Hi,

1) been looking at some memory, just to check that by DDR2 800, do you mean 800MHZ, i.e 2GB DDR2 PC-6400 800 MHZ is suitable??

2) What makes a good power supply? What is SLI??

3)Im lost with processors, im sure Intel have been making 2.4ghz processors for years, so why do all these Dual Core processors only have a 2ghz "clock speed"

4) What do i need to know about graphics cards, will they all plug in or is there a memory/processor requirement??

Thanks all

Nick

1) RAM speed would be determined by your choice of Motherboard-- any quality newer board-- will support the fastest RAM-- not a real concern.

2) a good power supply will have plenty of reserve power-- so when all those fast components make heavy demands-- it's not "straining" to keep up. You choose your Motherboard/processor/video card and then you go to the power-supply calculator link in my sig below.
You enter every piece of gear you will be using... press calculate-- and it will tell you how many watts is required to run that hardware.
Then you add 75 to 100 watts for reserve/later upgrades to that figure--then you get a Power Supply Unit from a quality maker-- if you shop around you can find them for around $100-125 or even less.... depending on how much your config demands. We're here to help.

3)The dual-core processors actually are 2-chips-in-one.
I don't know everything about processors-- but even @ lower speeds-- because there are 2 cores you have twice the power.
The Intel dual cores are beating the AMD performance numbers by quite a bit-- and they actually have quad-cores out now (4 chips on one die)... smokin' fast.

4) The newest and fastest cards are all PCI-express (AGP is dead)... the newest boards will all have this interface-- all you have to do is pick out one for your budget-- and of course there will be recommendations from here as you select components. PCI express performance blows AGP cards away-- not even in the same league. In 5 years you won't be able to find an AGP-based video card. Nobody is making them any more.

Building a computer-- is like building a hotrod car--you ask the mechanic "how fast can you make it go?"
He replies -- "How much do you want to spend?"

Budget-- and careful selection-- gets you the biggest bang-per-buck.
---and the longest life between upgrades.

hi fella just a thought...
buy a Power Supply Unit you can get good ones that aint that expensive.
try replacing it yourself.
its quite simple just remember what you unplug and then plug the new one in.
if this don't work...well your ojn your way to building a new pc...

its like a lego set to build a new pc, pretty easy.
just be aware of the socket type on motherboard, and the ram type.. ddr ddr2 or now ddr3...(highly pricey at mo)

only need a 400watt Power Supply Unit if your running 1 graphics card, 650+ if 2.
quad core go 650 with 1 graphics card, 850 with 2

hope i'm of some help...

Hello all,

Firstly thanks for all your great tips, i really appreciate it. I have spent some time researching and have started to look at the components below.

I have attached a link to the relevant website and i was hoping people could warn me of any in-compatabilty.

Also, are the below any good, could i do a lot better for not much more money, will i be able to play newish games on it??

Here we go:


AM2 Athlon Dual Core 4200+ @ £48

HTML Code:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(13999)AMD-CPU-AM2-Athlon-64-Dual-Core-4200-Retail.aspx

Motherboard @ £48

HTML Code:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(17594)Gigabyte-motherboard-GAM55SS3-nForce-550.aspx

Graphics Card GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR3 @ £66

HTML Code:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(17156)XpertVision-GeForce-8600-GT-256MB-DDR3-PCIE.aspx

Memory: 2GB of DDR2 800 PC6400 (2x1024) @ £19 each

HTML Code:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(16578)ELIXIR-1024MB-DDR2-800-PC6400-Memory-M2Y1G64TU8HB0.aspx

Hard Drive: 120GB 7200RPM ATA100 @£27

HTML Code:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(22788)120GB-Seagate-Barracuda-2MB-Hard-Disk-Drive.aspx

DVD Drive: 18x DVD ±RW/RAM @ £18

HTML Code:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(14880)NEC-Optiarc-AD7170A0B-Black-18x-DVD-RWRAM.aspx

Power: Silverstone Strider ST40F 400W PSU @40

HTML Code:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(11798)Silverstone-Strider-ST40F-400W-PSU-120mm.aspx

Case: Or this case with PSU already there @40

HTML Code:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(8845)EZ-Cool-Alpine-7104H-Silver-Aluminium-Midi.aspx

OS: Undecided, may just save some cash and stick with XP.

All in all its costing £285. Which is amazing seeing as my original budget was £300 (yes, theres even £15 wiggle room if anyone can reccommend....)



How does that all sound, have i missed anything out.

Also will i get the best out of all these components or is one of them going to hold them all back??

Any advice would be amazing.

Thanks

Nick

Barnetti,

You seem to have a good build there. Seems like a very good price too. That would currently be considered a good mid-high end unit for gaming. You chose a good motherboard which will suit you for some time too.

The component that will hold you back....always....is the video card. But you have a board that supports PCI-Express, so in the future you'll just add more memory and a better video card

The video card you chose right now is by far the best bang per buck you're going to get. There are plenty of reviews out there showing it out performing the 512MB Radeon HD2600 (which is the ATI equivalent priced card). It has a good core/memory clock rate and supports DX10.

400 watt is a bit borderline for that build. But it should be enough. Basically, if you have a good surge protector (less than a few years old that has a good joule rating) then I would just try the power supply that comes with the case. If you notice the frame rate in games is overly sluggish and you know your machine can do much better, it's usually cause of low power. I would then step it up to a good 500w Power Supply Unit.

The only other thing I'd be considering is the brand of video card and memory you have. Try to hit up some other sites, or look for more products on that site to see how their reviews are. If you see lots of bad reviews for more of their products, you might want to look into different brands. You should be able to find better brands for very near those prices.

Definitely stick with XP. Vista is such a hardware hog. DX10 isn't highly utilized yet, so I wouldn't worry about it for now.

Right now I'm running the same CPU, a 6600 Geforce card, and 3 gigs of PC3200 and I run Tiberium Wars with almost all high settings @ 1280 x 1024 very well. I just have to lower some more hardware dependent settings like clouds and terrain detail a little bit. Your build is a ton better than mine.

EDIT - I just noticed that you have a regular ATA hard drive. Change that to a SATA 3GB /sec hard drive with as low latency as you're willing to spend. You really shouldn't have trouble finding one near the same price as the ATA.

I would suggest XP for now-- if you want to you can upgrade later.
There are still many "issues" with Vista ...IMHO.

Hvae you checked all this hardware with a PSU calculator-- like the one in my sig?
You just plug in the Hardware (Everything connected too) and add about 75-100 Watts to that total-- check this before you order-- saves time/money/grief

Thanks guys,

Im trying to find a better brand of 8600 graphics card, anyone know if XFX is better than XpertVision??

Also foud this case with decent power output, any ideas????

Atrix 9001B34 Silver/Black Gaming case 520W mesh side window 12cm neon fan LCD Temp display ATX - 9001B34 - www.microdirect.co.uk

thanks...