Need a super-doopa compooter

[Fong]

Rikbikboo

Would this be of any use to me, only I don't understand why it has TWO graphics cards?

Set UP SLI

Or can you recommend a decent Mobo/CPU combination with a decent graphics card? Probably have to update my RAM too.

Also could you post a link to Ebuyer as I seem to struggle to find it/use it.

To add I have 400 quid, but don't need to buy a case/screen/psu or anything else.

 

[tw1ggy5]

£111.57 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2)
£58.69 MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2
£124.49 G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit

£124.49 Leadtek GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-E)

£73.97 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Gods no, not that.

SLI is a way of sticking two graphics cards together to get better graphics, either higher resolutions or more details or more frames per second, or all three. That would be a rather poor upgrade choice as SLI 7600GTs perform around the same as a single 7900GT and cost more all told you can do much better.

tw1gg5's suggestions are good. Waiting a while should bring a price cut and new faster CPUs from intel, they should be released as of the 27th of July in some quantities and the 7th august in larger amounts. If you've got a larger screen than a 19" LCD or a good CRT then i'd go for a single core AM2 CPU and a 7900GT graphics card. You can upgrade the CPU later if needs be and in the mean time get much higher resolutions.

It might be possible to upgrade your current system Fong, but you'd have to tell us what you're using now first

 

[Fong]

My system is pretty far out of date, my Mobo won't hold a faster chip and i am only running a 1.8 AMD +

My graphics card is a Geforce4 Ti4800 too, so its also well out of date.

Got Harddrives out of the wazoo tho

I was checking and apparently you need a PCI Express compatible PSU too? So i will have to upgrade PSU, Mobo, CPU and Graphics plus likely RAM since mine is 1gb DDR 3200 or something.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

You don't, some graphics cards need a seperate connector as they can't draw all the power they need through the motherboard. The 7600GT does not need it as far as i can see from reviews.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/326/

You could carry the RAM over, the old AMD socket (939) is compatible with DDR 3200 which would save you around £60. It's also pretty competitive with the newer AM2 socket, not much difference in performance. But you lose the upgrade potential of AM2.

939 3800 X2 £117
Asus A8N-E £64
1GB Cheap as chips RAM £65 (to add to your current 1GB RAM)
Leadtek GeForce 7600 GT £124.49
Seasonic S12 380W £50 (ish)

Total = £420 + shipping

Or tw1ggy's build:
£111.57 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2)
£58.69 MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2
£124.49 G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit
£124.49 Leadtek GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-E)
+
Seasonic S12 380W £50 (ish)

Total : £470 + shipping

You could probably get away with your current PSU. The 7600GT is a very power efficent card, and AMD CPUs aren't very power hungry. Do you know what model you have? tw1ggy's option would be better by a few % and give you much more upgrade potential for the future. Or there are cheaper PSUs that will do the job for less money, notably less (£25 or so i just like seasonics )

Another thing to note is that the odds are a dual core CPU is a waste of money. What are you planning to do with the computer? Internet surfing, gaming and normal office type applications do not benifit (noticably) from dual core. If you got tw1ggy's build with a cheaper CPU then you can always upgrade it later...

 

[Fong]

Thanks for the tips.

I couldn't find half the stuff you two mention on Ebuyer, couldn't see any 6400 RAM at all.

Still went with the closest I could get (found some 7600 GT Graphics cards)

BFG 7600GT 256mb GDDR3 Dual DVI PCI-E £127.61
Athlon 64 3800 box 2.4GHz AM2 940 pin £81.29
Kingston Value Ram 1GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 DIMM £45.41
MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 Socket AM2 PCI-E DDR2 Retail £47.09
Cart Total: £301.40

VatETC: £359.69

What you think, will that suffice for me, sounds close to what people were talking about, and I can upgrade a little?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Yeah that's fine. You've got a Single core CPU there (just in case you didn't notice ) which is 20% faster for most tasks, but a fair bit slower for some (video encoding, but that's a non issue for most) a good choice. Lots of upgrade room there if you want to.

 

[Fong]

Yeah that's fine. You've got a Single core CPU there (just in case you didn't notice ) which is 20% faster for most tasks, but a fair bit slower for some (video encoding, but that's a non issue for most) a good choice. Lots of upgrade room there if you want to.

Yeah took your advice that I didn't need dual core and went for something significantly cheaper. (30 quid)

Got that lined up on Ebuyer just debating pressing the buy button now.

Gonna need a Heatsink and Fan tho aren't i, if I am buy seperate like this?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

No, you've got the "Box" version which ships with a heatsink and fan already. If you're not overclocking or a low noise freak then it's the best option.

 

[Fong]

No, you've got the "Box" version which ships with a heatsink and fan already. If you're not overclocking or a low noise freak then it's the best option.

