new gaming rig

[mikL]

i want to build a new gaming rig. im gonna use the old hardives and case. but replacing the mobo and the athlon 3000, radeon 9800pro, psu and memory.

im looking to get an athlon and have been checking out the radeon cards like the x1800?. could you give me some advice, im looking to spend £600 probably. and id like it to run quake wars etc on a good setting.

thanks

 

[Nitestick]

look at the athlon x2/dual core opteron range. no doubt someone will post soon saying dual cores are a waste if money, in my opinion they are not.

 

[mikL]

thanks

custom pc recomended the following: gigabyte X 1800 XL GV-RX18L256V-B -seems quite pricey for an xl but recomended.

and mobo:

dfi lan party utnfa sli-dr OR asrock 939 dual SATA 2 which seems to be half the price?

 

[mikL]

also looking at 7800s. what sort of speed athlon processor should match 7800 and 1800xls without bottlenecking.

 

[Brtnboarder495]

I'd seriously reccomend waitin till June 6th when Socket AM2 is going to be released. Especially in your case sense your getting a new CPU, memory, Motherboard (which also means a new OS if you dont' have the OS CD) and most likely the PSU since your new systsem is going to require more wattage then your older one.

 

[Trifid]

June 6th when Socket AM2 is going to be released

Will you be chipping in for my birthday present?


Right now I would recommend something like this:

CA-008-HP Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Red UV (CA-008-HP)
£52.95 £52.95
CP-131-AM AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-131-AM)
£89.95 £89.95
GX-010-BG BFG GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-010-BG)
£184.95 £184.95
MB-087-AS Asus A8N-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-087-AS)
£91.95 £91.95
MY-054-OC OCZ 1GB (2 x 512MB) PC3200 Dual Channel Gold Series BH5 EL-DDR CAS2.0 (OCZ4001024ELDCGE-K) (MY-054-OC)
£104.95 £104.95
Subtotal £524.75
VAT £91.84
Total £616.59

 

[Cerulean]

the 7800s are an excellent series to go with. don't wait til june. what's the point? you can always wait for something more powerful, but as long as what's out there meets your personal requirements, why would you wait an extra 4 months just to spend even more money?

 

[Brtnboarder495]

The 7800GTX is overkill and overpriced (both models), the 7800GT is a solid card worth buying. The 7800GS is a great solution if your stuck on AGP.

And the reason I said wait is because Socket AM2 is future proof for at least four years and it will use DDR2, where as Socket 939 is basically at the end of the line. Sure AMD will continue making new Socket 939 CPU's, but I believe that's only until the end of this year, maybe summer of 2007 if your lucky. If your looking for a cheap CPU for one last modification to a computer, sure stick with 939, but if you plan on using the components for future builds and modifications definitely wait for Socket AM2. This is something that you do want to wait.

 

[Baez]

if anything dont go for am2's. conroes r gonna kill am2. and no im not an "intel guy" . just my opinion

 

[mikL]

ok i cant wait till june. and not just cuz i want to upgrade now but I need two comps. I might wait till mid march if it means the graphics cards price will drop. or is that just the geforce ones? im still torn between the x1800 and the 7800 range.

and why would i want to get a 3200+ .... im upgrading and i already have an athlon 3000!

i mean if i was to get one of the graphics cards listed above would a 3800+ x2 be overkill.....

Is it a waste to get 2x 1gig for memory? i was thinking that way when i need to upgrade i can just get another gig instead of having to scrap all the 1/2s when ive used up all the slots!

thanks for the advice guys. keep it coming. I realise my computer could last a bit longer but needing a new one, having money to burn and quake wars round the corner i thought for once in my life i would own a decent gaming pc!