I'm looking for a new Athlon PC, and basically I have two choices that I'm looking at. I can either buy one of a friend from Germany, and he will ship it over via UPS (the first pc he shipped me was a disaster so he said if he ever shipped again it would be UPS which is safer)
The Second option is to assemble one myself, so basically I just need to consolidate my list of parts to make is as good as possible.
The PC from the friend has to options. Basically it is *remembers specs from the top of his head*
Athlon 64 3200
512mb matched DDR2 RAM 500mhz IIRC
160gb HDD with 16mb cache (although I'm not sure of this cache as I have only seen 16mb on the 300gb Maxtor model...)
Geforce 6800gt with an upped core (can't remember what too) and RAM of 1.3ghzish IIRC
16xDVD r/w drive
That is all the specs I can remember right now since the log wasn't recorded on IRC and I can't remember, so I will have to ask him again. It won't probably come with a monitor as postage is too expensive. It should come with keyboard, mouse etc. Although I wouldn't mind upgrading to an MX1000.
The main overclocking feature is the 6800gt, which is massively upped with good cooling, and actually has higher frequencies that the 6800ultra. It also has over £70 worth of fans in there, with 5 80mm fans, I admit it will be noisy, but this can be modded later. The case is acrylic and is seethrough, with a load of neons etc. Pictures are
PC in light and
the PC in the dark
There is two options with this pc. The first is the full version which costs £900, the second is the pc with the 6800gt replaced with a G3 (which would obviously have to be upgraded) for £550.
So how does that sound? A good deal? Or would you advice anything such as a bit of bartering? I think I can
just about justify the £900, but we'l see.
The second is my own system, which is slightly more bugeted.
Athlon 64 3000 £100 incl. VAT
Asus K8N-E Deluxe nForce3 (Socket 754) Motherboard (MB-065-AS) £65ish £72
Crucial Ballistix PC-3200 BL6464Z402 512MB DDR (MY-015-CR) £72.95 £72.95
Coolermaster XDreamII Cooler (Socket A) (HS-015-CM) £7.50 £7.50
OcUK ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - OEM (GX-010-AT) £79.95 £79.95
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JB ATA-100 8MB Cache - OEM
(HD-005-WD) £47.50 £47.50
LG GCC-4521BL 52x/32x/52x/16x CD-RW/DVD Combi Drive - (Black) OEM (CD-021-LG) £26.30 £26.30
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value PCI Sound Card (SC-027-CL) £27.50 £27.50
OcUK Value Floppy Drive - Black (HD-001-OK) £6.50 £6.50
Antec SLK1650B Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-023-AN) £39.71 £39.71
Subtotal £421.36
VAT £73.74
Total £500ish
Those totals aren't quite right as I modified my list slightly, but basically it should be just over £500. I can afford a bit more than that, so if you have any ideas of what to upgrade to make it better then give me a suggestion. Possibly the GPU, another 512mbs of RAM? Although bear in mind that RAM is the new Crucial Ballistix range which is extremely fast.
So what do you think, what is the better idea of the two? I know the first is slightly better, performance wise, but which is better value etc.
All help is appreciated. [img]smile.gif[/img]