Thanks just saved me a tenner.

My PSU is, as best I can tell. This One

Will I need to change that?

 

[LDR]

The timetable for the new generation of intel chips is out. The 27th of this month will have Dell and friends releasing computers with it, if you can wait then it is really worth it.

About bloody time. I've been wanting to replace my current machine for about 6 weeks now and am only holding off until the new chips are out.

 

[Badgers]

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTCONFIGPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=73770
That's a good basic build, i'd like more RAM but 1GB is enough and the CPU (930 not the standard one) is good. A 19" LCD and all the other bits, note there's a £40 shipping charge and it'll take about 2 weeks to get to you.

Cheers for the link BTL,

I am PC hunting and starting from your link and adding a few bits brought me to this little beauty:

Elite² D805
Intel® Pentium® D 805 Dual Core (2.66GHz,2x1MB Cache,533MHz)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Mini-Tower Micro ATX Case +250W PSU - Black
ASUS P5RD2-VM - ATI Xpress 200 PCI Express,DDR2 Pentium 4/D/EE Mainboard - Micro ATX
2048MB DDR2 Memory - 533MHz (2x1024) [upg £ 75.00]
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer [upg £ 120.00]
SONY 16x Dual Layer DVD-Re-Writable +R/-R/RW
128MB ATI Radeon X300 Graphics(onboard-SMA)
19" TFT LCD Monitor with Multi Media, DVI & Analogue (8ms)
5.1 High Definition 6 Channel Audio Codec (on-board)
Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse [upg £ 10.00]
Free Microsoft® Works® 8.5 + 60 Days Microsoft Office Trial
Free Cyberlink Video Editing Suite - 7 titles (oem)
BullGuard Internet Security 6.0 -AntiVirus/Firewall/Backup/Spamfilter -90 day trial
Belkin Wireless G USB Network Adapter - External (F5D7050UK) [upg £ 17.02]
Network Ready integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Classic Warranty - 3 Years Back-to-Base - Parts & Labour

If I can get it through the company I work at it will cost me £620 (saving the VAT)

They are also offering half price delivery at the moment.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Fong- The PSU you linked to should be ok, but i wouldn't buy another one like it in the future. I've never heard of the brand and they have far too much of that 525W on the 5V rail (which is nearly never used). It's alright but not brilliant.

Badgers- What are you going to do with the computer? That's going to be a very impressive number crunching machine, in some cases. It's a Dual core CPU which means it'll be impressive for multithreaded applications, but it's two rather crap cores so for single threaded stuff it'll be pretty poor. If you can wait, wait (dell will be selling Core 2 Duo machines as of the 27th). If not then for gods's sakes shell out the extra to get a 900 serries CPU, preferably a 930 or 940.

 

[RaverDrew]

the 805 and 930 are very good overclockable proccessors

I'm going for a 930 once the conroe price drops happen.

 

[tw1ggy5]

all that stuff from my list is available from overclockers.co.uk

Badger thats a bit of a weird build comp whats it sposed to be for lol. Very weak graphics, a dual core processor, but its a Pentium D... huge hard drive and good memory but its all lower clocked anyway cos of the cpu.

 

[tw1ggy5]

Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-000-SS) £46.94
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Seasonic_Power_Supplies.html

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM) £111.57
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Socket_AM2_X2.html

MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-071-MS) £58.69
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Socket_AM2_MSI.html

Leadtek GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-080-LT) £124.49
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/7600_Series.html

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR) (MY-014-GS) £124.49
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_This_Week_Only_25.html#aMY_2d014_2dGS

 

[Badgers]

Badgers- What are you going to do with the computer? That's going to be a very impressive number crunching machine, in some cases. It's a Dual core CPU which means it'll be impressive for multithreaded applications, but it's two rather crap cores so for single threaded stuff it'll be pretty poor. If you can wait, wait (dell will be selling Core 2 Duo machines as of the 27th). If not then for gods's sakes shell out the extra to get a 900 serries CPU, preferably a 930 or 940.

Cheers BTL,

Really the main reason for the PC is for media, downloading media and surfing. I never really do any gaming. I plan to store pretty much all my music on there which is a massive amount.

Not going to order for a few weeks so will check your recommendations.

 

[tw1ggy5]

lol if you only want the machine for media, downloading media and surfing.
Then damn near any cpu at all thats currently available is gonna be easily sufficient for you and is barely even worth thinking about at all lol.
That said you can do far far better for the price than that other machine for your needs.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

You have a 2.1Ghz machine and its very slow. 2.1Ghz is a fast machine. I am posting from a 667Mhz P3 laptop.

What I want to know is why your 2.1Ghz machine is so slow. There are loads of possible reasons and sorting them out could be a lot cheaper than a new machine.

