Games PC - Dual Core? Budget £1,500 approx

Hi all,

This is my first post in the forums so I apologise if this question is in the wrong section.

I am looking to buy a serious games pc for approx £1,500. I have searched the internet and found Mesh and Demonite to provide good Dual Core systems. I realise Mesh has a bit of a bad rep but I have had one for six years and had no issues. Haven't found much about Demonite.

1) Please could you confirm if it it worth buying an AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core machine over a AMD Athlon 64 3800+ / 4000+ for example. Looking at around £500 difference in price - is it worth it?

2) Are there any other good suppliers out there of Dual Core / AMD 64 games pc's for this price range. Have checked out a lot like pcspecialist and alienware but they all seem a lot more expensive.

I have basic knowledge of PC's and therefore I'm shying away from building my own.

Spec from Mesh at £1,500 (approx) :
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4600+ Dual Core Processor
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Edition
1024MB DDR 400 RAM (PC3200) Memory
300GB Serial ATA (150Mb/s) Ultra Fast Hard Drive
256MB nVIDIA GeForce 6800 LE - PCI Express
19" TFT Flat Panel LCD Monitor
SONY 16x Dual Layer DVD-RW (R/W all standard formats)*
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Creative Inspire T7900 - 7.1 Surround Speakers
X-treme4 Games Bundle (see below for details)
Internet Ready V.92 56Kbps data/fax/voice modem
Network Ready integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Logitech Cordless Keyboard and Rechargeable Mouse
ASUS WiFi 54MBps IEEE 802.11g PCI Card
FREE Microsoft Works 8.0
MESH ATX Mini Tower Case - Click for more details
Classic Warranty - 1 Yr Parts & Labour (Back-to-base)


Thank you very much for your help, I look forward to your comments.

Rev

Have you checked out Scans 3XS range?
As far as that spec goes - doesn't look like a gaming pc to me - more like the majority of the budget has been spent on the CPU and the rest has been left to suffer!
You need to lose the 6800LE and probably go for 2GB Ram for a serious gaming PC - I'd recommend a 7800GT or 7800GTX at least.

bertie has summed up the issues pretty well. 6800le for £1500? garbage. go with a nice single-core CPU like a 3800+, and ensure you have 2gb ram and a proper gfx card

That's a must. If you're spending £1,500, you need to be looking at a better graphics card. You might also want to reference to the following posts:

Building A Gaming Rig - A Living Document. (A HEXUS Project)
A great resource that explains all of the basics for those new to system building and to recap key points for the experienced. Has some recommendations on various components, but do be wary of the last update times on the posts, some of the recommendations may be outdated.

Draft Specs of Gaming / Multimedia PC [ Feedback Required ]
A thread created by myself that contains loads of advice and suggestions based upon the design of my high spec PC (which I hope to have all the parts in by next week, by the way, heh).


Which Athlon to partner a 7800 GTX ?
Some useful snippets in here for ya if you decide to go for the godlike GeForce 7800GTX.


PCI Express Graphics Card Review *external link
A recent roundup of the best PCI-E cards. Other than giving you a good start in terms of comparisons, it also backs up the fact that two GeForce 7800GTXs is truly the best of the best at the moment!

Hope that all helps man :)

Thanks everyone - very good advice.

Scan are putting together a package based on my budget for me now - I'll post it later.

Think I'll ditch the dual core and spend more on the graphics card and RAM.

Rev

Scan have provided the following for £1,470:
I'm keeping my current Monitor and Speakers.

3XS AMD 7800 SLI
CENTURION 530 BLACK AL
480W TAGAN 2FORCE SLI
ASUS A8N-SLI PREMIUM
A64 4000 SAN DIEGO S939
AKASA EVO120 AK920
1GB (2x512MB) CORS TX-XL 3200
256MB XFX PCI-E GF7800GT
160GB SEAGATE SATA 150 *2
MITSUMI 1.44MB + 7IN1
SONY DWQ 28 BLACK
SONY BLACK X16
MS BLACK MM + OPTICAL
MOUSE
VGA DVI ADAPTER
AKASA PCI-E ADAPTER
AHEAD NERO EXPRESS
NVIDIA DVD GOLD DOLBY 5.1
MS WIN XP PRO SP2
BUILD + 1YR OS

Now that I understand what I require from the posts I'll see what else I can get.

Thanks

Rev

:thumbs up:

That looks a good system. Mesh do do better offers than the one you got - they were once doing an offer on a system with an X2 4200+ and 7800gtx for 999ex vat. But I'd take the scan one.

Alienware do have a lot within that price range though - I just specced up a 3800+ nvidia 7800gtx system for 1567inc vat (didn't skimp either - 1gb ram, audigy 2 sound card etc.) Alienware may be a touch pricer to match every component (hard drives etc.) to scan, so it's your choice whether you either pay a little/drop some peripheral specs and get the 'alienware prestige' or go with scan.

Hello again all,

First of all thanks to everyone who replied to my question and also all on Hexus, found so much information in the forums hence why its taken this long to almost make a decision.

This is my current preference - comments welcome (apart from the usual stuff about Mesh :) )

Realise I've upped the budget a bit but thought it was worth it and wanted a decent warranty:

£1,800 - MATRIX TITAN FX GTX PRO (with X2-4800+ instead of FX 57)

SLI-NFORCE4 ATHLON/64 S939 PCI EXPRESS LAN/AUD./1394
NEW MESH CHIEFTEC ATX BLACK/SILVER CASE + 550W PSU
AMD ATHLON 64 X2-4800+ DUAL CORE PROCESSOR (939 PIN)
1024MB PC3200 DDR RAM SINGLE MODULE (400MHZ) *2
300GB SERIAL ATA (150MB/S) ULTRA FAST HARD DRIVE
SONY 16 X DVD ROM DRIVE
SONY 16 X DUAL LAYER DVD REWRITABLE +R/-R/RW
256MB DDR NVIDIA 7800GTX TVOUT & DVI - PCI EXPRESS
19" VIEWSONIC VX924 DVI TFT LCD
LOGITECH C/LESS RECHARGABLE DESKTOP KBD & MSE
WIN-XP-PRO
5.1 SURROUND SOUND-6 CHANNEL AUDIOINTERNET
CREATIVE LABS INSPIRE 7.1-7900 SPEAKERS
INTERNAL 15-IN-1 MEMORY CARD READER
3 YEAR ON SITE WARRANTY(MAINLAND UK ONLY)
INSURED SATURDAY DELIVERY WITHIN MAINLAND UK

I've read all the info on the FX 57 vs X2 4800+ and decided on X2 4800+.

regards

Rev

the FX chips are meant for gaming, you seem to have a strange obsession with getting an X2 even thought the FX chips are meant for gaming. are you sure your trying to build a gaming PC ????

I *think* he does have 2gb of RAM. Why don't you take a look at Kustom PC's?? They're excellent and for that budget they'll drop a kick-ass system for you.

www.kustompcs.co.uk and e-mail them @ sales@kustompcs.co.uk

Seriously its worth it.

Anyway if I was spending that sort of money (probably already have), i'd get:

AMD X2 4400+ - £350
DFI Sli-D - £110
7800GTX - £306 (ebuyer)
2gb Crucial Ballistix (or Tracers) - £260
Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty edition - £120
Nice case (£200) - Lian Li ;)
PCP&C 510 SLi - £160
Ilyama 19": £200 (PC World selling them for that :D)
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint 160gb: £58
LG GSA-4163BA: £31
Winblows: £55 OEM

Think I even managed to go over your budget. But that PC would kick ass :D

I've read up on the chips and prefer the X2, more future proof than FX.

Package does have 2GB RAM, 2 * 1024MB PC3200 DDR RAM SINGLE MODULE (400MHZ).

Rev

I'll take a look at Kustompcs, thanks for the advice.

Rev

Can deffo vouch for Kustom PC's.

THE best customer service ever. Period.