Challenge for new system

[Steve F]

A friend has asked if its possible to a PC system for less than £500
inc VAT with the following specs (i've put rough guesses, questions
after each item). Please feel free to put comments/answers to any
statements/questions posed. What have i missed?

1) case inc 350 power supply. £20. I have a case in mind which i've
used on two of my PCs at home OK

2) Motherboard. £50 Ideally want on board sound (5.1), 4 USB ports,
firewire, on board video (which can play Doom 3), AGP expansion socket,
at least 3 PCI slots, 2 -3 Gb of memory possible, LAN socket

Can anyone recommend a motherboard which can do the above.

3) Processor. £40. Realise this depends on motherboard

As my mate wants to network to wireless router can i put a sempron 2400
processor in AMD motherboard for wireless connectivity?

4) DVD re-writer. £50 Nothing specific in mind but is this an adequate
amount to budget for?

5) memory. £60. Thinking of a 512Mb stingle stick. Speed will depend
on mother board. Budget based on 3200 DDR

6) 17 inch Flat screen TFT. £230. Any recommenations. Are there any
TFTs which can also decode TV signal so i don't need (7)

7) TV card. £40. Not looked in to this too much
8) Keyboard/mouse/software/floppy drive is out of scope

 

[Dave C.]

A friend has asked if its possible to a PC system for less than £500
inc VAT with the following specs (i've put rough guesses, questions
after each item). Please feel free to put comments/answers to any
statements/questions posed. What have i missed?

1) case inc 350 power supply. £20. I have a case in mind which i've
used on two of my PCs at home OK

2) Motherboard. £50 Ideally want on board sound (5.1), 4 USB ports,
firewire, on board video (which can play Doom 3), AGP expansion socket,
at least 3 PCI slots, 2 -3 Gb of memory possible, LAN socket

Can anyone recommend a motherboard which can do the above.

3) Processor. £40. Realise this depends on motherboard

As my mate wants to network to wireless router can i put a sempron 2400
processor in AMD motherboard for wireless connectivity?

4) DVD re-writer. £50 Nothing specific in mind but is this an adequate
amount to budget for?

1) Be careful of cases that include the power supply, as the power supply
is almost always CRAP. And a crap power supply can destroy all connected
components. (it's not worth the risk). Get a Thermaltake or Seasonic or
Fortron brand power supply (there are some other good ones, as well).

2) You have set yourself an impossible task here. Doom3 requires DirectX
9.0b, as opposed to DirectX 9. I'm not even sure the new 900 series
chipsets from Intel will run Doom 3. But they are the best chance you've
got, and WICKED EXPENSIVE. Oh, and they will have a PCI Express expansion
slot, so no AGP. Also, I doubt if you'd find a processor for a 900 series
chipset in your price range. Basically, you can not play Doom 3 with
onboard video, if the system requirements (listed on the Doom 3 box) are
accurate.

3) You'll likely find some good ones for that price, but they won't be
compatible with a motherboard with DirectX9 video built in.

4) Should be plenty of money. -Dave

 

[Cuzman]

" case inc 350 power supply. £20. "

I would never recommend building a system with a generic PSU.


" ...on board video (which can play Doom 3) "

A GeForce MX is about the best you'll get on a socket A motherboard, which
just won't do for Doom3.


" As my mate wants to network to wireless router can i put a sempron 2400
processor in AMD motherboard for wireless connectivity? "

....?? You need either a motherboard with on-board wi-fi, or a seperate PCI
wi-fi card, in order to connect to the wireless router.


" 17 inch Flat screen TFT. £230. Any recommenations. Are there any TFTs
which can also decode TV signal so i don't need (7) "

I would forget about a TFT, as repsonse times on cheap models make them crap
for gaming. On a £500 gaming system, £230 is too much for a monitor anyway.
A CRT is better and cheaper.


