27-08-2005 23:47									#1
	Building a new computer Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I keep wanting to get a new machine but lack of money or dilusions of satisfaction with my current set up keep getting in my way. I was days away from getting a Powerbook when Mac announced they'd be going with Intel, so I've decided to hold fire on the laptop front until then.

Meantime, I reckon I can build a respectable system for less than £800... preferably as close to £600 as possible. Peripherals aren't an issue. I've been looking around and this is what I've earmarked so far:

Case: Antec TX640B-UK £73.96
Motherboard: K8N Neo4 Platinum (939) £80.20
Soundcard: SB Audigy 2 Value £28.21
Graphics: XFX 6600GT £105.00
Hard Disk: DiamondMax Plus10 200Gb S150 £58.82
RAM: Corsair Value Select DDR400 PC3200 £76.26 (2x512Mb)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000 (1.8Ghz) £107.10
DVDRW: LiteOn SOHW-1673S-02C £22.98
OS: Windows XP Home £59.15


Grand total: £611.68

Any thoughts?

The main use for this box would be your usual work/internet stuff, with some gaming. I'm not a massive gamer but I do like to cause the occasional spot of carnage now and again, this is one of two reasons I don't like my current box. It's nearly 3 years old, P4 2.8GHz w/512Mb DDRRAM, noisy 60Gb hard disk, paltry Geforce FX 5500 (what the **** was I thinking). The whole thing sounds like Rubens Barrichello having a multiple orgasm.

A quiet system is important then, which is why some may think the graphics card and processor are underspecified, especially considering that the motherboard would be at home in a system costing twice as much.

Some possible enhancements could be the GA-K8NXP-9
motherboard which sounds a lot better, but costs ~£110. I'm keen on putting two hard disks in as well but that's just a useless niceity really. Would I get any significant benefit by using Windows XP Pro X64 edition? I've researched it and drivers wouldn't be an issue.

I'm open to spending ~£200 on a graphics card... especially since 6800's are falling in price now the 7800 is out... but not if it'll make things way too loud.

I'm not going to bother with a faster processor until dual-cores come down in price a bit... I think the cheapest AMD Athlon 64 X2 is around the £300 mark. There's no point in spending more money now if I'll only upgrade a year down the line.

	27-08-2005 23:50									#2
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prices in US dollars please

	27-08-2005 23:58									#3
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

$1 ~ £0.70

The total price would be around the $875 mark, I can't be bothered to convert the price of each individual component though.

	28-08-2005 00:07									#4
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Why don't you go for the cheaper option and just upgrade your current system with a new video card, more RAM, a new harddrive and possibly a quieter power supply?

	28-08-2005 00:08									#5
	Full PM-box? Change here!

£73.96 for a case seems rather steep.

	28-08-2005 00:12									#6
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Why don't you go for the cheaper option and just upgrade your current system with a new video card, more RAM, a new harddrive and possibly a quieter power supply?

The processor in mine is sitting in an obsolete chipset, I can't get much better with the AGP 4x slot my graphics card is in. Current system is full of bottlenecks, the beauty of the suggested system is that where there are bottlenecks, upgrading wont be a problem for the foreseeable future .

quote: £73.96 for a case seems rather steep.

True, but it comes with a PSU. From what I've read, the choice of case has a big impact on cooling (for obvious reasons) and also noise since some cases are better at dampening vibrations. Better airflow of course helps to reduce noise.

My ideal case would be the Lian Li PC-V1000A for ~£135 . Beautiful anodised aluminium, thick panels.
http://www.chillblast.com/product.p...8&cat=83&page=1

	28-08-2005 00:19									#7
	Suffering from ads?

Is that motherboard an MSI?

I'd go for the ABIT AX8 board, should be the same price, but with a better design. And if you're after value RAM anyway, you could save a few more quid by choosing Kingston. Corsair only works if you go for the high-end stuff.

	28-08-2005 00:34									#8
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Yes, tis an MSI. I would prefer nforce 4 ultra to take advantage of the SATA-II drive.

I'm looking for the AX8 now but I found this in the meantime:

http://www.chillblast.com/product.p...&cat=101&page=1

What do you think?

	28-08-2005 00:47									#9
	Remove this text

If you want the nForce chipset, I recommend ASUS. Its A8N-SLI boards seem to offer better performance than the ABIT's Fatality boards. The ASUS board is a more expensive though, ~125 pounds.

	28-08-2005 01:07									#10
	Tired of ads?

Indeed I see it... I won't be going for SLI though since I think it's overkill for what I want and also because of noise considerations. As graphics cards get more powerful, I think that SLI and Crossfire will become redundant before too long.

It doesn't really justify the extra expense imo if I'm not going to go for SLI.

