New PC Build. Opinions please!

[sargey]

Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H GeForce 7100 Socket 775 onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard £50.79

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz 1333FSB Socket 775 L2 4MB cache OEM Processor £118.95

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler £15.87

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800Mhz/PC2-6400 GOLD XTC Memory Kit CL5(5-5-5-18) £38.99

XFX Geforce 9400GT 512MB DDR2 VGA DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card £37.99

CoolerMaster Elite 333 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU *SPECIAL OFFER* £51.98

Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM £42.45

LG Electronics Blu-Ray & HD-DVD-Rom Combo 16x DVDRW Black SATA - Retail Box With Software £78.68

Look OK? missed anything?

Don't want to play games at max settings, but as long as they look OK, I'm not too bothered.

 

[tyranical]

Graphics card is poor IMO.

As a general rule, any Geforce card below 500 is not designed for gaming at all its just a mainstream graphics card, 500-750 is for general gaming, 750+ = hardcore gamers.

You can get a much better graphics card for your money.

 

[Adam]

Yeah the GPU is gash and old! Can you not splash out abit more and get a GTS 250?

Everything else is ok

 

[Munson]

That gfx card would struggle to run Peggle. Seriously.

 

[Adam]

lol ledge!!

 

[Ben^]

I normally spend a little more on mobo's and GFX, if you get a better mobo you can clock the CPU (with better cooling and decent case) and save money that way.

If you start to get better GFX then the PSU will need to be better too.

All depends on what you want it for, that will play most games on lowest res probably but you would need to double ur budget for a half decent gaming machine.

(4gb is fairly pointless too unless u get vista 64 and even then not many progs are ready for it and make usage of it, mind you for the price.....why not!!)

 

[Michael172]

Grab yourself a cheap 8800GT. Will do the job nicely.

 

[sargey]

ok, how about this one?

ASUS 8500GT 1GB DDR2 VGA DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card £55.62

 

[tyranical]

ok, how about this one?

Still very basic, get an 8800, don't skimp on the graphics card.

 

[Michael172]

Still very basic, get an 8800, don't skimp on the graphics card.

+1 if your going to use it for gaming.

Snoot around for a good 8800GT or GTX.

 

[Mike_182]

Dreadful spec. Rly. Hope you're not planning on playing a game?

 

[Mike_182]

And your PSU won't run much of a GPU - very, very limiting on what you can go for now.

 

[Omid]

It is a very bad spec, do you have any PC experience? The only things I would use out of that PC is the hard drive and memory

 

[Mike_182]

It is a very bad spec, do you have any PC experience? The only things I would use out of that PC is the hard drive and memory

You'd use either of those?

I'd not buy anything other than DDR3-based stuff now, and the HDD is similar price to 750GB ones... And not a mile away from 1TB!

 

[Omid]

But to be honest, 500GB is a good OS drive, I wouldn't use 1000gb hard drive as a OS drive, my current PC has the 500gb for OS and 2x1TB drives for music etc.

I think DDR3 still has improvements to make and the MoBos can still be pretty expensive, I would stick to DDR 2 for at least another 6 months.

 

[sargey]

It is a very bad spec, do you have any PC experience? The only things I would use out of that PC is the hard drive and memory

Yes I do have PC experience. I hazard a guess that I have more IT knowledge than you will ever have. 14 years (and counting) as a Network Administrator / Assistant IT Manager and an MCSE. Is that enough experience for you?

The last time I built a pc was when 486dx2's were all the rage so you'll appreciate that I have been out of the game for a while.

I also said in my original post that

Don't want to play games at max settings, but as long as they look OK, I'm not too bothered.

My current pc is a pentium 4 with 3gb of ram so anything would be a step up from that. But thanks for the constructive criticism.................

 

[Galzzly]

Personally I'd have gone for the E8400 3.0GHz proc, and the 9500GT 1GB onboard (at least), if I were going for a games PC.

 

[Mike_182]

Yes I do have PC experience. I hazard a guess that I have more IT knowledge than you will ever have. 14 years (and counting) as a Network Administrator / Assistant IT Manager and an MCSE. Is that enough experience for you?

The last time I built a pc was when 486dx2's were all the rage so you'll appreciate that I have been out of the game for a while.

I also said in my original post that

My current pc is a pentium 4 with 3gb of ram so anything would be a step up from that. But thanks for the constructive criticism.................

I think the point he was asking was 'do you have any (relevant) PC (building) experience', rather than how big your IT dick was. Mildly impressed though - although I can top that in that the first computer I repaired by changing parts was a 386SX, and then my 486DX2 and replacing the chip for an 'overdrive' from Cyrix.

Word.

The point we're trying to make is (obviously depending on game) the spec you posted won't play many games on half-decent settings. The spec you'd post it would s**t itself at Crysis at basic settings, and would struggle with much more than basic on some of the more recent simple games. I think the line could be drawn around Red Alert 3 sort of territory, on basic settings.

Really, building a 'futureproof' system now, you should be looking at the GTX series and a Quad Core - it's not like the Quads are overpriced now and if you go for something X38/P45 generation then you can use DDR2 which is cheap as chips as well.

 

[Mike_182]

I think DDR3 still has improvements to make and the MoBos can still be pretty expensive, I would stick to DDR 2 for at least another 6 months.