Building a system to satisfactorily play Doom3 on a £500 budget is certainly
a challenge. I'd suggest these as a minimum:

You'll need a 'proper' PSU with the case, not a generic one that rates by
peak-power at zero degrees celcius. Antec do some good all-in-one
solutions, with a TruePower 330W being the minimum I'd suggest.
- Antec Plus 660AMG TruePower 330W http://tinyurl.com/5f7xf £57.52

Semprons have exaggerated PR-ratings. I feel that the XP 2500+ is still
better value though.
- Sempron 2400+ 1.67Ghz 256KB http://tinyurl.com/48omg £42.66
- Athlon XP 2500+ 1.83Ghz 512KB http://tinyurl.com/43upc £58.74

You're pretty-much limited to Asus for wi-fi socket-A motherboards.
- Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe (w/ Wi-Fi) http://tinyurl.com/3xdzl £61.69

Why get 1x 512MB CL3, when you can get dual-channel CL2.5 for the same
money?
- Geil Value 2x 256MB PC3200 CL2.5 http://tinyurl.com/6zxyh £58.69

The minimum card I'd recommend for Doom3 would be a FX900XT or a Radeon 9800
Pro.
- Sparkle GeForce FX5900XT 128MB http://tinyurl.com/3lx4e £118.62
- ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB http://tinyurl.com/4n2lo £126.84

It's cheaper to get a seperate PCI TV card than an All-In-Wonder.
- Pinnacle PCTV Rave http://tinyurl.com/493m4 £26.99

Some Maxtor drives have trouble with the Asus board. Seagate offer a 5-year
warranty on the following drives. They are all Seagate Barracuda SATA 8MB
cache drives.
- ST380013AS 80GB http://tinyurl.com/56nqe £42.99
- ST3120026AS 120GB http://tinyurl.com/4qvhs £58.12
- ST3160023AS 160GB http://tinyurl.com/53whh £66.96
- ST3200822AS 200GB http://tinyurl.com/46pqd £82.07

I've had a reliable history of NEC drives.
- NEC ND-1300A DVD+-RW http://tinyurl.com/5s3y5 £34.94
- NEC ND-3500A Dual-Layer DVD+-RW http://tinyurl.com/5q8s7 £46.12

You'll need an operating system:
- Microsoft Windows XP Home OEM SP2 http://tinyurl.com/486qu £58.69

I've already gone over-budget with the above. Even with the cheapest
options, and without a monitor, it still comes to £502.79, and that's
without delivery. Using the more expensive of my recommendations makes the
total £577.35. In order to run Doom3 at a reasonable level, I'd say you
need to raise the budget.

 

[JK]

A friend has asked if its possible to a PC system for less than £500
inc VAT with the following specs (i've put rough guesses, questions
after each item). Please feel free to put comments/answers to any
statements/questions posed. What have i missed?

1) case inc 350 power supply. £20. I have a case in mind which i've
used on two of my PCs at home OK

2) Motherboard. £50 Ideally want on board sound (5.1), 4 USB ports,
firewire, on board video (which can play Doom 3), AGP expansion socket,
at least 3 PCI slots, 2 -3 Gb of memory possible, LAN socket

Can anyone recommend a motherboard which can do the above.

3) Processor. £40. Realise this depends on motherboard

As my mate wants to network to wireless router can i put a sempron 2400
processor in AMD motherboard for wireless connectivity?

4) DVD re-writer. £50 Nothing specific in mind but is this an adequate
amount to budget for?

1) Be careful of cases that include the power supply, as the power supply
is almost always CRAP.

Not with an Antec case, however an Antec case with a 350 watt power supply
won't be 20 Quid.

And a crap power supply can destroy all connected
components. (it's not worth the risk). Get a Thermaltake or Seasonic or
Fortron brand power supply (there are some other good ones, as well).

Those are good, but I prefer Antec.

2) You have set yourself an impossible task here. Doom3 requires DirectX
9.0b, as opposed to DirectX 9. I'm not even sure the new 900 series
chipsets from Intel will run Doom 3.

LOL! He should skip Intel. The best integrated video is nforce2 , but it is
for a socket A processor. For Doom 3, one should use an Athlon 64,
although they can save a bit by using a $100 Sempron 3100+(it is socket 754,
and is essentially an Athlon 64 2800+ with half the cache, and the 64 bit features
disabled).

