Gaming computer...

L

LSR

New Member
Ok, yadda yadda.. Setup I was planning on buying -

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/90874 Case + throw-away PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/107210 Optical Drive
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97159 256MB X800GTO
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/63631 Corsair 1GB DDR2 RAM
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/96986 ABIT Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/87672 160gb SATAII
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/47880 450Watt PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/91328 AMD X2 4200+

Ok well, I'm new to this building this computer game..
1. Is everything compatible?
2. Are then any improvements that can be made? That setup is £520ish including speakers, mouse keyboard etc.
3. Is there anything I've forgot? I know it's missing an OS, monitor, keyboard and mouse, but apart from that, it's all there, right?

It's pretty much a gaming PC. I don't play a huge amount of FPSs though, so I didn't get such a great graphics card.
 
first major point fella would be the motherboard supports AGP but your choice of graphics card is a pci express one. Have a look for a good pci express motherboard instead.

would also seriously consider spending a bit more money on the power supply, its really an essential part of the system now. Might cost you bit more...say up to £50 but its well worth it in the end


do you have anymore to spend or is £560 your top line?
 
not quite, also the memory chosen is DDR2 which aint supported, only AM2 supports that so you need straight DDR memory
 
jimmymac said:
first major point fella would be the motherboard supports AGP but your choice of graphics card is a pci express one. Have a look for a good pci express motherboard instead.

would also seriously consider spending a bit more money on the power supply, its really an essential part of the system now. Might cost you bit more...say up to £50 but its well worth it in the end


do you have anymore to spend or is £560 your top line?
Click to expand...

Right. Thanks.
You got any ideas for decent pci express motherboards?
Or decent power supplies? £570 is my top line...
 
I've known the X800GTO's to crash because they use the same board as the X850, They use different Ram (board is set up for GDDR3, X800GTO runs on GDDR2), I'd go with that, much better GPU for maybe 25$ more (Sapphire brand). You might also want a hair better PSU with the stuff you're running in it.
 
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http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/94640 £190.14 Athlon X2 3800
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/90609/rb/19334416931 £41.79 Antec Smartpower 2 500W
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/90874 £14.99 Same Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/107210 £23.49 Same optical
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97159 £102.98 Same GFX
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/99486 £64.72 OCZ 2X512MB DDR memory
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/80963/rb/19334568486 £40.40 Seagate Barracude 80gb
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/101701/rb/19334605198 £71.50 Asus A8N SLI socket 939

I make that £550.01 so room to tweak there.

Have traded off on a couple of parts to get a better overall i think. The Cpu is down to a 3800 X2 which is still a fantastic chip which im sure people will agree, and if you did fancy a go at over clocking, could get it up to 4200 speeds.

Dropped the HDD down to an 80gb to save a bit of money but Seagate are also a much better brand than hitatchi, personally i have never lost one and they still include a great guarantee.

PSU is antec, i have a truepower 2 myself and its cracking. The asus board is also very nice for the price, SLI comptatible so if you decided to go that way in the future you could.

Also went for two memory modules instead of a single 1gb, enables you to use dual channel mode. much nicer :D

Only suggestions here, am sure others will think of things that might need changing
 
yip drive looks fine to me, i just didnt spot it :P

decent PSU with multiple 12v rails mean the power being supplied aint all going down one line and possible losing its juice towards the end.

To be honest i aint really an expert on PSU but do know that a good one is definately well worth it.
 
well, PSU is what supplies the power to the computer, which I'm sure you already knew that. If you don't have enough watts, the PC will become unstable. 450 Watt would push it with a slow dual core alone, that dual core might fry it, go 500+
 
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/94640 £190.14 Athlon X2 3800
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/90609/rb/19334416931 £41.79 Antec Smartpower 2 500W
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/90874 £14.99 Case + junk PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/107210 £23.49 Optical drive
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97159 £102.98 Sapphire X800GTO 256mb Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/99486 £64.72 OCZ 2X512MB DDR memory
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/99773 £43.96 Seagate Barracude 160gb
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/101701/rb/19334605198 £71.50 Asus A8N SLI socket 939
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/48180 Cheap sound card, don't need a great one...

Right. OK, this is what I'm probably going to buy, plus speakers, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and OS. Is there any stupid things I'm missing, and just a last check to make sure it'll all work together?

Also, does that thermal paste stuff come with the processor?
 
just a final note, dont forget to get a couple of cables, motherboard should come with the SATA cables needed for your HDD but dont think it will come with the IDE cable for your optical drive. they aint expensive so might be worth getting a round cable anyways to make it all a bit tidier

The HEatsink that comes with the CPU will have thermal paste on the base so that its ready to pop into place. It wont be as good as something like Arctic thermal paste but it will be happily up to the job.

Think thats everything you need, if not am sure someone will point it out.

happy building :D
 
Victis Omega said:
I've known the X800GTO's to crash because they use the same board as the X850, They use different Ram (board is set up for GDDR3, X800GTO runs on GDDR2), I'd go with that, much better GPU for maybe 25$ more (Sapphire brand). You might also want a hair better PSU with the stuff you're running in it.
Click to expand...

X800GTOs can use different cores. Usually they use R420, R423 or R480, usually it depends on what interface you're using, AGP or PCI-E.

The AGP X800XT uses the R420 core.
The AGP X850XT uses the R481 core which isn't used, when selling X800GTO cards. Sorry, Victis Omega.

The PCI-E X800XT uses the R423 core,
while the PCI-E X850XT and X850XT PE uses the R480 core.

Memory type depends on manufacturer, my X800GTO uses GDDR3.

And could you explain why they're known for crashing because of the different memories? Be specific.
Cause I've seen a lot of cards that are basically the same, just different brands, and they have different memories.
 
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well, PSU is what supplies the power to the computer, which I'm sure you already knew that. If you don't have enough watts, the PC will become unstable. 450 Watt would push it with a slow dual core alone, that dual core might fry it, go 500+
Click to expand...
Actually the wattage of the PSU doesnt directly matter, it's all to do with the amount coming out of the 12v rails, the voltage regulationm holdtime and vulnerability to noise

And could you explain why they're known for crashing because of the different memories? Be specific.
Click to expand...
The type of memory wont cause crashing directly as the memroy controller on the cards re fully compliant ... the only reason i guess would be that GDDR2 uses a higher voltage than GDDR3 (and that being, for all intents and purposes, the only difference) ... which would suggest a power issue being the problem
 
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