Decent spec?

[Scottona]

Hi All,

Is the below a really top spec? Also is there any areas you would advise to improve on? Id like to also get a PPU if/when needed!

FYI Im aiming for a top gamer rig

AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ with HT Tech.
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Brushed Aluminium ATX Midi Tower +550W PSU- Silver
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe PCI-Express Mainboard - ATX
6x USB Ports, GB LAN, Dual Channel Memory, 8 Channel Audio, 4x SATA ,2x UDMA, RAID 0,RAID1,RAID 0+1
2048MB DDR400 Memory - PC3200 (2x1024)
500GB (2x 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drives)
SONY 16x Dual Layer DVD-Re-Writable +R/-R/RW
16x DVD-ROM Drive (40x CD-ROM)
2x 512MB nVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX- Dual DVI,HDTV & TV-Out + DVI - PCI-Express

 

[fenderbass86]

Drop the 4800+ down to a 4400+, for only 200MHz more it's not worth the extra £££. Not really sure if SLi is worth the £££ either, it will always be bottlenecked by the CPU. Someone else's go.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I'd agree with fenderbass86, you'd be as well saving the money and overclocking an X2 4400. An SLi setup like that will only really come into its own if you have a very high resolution monitor so you might be better with a single card to begin with.

What PSU and what Ram are you getting, there isn't much in the description to identify them and not all components are created equal.

I'd also change the DVDRW for an NEC 4551 probably but that may be more personal preference than anything else.

It is a good specification but you would be paying over the odds for it I think and a couple of things need identified before I would wholeheartedly say it was great

 

[Scottona]

What PSU and what Ram are you getting, there isn't much in the description to identify them and not all components are created equal.

It dont actually say?!? Any other suggestions in terms of where to buy? I see OcUK do them but I couldnt see anyway to customise, im looking in the region £1500-£2000 (or cheaper ) and as mentioned anything for a top top top gamer rig would be really helpful

 

[semi-pro waster]

It dont actually say?!? Any other suggestions in terms of where to buy? I see OcUK do them but I couldnt see anyway to customise, im looking in the region £1500-£2000 (or cheaper ) and as mentioned anything for a top top top gamer rig would be really helpful

I tend to distrust any components where they don't actually let you know what you are buying as it is likely to be the cheapest option. OcUK do let you customise but I think you have to call them up and just request what you want changed which they do for cost price(or thereabouts).

If you are happy to build it yourself then I'm sure someone can specify something suitable. Do you need a monitor, software, keyboard or mouse?

 

[Monstermunch]

I think this is what i'd be going for with your budget!


CP-153-AM AMD Opteron UP 175 Dual Core San Diego 2.2GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-153-AM) £319.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) £12.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF) £79.95
Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Redline Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) (991493) (MY-002-MK) £189.95
GX-087-AS Asus ATI Radeon EAX-X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-087-AS) £319.95
HD-002-HI Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31636) (HD-002-HI) £56.50
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE) £25.95
CA-011-TT Thermaltake VA3000SWA Tsunami Dream SuperMidi Aluminium Tower - Silver (CA-011-TT) £67.95
CA-009-TG Tagan TG580-U15 580W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-009-TG) £67.95

Much better CPU & Graphics card for probably around the same or maybe less than your spec.

 

[Scottona]

Nope just after the comp its-self, currently sitting on a mouse, keyboard other bits and a 27"Screen too! Id be content building it myself or just buying it from somewhere I can customise to that selection. So any help much appreciated

 

[volt9291]

Nope just after the comp its-self, currently sitting on a mouse, keyboard other bits and a 27"Screen too! Id be content building it myself or just buying it from somewhere I can customise to that selection. So any help much appreciated

27"screen

Prob best if you do go SLI or crossfire!

 

[Mr Mister]

depends on the resolution, if its a 27" lcd tv then it wont be that high res and you wont need sli.

 

[fenderbass86]

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM) 1
£279.95 £279.95
MB-118-AS Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi X16 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-118-AS) 1
£119.95 £119.95
MY-008-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit (F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ) (MY-008-GS) 1
£129.95 £129.95
GX-072-XF XFX GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT71F-YDLR) (GX-072-XF) 2
£324.95 £649.90
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 2
£55.95 £111.90
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE) 1
£24.95 £24.95
CA-039-AN Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Silver) (CA-039-AN) 1
£69.95 £69.95
CA-024-EN Enermax Liberty 620W ELT620AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-024-EN) 1
£89.95 £89.95
Subtotal £1,476.50
VAT £258.39
Total £1,734.89

This is the same but with a X-fire m'board and X-fired X1900XT-X's.
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
CP-127-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM) 1
£279.95 £279.95
MB-131-AS Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS) 1
£119.95 £119.95
MY-008-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit (F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ) (MY-008-GS) 1
£129.95 £129.95
GX-045-CO ATI Radeon X1900 ***Crossfire Edition*** 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-CO) 1
£319.95 £319.95
GX-047-HT HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-047-HT) 1
£309.95 £309.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD) 2
£55.95 £111.90
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE) 1
£24.95 £24.95
CA-039-AN Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Silver) (CA-039-AN) 1
£69.95 £69.95
CA-024-EN Enermax Liberty 620W ELT620AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-024-EN) 1
£89.95 £89.95
Subtotal £1,456.50
VAT £254.89
Total £1,711.39

 

[semi-pro waster]

Either of fenderbass86's specifications will do fine as long as you are prepared to build it yourself and offer more in the way of quality and customisability.

The Nvidia option is great although maybe a little expensive considering the performance isn't much(if any better than the Crossfire option).

If you go for the Crossfire option then be aware that the Asus motherboard is based on the new RD580 chipset which some people have had initial problems with, that said once the teething problems get sorted out it should be extremely powerful(if you even have any problems). I'd also go for an ordinary X1900XT rather than the X1900XTX for the simple reason that it is cheaper and the Crossfire master card isn't clocked anywhere near as high as the X1900XTX. Changing for the cheaper X1900XT will save you around £50 making it an even better option

In both cases you will probably only need a dual card solution if your monitor is high resolution, if it is an LCD TV then you may be limited to 1280x1024(I don't know the actual resolutions and can't be bothered to check at the moment I'm afraid) or similar which a single card can easily cope with for the moment.