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Planning a new computer for a friend of mine
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Katzhuu
Junior Member
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5. August 2006 @ 09:25 |
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Hi,
I am planning a new system for a freind of mine who is even more noobish on building PCs than I am. Anyways, here is what I've come up so far:
1. Price range max 2500£ (listed prices in Euros, I live in Finland he in England...)
2. Gaming PC
3. Silence is not required as long as it is not like sitting next to Niagara falls.
4. NO OVERCLOCKING needed
I'd probably go for the Conroes, but I really doubt they will be available by the time the computer is needed, so I chose AMD instead.
Here are the parts so far: (I left the drives out, cause I don't know crap about them, please be free to suggest something)
MoBo: Abit AN9 32X Fatal1ty AM2 nF590-SLI, 210,9 EUR
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 295,9 EUR
Graphics: Gainward 7920-BLISS GF7950 GX2 PCI-E, 618,9 EUR
RAM: KINGSTON KVR800D2E5K2 ValueRAM DDR2 2048MB (2X1GB) PC800 CL5 DIMM ECC KIT, 398,9 EUR
Case: Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA 132,9 EUR
PSU: Antec True Power II 550W EPS, 131,9 EUR
Things I am slightly worried about is cooling (does it require Liquid cooling) and PSU (that Graphics card guzzles Watts like computer techs do red bull).
At the moment he has 19 inch tft, should he get a bigger one to be able to get everything out of his graphics? He is planning on using his old screen.
This computer actually leaves plenty of room on the budget, but the budget was only the total max.
Give me your thoughts.
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AE27
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5. August 2006 @ 09:41 |
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As long as the case has plenty of fans for ventilation you should be fine. You wont need water cooling unless he wants to overclock. As for the power supply you may want to go with something a little higher.
Dont let the door hit you on the way out, beacause I dont want ass prints on my new door!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. August 2006 @ 09:42
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2 product reviews
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5. August 2006 @ 10:18 |
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Quote:
RAM: KINGSTON KVR800D2E5K2 ValueRAM DDR2 2048MB (2X1GB) PC800 CL5 DIMM ECC KIT, 398,9 EUR
Value ram? hmmm, i'd get some corsair XMS2
Quote:
Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA 132,9 EUR
beautiful case, but incredibley flimsy. Also it has 1 120mm intake blowing directly onto the HDD's, 1 120mm exhaust fan on the back and 1 92mm intake fan on the side.
Quote:
At the moment he has 19 inch tft, should he get a bigger one to be able to get everything out of his graphics?
depends on the resolution, though i doubt it as all 19" TFT's i've seen are 1280x1024 max res. and with that graphics card, all games bar oblivion are playable at a higher res with all eye-candy turned up
EDIT: for a monitor i'd recomend a Viewsonic VP2030b which has a max res of 1600x1200.
"Software is like sex. It's better when it's free." -Linus Torvalds
System:
X2 4600 AM2|Asus M2N32-SLi-Deluxe |Leadtek 7950 @550/700|2GB XMS2 6400 C4 TwinX (2X1GB)|Logitech G7|Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty|SpeedLink Medusa SL-8793|Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM 36GB|Western Digital Caviar 500GB x 2|Tagan EasyConn 580W|BenQ DW 1655|Maxtor 80GB|Hitatchi 250GB|Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-3000|BenQ FP241W
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. August 2006 @ 10:35
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Katzhuu
Junior Member
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7. August 2006 @ 14:00 |
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AE27:
Any suggestions for the PSU?
tailschao:
RAM: Thanks for the suggestion, I'll tell him to buy that
Monitor: If my friend won't get a new monitor, will that kick-ass graphics card actually help him much? The resolution (1280*1024) is pretty low on his old one and I think some cheaper card could handle that big resolution well enough.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. August 2006 @ 14:01
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Senior Member
3 product reviews
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8. August 2006 @ 02:02 |
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Thermaltake make good cases, but the airflow on them is not the best, that case has a few flimsy bits and the case fans are noisy.
As for power supply, I would recommend a higher powered unit or think about having a dedicated PSU just for the graphics, something like the FSP booster x3.
P.S The 5000 AM2 only has 2x512KB cache, for some reason AMD have only put the 2x1MB cache on the FX62.
If it was me abuilding a new system I would look at Conroe CPUs full stop.
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Katzhuu
Junior Member
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8. August 2006 @ 02:20 |
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Thanks BigDK,
I'll look into those PSUs you mentioned.
Have you got any suggestion for the case to replace the Thermaltake one?
And yeah, I'd suggest him to have the Conroe too, but I don't hink they will be out in time for him, so I'll just tell him to stick with the AMDs. Thinking about that FX-62 too, but I think it is a bit too expensive for the advantages it gives (especially when you compare it with the Conroes...).
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2 product reviews
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8. August 2006 @ 02:51 |
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hang on a sec... your friend lives in england right? if so
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Intel_Pentium_Core_Duo2.html
has most of the conroes in stock.
If he's only playing at 1280x1024, then a less powerful card would be ample. Something like a 7600GT perhaps
as for drives, i've had my BenQ DW 1655 for a couple of months, and i can't find anything to complain about, excelent burner. Hard drives depend on how much data he has. Does he download much? mostly 250GB would be enough
"Software is like sex. It's better when it's free." -Linus Torvalds
System:
X2 4600 AM2|Asus M2N32-SLi-Deluxe |Leadtek 7950 @550/700|2GB XMS2 6400 C4 TwinX (2X1GB)|Logitech G7|Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty|SpeedLink Medusa SL-8793|Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM 36GB|Western Digital Caviar 500GB x 2|Tagan EasyConn 580W|BenQ DW 1655|Maxtor 80GB|Hitatchi 250GB|Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-3000|BenQ FP241W
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Senior Member
3 product reviews
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8. August 2006 @ 03:18 |
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Senior Member
3 product reviews
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8. August 2006 @ 07:17 |
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Senior Member
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8. August 2006 @ 07:43 |
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@bigDK- that dell monitor has a response time of 16ms, which isn't good for gaming. for the uk, check out the BenQ 20" TFT LCD monitor. it has an 800:1 contrast ratio, 350 cd/m2 brightness and an 8ms response time + dvi-d for 260 pounds (exluding VAT). Link:http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/20_Inch_LCD_Monitors.html
P.S. the dell monitor is 20 pounds cheaper there too.
Intel C2D E8400|Asus P5Q Pro|Diamond Radeon HD 4850|WD 640GB SATA 2| Pioner DVR-215BK|2GB Corsair PC 6400| Corsair HX-520|Antec Three Hundred
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. August 2006 @ 07:44
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Senior Member
3 product reviews
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8. August 2006 @ 09:13 |
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The Dell 20" on Overclockers is the 2007 model, these have problems on the DVI as I noted before.
I did debate putting any info on a monitor on the list, but thought that something was better than nothing.
I'm sure that there are plenty of good displays far better than what I listed for gaming.
There are some from ViewSonic http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19...
which have 4ms response time and are supposed to be very good for gaming, but I have found most people are only interested in widescreen displays at the moment
I used an Apple 23" Widescreen before, and that only had 16ms response time, and I can't say I ever saw any issues when gaming, however the monitor did set me back £800 and that was with a big discount.
That was sold to make way for a new Dell 24" 2407 which turned up a week ago, I was using a ViewSonic monitor inbetween and that was also top quality IMO.
So far that is the dog nuts for size and quality.
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