New Gaming Computer (screen shots pg5)

  • Thread starter donbenni
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donbenni

donbenni

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I'm looking at getting a new computer (just the box), for somewhere in the region of £1500-2000. It's going to be used primeraly for gaming but also for Photoshop and the general norm computer usuage.

I'm looking at a high end and a mid end spec at the moment, and am looking for some suggestions on parts i.e. am i'm going overkill in some areas, should i replace something for something else? etc. etc.

Mid end:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 FX57
Mobo: SLi
RAM: 1024 MB PC3200
GPU: 256 MB 7800GT
HDD: 300 GB 7200rpm
Others: Onboard 7.1 sound, memory card reader, XP Home

High end:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 FX57
Mobo: SLi
RAM: 2048 MB PC3200
GPU1: 256 MB 7800GT
GPU2: 256 MB 7800GT
HDD1: 74 GB 10000rpm Raptor
HDD2: 300 GB 7200rpm
Others: Creative Audigy soundcard, memory card reader, XP Home

It's obvious which one is better, but my aim for price is about £1700 and the high end system is £2200. Ouch. It wouldn't be here if i couldn't afford it, but obviously the less money spent the better, but i want a really good PC.

Questions:

I'm thinking the FX57 is overkill, but which to get instead, dual core?

Is 2 GB of RAM worth the expense?

Is getting 2 7800GTs a good idea, or should i just get 1 7800GTX? Or something else?

The two harddisks are there for fun really, my ideal system without going too crazy.

Also, onboard sound or a seperate sound card?

Also also, anyone know of any good, reputable online stores that allow you to customise a system, are good value and are UK based?

Cheers people.
 
Wow you got a whole lotta money to blow lol.

But I'll answer one question an say that 2 GB of RAM, probably is'nt worth it mate.
I only have 512MB and thats more than adequate to play good games on.
 
eek39co.gif
Are you kidding me? 512 enough? That won't do jack squat unless you're stuck back in 1995 playing Doom. :dopey:

and yes... you have a lot of money to burn. :grumpy: Give it to me.
 
I agree with Vip. 512 is not enough to run some of the really good games out there on the best settings. Want an example. Try loading the Half Life 2 Lost coast with only 512. I dont play many PC games but the minimum you want is at least a gig if you want to enjoy games on the full settings.
I beat Half Life 2 on the highest settings on my PC with no problems. A sound glitch but that happened to many people and it was minor.
 
VIPFREAK
eek39co.gif
Are you kidding me? 512 enough? That won't do jack squat unless you're stuck back in 1995 playing Doom. :dopey:
Click to expand...

That kind of ram was a dream back in '95. Give me a break.

512 is sufficient for most games out there right now. But if you want to play the high end stuff - the super duper latest greatest highest setting OMG AWESOMES!!1! stuff (which it sounds like you do), then you should probably get a gig.

You can probably scale back on the CPU in a major way. The graphics card will be doing most of the work you're going to ask your computer to do.
 
Questions:

I'm thinking the FX57 is overkill, but which to get instead, dual core?

Is 2 GB of RAM worth the expense?

Is getting 2 7800GTs a good idea, or should i just get 1 7800GTX? Or something else?

The two harddisks are there for fun really, my ideal system without going too crazy.

Also, onboard sound or a seperate sound card?

Also also, anyone know of any good, reputable online stores that allow you to customise a system, are good value and are UK based?


1. The FX57 is somewhat overrated and overpriced IMO.

2. 2GB of RAM isn't really necessary unless when you play Half-Life 2, F.E.A.R or run Photoshop you have 20 things hogging up resources in the background. 1-1.5 should do fine.

3. 2 7800s is overkill. At this point in time it's just for bragging rights. With SLi 7800's you'll have well over 100 FPS in every game, which is about 40 more than the maximum the eye can see.

4. The 74 GB Raptor would be nice (10K RPM and sufficient HD space). I have a 160 gig and 75% of the space still hasnt been used.

