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I keep wanting to get a new machine but lack of money or dilusions of satisfaction with my current set up keep getting in my way. I was days away from getting a Powerbook when Mac announced they'd be going with Intel, so I've decided to hold fire on the laptop front until then.
Meantime, I reckon I can build a respectable system for less than £800... preferably as close to £600 as possible. Peripherals aren't an issue. I've been looking around and this is what I've earmarked so far:
Case: Antec TX640B-UK £73.96
Motherboard: K8N Neo4 Platinum (939) £80.20
Soundcard: SB Audigy 2 Value £28.21
Graphics: XFX 6600GT £105.00
Hard Disk: DiamondMax Plus10 200Gb S150 £58.82
RAM: Corsair Value Select DDR400 PC3200 £76.26 (2x512Mb)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000 (1.8Ghz) £107.10
DVDRW: LiteOn SOHW-1673S-02C £22.98
OS: Windows XP Home £59.15
Grand total: £611.68
Any thoughts?
The main use for this box would be your usual work/internet stuff, with some gaming. I'm not a massive gamer but I do like to cause the occasional spot of carnage now and again, this is one of two reasons I don't like my current box. It's nearly 3 years old, P4 2.8GHz w/512Mb DDRRAM, noisy 60Gb hard disk, paltry Geforce FX 5500 (what the **** was I thinking). The whole thing sounds like Rubens Barrichello having a multiple orgasm.
A quiet system is important then, which is why some may think the graphics card and processor are underspecified, especially considering that the motherboard would be at home in a system costing twice as much.
Some possible enhancements could be the GA-K8NXP-9
motherboard which sounds a lot better, but costs ~£110. I'm keen on putting two hard disks in as well but that's just a useless niceity really. Would I get any significant benefit by using Windows XP Pro X64 edition? I've researched it and drivers wouldn't be an issue.
I'm open to spending ~£200 on a graphics card... especially since 6800's are falling in price now the 7800 is out... but not if it'll make things way too loud.
I'm not going to bother with a faster processor until dual-cores come down in price a bit... I think the cheapest AMD Athlon 64 X2 is around the £300 mark. There's no point in spending more money now if I'll only upgrade a year down the line.
Meantime, I reckon I can build a respectable system for less than £800... preferably as close to £600 as possible. Peripherals aren't an issue. I've been looking around and this is what I've earmarked so far:
Case: Antec TX640B-UK £73.96
Motherboard: K8N Neo4 Platinum (939) £80.20
Soundcard: SB Audigy 2 Value £28.21
Graphics: XFX 6600GT £105.00
Hard Disk: DiamondMax Plus10 200Gb S150 £58.82
RAM: Corsair Value Select DDR400 PC3200 £76.26 (2x512Mb)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000 (1.8Ghz) £107.10
DVDRW: LiteOn SOHW-1673S-02C £22.98
OS: Windows XP Home £59.15
Grand total: £611.68
Any thoughts?
The main use for this box would be your usual work/internet stuff, with some gaming. I'm not a massive gamer but I do like to cause the occasional spot of carnage now and again, this is one of two reasons I don't like my current box. It's nearly 3 years old, P4 2.8GHz w/512Mb DDRRAM, noisy 60Gb hard disk, paltry Geforce FX 5500 (what the **** was I thinking). The whole thing sounds like Rubens Barrichello having a multiple orgasm.
A quiet system is important then, which is why some may think the graphics card and processor are underspecified, especially considering that the motherboard would be at home in a system costing twice as much.
Some possible enhancements could be the GA-K8NXP-9
motherboard which sounds a lot better, but costs ~£110. I'm keen on putting two hard disks in as well but that's just a useless niceity really. Would I get any significant benefit by using Windows XP Pro X64 edition? I've researched it and drivers wouldn't be an issue.
I'm open to spending ~£200 on a graphics card... especially since 6800's are falling in price now the 7800 is out... but not if it'll make things way too loud.
I'm not going to bother with a faster processor until dual-cores come down in price a bit... I think the cheapest AMD Athlon 64 X2 is around the £300 mark. There's no point in spending more money now if I'll only upgrade a year down the line.
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. Beautiful anodised aluminium, thick panels.
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