Spec for friend - quick check please

Sandmaster500 · 6 Mar 2006 at 21:18

CPU AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM) £106.28

MOBO Asus A8N-VM S939 NVC51G/MCP51G Matx - Vga Sound Lan USB2 Fsb1000 Sata £48.84

GPU Leadtek Winfast PX6800GS-TDH256 Extreme PCI-E £154.99

RAM CRUCIAL 1GB DDR PC3200 400MHz 184-PIN UNBUFF 128MX64 Memory Modules £57.46

HD Maxtor 6L200M0 Diamond Max 10 200GB 7200RPM SATA/150 8MB Cache - OEM £57.91

CASE Antec SLK1650/mt 350w Smart ATX Black Case £44.57

DVD-RW NEC ND-4550 16x DVD±RW/RAM Double Layer Internal IDE (Black) - OEM £27.02

Keyboard Logitech Internet Pro Keyboard/ps2 Black OEM £7.42

MOUSE and MAT Microsoft Basic Optical Black Mouse - USB £8.99

SPEAKERS Logitech X-210 - 2.1 40W RMS Speakers £20.99

SCREEN Samsung SM-913N 19" LCD Monitor - Silver (MO-022-SA) £187.77

Please could someone tell me if that lot is ok? Going to be for gaming and general use for a non-tech savvy person.

Any help much appreciated

muckymick · 6 Mar 2006 at 21:28

Yeah it looks pretty well balanced,maybe change the dvd writer to the new Nec 4570.

Sandmaster500 · 6 Mar 2006 at 22:01

What is the difference between the two models? Don't think the place i'm getting it from stocks the other.

ta

muckymick · 6 Mar 2006 at 22:13

Its the latest model with 8x fast write mode,knocks about a minute off a burn at 8x and the quality of burns is improved over the 4550 model.

Also consider the benq if you can get your hands on them,they are also highly rated by forum users.

Explicit · 6 Mar 2006 at 22:23

I would change the Maxtor to any other drive. Maxtor have gone downhill recently so if your data means anything to you, get something else. Seagate for reliability, or Hitachi for speed.

Sandmaster500 · 6 Mar 2006 at 22:29

I have been of the same view. But aparently their newer ones are pretty good. Quiet, SATA II, 16mb cache. He will probably have another drive for more important data. Might set a raid up later to give him redundancy.

Think i'm going to leave the drive as is, as would mean ordering from more than one place which is a pain. Won't be used for DVD writing very much so a little loss is speed won't be hugely important. Had a look at the benq but is only in white/silver

Thanks for the input guys

Explicit · 6 Mar 2006 at 22:41

Sandmaster500 said:
I have been of the same view. But aparently their newer ones are pretty good. Quiet, SATA II, 16mb cache. He will probably have another drive for more important data. Might set a raid up later to give him redundancy.

Think i'm going to leave the drive as is, as would mean ordering from more than one place which is a pain. Won't be used for DVD writing very much so a little loss is speed won't be hugely important. Had a look at the benq but is only in white/silver

Thanks for the input guys

Oh well, I tried.

Maybe some of these might change your mind

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17545061
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17534312
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17545134
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17534575
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17535396

muckymick · 6 Mar 2006 at 22:52

I have had experience of one of the max 10's dying on a system i built for my brother in law at xmas,it lasted 10 days before it died.Certainly seems like maxtor are having quality problems at the moment.

Eliminos · 6 Mar 2006 at 22:52

Hitachis are quiet, sata2, reliable and the 500gb ones have 16mb of cache.
Samsungs are very quiet, sata2, reliable and they dont need 16mb of cache due to only being 250gb
Seagates are fairly quiet, sata2, fairly reliable and the 500gb have 16mb of cache
Western Digitals are quiet (the raptors arent), sata2, very reliable and all the big drives have 16mb of cache
Maxtors are fairly quiet, sata2, as reliable as british weather and 'omg the 250gb ones have 16mb of cache' ... so... it doesn't need it

If you want to save £5 and get a Maxtor, be it on your head. We'll try to help you in 3 months/weeks time when your Maxtor has died and you've lost all of your data.

Sandmaster500 · 7 Mar 2006 at 07:49

I agree about maxtors as i've had two personally fail! :rolleyes:

Only reason it was in there was because my another friend who's helping me (knows a fair bit) said they are quiet and fast - from reading mags.

So how about?
Western Digital WD2500KS Caviar SE 250GB 7200RPM SATA2/300 16MB Cache - OEM - £87.51
Is this the one which is actually based on old tech?
Or
Seagate ST3250824AS 250GB 7200RPM SATA300 8MB Cache - OEM - £65.77

More tempted by the seagate at the price, but is the WD a lot better?

Thanks very much

volt9291 · 7 Mar 2006 at 08:07

Sandmaster500 said:
So how about?
Western Digital WD2500KS Caviar SE 250GB 7200RPM SATA2/300 16MB Cache - OEM - £87.51

Yeah the WD is a good hd, i would go for that if i was you

Larok · 7 Mar 2006 at 08:28

Perhaps get a 2gb kit of memory, Sooner or later he's going to want it anyway. If you get something of good quality ie corsair you could also overclock the cpu for a good performance boost.

Coould you go to the 7800gt by ocuk also?

ACESHIGH · 7 Mar 2006 at 09:45

Larok said:
Perhaps get a 2gb kit of memory, Sooner or later he's going to want it anyway. If you get something of good quality ie corsair you could also overclock the cpu for a good performance boost.

Coould you go to the 7800gt by ocuk also?

Dont think he is buying from OcUK.

The 6800GS is a decent card though.

Sandmaster500 · 7 Mar 2006 at 10:25

Have got a single 1gb stick so he can easily upgrade later. 6800GS should be perfectly fine for most gaming at 1280*1080 res. Trying to keep to a budget so can't really fit those in. If it was a system for me, my budget would have to increase :rolleyes:

Thanks guys ordering pretty much now so hopefully will be building this weekend. At which point i'll be back with the probs i get into.

Many Thanks
Sandblaster500