5. The Creative Audigy will be well worth it in the long run. Trust me.

6. Newegg isn't UK based, but ships to the UK I think...
 
donbenni
Questions:

I'm thinking the FX57 is overkill, but which to get instead, dual core?
If you're going AMD (which isn't a bad idea, with Vista around the corner) don't buy FX, it's value/dollar is crappy when compared to the X2 series

Is 2 GB of RAM worth the expense?
For any game released to the public since about June of this year, yes. And for gosh sakes, get some decent ram. PC-3200 is a dinosaur compared to DDR2 ram.

Is getting 2 7800GTs a good idea, or should i just get 1 7800GTX? Or something else?
No, some games really don't use much of the second card. It's a waste o' money. Get a 512 7800GTX and never worry again (well atleast for a couple of years :D).

The two harddisks are there for fun really, my ideal system without going too crazy.
If at all possible, run two HDD's in RAID 0. Your boot times for everything will be DRASTICALLY reduced. And, if you've got the $$, go with Raptors. It's amazing the increase in speed for booting BF2.

Also, onboard sound or a seperate sound card?
Albeit, on-board has come a long way, it still sucks hardcore when compared to aftermarket cards. If you've got the money, X-Fi is uber-gawd!

Also also, anyone know of any good, reputable online stores that allow you to customise a system, are good value and are UK based?
Not that I can recall, but I could search for ya'. :D

Cheers people.
Click to expand...

:D
 
MachOne
6. Newegg isn't UK based, but ships to the UK I think...
Click to expand...
Newegg FAQ
# Does Newegg.com ship internationally?

Newegg.com does not currently ship internationally; we only deliver to locations within the United States and to Puerto Rico.
Click to expand...
I think that clears up that issue :).

And about the processor, I would definately go Dual Core. I'm regretting going with a single 3.0P4 already.
 
I'd go with the 4800+ X2 instead. The FX-57 might get a few extra FPS, but its not worth it for the performace gain you'd get in virtually everything else with the X2. And also saving a few dollars.

The more the merrier, I always say. :D Oh, and toyomatt, DDR2 isn't supported by AMD yet. He'd have to hold off until the new M2 socket to get DDR2 support...

You could go and get an X1800XT which wipes the 7800GTX's arse all over the floor, but then if you want to upgrade to Crossfire and use a second card you'd have to use a mobo using ATI's chipset, which I have no idea on how it performs. If you want to use the nForce chipset and keep SLi open in the future, just get a single 7800GTX and in the future, slap in a second one.

Getting a Raptor to install Windows on is a really good idea. Those things are insanely fast and if you install games on it too, well, you can only benefit from it. Decreased load times and so on. Do you really need 300GB for storage though?

After-market soundcards. Onboard just plain sucks. I heard the new Creative X-Fi cards are the shiz, but they're pretty expensive. Though, with the money you save from going with the 4800+ X2 instead, you could probably afford one.

And I don't live in the UK, so I can't help you with the last one. :)
 
Shannon
...You could go and get an X1800XT which wipes the 7800GTX's arse all over the floor...
Click to expand...


Umm... No?
link 1
link 2

If you think a couple of fps in-game and a couple of points in benchmarking is wiping arse... then look at the 7800GTx 512. It beat out the X1800XT on every test available. 20+ fps more on almost every game, 100+ points more on benchmarking. Now that's wiping arse. :D
 
pfft DDR2 that can wait you get better performance with regular DDR400 because of AMD's intergrated memory controller.

Make sure you get a good power supply. Buy name brand and get SLi certified.
 
donbenni
I'm looking at getting a new computer (just the box), for somewhere in the region of £1500-2000. It's going to be used primeraly for gaming but also for Photoshop and the general norm computer usuage.

I'm looking at a high end and a mid end spec at the moment, and am looking for some suggestions on parts i.e. am i'm going overkill in some areas, should i replace something for something else? etc. etc.