Valid point - my DDR3/Nehalem motherboard was £300...

 

[Darren S]

I think the point he was asking was 'do you have any (relevant) PC (building) experience', rather than how big your IT dick was. Mildly impressed though - although I can top that in that the first computer I repaired by changing parts was a 386SX, and then my 486DX2 and replacing the chip for an 'overdrive' from Cyrix.

Word.

The point we're trying to make is (obviously depending on game) the spec you posted won't play many games on half-decent settings. The spec you'd post it would s**t itself at Crysis at basic settings, and would struggle with much more than basic on some of the more recent simple games. I think the line could be drawn around Red Alert 3 sort of territory, on basic settings.

Really, building a 'futureproof' system now, you should be looking at the GTX series and a Quad Core - it's not like the Quads are overpriced now and if you go for something X38/P45 generation then you can use DDR2 which is cheap as chips as well.

Gotta agree. If the 182 didn't need some wedge of funds this year, I think I'd be looking to upgrade mine too.

D.

 

[Omid]

Sargey, the experience you have is different to the experience needed for building a PC. A car sprayer isn't going to be able to service an engine are they? But they both work on a car. The problem with PCs is, you turn your eyes for 5 minutes and your knowledge is out of the window. Hence those of us here who have built more recently can help you. Mike is right, I meant do you have any recent PC building experience?

Tell us your budget and we will help out better.

I personally would use ATI video cards, ASUS mobos, WD Hard drives, Corsair Ram, Pioneer DVD/RW Drives.

But this is all down to preference

 

[Mike_182]

ATI do have some good value kit going at the moment - whilst the same generation nVidia stuff is better performing typically, it's also more expensive.

 

[Darren S]

Sargey, the experience you have is different to the experience needed for building a PC. A car sprayer isn't going to be able to service an engine are they? But they both work on a car. The problem with PCs is, you turn your eyes for 5 minutes and your knowledge is out of the window. Hence those of us here who have built more recently can help you. Mike is right, I meant do you have any recent PC building experience?

Tell us your budget and we will help out better.

I personally would use ATI video cards, ASUS mobos, WD Hard drives, Corsair Ram, Pioneer DVD/RW Drives.

But this is all down to preference

Heh - swap the Corsair for OCZ and that would be my spec already.

If a wedge of cash fell my way today, I'd be looking at i7, CrossFire mobo and DDR3 for sure. I'm not sure if I'd just chuck in another 4870 512MB card, or use a single 4870x2 card for now. I've heard a few issues with the x2 setups though?

D.

 

[Omid]

I personally am a bit confused with GFX cards atm, and will be sticking with my Radeon 4850 till the next big thing comes out.

Don't think I will upgrade for at least another year

 

[sargey]

Cool, fair points. Soz like. Nee offence and all that.

2 ticks and I'll post up the second spec I was looking at.

Budget is around £450 - £500. £550 max.

P.S, My IT dick is f**king huge.

 

[sargey]

New spec.

OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Reaper Memory HPC Edition Dual Channel £53.36

Antec 300 Three Hundred Black Case - No PSU £46.99

Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM £42.45

Hi-Power Black 800W 14cm Blue LED Fan PSU - 20+4pin 4x SATA 4x PCI-E £59.99

XFX nForce 750i SLI Socket 775 (1333MHz FSB up to 1800MHz overclocked) 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard £89.99

ASUS 9800GT MATRIX Edition 512MB DDR3 DVI HDMI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card £123.33

LG Electronics Blu-Ray & HD-DVD-Rom Combo 16x DVDRW Black SATA - Retail Box With Software £78.68

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 D0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor £159.99

Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Socket 775, AM2, AM2+, 939 Processor Cooler £26.83

 

[Omid]

LOL at your IT Dick ,

PM'd mate

 

[sargey]

Replied

 

[sargey]

Sapphire HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card?

 

[Mike_182]

At the moment if you could manage a 4890, it'd serve you well. I'd also try to get a board running an Intel X** chipset or nVidia *80i chipset (680i is getting long in the tooth now though!). The Q6600 is good, but D0 stepping? Not come across that one. Any linky? The spec's starting to look more like a mid-range gaming machine though, so all good!

 

[Gareth]

I've got the Q6600 its a good processor, suprised at the price of it tbh, pretty much what I paid for it ages ago.

 

[sargey]

At the moment if you could manage a 4890, it'd serve you well. I'd also try to get a board running an Intel X** chipset or nVidia *80i chipset (680i is getting long in the tooth now though!). The Q6600 is good, but D0 stepping? Not come across that one. Any linky? The spec's starting to look more like a mid-range gaming machine though, so all good!

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131950

 

[Mike_182]

Definitely a typo, done research. D920 is their stepping for the refresh of their Core i7. Suspect it's a G0. Nae mind - the Q6600 chips are ace (I've got 3!) and clock to hell and back. Well worth the moneys.

If you do go the ATI route, defo go for an Intel chipset. My Maximus Formula clocks a lot easier and is generally a better product than my 680i and 780i boards, I managed 4GHz on the Intel chipset with only 3.4 before the Chipset started getting too hot and unstable on the 680i.

HTH.