Time for a new PC

**Ja'chyra** · 10-31-2006, 13:57

Looking for advice on good places to buy a PC from, as well as tips on what it should have. Looking to spend about £1000 ish and I want it to play most games well, not necessarily MTW2 at max

Grateful for any help.

**Ja'chyra** · 11-03-2006, 10:44

Had a look on trusty old google and come up with some possible rigs

1.System Case: Coolermaster Cavalier3 Silver Case
Power Supply: 600W Thermaltake PSU (16dB)
Motherboard: Asus M2N32-SLi Deluxe Motherboard (Skt AM2)
Processor: AMD 64-Bit Dual Core X2 4200+ (Skt AM2)
System Memory: 1Gb Corsair DDR2 667 Memory
Hard Drive One: 250Gb Serial ATA300 7200RPM
Hard Drive Two: 250Gb Serial ATA300 7200RPM
Removeable Storage Devices: Floppy Disc Drive
CD Device One: CD/DVD Combo Drive (52x32x52x16)
CD Device Two: Please Select
Video Card: GeForce 7600GT 256Mb DDR +DVI/TV
Video Card Two in Sli: GeForce 7600GT 256Mb DDR +DVI/TV
Audio Device: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy SE 7.1
PCI Devices: USB2.0 Card
Keyboard & Mouse Set: Please Select
Speakers: Please Select
Monitor: Please Select
Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP/2- OEM
Office Software: Please Select
AntiVirus Software: Please Select
Utilities Software: PowerDVD & Nero DVD Burning/Viewing Software OEM
Additional Services: Please Select
System Warranty: Ad-Vantage Plus 2 Years Collect & Return & 3 Years RTB
Build Services: Standard 7 to 10 Working Day Build

906.82 ex vat

2.
Processor (CPU) AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 4600+ (2.4GHz) 2 x 512K L2 Cache (Socket AM2)
Memory (RAM) 1024 MB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x512MB)
Motherboard ASUS® M2N-SLI DELUXE: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, 2 x PCI-Ex, 3 x PCI
Operating System MICROSOFT WINDOWS® XP PRO (inc. Genuine CD & license) (£95)
USB Options 4 PORT USB 2.0 CARD (TOTAL: 10 USB 2.0 PORTS!)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID (HDD 1 & 2) NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive 16x +/- DVD WRITER (8x +/- Dual Lyr) (5x DVD-RAM) (40x CD-RW) (£18)
2nd CD/DVD Drive NONE
Graphics Card 256MB GEFORCE 7600GS PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card 256MB GEFORCE 7600GS PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
Sound Card Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE with 7.1 Surround Sound: £16
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities WIRELESS 108Mbps NETWORK CARD (£12)
Floppy Disk Drive 1.44MB - 3.5\" FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 57 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD FORMAT)
Case Stylish Silver Aluminium Trigon Case + 2 Front/Side USB
Power Supply & cooling 500W (Peak) Super Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm fan & CPU Cooler (£39)
Firewire & Video Editing 2 x ONBOARD 1394 FIREWIRE PORTS (NO PORTS ON M2N4-SLI)
TV Card NONE
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Speakers NONE
Printer NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Webcam & VoIP NONE
Anti-Virus NONE
Office Software NONE
Warranty 2 Year Return-to-Base incl 2 Years Free Collect & Return: £69
Delivery Next Working Day Insured Delivery on Completion of Order (Free)
Quantity 1

£835.74 ex VAT.
£982 inc VAT and Delivery.