	28-08-2005 06:01									#11
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

--"Any thoughts? "

Overall a pretty decent set for the budget. Only one thing I'd really suggest a change on, and that's the soundcard. If you're not a huge gamer and don't need all the latest Creative Labs proprietary baloney, skip them. They tend to have a lot of compatibility and quality problems. Not to mention the company has a horrible reputation based on their past actions, and shouldn't be supported in any way whatsoever ^_^

I'd suggest going with something like the X Mystique (if you're planning to do some PVR type stuff with the box) or the M-Audio Revolution 5.1 or 7.1.

Wraith
"Once they have you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about your answers."
-- Thomas Pynchon

	28-08-2005 06:10									#12
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

post a pic of that case... what's so special about it?

I paid like $100 for my case, but it's awesome...

	28-08-2005 06:17									#13
	Suffering from ads?

quote: post a pic of that case... what's so special about it?

Christ Sava, you're a lazy ****!

	28-08-2005 06:22									#14
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

well duh...

plus it's your thread... you post the pics!

eh?

so what, like $100 for that? is my math right?

what's so special about it?

what kind of fans does it come with?

does it have a transparent side?

cmon get with the program here!

	28-08-2005 06:32									#15
	Inflate your Upload Space

Thats the Lian Li PC-V1000A which would be my dream case. The main benefit that I can gather is that it mounts everything upside down... the MB is on the left not the right and the HDD and PSU have their own enclosures with specific cooling. I think it's a more logical arrangement for cooling, though it's odd that it doesn't have an exhaust fan at the top. Cooling is 2x 120mm fans which is nice though I'd probably replace them with LED fans.


The Antec case I'm most likely to get is fugly but it comes with a 400W PSU, good connectivity, a CPU sleeve for airflow over the top of the CPU... a cutout at the side for a fan over the GPU, a fan mount in front of the HDD.



http://www.antec.com/uk/productDetails.php?ProdID=11641

	28-08-2005 06:38									#17
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I slap you!

	28-08-2005 06:39									#18
	Get a bigger avatar today!

with a trout?

	28-08-2005 06:43									#19
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Yes. Repeatedly.

	28-08-2005 07:00									#21
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

What's your case like?

	28-08-2005 07:10									#22
	Got spare money?

here:



link: http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCas...ami/bwa/bwa.htm

	28-08-2005 07:22									#23
	Remove this text

Not bad

If I were to have a side window it would have be full of LED's... I love blinking lights. Trouble is that it wouldn't be tastefully understated which is important for modding to work so I just wouldn't bother.

	28-08-2005 08:45									#24
	Full PM-box? Change here!

I recentely upgraded - my computer started smoking then wouldn't boot . Anyway i have that exact CPU now, the mobo I ended up with being an asus A8V, the onboard sound is a little borked. I can't quite remember why I didn't go with a nforce chipset, maybe temporary insanity or the A8V was the best performance/price tradeoff with AGP rather than PCIe (since I'm using a AGP videocard and doesn't look like PCIe will be good for anything for 2+ years...)

Anyway the AMD64 is good . Doesn't do anything special ofcourse but it's nice and fast in 32bit emulation and I can say I'm using a 64bit OS w/ Linux. Might have to look into getting a 6600GT looks very solid for the price and my video card is due for an upgrade.

	28-08-2005 09:17									#25
	Got spare money?

Whaleboy - I have some reservations about the mobo you chose. I have the exact same one from MSI, but I am having some strange subtle problems that I am unable to pinpoint so far.

First, the box freezes suddenly, unexpectedly, and solidly. I ran memtest86 and other sorts of fun stuff but everything seems to be fine.

Second, I can't copy large amounts of stuff from one HDD to another (on the same controller) without the computer hanging in the middle somewhere.

Third, my Liteon DVD combo drives would deteriorate slowly, however when I brought them back for repairs they worked splendidly on the tester's machine.

	28-08-2005 22:58									#26
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Scary stuff UR, do you think it could be a cooling issue?

Well you've put the final nail in the MSI coffin for me, I think I'll go for the Abit AN8 Ultra I linked to earlier. It's only £6 more expensive and seems to be more than worth it.

	28-08-2005 23:30									#27
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I've got an Asus A8V Deluxe with an Athlon 64 3500+

UR is right...

I would recommend researching your mobo very carefully. Go to a lot of review sites.

	29-08-2005 01:18									#28
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

My A8V is weird, the onboard sound generally works fine in games and stuff, but the microphone and line in don't work - if I plug in the microphone it just records line out and line in does much the same. The asus sound manager thing gives mostly incoherent yet sometimes correct reading. I'll probably just get a dedicated sound card at some point. Other than the onboard sound the mobo seems to be rock solid.

	29-08-2005 01:29									#29
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

meh

I've got a SB Audigy 2 Platinum ZS

onboard audio sucks

no matter what the mobo

	29-08-2005 04:07									#30
	Re: Building a new computer Increase the size of your Attachments

quote: Originally posted by Whaleboy OS: Windows XP Home £59.15

I have an idea to save you £59.15 straight away