[Vargo]

Hi guys, its about time i built my own rig and I have a specification in mind but as always the build does not match the budget espcially since im a heavy game into City of heroes/villains online, battlefront, MoH, Halo 2 and Unreal.

I'll say now I do not need to worry about operating system as I have already purchased xp & vista retail cd's in the past. I also do not need a keyboard/mouse, printer monitor etc.

My actual budget is £500 max.

My ideal rig that i like is:
Antect Nine Hundred Case
ASUS P5B-E Socket 775
Intel C2D E6420 Retail
2x1GB Corsair Twinx XMS2 PC6400 DHX
GeForce 8600GT 256MB PCI-E
320GB Seagate Barracude SATAII 16MB Cache
ThermalTake W0143RE 550 Modular PSU
Audigy SE 7.1 soundcard

Only major problem is that the cheapest i can get this to is £583.45 inc vat.

I have also done a build at www.pcspeacialist.co.uk but im not sure how good this rig would be for gaming.

Processor (CPU)

INTEL® Core 2 Duo E6420 (2 X 2.13GHz) 1066MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache

Memory (RAM)
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® P5VD2-VM: DDR2, S-ATA II, 1 x PCI-E x16, 2 PCI, etc
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
400GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer + Lightscribe (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
256MB GEFORCE 8600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE with 7.1 Surround Sound: £15
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (ETHERNET)
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
NONE
Case
Stylish Black/Silver Trident case + 2 front USB
Power Supply & Case Cooling
STANDARD 350W PSU with CASE FAN
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 19 dBA INTEL CPU COOLER (£14)
Firewire & Video Editing
3 PORT FIREWIRE (IEEE1394) PCI CARD (£9)

I'm just looking for some advice, comments, and all round guru wisdom

[alex]

Sorry we havn't got back to you sooner Vargo.

Both the spec's you've quoted are well thought out, and nicely balanced so well done.

The Antec 900 is an awesome case, especially considering it's price.

But.

Bin the graphics card, 128bit wide memory bandwidth. Consider this card to be the DX10 equivalent of the 6600gt.

what resolution are you gaming at? If it's 1280x1024 you'll get away with that card for those games. Just.

I consider 25fps, medium detail and low AA & AF to be the minimum a game should be played at.

If you can stretch your budget by 37.00 you can get an upgraded psu and the 8600GTS, nice card.

[Vargo]

Well I've been given a new contract today for work so I can extend my budget to £620 which will allow me to purschase my ideal rig with a gfx card upgrade, since I have been recommended the 8600GTS over the 8600GT on more than one occassion so i think i make as well do the rig justice and upgrade. :D:D:D

The resolution i'm currently gaming at is 1024x768 due to the current systems components are all roughly 4 years old hence time for a new system

Though another problem im facing is looking for a new montor...i only roughly want something between 21 and 26 inches BUT i'm actually looking for a hd ready tv to use as a monitor since i have a playstation 3 but no hdtv. So if anyone knows any fairly cheap ones (which are good) im more than welcome to suggestions. Preferably in black to match the colour of tower and PS3, and keyboard/mouse/printer etc. For the tv/monitor i have a budget of roughly £300

[merton123]

why dont you go the extra mile and get an 8800gts its 145 quid normally on build sites. + pcspecialist is tooo expensive for what they offer.