3.
Processor (CPU) INTEL® Core 2 Duo E6600 (2 X 2.40GHz) 1066MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM) 1024 MB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x512MB)
Motherboard ASUS® P5B: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, x16 VGA, 3 PCI etc
Operating System MICROSOFT WINDOWS® XP PRO (inc. Genuine CD & license) (£95)
USB Options 4 PORT USB 2.0 CARD (TOTAL: 10 USB 2.0 PORTS!)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk 250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st CD/DVD Drive 16x +/- DVD WRITER (8x +/- Dual Lyr) (5x DVD-RAM) (40x CD-RW) (£18)
2nd CD/DVD Drive NONE
Graphics Card 512MB RADEON X1950XTX PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Sound Card Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE with 7.1 Surround Sound: £16
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities WIRELESS 108Mbps NETWORK CARD (£12)
Floppy Disk Drive 1.44MB - 3.5\" FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 57 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD FORMAT)
Case Stylish Silver Aluminium Trigon Case + 2 Front/Side USB
Power Supply & cooling 500W (Peak) Super Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm fan & CPU Cooler (£39)
Firewire & Video Editing NONE
TV Card NONE
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Speakers NONE
Printer NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Webcam & VoIP NONE
Anti-Virus NONE
Office Software NONE
Warranty 2 Year Return-to-Base incl 2 Years Free Collect & Return: £69
Delivery Next Working Day Insured Delivery on Completion of Order (Free)
Quantity 1

£1064.68 ex VAT.
£1251 inc VAT and Delivery.

I'm unsure about a couple of things though, would it be better to go with Intel Core 2 Duo over Athalon Dual core even though it is 30% more expensive and is one more powerful graphics card better than 2 lesser cards?

I was thinking that most of these rigs are easily upgradeable that's why I left it at 1 Gb of Ram but I also thought that 2 lesser cards would be cheaper to upgrade as they wouldn't need the latest cards so I could wait for the good cards to come down in price.

Any opinions would be welcome.

**doc_bean** · 11-03-2006, 12:12

Originally Posted by Ja'chyra

I'm unsure about a couple of things though, would it be better to go with Intel Core 2 Duo over Athalon Dual core even though it is 30% more expensive

Well, Core 2 Duo is definatly better, whether it's reall worth the money is hard to say.

and is one more powerful graphics card better than 2 lesser cards?

Hmm, depends. The dual graphics cards setup is mostly good for high resolution gaming (with lots of AA), if you're not playing at high resolutions, there usually is little difference between the double and single card setup. Personally I'd go for the single, more powerful card, but that's just me.

**Big King Sanctaphrax** · 11-03-2006, 12:23

Go for 2Gb of RAM, that's pretty much standard for high end rigs now. You'd just need to put in another gig in a couple of months if you don't do it now.

**Beirut** · 11-03-2006, 12:25

Originally Posted by doc_bean

Personally I'd go for the single, more powerful card, but that's just me.

Good idea, but do get an SLI MB so you can add another card after you find that briefcase full of money on the side of the road.

(Hey, how'd that BKS guy get his post in before mine?)

**Ja'chyra** · 11-03-2006, 12:41

Hmm, all good ideas.

Think I'll go with the one good graphics card and 1 Gb of RAM then I can upgrade it when I find the good ladies purse later in the year, err.....joke...honest.

At least that way I'll be able to afford my system early in the new year and I can upgrade a bit each month, the only question that remains then is Intel or Athalon?

**x-dANGEr** · 11-03-2006, 13:55

Intel.

**Ja'chyra** · 11-03-2006, 14:15

After reading Toms hardware I have to agree.

Decision made then, thx guys

**Geezer57** · 11-04-2006, 04:04

Originally Posted by Ja'chyra

After reading Toms hardware I have to agree.

Decision made then, thx guys

I'd suggest you not lend too much credence to Toms Hardware - they're much less reliable than [H]ardOCP, The Tech Report, or Anandtech.

As for the AMD vs. Intel thing, it really all depends on your use of the computer. If you're focusing exclusively on gaming, then a single-core AMD Athlon-64 will deliver the same gaming experience for less money than a Core 2 Duo. See this review of the Kentsfield quad-core over at [H]ardOCP (http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...50aHVzaWFzdA==). When they got to the gaming benchmarks, the performance was pretty much a wash between all of the CPU's tested.

If you're going to be redering 3D models, encoding video, etc., then the new Intel chips certainly do shine. But for the average computer user, the real benefits aren't particularly overwhelming.