Mid end:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 FX57
Mobo: SLi
RAM: 1024 MB PC3200
GPU: 256 MB 7800GT
HDD: 300 GB 7200rpm
Others: Onboard 7.1 sound, memory card reader, XP Home

High end:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 FX57
Mobo: SLi
RAM: 2048 MB PC3200
GPU1: 256 MB 7800GT
GPU2: 256 MB 7800GT
HDD1: 74 GB 10000rpm Raptor
HDD2: 300 GB 7200rpm
Others: Creative Audigy soundcard, memory card reader, XP Home

It's obvious which one is better, but my aim for price is about £1700 and the high end system is £2200. Ouch. It wouldn't be here if i couldn't afford it, but obviously the less money spent the better, but i want a really good PC.

Questions:

I'm thinking the FX57 is overkill, but which to get instead, dual core?

Is 2 GB of RAM worth the expense?

Is getting 2 7800GTs a good idea, or should i just get 1 7800GTX? Or something else?


Also also, anyone know of any good, reputable online stores that allow you to customise a system, are good value and are UK based?

Cheers people.
Click to expand...

The FX57 is pointless unless you have 2 gigs or more of RAM, the Athlon X2 4800+ is good if you are looking for somthing slightly cheaper.

2GBs of ram is worth the expense.

2x 7800GTs is a very good idea, it will deliver a huge amount of graphical power.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk
 
toyomatt84
Umm... No?
link 1
link 2

If you think a couple of fps in-game and a couple of points in benchmarking is wiping arse... then look at the 7800GTx 512. It beat out the X1800XT on every test available. 20+ fps more on almost every game, 100+ points more on benchmarking. Now that's wiping arse. :D
Click to expand...
Ah. I didn't know nVidia released a 512mb version of the 7800GTX. I stand corrected. :)

Although, the price of the 512mb 7800GTX is insane. For $300AU less I can get the X1800XT. $300 doesn't justify 20fps IMO.
 
Here's what my friend recently ordered for around 3000USD

DFI Lan Party UT nForce4 mobo
Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo
eVGA 7800GTX 256MB
2GB performace RAM
OCZ power SUpply
Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty
500GB 16MB Cache SATAII 7200RPM HDD (Easily comparable speed-wise to the Raptor)
Creatve Gigaworks S750 7.1 Speakers
Logitech G7 Laser mouse
and monitor and stuff
 
Ok ok, wow thanks :)

Let's see, taking into consideration a lot of stuff said here, i've come up with a slightly changed setup. This is from pcspecialist.co.uk (thanks Flame-returns). This one is £1800 so well priced for my budget:

AMD® ATHLON® 64BIT X2 4800 1MB L2 Cache

2048 MB DDR400 PC3200 WITH LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)

ASUS® A8N-SLI DELUXE: DUAL DDR, S-ATA, 2 x x16 VGA, 3 PCI

SATA 74 GB HARD DISK @ 10000rpm 8mb cache

SATA 200 GB HARD DISK @ 7200rpm 8mb cache

16X DVD ROM WITH 48X CD ROM

4x +R DUAL LYR DVD WRITER (16x +/-R) (& RW) + 40x CD-RW (£25)

256MB GEFORCE 7800 GTX PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT (they don't do the 512 mb version yet)

SoundBlaster Audigy 4 7.1 24-bit Player: £39

ONBOARD LAN & WIRELESS 802.11G NETWORK CARD (£13)

INTERNAL 7 IN 1 CARD READER WITH 1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Silver Neon Bubble case + Neon Extreme Kit! (sounds ghey but looks great)

550W DUAL RAIL PSU, 120mm fan & 19.2 dBA CPU Cooler - for SLI (£45)

MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® XP HOME (inc. original CD & licence) (£59)




Also Dunc i looked at OCuk before but this one is actually quite tempting:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/full_systems.html

The £1249.00 one? [edit]Sorry the AMD £1249.00 one :ouch:[/]
 
For your second HD, I'd highly recommend a Maxtor Diamondmax 10. For the same price as the competitors, you get a cache that is twice as large (16mb vs. 8mb). Makes a big difference in load times (although you have the Raptor for that). But, you might as well get the better hard drive if it has no cost drawbacks.

Otherwise, I'd opt for 1gb faster ram instead of 2gb of pc3200. I could see the pc3200 becoming a system bottleneck given the high performance parts on the rest of the system.
 
Unfortunately all they offer at pcspecialist.co.uk is pc3200 ram. Their prices are so good (a similar specced pc from Alienware costs £600 more), that i think i'm gonna have to go with them. I supposed i could always buy some better ram later on, i don't really want to mess around inside the case too soon after buying as i want to keep the warranty for as long as possible.
 
donbenni
AMD® ATHLON® 64BIT X2 4800 1MB L2 Cache
Good choice. 👍

2048 MB DDR400 PC3200 WITH LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
With the limited options you have, I'd go with this. 👍

ASUS® A8N-SLI DELUXE: DUAL DDR, S-ATA, 2 x x16 VGA, 3 PCI
Good choice. I'd also look at MSI's product line. 👍

SATA 74 GB HARD DISK @ 10000rpm 8mb cache
Get two for RAID 0. 👍

SATA 200 GB HARD DISK @ 7200rpm 8mb cache
Not really necessary in a gaming machine. You could get the 500gig Hitachi later on down the road, and it would be a nicer HDD. It's not comparible to Raptors, though. 👍

16X DVD ROM WITH 48X CD ROM
Generic, works. 👍

4x +R DUAL LYR DVD WRITER (16x +/-R) (& RW) + 40x CD-RW (£25)
Generic, works. 👍

256MB GEFORCE 7800 GTX PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT (they don't do the 512 mb version yet)
Awwwwwww... 👎 :D

SoundBlaster Audigy 4 7.1 24-bit Player: £39
Good card, but you should strive for X-Fi. 👍

ONBOARD LAN & WIRELESS 802.11G NETWORK CARD (£13)
You have to pay for onboard? WTF? :scared:

INTERNAL 7 IN 1 CARD READER WITH 1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
Generic, works. 👍

Silver Neon Bubble case + Neon Extreme Kit! (sounds ghey but looks great)
Umm...ok. 👍

550W DUAL RAIL PSU, 120mm fan & 19.2 dBA CPU Cooler - for SLI (£45)
Sufficient. 👍

MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® XP HOME (inc. original CD & licence) (£59)
Sufficient. 👍
Click to expand...

:D
 
donbenni
Ok ok, wow thanks :)

Let's see, taking into consideration a lot of stuff said here, i've come up with a slightly changed setup. This is from pcspecialist.co.uk (thanks Flame-returns). This one is £1800 so well priced for my budget:

AMD® ATHLON® 64BIT X2 4800 1MB L2 Cache

2048 MB DDR400 PC3200 WITH LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)

ASUS® A8N-SLI DELUXE: DUAL DDR, S-ATA, 2 x x16 VGA, 3 PCI

SATA 74 GB HARD DISK @ 10000rpm 8mb cache

SATA 200 GB HARD DISK @ 7200rpm 8mb cache

16X DVD ROM WITH 48X CD ROM

4x +R DUAL LYR DVD WRITER (16x +/-R) (& RW) + 40x CD-RW (£25)

256MB GEFORCE 7800 GTX PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT (they don't do the 512 mb version yet)

SoundBlaster Audigy 4 7.1 24-bit Player: £39

ONBOARD LAN & WIRELESS 802.11G NETWORK CARD (£13)

INTERNAL 7 IN 1 CARD READER WITH 1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Silver Neon Bubble case + Neon Extreme Kit! (sounds ghey but looks great)

550W DUAL RAIL PSU, 120mm fan & 19.2 dBA CPU Cooler - for SLI (£45)

MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® XP HOME (inc. original CD & licence) (£59)


[/]
Click to expand...

I would suggest:

AMD® ATHLON® 64BIT X2 4800 1MB L2 Cache

2048 MB DDR400 PC3200 WITH LIFETIME WARRANTY!

ASUS® A8N-SLI DELUXE: DUAL DDR, S-ATA, 2 x x16 VGA, 3 PCI

SATA 74 GB HARD DISK @ 10000rpm 8mb cache

SATA 250 GB HARD DISK @ 7200rpm 8mb cache

16X DVD ROM WITH 48X CD ROM

4x +R DUAL LYR DVD WRITER (16x +/-R) (& RW) + 40x CD-RW (£25)

256MB GEFORCE 7800GT PCI Express (SPECIAL OFFER)

(SLI) Graphics Card 2

256MB GEFORCE 7800GT PCI Express (SPECIAL OFFER)

SoundBlaster Audigy 4 7.1 24-bit Player: £39

ONBOARD LAN & WIRELESS 802.11G NETWORK CARD (£13)

INTERNAL 7 IN 1 CARD READER WITH 1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Silver Neon Bubble case + Neon Extreme Kit!

550W DUAL RAIL PSU, 120mm fan & 19.2 dBA CPU Cooler - for SLI (£45)

MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® XP HOME (inc. original CD & licence) (£59)


£1995 in total
 
Flame-returns
It's a wireless adapter PCI card, by onboard it means it doesnt stick out of the case, as far as I know no motherboard has built in WiFi :D .
Click to expand...

Onboard refers to something being on the Motherboard. What I think you are referring to is whether or not the Wireless NIC has an external or internal antenna. But, you might also be referring to if it's an external (USB or other) Wireless NIC or just a PCI slot internal one.
 
toyomatt84
Onboard refers to something being on the Motherboard. What I think you are referring to is whether or not the Wireless NIC has an external or internal antenna. But, you might also be referring to if it's an external (USB or other) Wireless NIC or just a PCI slot internal one.
Click to expand...
some mobo manufacturers sell an additional wireless card that plugs into a special port on the mobo... MSI has one specifically for a wifi card that you can order from who knows where
 
This wifi card is a PCI card i presume, and the motherboard has an ethernet port. The £13 is for the wifi card, not for the ethernet port :P

Ok, i've got a good idea on the CPU (4800+) and RAM (2gig) and the rest, the biggest question now is one 7800GTX or two 7800GTs?

If i get one 7800GTX should have sufficient power to play all the latest games at a good spec right? Then when things get a little hairy in a years time i can buy another one.

From what i've read about this, 2x7800GTs will be major overkill i.e. 100+fps. What do people know about this? I'm pretty set on the 7800GTX for now.

Hopefully gonna order this pc this weekend, so i need to start making some decisions!
 
Getting the 7800GTX is cheaper than 2x7800GTs by about £150 [edit: on the site i'm looking at buying from it's actually £200 more expensive /]. The 512 MB version of the GTX is £528! That's more expensive than the SLi GTs. Youch.

I think i'll just go with the GTX unless anyone else has any opinions(?)
 
donbenni
Getting the 7800GTX is cheaper than 2x7800GTs by about £150 [edit: on the site i'm looking at buying from it's actually £200 more expensive /]. The 512 MB version of the GTX is £528! That's more expensive than the SLi GTs. Youch.

I think i'll just go with the GTX unless anyone else has any opinions(?)
Click to expand...

To give you an example: I run a system with 1 gig DDR2-710 ram, PCI-Ex 6800GT, P4 3.2ghz, 2x74gig Raptors, 2x200gig Caviars, Audigy 2ZS Platinum.... I can run every new title with atleast 30fps with the highest resolution settings. That's with two monitors as well (not that the game is on both, but it takes power to have both operating on something.)
 
You should really spend a few extra bucks to go for an X-Fi Xtreme Music sound card, Mine is awsome, and people say it is stil a big improvement over the Audigy 4.

Also, get a Maxtor Diamondmax 10 with the 16mb cache. 👍
 

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