Ballistic

My current pc is 1.5 years old (AMD Thunderbird 1.4G W98 based system) and I'm thinking of giving it to the kids and building a new one from scratch, for playing the latest games on.
So being a bit out of touch with all the latest stuff, I'm after recommendations for processor, m/board, RAM type, OS, graphics card, monitor, etc.
I don't want to spend the earth so I'm looking for high spec/good value kit.

ADP

If you want to add a nice touch, buy a silent processor fan and psu from www.quietpc.com

makes the world of difference to the noise levels, just done it myself

rjs1000

Just ordered (bearing in mind its used (by someone) most of the day every day... & must last me another 3/4 years minimum):

Asus P4G8X Mainboard
Pentium 4 - 3.06HT Processor
Corsair 2 matched 512 PC2700LL
Geforce4 4600 (will buy a ATI 9800AIW when they release one...)

and shes going to fly....

(all bought on the barclaycard of course so when the price of the processor is £100 less in 60 days i get it back from their price promise )

[Edited by rjs1000 - 3/23/2003 12:10:13 AM]

suba

if you gonna go for the AMD CPU, get the latest "barton" athlon. for m/board, have a look at the asus A7N8X which use the Nforce 2 chipset. for graphic card, have a look at asus V9280S Ti4200 or crucial radeon 9700 pro.

Ballistic

Thanx for the recommendations so far.
They always say a Pc is only as fast as its weakest link, so in current Pc design where is the bottle neck that limits bandwidth?

super_si

Depends on what your gonna pay.

mine cost £1600 , thats just for everything in the case.

can run anything and everything extremly quick.

Si

rjs1000

ballistic - basically the hard disk, and apart for paying hundreds for an scsi setup the only option is to wait about a month from now when western digitals 'raptor' SATA 10k rpm (IDE) drive should be hitting the shelfs.

Ill certainly be getting one...

super_si

Would you buy the 1st hardware version of a product.

i know i wouldnt

rjs1000

Hardly first hardware version - all standard except a better motor & improved electronics

Besides:
5YR warrenty
Proven performance

(suppose u consider an sti8 a first hardware version )

[Edited by rjs1000 - 3/23/2003 3:34:07 PM]

super_si

No its an improvement on a later model

Serial ATA is a new hardware form?

I wont be buying it for at least a year till its sorted and no **** ups

Si

Miles

I've been looking at this little lot from Ebuyer for my new beast:
Qty Product Description QuickFind Cost Line Cost
1 x Liteon 48x24x48 IDE Internal CD-RW Drive - Retail Box 44457 £33.81
1 x Seagate Barracuda 80Gb 7200rpm UDMA100 Hard Drive - OEM 36369 £59.99
1 x Microsoft Internet Keyboard 105 Keys Ps2 40437 £12.48
1 x A7N8X SKT A Nforce2 Chipset Motherboard 44193 £72.22
1 x AMD ATHLON XP2200+ 266MHz FSB - OEM 39529 £63.33
1 x Relisys Tl761 17ins Tft 0.26 With 3year Onsite Warranty 46212 £269.62
1 x 256mb PC2700 DDR PC333 36557 £21.99
1 x Leadtek GeForce4 Ti 4200 8x Tv-out 64mb DDR Retail Box 45515 £98.75

Carriage £8.49
Subtotal £640.68
VAT £112.16
Order Total £752.84

Not bad, can't find an off shelf PC that will match it....

super_si

dunno im not keen on GPU or the ram tbh.

Si

P1 Enthusiast

Buy an Athlon XP2100+, SLK800 and a 30CFM 80mm fan, then your cpu will overclock to 2300 MhZ which is the equivalent of 3 gig! Much better and faster than a barton also!

Btw how the hell does that barclay card promise work?

Miles

Unfortunately, I'm working to a budget of £750 for everything (minus case) and this seemed to be the best compromise I could come with. Apparently the 4200 can be overclocked up to similar performance of a 4600, which is nice.

P1 - Interesting <fires up www.ebuyer.com for a quote>

super_si

tbh im working at the same budget mate, ive come up with using one them shuttles

Dual DDR400 and XP2500 barton Core. Should be pretty fast actually. Onboard Geforce 4 aswell. So one less worry.

Si

Miles

A Shuttle may be a possibility purely for the the size. Those onboard graphics, are they based on the MX440 or the 4x00 nVidea graphics? The status I've seen rate even the 4200 above the MX 440.

