Spec and some questions

Associate
Joined
13 Mar 2005
Posts
14
Hello, I am about to make a final decision on my purchase.
I have had some help from people here already, as a result of this I had to modify my expectations somewhat :).
The graphics card will have to wait, but In need a machine now.
The idea being that the rig will be capable of running games when time and budget allow.
Is there anything that you would change in the spec listed and keep the budget about the same.?

Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
(£61.04 Including VAT at 17.5%)

I thought this case/power unit looked ok, then I read the thread with people complaining about bad service from Antec, but I am fed up with changing my mind all the time, so I guess l'll take the chance.
Unless there is a better alternartive.
I understand that if I get a powerful graphics card I might need a new psu, but thats for another day.

Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
(£70.44 Including VAT at 17.5%)
What do people think of this board? I am unlikley to need crossfire or sli. Would you still recomend it?

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM)
(£98.64 Including VAT at 17.5%)

do the retail units come with thermal gunk?

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
(£58.69 Including VAT at 17.5%

Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-033-NE)
(£29.32 Including VAT at 17.5%)
This seems to do everything, though I don't understand the "you can burn images on to the data side of any standard disc, in an area not already written with data." Can you burn an image, and then write data?

Ahead Nero Express v6.6 - OEM (SW-000-NR)
(£3.47 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (E85-04026) (OS-002-MS)
(£90.42 Including VAT at 17.5%)

OcUK Value Floppy Drive - Black (HD-001-OK)
(£6.99 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
(£36.37 Including VAT at 17.5%)
Will I need to buy cable for this?

Have I missed anything?
I make that
£455.38
Plus postage
Does that look ok?
 
Man of Honour
Joined
27 Sep 2004
Posts
25,821
Location
Glasgow
The motherboard has a good set of features, Crossfire motherboards however do seem to have suffered from a few problems although you might be lucky, maybe later bios revisions help as well.

The retail heatsinks will come with a thermal pad so that is fine as it is.

You won't need a SATA cable as that will come with the motherboard.

Since you don't have any graphics card listed you will need a PCI or PCI-E one, do you already have one? If you can't afford one then look at getting a motherboard with an inbuilt solution, microATX motherboards are the most likely to have them, Asus does a couple of models :)
 
Associate
OP
Joined
13 Mar 2005
Posts
14
Thanks for the reply, I don't have a graphics card yet, I didn't want to spend anymore at the mo. I was thinking that the motherboard would have some graphics capability, apparently not.
The cards on OC all seem a bit expensive, perhaps I need to consider another board, or up my budget, which is the best of the cheaper cards?
 
Associate
Joined
22 Apr 2006
Posts
979
Location
Arms reach from mouse
Hey! I reckon the Asrock 939SLI32-eSATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-000-AK) is a good board to start with @ Price: £49.95 (£58.69 Including VAT at 17.5%), which is a bit cheaper, then that saving could go towards a cheap HIS X1300 (far from a great graphics card, but will do for what you want at the moment) HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1300 ICEQ 256MB DDR2 AVIVO TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (RX1300-256ICEQ) (GX-049-HT) @ Price: £54.95 (£64.57 Including VAT at 17.5%)


Or for the NVidia route:BFG GeForce 7300 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-020-BG) @ Price: £44.95 (£52.82 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Dunno... what ya reckon?

EDIT: soz wrong MOBO, meant this one...Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-002-AK) @ Price: £36.95 (£43.42 Including VAT at 17.5%)

So that Asrock board and either of the two graphics cards would only cost you about £25 more on your original budget :)
 
Last edited:
Associate
OP
Joined
13 Mar 2005
Posts
14
Thanks for the advice,
What does the 'micro' mean in 'micro ATX'
I am also considering upping my budget, would these be a good choice?

Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS)
(£64.57 Including VAT at 17.5%)

BFG GeForce 7300 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-020-BG
(£52.82 Including VAT at 17.5%)

This will be about £50 more, which does stretch my budget to its limit.
But it might be worth it.
What do you think?
 