What CPU does it have?
How much memory does it have?
When was the last time you defragged the disk?
When was the last time you ran a anti-spyware program?

Often just putting in 1Gb ram can make so much difference its like you have bought a new PC. The spyware problem can also cause real slow downs.

Agreed - mine is 2.5 ghz and 512k ram, and it's fine. It's not actually mine, though, it's provided by my current (soon to be ex) employer, and my new employer doens't provide one, so I will also be in the market soon. Having said that the Chinese market is pretty different so it's quite irrelevant to this thread.

The main thing I'm after is a huuuuuuge disk drive - I download loads of TV programmes and also take tons of pics with my 8mp digital camera, the current computer only has 30gb, which is crap, I need one with around 500 to suit my needs really. And a decent burner...

 

[jæd]

Agreed - mine is 2.5 ghz and 512k ram, and it's fine. It's not actually mine, though, it's provided by my current (soon to be ex) employer, and my new employer doens't provide one, so I will also be in the market soon. Having said that the Chinese market is pretty different so it's quite irrelevant to this thread.

The main thing I'm after is a huuuuuuge disk drive - I download loads of TV programmes and also take tons of pics with my 8mp digital camera, the current computer only has 30gb, which is crap, I need one with around 500 to suit my needs really. And a decent burner...

To be honest the first thing you should do is put in as much ram as possible... 512Mb is a minimum (whatever MS says about 256, ignore it) for Xp and 1Gb is average.

 

[Badgers]

lol

Thanks for all the constructive lol's in your posts

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Cheers BTL,

Really the main reason for the PC is for media, downloading media and surfing. I never really do any gaming. I plan to store pretty much all my music on there which is a massive amount.

Not going to order for a few weeks so will check your recommendations.

I'm building a machine to do the same soon. tw1gy5's right you don't need anything like that much computer to do it. My planned build:

2800+ AM2 Semperon (£40)
AM2 Motherboard with onboard graphics (£45)
1GB DDR2 4200 RAM (£70)
Hard drives (have)
PSU + Case = P150 (£90)

Total = £245

You dont' need flashy graphics cards, onboard graphics can handle that and (some) current gen ones have dual output (DVI and seperate VGA).
You don't need a high end CPU, watching movies, bit torrent and all other similar thingys can be done on an old Barton 2500XP with ease (I'm doing it now).

The Matrix Inspire M2 might be a better base unit to start with, up the RAM to 1GB (or buy it elsewhere) and the HD to 250GB, then buy a second 250GB HD somewhere else for £55. Comes with 19" LCD etc. Pretty good value.
Edited to make sense

 

[tw1ggy5]

Thanks for all the constructive lol's in your posts

dont get stroppy with me cos u picked a strange build
and there were only 3 in 3 posts.

 

[Badgers]

dont get stroppy with me cos u picked a strange build
and there were only 3 in 3 posts.

You can't get better than 3 in 3

One mans strange build is another mans wonderful build.

 

[hendo]

Ok all this dual core chip malarkey is all well and good, and one must have a goodly amount of RAM, but its little things like the number of USB and firewire points, or the presence of a card reader that makes the difference for me.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Yuu can add in more USB ports and a card reader for £30. It's a pain in the arse if you don't have enough but easily fixed.

 

[Fong]

You say the new chips are coming tomorrow Bob?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

That's what intel say (although they are all "OEM" variants turning up then, which mean they dont' come with heatsinks) and so you may be out of luck in terms of warranty (you need to use approved heatsinks).

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Intel_Pentium_Core_Duo2.html
(Although the prices there are shite compared to dabs.com)

The top of the line model is in stock already (at predicably gouging pricing) at ebuyer. http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/sear...ntStoreID=2&bolShowAll=true&intSubcatUID=1770

 

[Fong]

That's what intel say (although they are all "OEM" variants turning up then, which mean they dont' come with heatsinks) and so you may be out of luck in terms of warranty (you need to use approved heatsinks).

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Intel_Pentium_Core_Duo2.html
(Although the prices there are shite compared to dabs.com)

The top of the line model is in stock already (at predicably gouging pricing) at ebuyer. http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/sear...ntStoreID=2&bolShowAll=true&intSubcatUID=1770

"For example the X6800 is able to beat the Pentium 4 631 clocked at 3GHz by as much as 180%."

That is like a 9gig chip almost, is that what they are suggesting?

Bloody expensive tho, but I was thinking more, this will bring down the price on the other chips, rather then thinking of buying any of these.

Just checked Ebuyer, 20 quid knocked off the Chip I posted up on the last page, down from 80 odd to 60 odd.

Athlon 64 3800 box 2.4GHz AM2 940 pin £81.29

Is now 61.33

 

[Fong]

Couldn't wait anymore, just ordered my new PC components, should arrive on Monday 31st July.

There goes my trip to France