Generally, I don't go for onboard graphics...

super_si

Same here. but dogmaul brought his round to mine and we did a LAN game or c&c Generals.

Not a problem it handled the game super. No lag or anything. Thats why im getting one aswell now. its a super Solution. Im thinking selling my pc altogether and also getting me one.

Si

Miles

Hmm, as long as it'll play GTA 3 Do they have an AGP port?

BUT, on further reflection I was considering a industry standard PC to prevent any issues that may arise in the future when I come to upgrade.

super_si

yes it does have AGP aswell mate

Si

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

I understand that you are working to a budget, but here are 2 little bits of advice from me.

If you want a very quick drive, then give the barracuda a miss, reliable, but hardly a stonker in the performance department.
Be warned when it comes to VGA overclocking, it is very hit and miss. You will be lucky to get a Ti4200 that overclocks to 4600 levels in either the core or RAM department without lockups or sever artifacting. You may get one, you may well not. Obviously, some are better than others, but don't expect perfect overclocking results, just try it and see how well it goes Trust me on this

Cheers,

Nick

Miles

Cheers for the advice guys, have gone for:

1 x NEC 1560VM 15ins TFT 0.29 60KHz TCO99 Ivory Multimedia with 3year Onsite Warranty 44614 £226.69
1 x AMD ATHLON XP2100+ Boxed Inc Heatsink & Fan with 3year Warranty 32545 £67.68
1 x Samsung 256mb PC3200 400Mhz Original DDR 184pin 42027 £45.36
1 x A7N8X Deluxe SKT A NForce2 Chipset Motherboard 43223 £96.35
1 x Liteon 48x24x48 IDE Internal CD-RW Drive - Retail Box 44457 £33.81
1 x Gainward GeForce4 TI4200 64MB DDR PowerPack Ultra/650-8X AGP With TV-Out £96.82
1 x Diamondmax Plus 9 80Gb 7200rpm 8mb Cache ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM 43151 £70.24
1 x Alps Floppy Disk Drive 1.44MB 3.5 inch internal - OEM 22905 £4.50
1 x Optronix RF Keyboard & Mouse 44187 £22.72

Should shift a bit

P1 Enthusiast

Good call on the CPU. Trust me it will clock lovely.

Footlong have you seen the new hercules 9800 pics? *Drool* Has a nuts board and great LED on it, its gonna own in my window case!

Ballistic

Following the suggestions on here and doing a bit of research I'm heading towards:
AMD Athlon XP2700+
Asus A7N8X (nvidea nforce 2 cs) + 512MB DDR333
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Hitachi CML174SXW 17" TFT
A SATA hard-drive (size & make not yet determined)
Creative Audigy player

Any recommendations for case, DVD, CD-RW, and which O/S is best for games.

rjs1000

P1 Enth...> buy anything over £50 and within 60 days if u find it cheaper at another retailer they refund the difference (up to £500).

Its really easy as well - just call em up give them the details then mail them your BC statement & receipt & name of retailer selling it cheaper...

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Miles, when you can, get another identical stick of that RAM. No point in not using the Dual Channel DDR features of that motherboard even if the performance benefits aren't great from that on the Nvidia boards, 256 will choke a little on the newer games.

P1 Enthusiast

Ballistic,

a) Wait till 9800 pro in the shops, might be replacing 9700 pro prices etc.

b) The XP2700+ is pointless, the 2100 will clock to the same speed as it! Spend the difference on an SLK800 and decent fan which you can keep and use again for your next cpu etc.

gallagher120

try

http://www.pctel.co.uk

great company! just built me a computer for £650 very pleased, but know the bloke that ownes it so got the latest stuff for a discounted price

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

P1, you are generalising far too much. NOT ALL of them will go that high, some are good overclockers and some are bad overclockers. Simple as that really. I have had as many different VGA cards and as many different CPU's as a lot of you guys have had hot dinners and nothing is ever, ever guaranteed when it comes to overclocking anything.

Cheers,

Nick

super_si

Like a certain 2.8 lol

P1 Enthusiast

Footlong, i am not talking about the wonder figures some ppl quote, but nearly any clocker with an SLK800 + decent fan is quoting 2100MhZ for a 2100, this is 2700 performance for a fraction of the price. Many ppl quote 2250ish for air clocking.

All i am saying is that the difference in CPU prices will pay for the heatsink + fan (which are reusable on his next cpu) and that it will deliver very similar if not the same performance.