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lukealexander
n00b
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2007
- Messages
- 2
First of all, I would just like to say hello as this is my first post here, though I read here and Ars Technica quite a lot. I will just give you a bit of back story. I currently use a laptop and was going to upgrade to a Core 2 Duo (Santa-Rosa) ultraportable, but decided I will wait for the Penryn architecture and get a desktop to tide me over/play a few games.
I am going to price the self-build system versus Dell-Outlet systems and see which comes out on top. I have decided the budget will be £600 and the following components are needed:
* Case (no idea about these)
* Power Supply (capable of powering 8800GTS level cards - NO SLI needed)
* Processor - E6300/E6400/E6420 or such
* Motherboard - Not much idea about these, but the Intel 965 seems recommended?
* RAM - 2GB PC6400
* Hard Drive - 250GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache (perpendicular drive?)
* DVD-RW Optical Drive
* Graphics Card (8800GTS level card)
* Windows Vista Home Premium (not sure about this, might use XP Pro for a while)
Of these, the processor & graphics card won't be purchased until the April price cuts and AMD launch 2900 series. The rest will be purchased up to that point.
Additional notes: I want a quiet system so I don't mind (after my wallet recovers) buying aftermarket cooling devices. I also want some scope for mild overclocking (I have never overclocked a desktop before).
I currently use a Dell 2007WFP @ 1680x1050 resolution. I am not a huge gamer, but I like Tomb Raider, driving games... not into FPS.
Is this build possible? Please bear in mind the UK is substantially more expensive than the US, so it is component choices I am focussing on here.
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I would appreciate some starting points for things like motherboard, RAM, hard-drive etc since they are totally foreign to me and I have no idea what is good value.
--------
Here are some rough pricings I have observed:
Gigabyte 965 S3 Motherboard £65
Some kind of Value Ram kit £100
All optical drives are around £20
250GB 7200RPM 16MB around £45
I am going to price the self-build system versus Dell-Outlet systems and see which comes out on top. I have decided the budget will be £600 and the following components are needed:
* Case (no idea about these)
* Power Supply (capable of powering 8800GTS level cards - NO SLI needed)
* Processor - E6300/E6400/E6420 or such
* Motherboard - Not much idea about these, but the Intel 965 seems recommended?
* RAM - 2GB PC6400
* Hard Drive - 250GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache (perpendicular drive?)
* DVD-RW Optical Drive
* Graphics Card (8800GTS level card)
* Windows Vista Home Premium (not sure about this, might use XP Pro for a while)
Of these, the processor & graphics card won't be purchased until the April price cuts and AMD launch 2900 series. The rest will be purchased up to that point.
Additional notes: I want a quiet system so I don't mind (after my wallet recovers) buying aftermarket cooling devices. I also want some scope for mild overclocking (I have never overclocked a desktop before).
I currently use a Dell 2007WFP @ 1680x1050 resolution. I am not a huge gamer, but I like Tomb Raider, driving games... not into FPS.
Is this build possible? Please bear in mind the UK is substantially more expensive than the US, so it is component choices I am focussing on here.
--------
I would appreciate some starting points for things like motherboard, RAM, hard-drive etc since they are totally foreign to me and I have no idea what is good value.
--------
Here are some rough pricings I have observed:
Gigabyte 965 S3 Motherboard £65
Some kind of Value Ram kit £100
All optical drives are around £20
250GB 7200RPM 16MB around £45