[coolchris]

Hi all. New here, so am thinking of getting these specs..what ya think?

[FONT=Arial]Intel E4400 Core2 duo CPU Inc Intel heatsink / Fan[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Coolermaster Elite 330 Midi tower + 600w PSU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Asus P5LD2-X Motherboard - Intel i945express, 1066FSB[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]PCI-Ex16, 4 x SATA2, 1 x Dual channel IDE ( will support 2 IDE drives )[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]5.1 HD audio, Gigabit LAN, 6 x USB2[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]2 Gb Corsair DDR2-667 Dual channel[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Samsung 500Gb SATA2 16mb cache hard drive[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]( NO DVDRW Drive Requested )[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Nvidia 256mb 8600GTS PCI-Ex Graphics card[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]MS Windows Vista home Premium oem DVD Inc COA License[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]windows & drivers installed & configured[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]All original disks, manuals & cables supplied.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Including insured Courier delivery[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Total Best Price = £515.00 Inc VAT[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Graphics card options:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]512mb 8600GTS add £20[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]1 Gb 8600GT add £20[/FONT]

Almost there, just need a bit of advice please!

[coolchris]

Oh..forgot to add. Ill be using it for some Games such as BF2142..ya know...1st person stuff mostly and Flight Sim X.

[c master]

for games it'll work but if you want detail, high resolution gaming etc.... your gonna need a better chip and graphics id reccomend buying your own intel e6600 and a 8800 gts 320mb.

[coolchris]

Cheers, but I cant stretch to that at the moment. £550 is my limit really.
ATM I have a 3ghz pentium 4 prescott and it can play BF2142 no probs with my 7800GS 512mb agp card, but with some of the games its struggling, so I thought I would go the intel duo route, and looking at other forums it seems that the E4400 is well worth it and a very good overclocker...or maybe they are wrong.

[c master]

oh yes the 4400 can be overclocked to some good rates but the new 8 series mid range are worse than 7 series mid range your seriosly needing a 8800 gts though.

[coolchris]

This is the new setup I will be getting. I think its pretty sweeeet:

For £600 Inc VAT & Delivery

As Follows:

Intel Core2 Duo E6550 2x2.33Ghz 1333FSb 4mb cache
Coolermaster Elite 330 + 600w PSU
Asus P5K P35 motherboard
2 Gb Corsair TwinX XMS2 DDR2-800 dual channel Ram
Hitachi 400Gb SATA2 16mb cache hard drive
512mb geForce 8600GTS PCI-Ex graphics
windows Vista Home premium 64bit

Slightly smaller hard drive ( 400gb ) but faster gaming quality ram.
This is also with the latest 1333FSB Intel core2 Duo CPU
Capable for overclocking

[alex]

Nice build. Good balance.

512mb for the card, at your resolution (I'm assuming 1280x1024), is overkill though.

Great motherboard, Best 7200rpm Sata hdd out there, good cpu, good ram.

I'd have preferred to have seen a 320mb 8800gts though, but if your budget constrains you to the 8600 then it's the next best card.

Why the 64 bit version of Vista though?

I'm still laughing over your initial post, the 1GB 8600! What an absolute waste of ram on a card of that prowess. . Which builder is it?

[coolchris]

LOL, yep thats what I thought about the 8600 1GB. He suggested the 64 bit for some strange reason, but I told him I wanted the 32bit version.
My budget does constrain me to the 8600GT 512mb. I will be using a 37inch HDTV at 1360x768 and also a 22" 1680 res monitor, so 512mb I thought would be adequate.
Builder is www.computerhq.co.uk Been talking to him quite a lot and said..OK if I give you 600 quid, what would you suggest, and he came up with the last specs...

[alex]

Ok, at 1680x1050 you'll need the extra ram. But you're going to struggle with the games quoted to achieve a decent, stutter-free, frame rate at that resolution, with that card. You'll definately have to compromise on detail settings. Even if you don't, going forward, with new releases you're going to need more power.

I'd strongly recommend a 320mb 8800.

The 64 bit version of Vista makes no sense. I'm betting he's got stock of that (because no one wants it) and he's offloading it on you.

Do you want to go the builder route, or build yourself?

I'll have a nosey around at builders if you want?

[coolchris]

Yer. I will mostly be using the HDTV. I built this one I have at the moment, but this time I thought..sod it. Let someone else do it, lol. The 600 quid is all inclusive of building and shipping from this bloke. I think I will stick with this kid as I dont think I have got such a bad deal really, but thanks for your help and asking.