New PC advice

[Bleeders]

After a new base-unit gents, this one any good?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Athlon-64Bit-3400-2GB-200GB-DVDRW-7300-512MB-PCI-E_W0QQitemZ110012319589QQihZ001QQcategoryZ179QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

As long as it runs games at a moderate pace, I'm happy, not really looking for uber-powerful.

[sj33]

Can you build PC's yourself? Cause for the price, you could build a significantly more powerful machine I reckon.

Not a bad little machine though, will run anything out today very well I reckon.

[Bleeders]

I have built machines in the past mate, yes. Although not up-to-date on the PC front these days.

What would you recommend?

Ideally, if I could do it for around ?400-?450 I'd be happy.

[sj33]

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - ?111.57
Asus M2NPV-MX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - ?46.95
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit - ?117.44
BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - ?67.95
Antec SLK2650BQE Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU - ?32.95


Total - ?351.90

Good spec for the price I reckon! Could get a better GPU if your limit is ?400-450.

[Bleeders]

Ta' mate, nice little spec there too!

Will I see a significant upgrade over my lowly Athlon XP 2200 with that one you outlined?

[sj33]

Crap, forgot to add in the DVDRW and cables in all that! DVDRW will be about 30 quid, need SATA cable for about a fiver (though the board might come with that). Could get a better GPU cooler, though it will come with the stock AMD one. Can't think of anything else!

[sputnick]

Crap, forgot to add in the DVDRW and cables in all that! DVDRW will be about 30 quid, need SATA cable for about a fiver (though the board might come with that). Could get a better GPU cooler, though it will come with the stock AMD one. Can't think of anything else!

also the hdd, and for another 20 odd quid you can get low latency g.skill ram good enough to push 2.4ghz out of those 3800+ cores.

[sj33]

HDD too then! Or and legit Windows OEM for 50 if you want... dammit! Still should fit in your price range mind.

You know what I'm saying though, if your capable of building one yourself, may as well do it... browse around and custom a spec for yourself, that's half the fun really IMO.

[Bleeders]

I don't mind spending over my budget if needs be tbh, haven't built a machine in yonks, still easy as I remember it? Arsing around with jumper settings on the motherboard et cetra?

[Bleeders]

Would I need one of the adaptors to convert the SATA power cable to the PC power-supply?

[sputnick]

tbh i'd say for 700 quid you could have a really good gaming machine with all the parts NEW.

[Bleeders]

I don't mind chucking in the extra moolah If I had to, been on a few sites, done a little reading up and came up with this to build over the next couple months -

Couple questions - will all the kit I've selected be adequate do you think with regards to compatibility et cetra? And, do these Core Duo's offer much, much more of a noticable significant improvement? I mean, do the cores work at 1.8Ghz each or is that the combined output?

Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Conroe" (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)

Intel DP965LT 965 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-011-IN)

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS)

BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-026-BG)

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 200GB 6V200E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-090-MD)

Asus DRW-1608P3S 16x16 DVD?RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - Retail (CD-020-AS)

Antec SLK2650BQE Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-051-AN)

Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable (CB-053-GE)