Gonna build a new computer.....

[Lusted]

..and need you tech guys advice on the parts im thinking of getting, and whether i've got everything. My budget is between £500-£600, the parts come in slightly more than that but im hoping my parents can put some money towards it.

Case

DVD drive

GPU

HDD

Mother board

Processor

RAM

Sound card

[OTZ]

Given your budget, those are some good choices. If you want to save money you can cut the Sound Card out, and drop the CPU to a 3800 (and just OC it 200 mhz so that it is the same as the 4200), and maybe save another 20 by using your old case . You can then put the savings towards 2GB of RAM.

[Lusted]

My current case is 5 years old, i could use a new one. And im not going to do overclocking as i just can't be bothered really. Im going to keep the sound card though.

[bigfootedfred]

My current case is 5 years old, i could use a new one.
And im not going to do overclocking as i just can't be bothered really. Im going to keep the sound card though.

http://www.xcase.co.uk/

[Spurius]

Maybe get one of those newer X-FI soundcards (altho nothing wrong with the Audigy)? And maybe consider a mobo without fancy onboard VGA and sound, if you're not going to use it - probably comes at the expense of other features.

[Frost, colonel]

Not bad at all Lusted!
Your choice of sound card at £46, I have seen the creative Xi Fi for £56 OEM (Overclockers.co .uk)which will support EAX 5 etc, I would go for the latest tech at a similar price and down load the drivers if it doesn't come with any.

Your CPU choice, do you intend to do a little overclocking at some point? as it's only a 2.2gig although a very decent price/value and more things should start to use dual core.

That case, wow that is budget, personally, the included 350 watt power supply, would you trust it to produce decent stable power? considering your choice of powerfull Hardware!
I am in a similar position in that a budget requires compromise somewhere, the fact is what you can and can't get away with.
Anyway good luck with your buy!

OCZ, considering the system is good but still a budget PC, surely Lusted wouldn't really benefit from 2 gig of Ram? I would look at an even faster GPU if possible, because that is where the gaming gremlins will kick him in the nuts first!

[Lusted]

I've already decided on the new case im using, check the first post.

What other mother boards could you guys recommend then?

EDIT: yeah i am slightly worried about the power supply, but once again what can you guys recomend to me, King Edward 1 helped me with selecting all the parts in my first post.

[Frost, colonel]

EDIT: yeah i am slightly worried about the power supply, but once again what can you guys recomend to me, King Edward 1 helped me with selecting all the parts in my first post.

How long do you plan on keeping the PC 2-3yrs? Q-Tec do a 650 watt for £23, a bit cheap for me, hope it wouldn't blow up, but if your on a tight budget(I hate budgets as I always want to spend more to get the best performance/life).

Recently at work several peoples PSU's have failed so I like quality.

Personally I am intending to get the decent Seasonic 600w@£95 so I can upgrade now, and also hopefully take it into a new PC in about 1 year.

[Spurius]

Asus M2N4 SLI will essentially trade you the VGA for SLI, is newer, and just a few quid more. Good brand choice in any case, ASUS.

[Lusted]

I plan on keeping the pc for a few years, so im thinking a psu in the 450w-600w range might be good.

[Shaun]

Well Lusted, everthing seems good enough by far. But, try and get a 512mb card, the 7900GT is fast enough to make use of that much memory.
Also, try and get a slightly faster CPU, I am geting a 2.6 for not much more than you are paying for yours here.

[Lusted]

That is not a bad processor at all, but i can't really afford that much of an increase in cost. And i looked into a 512mb card, but it didn't have some of the features needed for M2TW. Plus the 256 is the best i can really get in my budget.

[Incinerate_IV]

You should go with Intel instead of AMD, since the current Core 2 Duo processors is far superior than any AMD processors.

[Lusted]

But can i get somethnig for the same price as the AMD processor im currently going for with the same performance?

[Incinerate_IV]

Even the cheapest one of the Core 2 Duos (the E6300) has better performance than the X2 4200.

[Lusted]

So something like this: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=439209

[Frost, colonel]

Incinerate_IV, is correct, generally the 1.86Ghz Conroe is faster than the 2.2Ghz AMD(sad but true), the Conroe's could be seen as a bit of a must for R.T.S players according to the review I just read, I'll be getting one at some point and they seem to love a bit of an overclock, see hear: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=2802

[Spurius]

Didn't want to start about it before, but would indeed be a better choice - although the real fun starts with the 6600 I think, with 4megs cache beside thi higher clockspeed - is ofcourse nearly double the price - but in the whole range of Conroes by far the best deal IMO.

You could consider getting a mobo with decent onboard sound (5.1 or preferably 7.1) and forget about the audigy, would leave you 50 short, but as a longterm investment you'd make a far wiser choice, I think..

[Lusted]

How easy will it be to overclock the 1.86ghz conroe, as it does look like the best choice.

Oh, and im thinking this for the case: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/99442/rb/21151026175 or this: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/103063/rb/21151026175

Though i could use some help on the mother board front as im not quite sure what im looking for.

[Reidy]

How does this card compare as an alternative GPU?

In a test it was shown to outperform the 7900 GTX on most occasions. http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...ce/default.asp