased out along with the mb towards the end of the year. I have never had to install sata drivers on any MSI MB.
    Here is a quick suggestion of a system that will be upgrading in the future at it uses the newer cpu, mb & ram. Price wise they work out about the same with delivery included. All prices include vat.

    Novatech
    CPU £74.03
    Processor

    MB £57.58
    motherboard

    HD £57.45
    hard drive

    DVD Writer £28.74
    DVD Writer

    Ebuyer
    Case £61.90
    case

    Wireless Card £33.99
    card

    Graphics Card £129.95
    graphics card

    Crucial Memory 2 x 1gig £146.86

    memory
    Obviously he's missing another hard drive there that I want but add that in and they're about the same price, yet his processor seem to be slightly slower?

    How would both systems compare? How would they cope with running fairly recent games?

    Thanks for the help

  10. #10
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    587
    Thanks
    7
    Thanked
    7 times in 7 posts
    nvidia is better than ati

  11. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Stroke-on-Trent
    Posts
    477
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    • mt50's system
      • Motherboard:
      • asrock 945DVI
      • CPU:
      • E6300@2250mhz
      • Memory:
      • 2gig ram
      • Storage:
      • 120gig IDE(storage) 80GIG sata(os)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 8600GT 256mb
      • PSU:
      • 380w antec
      • Case:
      • antec nsk4400
      • Monitor(s):
      • 15inc tft/19inch widescreen tft
      • Internet:
      • 20mm virgin
    Quote Originally Posted by latrosicarius
    nvidia is better than ati

    got any sites/info to back that up?

  12. #12
    Senior Member Tobeman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    IN YOUR FRIDGE, AWPIN' YOUR NOOBS
    Posts
    1,823
    Thanks
    34
    Thanked
    11 times in 11 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by mt50
    got any sites/info to back that up?
    On the whole, the NVIDIA drivers are much better than ATi's offerings. NVIDIA cards have lower power consumption, like-for-like, but ATi's flagship X1900XTX is quicker than a NVIDIA-based 7900GTX. Hope that sums it up a bit better for you

  13. #13
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Stroke-on-Trent
    Posts
    477
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    • mt50's system
      • Motherboard:
      • asrock 945DVI
      • CPU:
      • E6300@2250mhz
      • Memory:
      • 2gig ram
      • Storage:
      • 120gig IDE(storage) 80GIG sata(os)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 8600GT 256mb
      • PSU:
      • 380w antec
      • Case:
      • antec nsk4400
      • Monitor(s):
      • 15inc tft/19inch widescreen tft
      • Internet:
      • 20mm virgin
    Quote Originally Posted by Tobeman
    On the whole, the NVIDIA drivers are much better than ATi's offerings. NVIDIA cards have lower power consumption, like-for-like, but ATi's flagship X1900XTX is quicker than a NVIDIA-based 7900GTX. Hope that sums it up a bit better for you

    thanks much better that just saying one is better than the other IMO.


  14. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    200
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    with an x1800gto or 7600gt you will most probably be able to play modern games like NFS: most wanted and quake 4 at 1280x1024 with low levels of AA and AF, which would suit you fine as that is the max resolution of the monitor you're looking at. If you want higher levels of AA and AF, which will make the games look slightly better, you would need a higher spec card like the x1800xt that i pointed you to earlier in the thread.

    When looking at CPUs you must realise that gaming is much more dependent on your gpu than your cpu. That doesn't mean you should go out and get the cheapest possible, but you need to find a good balance. I haven't heard great things about the new am2 boards and CPUs, but they were only released last week and i'm sure the technology will mature quickly. I still reckon you're better off with an opteron 144 as overclocking is not as hard as it sounds and you will get great value for money with that processor.

  15. #15
    Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    6
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by chazt
    with an x1800gto or 7600gt you will most probably be able to play modern games like NFS: most wanted and quake 4 at 1280x1024 with low levels of AA and AF, which would suit you fine as that is the max resolution of the monitor you're looking at. If you want higher levels of AA and AF, which will make the games look slightly better, you would need a higher spec card like the x1800xt that i pointed you to earlier in the thread.

    When looking at CPUs you must realise that gaming is much more dependent on your gpu than your cpu. That doesn't mean you should go out and get the cheapest possible, but you need to find a good balance. I haven't heard great things about the new am2 boards and CPUs, but they were only released last week and i'm sure the technology will mature quickly. I still reckon you're better off with an opteron 144 as overclocking is not as hard as it sounds and you will get great value for money with that processor.
    So you mean I'm better off with that first setup posted?

  16. #16
    Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    6
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt KB
    So you mean I'm better off with that first setup posted?
    ?

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. building a system with some parts and 300£
    By Mama Sumae in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 04-05-2006, 06:58 AM
  2. Building a new PC, piece by piece - advice needed
    By Mutley in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 02-02-2006, 02:22 PM
  3. Replies: 25
    Last Post: 09-05-2005, 11:40 PM
  4. Building My First PC - Tips needed!
    By Lead_Head in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 14-12-2003, 02:50 PM
  5. Radeon 8500 linux driver install problems
    By Dorza in forum Software
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 22-09-2003, 12:00 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •