New Gaming Rig...

[Ben_]

i have spoken to scan and they said that they do not provide the option of building a system from scratch and that i would need to select one of their 3xs systems.

however i cant find one with the spec provided by kasavien

all seem to be socket 939

is athlon fx better ?

[Ben_]

the scan systems are arranged so that only the really high-end ones have the option of the best gpu's

the entry level panther has a 7950 GX2 but the ram is 400mhz which is a bit slow right?

im confused again lol

i'd rather not build my own if i can avoid it purely because ive got a feeling i'll mess it up and end up with a pile of transistors

[RDL]

The 7950 GX2 is basically the best Graphics Card you can get at the moment.

Reading this thread I'd really advise you building your own rig; it's not hard, and you can much better components for the price. The sum of money you wish to spend is just right for self builds, as at that price range companies tend to have a big service charge and not so good components. If you don't feel confident building yourself you could get a mate to help? Or buy all the bits and see how much a local computer shop would charge to put it together.

Of course, this depends on if you reaaaaaly reaaaaaaaaly don't want to build it yourself, or not. Personally, my first build was a cheap office computer, followed closely by an expensive gaming machine, and taking my time, following instructions and having a bit of background knowledge saw me through fine. If it doesn't work, chances are it's a faulty part, as opposed to something you've done wrong.

[Ben_]

check this out :

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ConfigureSystem.asp?SystemID=469

seems a decent price? only thing that concerns is the ram:

2GB (2X1GB) Corsair Value Select, DDR PC3200 (400), 184 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 3 (£114.32)
2GB (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX DDR, PC3200 (400), 184 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 2-3-3-6 (£124.32) add £10.00

and the processor (any of these any good? ):

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Socket 939 ,Manchester ,2x 2.0 GHz ,1MB Cache, Retail (£89.99)
AMD Athlon 64 4400+ Socket 939 ,Toledo ,2x 2.2 GHz ,2MB Cache, Retail (£139.95) add £49.96
AMD Athlon 64 4600+ Socket 939 ,Manchester ,2x 2.4 GHz ,1MB Cache, Retail (£139.89) add £49.90


maybe the answer is to build it myself. i would be better doing it myself than with a mate, none of my mates know much about building computers

so say i buy all the components, whats next after that ? is there a decent guide somewhere or how do u go about doing somethin like this..

[kasavien]

When i bought my pc from scan, i emailed them with the what i required the system to do which was to play games and a list of the components that i had to havem, they took this and drew up a spec based around one of their 3XS systems, anything i wanted changing i emailed them about and they changed the spec and the price accordingly, i think it took about 5 emails to get it right

They do do AM2 machines but the one they have listed is very high end, they also have intel core duo systems which would be better than any current AMD system, the wait would be longer though. If you could get one i would suggest getting one based around the E6600 processor.

The FX processors that AMD do are the top of the range processors, and there is often a hefty pricetag on them.

Your best bet now would be to email scan with the spec you would like or maybe post on their forums saying that you would like to look into gettig a 3XS system, and i'm sure one of their people would be more than glad to follow that up. Originally i submitted an OLQ at this link here -> http://web6.scan.co.uk/Support/Query.ASP?QueryType=S which is their sales support online query thing.

Hope all this helps

Andy

[kasavien]

The only benefit of getting the Twinx ram is when it comes to overclocking, if i was in your situation i would get the value select.

Edit 1:You don't have to get a system that is strictly configured according to the website, that is just a guide, they will be more than happy to swap in components you ask for, at least they were with me.

Edit2: If you are going to build yourself the motherboard comes with a manual basically telling you how to put it all together. If you have any questions there are people on these forums that are more than happy to help. corsair did a very good guide which can be found here -> http://sysbuild.corsairmemory.com/report.aspx?id=2 although the compnents are a bit outdated.

Edit 3: Out of the processors you listed above get the 4600+ if its within budget.

Edit 4: The max speed of DDR ram is 400mhz some is rated at 500mhz but that is only needed for overclocking. DDR2 is faster and the different types are rated up to 1066Mhz i think. DDR2 is only compatable with either the AM2 processor or the intel core duo, DDR is only compatable with the socket 939 system. But note that the performance difference between an AM2 system using DDR2 and a socket 939 system using DDR is negligable, and intel core duo is just a faster processor as its a completely new architecture.

jeez thats a lot of edits

[Ben_]

yep its all very helpful thanks!

i phoned them and they said they wouldnt do it i'll try emailing them

[Ben_]

also, overclockers uk have this rig for £950 incl VAT, what do u think :

- AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego (Socket 939) Dual DDR400 CPU running at 2.8GHz (FX57 Speeds)
- AMD Freezer 64 Pro Approved cooler
- Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire Dual Channel PCI-Express Motherboard
- G.Skill 2GB (2x1GB) DDR PC4000 Dual Channel Kit
- 250GB Western Digital 16mb cache SATA-2 Hard Drive
- HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
- Plextor PX-755 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter
- Black Floppy Drive
- Onboard Sound
- Tagan TG600-U25 600W Dual Engine ATX2.01 SLi Compliant Silent PSU

[kasavien]

stay very clear of overclockers, they have a bad rep on this forum for the customer service, they're ok so long as nothing goes wrong

[Ben_]

ah ok

i noticed people kept quiet when someone mentioned them earlier

do u have any guides on building ur own pc so i can get an idea of the process, and whether i think im up to it

[kasavien]

i put a link in one of my edits above but here it is again -> http://sysbuild.corsairmemory.com/report.aspx?id=2

hexus had an article on it so it must be ok

Edit: i'm off to read a book now hope all the above is helpful

[rainbow]

man just buy it all from scan and then either do it yourself or get a mate to do it.

scan are so cheap in some cases they are cheaper than our suppliers for where i work

[Ben_]

yeah scan seems a good place

building urself seems a bit tricky tho
i dunno how u know where the plugs go and which way the screw the motherboard into the case n stuff

[Noni]

Dont get AM2, wait for conroe.

Basically, use my spec

[Ben_]

problem with waiting is im on holiday pretty soon and i wanted to take the opportunity to become a god of BF2

if im still waiting for parts then i cant do that

suppose i could just go on holiday get ****faced like a normal person

[MantisCSS]

BF2 is an awesome game! im playing it loads at the mo!!