Gaming PC - UK

Omnipherous

Junior Member
Nov 28, 2006
2
0
0
Greetings,

It's come time to build a new PC to try my hand at the latest games coming out.

Currently, my Athlon Xp 2500+, Radeon 9600Pro, 1Gb PC3200 has held well for some time, but desperately needs a bigger beast beside it.

So, I started the usual trawl of websites and local stores to see what's what, and how much things are costing these days, this is what I have come up with so far, keeping in mind that i have a budget of around £650, with £700 being the absolute limit. Just a shame i can't get at newegg from the uk ;)

CPU/Mobo/RAM Bundle Deal From local hardware retailer (£259)

CPU - Core2Duo E6400
Motherboard - ASUS P5V-VM DH MOTHERBOARD
RAM - 1GB DDR2 533 PC4200 (Planning to upgrade with another 1Gb stick early 2007)

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.pless.co.uk/product.php?productid=1377">http://www.pless.co.uk/product.php?productid=1377</a>

Gfx - Sapphire ATI x1950xt 256mb GDDR3 (£175)

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119441

Monitor - Hanns G HW191D 19" widescreen (£140)

http://www.savastore.com/productinfo/pr...&product_id=10290270&pid=0&rstrat=3240

That's what i've come up with so far, with HDD and DVDrw etc semi-interchangable. Roughtly a WD 200Gb SATA/2 drive. Sitting at around £570 just now, so don't have all that much headroom for Case/PSU and HDD.

Wondering where to go from here, if i've got the prices about right, or if there's anything I should definitely look out for or avoid!

Any advice would be appreciated, keeping in mind about the budget here.

Thanks in advance!

Omnipherous
 

Omnipherous

Junior Member
Nov 28, 2006
2
0
0
*bump*

Ok, after some reconsideration and a little more research, this seems to be where I'm aiming now..

CPU - E6400 C2D
Mobo - Abit AW9D
RAM - 1Gb DDR2 667(upgrade with 1Gb early 2007)
Gfx - Asus x1600pro 512Mb(temporary until DX10 cards)
Hdd - Western Digital 120Gb SATA2
PSU - Thermaltake TR2 550W
Case - Antler Phoenix
Monitor Hanns G 19" ws HW191D

If my workings are right, that would work out to be roughly £695 delivered.

Looking good from my point of view!
 
Oct 4, 2004
10,515
6
81
That X1600Pro is weak, even as an interim card to hold you over. I can't give you a real estimate on how much of an improvement you would see over the 9600 Pro but it won't be worth it.

Can you find a 7600GS/7600GT in the same price range? I have a friend who went from a 9600 Pro to a 7600GS (AGP) and he loved it. Plays most current games at medium-high settings at 1024x768. (Of course, I'm not talking about Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights 2, Gothic 3 or those system killing games).

Also, he isn't impressed with Medieval 2: Total War performance on it. Has to turn down quite a few details during large battles. So I'm thinking, maybe look for a 7600GT at least?