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2149&p=7

The Sempron 3100+ is better than a Pentium 4 3 ghz for Doom 3,
and much less expensive.

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2139&p=6

The Sempron 3100+ is priced very close to a 2.8 ghz Celeron, yet the
3100+ is a much better performer.

Choosing a good video card for Doom 3 that is cheap will be a
great challenge.

 

[Hamman]

A friend has asked if its possible to a PC system for less than £500
inc VAT with the following specs (i've put rough guesses, questions
after each item). Please feel free to put comments/answers to any
statements/questions posed. What have i missed?

1) case inc 350 power supply. £20. I have a case in mind which i've
used on two of my PCs at home OK

Dont skimp on power, you'll regret it 6 months down the line when it has to
be replaced.

2) Motherboard. £50 Ideally want on board sound (5.1), 4 USB ports,
firewire, on board video (which can play Doom 3), AGP expansion socket,
at least 3 PCI slots, 2 -3 Gb of memory possible, LAN socket

Youre not going to get an onboard card that'll play Doom3. My FX5600 AGP8x
128MB *JUST* copes with it.

Can anyone recommend a motherboard which can do the above.

3) Processor. £40. Realise this depends on motherboard

Forget Intel

As my mate wants to network to wireless router can i put a sempron 2400
processor in AMD motherboard for wireless connectivity?

Motherboard / Processor has NOTHING to do with having an Intel CPU.

4) DVD re-writer. £50 Nothing specific in mind but is this an adequate
amount to budget for?

More like £40 on www.dabs.com

5) memory. £60. Thinking of a 512Mb stingle stick. Speed will depend
on mother board. Budget based on 3200 DDR

Semprons run on 333FSB = PC2700

6) 17 inch Flat screen TFT. £230. Any recommenations. Are there any
TFTs which can also decode TV signal so i don't need (7)

Get a decent brand. I reccomend LG, ~£220 on Dabs

7) TV card. £40. Not looked in to this too much

Freeview PCI cards go for about £40 on www.ebay.co.uk

8) Keyboard/mouse/software/floppy drive is out of scope

Get windows xp media centre 2005 from www.overclockers.co.uk as well as the
remote.

Hamman

 

[Dave C.]

Youv'e outdone yourself. A reply that is filled with outdated information
AND out of context. Congratulations. -Dave

 

[JK]

Youv'e outdone yourself. A reply that is filled with outdated information

Exactly what do you think is outdated? An Athlon XP is not a great processor
for gaming, however it is great for running business applications.

AND out of context.

What is out of context?

 

[Cuzman]

" For Doom 3, one should use an Athlon 64, although they can save a bit by
using a $100 Sempron 3100+(it is socket 754, and is essentially an Athlon 64
2800+ with half the cache, and the 64 bit features disabled). "


So you're advising the guy to buy a Sempron 3100+...? OK, in the UK that
will cost you at least £86.97 ( http://tinyurl.com/59hlm ). As the OP wants
a wi-fi capable motherboard, he will need an Asus K8VSE Deluxe, which will
cost at least £73.65 ( http://tinyurl.com/4a5f8 ). That's more than £160
already spent from the £500 budget, and you would have the following to buy
for £340:

- Case w/ PSU
- RAM
- Graphics Card
- TV Card
- Hard Drive
- DVD-RW
- Monitor

I'm not denying that socket 754 is a better Doom3 platform; I read the CPU
comparisons ages ago. It's the fact that it's just not going to happen on a
£500 budget.

 

[Tom Papinchak]

If you really want to have fun with your new system try putting it into a
fashionable pc case instead of a drab beige or black one. How about gold? I
bought a gold case from an artist (www.emilystudios.com) and everyone who
sees it is in awe. Its a little pricey but worth every cent when you're the
only one in your city that owns one I'll never go back to drab again,
lol.

 

[Dave C.]

Exactly what do you think is outdated? An Athlon XP is not a great
processor
for gaming, however it is great for running business applications.

What is out of context?

nforce boards do not have the best video available at the moment, not by a
long shot. Suggesting an Athlon64 solution for a (strict) budget solution
is definitely WAY out of context. -Dave