First Build - Advice Please

Pedro

I know its a bit rich asking for advice on my first post but please cast your eye over my prospective system:

The only thing which i am not sure about is the motherboard, a friend of mine recomened one of the ones below but then another recommended another and since i am new to this i would like a third parties opinion.

Case: Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case (£30)
Mother Board: Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£70)
or
ASRock ConRoe 1333-eSata2 (£63)
Ram: Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (£66)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) (£110)
Graphics: EVGA GeForce 7900GS KO 256MB PCI-E (£70)
Hard Drive: Maxtor Diamondmax 21 250GB STM3250820AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (£37)
PSU: 530W Hiper HPU-4M530 SLi Ready Black (£42.24)
DVD Drive: Samsung SH-S182MBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer LightScribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM (£18)
TOTAL: £443

any other advice would be very helpful.
(any prices in GBP please ) also i would give links to appropriate component pages but im not allowed

Thrax

I'm not sure how it would change your prices, but you might want to consider these parts instead. They're a bit more reliable and/or give a large increase in features/performance for the price:

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6420
Motherboard: Asus P5K

Pedro

i think that that would blow my budget, i want to stay as close to 400 as possible (bout 800 usd)

Thrax

At the very least, consider the P5K. It's much more upgrade friendly and reliable.

Pedro

overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-242-AS

would that be ok?? (sorry still cant do links)

Leonardo

Solid! Just take note though, that it has only one standard length PCI slot. Considering that board's options and quality, it's a good UK price.

Pedro

Just take note though, that it has only one standard length PCI slot.

thanks very much people,
id be alright with the components listed above wont i?

MathsPar

Keep an eye on Scans MixIt deals for a bargain, the other week I got this RAM and processor for £170.


http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=402849
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=632054

MathsPar

Also have you considered the x1950Pro for your GPU?

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+X1900+Series/Jetway+ATi+Radeon+X1950+Pro+256MB+?productId=27834

These are things I chose last week, I think there's a 5 page thread lower down with me nagging people for help on choices lol.

Pedro

iv just read your whole thread, lol, how much did/have you spent then??

i want to keep mine as close to 400 as possible but could stretch the extra 30-40 if it means a good improvement.

MathsPar

Case:http://www.scan.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?WebProductID=651462 - £21 in a Today Only deal

Mobo:http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=600245 - £64

RAM:http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=402849

CPU:http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=632054 (RAM and CPU £175 bundle)

Graphics:http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+X1900+Series/Jetway+ATi+Radeon+X1950+Pro+256MB+?productId=27834 - £65 plus £8 postage = £73

PSU:http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=602560 - £35 in Today Only deal

Drives:http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=571851 - £23

And later decided to add another DVD drive for £12 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=635009)



Took my 400Gb drive from my old PC but you can even pick a 500GB one up for near the £50 mark now.

So in total £403. Was orginally going to spend 500-600 but through cost cutting, bargain hunting and making sure I didn't get more power than I needed (i.e Quad Core) I got the price down to that.

Also got free delivery from Scan by having a Hexus.net account.

Pedro

hmmmmm......

thanks for that, could someone suggest an area or two where i can downgrade? to get the price closer to 400??

this is what iv got planned so far...

http://www.dedicatedtv.com/spaces/pedro/compspecs.txt

Sledgehammer70

TBH the EVGA GeForce 7900GS KO 256MB PCI-E is faster thean the 8600GT

Pedro

really!!?? how does that work??

you think i should change back from the Jetway ATi Radeon X1950 Pro to the evga? (seems a stupid question)