Looking to build new PC for ~

[Darwinion]

I need to upgrade to a new PC box as my current one (Athlon XP3200+, Radeon 9800 Pro) is well out of date now. I'm quite capable of building a system myself etc.etc. but one thing I don't do is keep in touch with what's available for a good mid-range machine.

I'm basically looking to spend about 500 UK Pounds to upgrade. So top of the line stuff is out of the question. I've done some research already and was looking at the Nvidia 8800GTX range which now seems to fit in my price range. But I've read so much about NVidia cards having problems with FFXI I'm kinda put off by them. What's the ATI equivalent for performance/price?

Processor? I hear that dual-core is more than enough for most games/applications. I've always been an Athlon man (never gone down the road of Intel) but I don't mind changing if it's worth it.

Mother board is something I always take for granted. It's the heart of the system but to be honest I wouldn't know a good one from a bad one. I've heard ASRock boards are one to avoid, but not sure what would be a decent one.

I want to stick with Windows XP. I'm sure one day I will get round to Vista but I heard so much bad stuff about it (bloated, processor hog, NVidia driver problems etc.etc.) Besides I'm used to XP and want to stick with it.

Yeah I know... another "what PC should I get?" question. Sorry guys... but the help would be much appreciated.

[Darwinion]

Why does only the first 4 lines of my post appear? I can't edit it back in at all. What gives?

EDIT: Seems these fourm pages are allergic to the UK Pound symbol. LOL!

[Vaplade]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...00-gaming-pc/1

They set it up to build a gaming PC for 400 Pounds, although they do a bit of overclocking, not sure if you wanted to do that. They have it listed with 64-bit Vista, so it would give more spending room if you skipped that.

[Shuemue]

Is an OS included in the GBP500 budget?

[Darwinion]

Is an OS included in the GBP500 budget?

No. I'm gonna stick with XP because I already have it and just install it myself. So it's new case, MB, CPU, Graphics card, RAM and Power supply. I will most likely stick with my Soundblaster 5.1 card and current DVD writer.

[Shuemue]

Nearly everyone uses on-board sound these days anyway.

I'll look up some parts on www.ebuyer.com and www.dabs.com later.

No Newegg for us

[Darwinion]

Nearly everyone uses on-board sound these days anyway.

I'll look up some parts on www.ebuyer.com and www.dabs.com later.

No Newegg for us

Thanks for that, I appreciate it. I did take a look at that eBuyer link for the Radeon HD 4850 which seems to fall into my budget range at 124 quid. I'd like to know what peeps think of this card. Would avoid any anxieties about FFXI running badly on NVidia.

I didn't realise people used onboard sound these days. But yeah, in that link Vaplade posted they didn't buy any sound card. Seems things have moved on these last four years (been that long since I built my current PC).

[Shuemue]

Something like this should do the trick:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £127.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P iP35 Socket 775 8-channel audio ATX Motherboard £89.28
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132266

Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card £123.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145524

Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty £31.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/98710

Maxtor 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM £45.00
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141471

Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU *SPECIAL OFFER* £57.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135101

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler £15.62
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/105994

Sony DRU-190S 20X DVD±RW DL & DVD-RAM Serial ATA - Retail Multi Bezel & Nero £16.95
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142274

Complete box, leaving your existing PC intact, it's not worth scrapping a working machine, keep it as a spare, install Linux or something.

Total cost inc vat: Cart total ex vat: £508.81

I'm sure if you want to order from multiple places you can get a few reductions, and other people may suggest cheaper/better options.

[Reality]

Something like this should do the trick:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £127.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P iP35 Socket 775 8-channel audio ATX Motherboard £89.28
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132266

Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card £123.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145524

Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty £31.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/98710

Maxtor 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM £45.00
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141471

Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU *SPECIAL OFFER* £57.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135101

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler £15.62
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/105994

Sony DRU-190S 20X DVD±RW DL & DVD-RAM Serial ATA - Retail Multi Bezel & Nero £16.95
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142274

Complete box, leaving your existing PC intact, it's not worth scrapping a working machine, keep it as a spare, install Linux or something.

Total cost inc vat: Cart total ex vat: £508.81

I'm sure if you want to order from multiple places you can get a few reductions, and other people may suggest cheaper/better options.

that system would not disappoint

[Darwinion]

Thanks for that system spec.

I've been looking at my local supplier (I can go and collect in person, bought from them before etc.) and they have just about everything in that list you mention, except for the Motherboard and CPU cooler.

The closest I can see to the MB you mention is this one
http://www.cclonline.com/product-inf...ategory_id=251

Note this is the Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P, whereas the one you list is Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P. (Dunno what the extra "E" means). The only difference I can see in the specs is that this one goes up to 1600 Bus speed. Is it just a slightly enhanced version of the same board?

[Deband]

Tempted to just order all that as well lol

[Shuemue]

That board should be fine with that CPU, http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Mothe...75_1208&Page=3

It may need a BIOS update though, and make sure they don't sell you a shitty old version.

That cooler I picked was nothing special, just grab something similar.

[Darwinion]

That board should be fine with that CPU, http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Mothe...75_1208&Page=3

It may need a BIOS update though, and make sure they don't sell you a shitty old version.

That cooler I picked was nothing special, just grab something similar.

I'm sorry about this... I'm a bit of a n00b with these technical MB terms. What does it mean by "Fx = since last bios version" ??? What do those F2, F11 etc etc mean in that page you linked? How could I tell if they sold me an old version?

I gotta say, updating BIOS isn't something I would like to do. I heard some bad stories with that shit. lol

[Shuemue]

It's just saying which BIOS version added support for that CPU, version 2 for this mobo.

You should be fine assuming you're buying from a reputable supplier, just tell them which CPU you intend to run on it.

[mootsfox]

I'd switch to this motherboard: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145683

Only three more pounds and you get the P45 chipset which has the ICH10R southbridge and PCI-e 2.0 lines (suggested for the HD4850).

[Shuemue]

I thought the P45s were quite a bit more costly than that, good call.

[Darwinion]

Just a bump to let you guys know that this week I ordered this spec sytem that Shuemue listed, but with the P45 chipset MB that Mootsfox mentioned. I really appreciate the advice given.

I managed to save up some extra money too to pay for the company to build and test the system for me and install all the OS and drivers etc. etc. (I could have done it myself but I'm not overly technical in that department. Certainly not to the standards of people on here, so the 60 pounds build fee is worth it to me)

I decided to go with OEM Home Premium version of Vista to complete the new build. I've done some research on here and it seems that the early problems with FFXI and Windower have all been ironed out with Vista. I certainly don't see any recent threads about Windower not working with Vista.

But how much RAM do I really need for Vista? Is that 2 Gig enough or will I need 4 Gig? And with that system spec should I get the 32 bit version or the 64 bit? (n00b Qs again I know... sowwy )

[Jotaru]

4gb, and go with 64bit.

[Olo401]

Fantastic build right here.. I think you'll be extremely impressed. Very similar to what I've got though you get a better GPU.

And yeah, if you have the chance and some extra cash go for 4gig w/ a 64-bit OS. I know you've got your own license of XP but the upgrade makes that much of a difference.