Need Help Deciding Components for New PC

[IDI8]

Looking to replace current Athlon +1900, radeon 7000, 256MB win xp
system. Will use new PC for latest games, web, e-mail.

Havn't got unlimited funds but would like it to last a couple of years
(with maybe some future upgrades)

Does anyone have any experience with the following components? or
could you recommend any?

CPU - Athlon 64 939 +3200 winchester
MOBO - PCI Express capable, not sure SLI is worth the extra cash?
MEMORY - 2 x 512MB PC3200, not sure about latency, parity, buffered?
GPU - Nvidia 6600GT PCIE
HARD DRIVE - SATA 200gb 7200rpm Seagate barracuda
DVD writer - will I need a seperate CD drive?
17" TFT - need decent response times, DVI-I?
PSU - think I need at least 400W?
CASE - Coolermaster cavlier or Antec P160?

Also wheres the cheapest place in the UK to but windows XP

 

[Stew]

The number one thing to do first is lay a good foundation by getting a good
power supply first. The wattage is not as important as quality do not get a
cheap $18 600w power supply thinking its good just because the wattage label
looks powerful.
I recommend Enermax or Antec or any of the top brands keep in mind that the
12v+ should be at least 25A I recommend a Enermax with dual 12v system it
has 2x 18A lines for a total of 36A on 12v+ BUT any good quality supply
should do as well.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page1.html
http://www.amdboard.com/psu.html
http://www4.tomshardware.com/column/20011012/index.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040122/index.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040122/index.html



Good luck

 

[Alex Fraser]

Looking to replace current Athlon +1900, radeon 7000, 256MB win xp
system. Will use new PC for latest games, web, e-mail.

Havn't got unlimited funds but would like it to last a couple of years
(with maybe some future upgrades)

Does anyone have any experience with the following components? or
could you recommend any?

CPU - Athlon 64 939 +3200 winchester

As far as processor choice goes, I reckon the best idea is to leave it until
last, then get the fastest you can with remaining money. A S939 A64 is a
good choice for performance now, and should offer good upgrade potential.
The Winchester core is exceptionally power-efficient.

MOBO - PCI Express capable, not sure SLI is worth the extra cash?

I don't think it's quite time to eliminate AGP/PCI motherboards from
consideration. In my opinion, SLI is not worth thinking about unless you are
pairing it with a top-end CPU; even then it's debatable.

MEMORY - 2 x 512MB PC3200, not sure about latency, parity, buffered?

2x512MB is ideal.

Lower latency RAM does increase performance, but the additional cost is
disproportionate - IMO the money would usually be better invested in a
faster CPU.

Parity is long gone; ECC is in its place, at vast expense for limited
benefit given your use above. I think S939 uses only unbuffered RAM, but I'm
not sure about ECC support (suspect no; it may ignore ECC capability).

I strongly recommend RAM from Crucial: http://www.crucial.com/uk/

GPU - Nvidia 6600GT PCIE

I've lost the plot a bit with graphics cards. Anything will be a massive
improvement over the Radeon 7000 though.

HARD DRIVE - SATA 200gb 7200rpm Seagate barracuda
DVD writer - will I need a seperate CD drive?

Do you mean a seperate CD writer, or just a reader?

If the former: I've not kept up with the speed current DVD writers burn CDs,
but it always used to be lower than CD writers. So a seperate CD writer can
be useful if you write a lot of CDs.

If the latter: using a seperate reader will save wear on the writer - but
this is not so important any more as writers are not as expensive.

Either way, simply having two drives is useful at times.

17" TFT - need decent response times, DVI-I?
Pass.

PSU - think I need at least 400W?

A decent brand 400W supply should be OK, maybe more for SLI.

CASE - Coolermaster cavlier or Antec P160?

No experience of the Cavalier, but I have an Antec case of similar design to
the P160. The 120mm front fan mount is the icing on the cake for a case with
excellent cooling in general, and particularly for hard drives, without
making much noise.

Also wheres the cheapest place in the UK to but windows XP

I've no idea in any case, but do you want Home or Pro?

Alex

 

[DougH]

MOBO - PCI Express capable, not sure SLI is worth the extra cash?

GPU - Nvidia 6600GT PCIE
HARD DRIVE - SATA 200gb 7200rpm Seagate barracuda

I got the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe. I wasn't sure about SLI either but I want to
put some years on this board and if I opted to go without SLI and it later
becomes a "must have" I'd be kicking myself for 3 to 5 years. The nVidia
6600GT you quoted is an SLI card. Mine is the MSI NX6600GT and I got it
rather than a cheap none SLI card for the same reasons stated above for the
motherboard. The 200 GB Seagate seems to be an excellent drive. I used to
buy nothing but Western Digital until my just over a year old 120 GB drive
took a crap and I haven't been able to use it since. I heard good things
about the Seagate 120 GB IDE. I bought one and I couldn't believe how quiet
it is. So my new SATA drive is of course a Seagate too. I take it back
about not being able to use my Western Digital. I'm using right now to hold
down some papers on my desk.

DougH
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe/AMD 3500+
MSI NX6800GT

 

[Peter van der Goes]

Looking to replace current Athlon +1900, radeon 7000, 256MB win xp
system. Will use new PC for latest games, web, e-mail.

Havn't got unlimited funds but would like it to last a couple of years
(with maybe some future upgrades)

Does anyone have any experience with the following components? or
could you recommend any?

CPU - Athlon 64 939 +3200 winchester
MOBO - PCI Express capable, not sure SLI is worth the extra cash?
MEMORY - 2 x 512MB PC3200, not sure about latency, parity, buffered?
GPU - Nvidia 6600GT PCIE
HARD DRIVE - SATA 200gb 7200rpm Seagate barracuda
DVD writer - will I need a seperate CD drive?
17" TFT - need decent response times, DVI-I?
PSU - think I need at least 400W?
CASE - Coolermaster cavlier or Antec P160?

Also wheres the cheapest place in the UK to but windows XP

A suggestion about memory if you plan to overclock. I'm sure you know A64's
are multiplier locked, so you will raise the FSB to overclock. Think in
terms of faster RAM to accommodate higher FSB, like PC 4000 instead of PC
3200. I have a 3200+ Winchester that I could not get over 2.1 GHz with PC
3200 memory. Replaced the PC 3200 with PC 4000 and am now running at 2.4
GHz.