Man of Honour
Joined
27 Sep 2004
Posts
25,821
Location
Glasgow
Micro refers to the size e.g. it has two PCI slots plus one PCI-E x16 rather than the more usual four PCI(or two PCI and two PCI-E x1) and one PCI-E x16 on a normal ATX motherboard. It will still fit into any case that you choose.

The motherboard is fine but you are as well not going for either SLi or Crossfire motherboards unless you are likely to use them. Personally I'd wait until I had enough money to buy a decent graphics card rather than getting a stopgap such as the 7300GS. Onboard should be enough to play Half Life 2 etc at low resolutions which might keep you going. :)
 
Associate
OP
Joined
13 Mar 2005
Posts
14
I think your reasoning is sound, this could be it!

Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
(£61.04 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Asus A8N-VM Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI Express Motherboard (MB-134-AS
(£50.47 Including VAT at 17.5%)

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM)
(£98.64 Including VAT at 17.5%)

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
(£58.69 Including VAT at 17.5%

Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-033-NE)
(£29.32 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Ahead Nero Express v6.6 - OEM (SW-000-NR)
(£3.47 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (E85-04026) (OS-002-MS)
(£90.42 Including VAT at 17.5%)

OcUK Value Floppy Drive - Black (HD-001-OK)
(£6.99 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
(£36.37 Including VAT at 17.5%)

£435.41 inl vat + postage

What do you think?
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Jun 2003
Posts
4,961
Location
NBO
The Asus A8N-VM CSM is the better m.board, newer and more features than the plain A8N-VM. Also, it might hold its value if you plan to resale.
semi-pro waster said:
{snip}Personally I'd wait until I had enough money to buy a decent graphics card rather than getting a stopgap such as the 7300GS.{snip}
I agree, save up and buy a decent graphics than a cheap one now. The NVIDIA 6150 chip on the A8N-VM CSM should hopefully keep you going for a while.

Also you can save money by getting a normal (better) DVD Writer.
Labelflash allows special media to be labelled with an image on the non-data side (normally the top). The special media is only available in DVD-R format & is quite expensive compared to normal DVD+R/-R. Burning the monochrome image takes anything from 7 minutes to 27 minutes.
And I know a few people might object but, get a 3000+ instead of a 3200+ and use the money saved to get a bigger hard disk say, 200GB :)

Oh, and OcUK Value RAM! Got the 1GB kit (2x512MB) myself, running @ 2.5-3-3-8 1T :D
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Jun 2003
Posts
4,961
Location
NBO
Dazednconfused said:
The NEC ND3550, only available in silver. How about this?

NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
(£24.62 Including VAT at 17.5%)
:confused: look above the silver one and for £23.44 incl. VAT. I choose the ND3550 because I've heard people say the new ND4570 is a bit noisy :eek:
 
Associate
OP
Joined
13 Mar 2005
Posts
14
oops yea, it was getting late.
How does this look?

Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU (CA-048-AN)
(£61.04 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Asus A8N-VM CSM Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI Express Motherboard (MB-119-AS)
(£56.34 Including VAT at 17.5%)

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM)
(£98.64 Including VAT at 17.5%)

GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
(£58.69 Including VAT at 17.5%

NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-035-NE)
(£23.44 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Ahead Nero Express v6.6 - OEM (SW-000-NR)
(£3.47 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (E85-04026) (OS-002-MS)
(£90.42 Including VAT at 17.5%)

OcUK Value Floppy Drive - Black (HD-001-OK)
(£6.99 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
(£36.37 Including VAT at 17.5%)

£439.36 + postage

I would like to order today, any other changes?
Thanks for the help
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Jun 2003
Posts
4,961
Location
NBO
Looks OK to me. So, you can go right ahead & order ;)

& good luck with the build. Any problems search THEN ask here.

This guide might also be helpful/useful :D
 
Back
Top Bottom