Some help needed on choosing computer parts

[shamrock_uk]

Hello all you computer gurus, some quick pointers into picking parts would be appreciated.

My graphics card looks like it's on its last legs so (given that my computer has been pretty much upgraded to the maximum over the years) this means that it's time to clean out the closet and get a new computer. Or at least most of it.

The only problem is that I'm completely out of the loop with hardware and I'm finding that technology has marched quickly by whilst I've been left behind!

I have no need for a monitor, keyboard, speakers, OS, mouse etc etc. I also have a soundcard, but it's very old, so replacing it with some of these incredible-looking onboard jobs would definitely be desirable.

I'd quite like to pick from http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Components.html because I've used them many a time and they always seem to have the cheapest prices in my experience.

I'm looking for a computer that will be able to play the best games for at least the next year or so and has the potential to be upgraded (ie. so I could just slip a better processor in for example). I really want to play ES3: Oblivion on full detail when it comes out too

Please don't feel that you have to suggest exact components, but I have such a slow connection at home that doing tons of research would be agonising (eg. it takes well over a minute to load an ironworks page!). If I could just be pointed to a rough idea of models or makes then that would be great!

Case - Does this case look ok? Scroll down to see it, it's the silver one called the

OcUK Value (6097) Gaming Case Silver - 400w PSU (CA-002-OK)

I don't want to spend much over £50 really, I like plenty of space, a case that looks fairly smart and I'm not loaded so value for money is also important!

Motherboard - Ideally I'd like to pay no more than £100 for this and it would need to support ATA-133 hard drive connections. Having bought two massive ones recently, I'm not about to buy new SATA drives. If there is a motherboard that has connections for both however, this would be a major bonus. Are the nforce2 boards still very good or am I completely out of touch? Does this one look like a good deal?

RAM - Something nice and nippy, but doesn't have to be absolutely top of the range. I'd like to pay not much over £100 for 1GB of the stuff. If anyone could match me RAM with an appropriate motherboard that would be particularly useful as I always get confused by the different speeds.

CPU - I'd quite like either a 64-bit processor or a nice hyperthreading one. Money is at a premium though, so I'm not after a 'hot off the press' one - half a year old or so is fine by me. I've always been an AMD man, so would prefer one of those (and they're usually more costeffective anyway). It looks like one of the Athlon 64s will be what I'm looking for, but what's the difference between Socket 939 and 754? Which is likely to become the standard?

Graphics Card - It has to be an NVidia chipset because I've had enough of ATI's rubbish Linux support. It's replacing a Radeon 9700 128MB card so a bit of a performance jump from that would be nice! Ideally wouldn't want to spend more than ~£150 on that.

Overclockers also do bundled motherboard/CPU/RAM deals that are guaranteed to coexist peacefully. They also generally work out a little cheaper than buying the components separately. The link is for the Athlon 64 ones, but there are Intel ones too.

I'd be quite keen to pick one of these bundles if you guys think they are good value, and wouldn't want to spend much more than £300 for a bundle. Or less if possible - eg. paying £50 for an extra 200MHz on a 3GHz processor isn't really what I consider good value...

Thanks very much for any help/guidance you can offer [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Zink Whistlefly]

First of all, be warned that OCUK - although very quick to take your money and ship you the goods, are a complete nightmare when it comes to returns. In the event of a faulty item be prepared for lots of messing around with them. If I might offer some friendly advice and recommend either CCL Computers (www.cclonline.com) or the fabulous CPU City (www.cpucity.co.uk) - both of which are cheap, fast and very friendly and helpful when it comes to returns [img]smile.gif[/img]

Anyway, the store you buy from is entirely your choice, so I'll get on with some recommendations.

The case you have picked looks fine, although be warned that you mustn't skimp out on the PSU! A 400W generic one, whilst adequate, is the last thing I'd want to entrust powering all of my brand new tech . Starting from £50 you can get a good quality PSU that will last you years. I also highly doubt that it will be a 24pin PSU, which is highly recommended these days - especially if you go 939 and get an NForce 4 board.

Motherboard - the one you've chosen is the Asus NF4 SLI board. This is fine, but if you don't plan on going SLI, get the DFI Lanparty Ultra-D, or the Abit AN8 Ultra and save yourself £20.

RAM - Athlon 64's love tight timings, but any 2*512 sticks will be fine. Suggestion - Crucial Ballistix - £110 will get you a 1GB PC3200 kit. If you can't stretch to this then just get some generic PC3200 (although make sure you get 2*512 sticks so you can run the memory in dual channel) such as Corsair Value Select.

CPU - Athlon 64 - absolutely no doubt about it in my mind. They run cooler than P4's, and are substantially quicker in games. The fact that it is 64bit is just the icing on the cake, since they blow the competition away even in a 32 bit environment. If you aren't an avid gamer, and don't mind spending more on a P4 (and don't mind high system temps) - they do provide superior multi-tasking performance and are generally much quicker to use productivity wise. Suggestion - A64 3000+ or 3200+ (depends how far you can go) Venice core (socket 939). Socket 754 is marginally cheaper, but you won't be able to use the latest NForce4 chipset or dual channel memory. 939 is a far more sensible route to take performance wise/feature wise/futureproof wise.

Graphics Card - this is the tricky one. A 9700 is actually a surprisingly good card. However, it is AGP which won't be any use to you on an NForce 4 board! £150 won't allow you to go much quicker to be honest. An Nvidia Geforce 6600GT or 6800NU is probably as fast as you can get with that kind of cash, and to be honest a 6600GT isn't much of an upgrade from a 9700/9800 based card (maybe 25%!). If you can push to £200 then the Geforce 6800GT would be the Nvidia card to get (since you've ruled out ATI) and would be a great upgrade. Whatever you decide, just make sure it's PCI-E!

The OCUk bundles are probably worth skipping since you'll probably play a small premium for the matching kit. You can't go wrong with a s939 NForce 4 board, Venice core CPU and a GB of PC3200.

Let me know if I haven't been very clear anywhere, or you want me to explain something.

Jim

[ 06-28-2005, 11:57 AM: Message edited by: Zink Whistlefly ]

[Q'alooaith]

Socket 939 is the sort of MB/CPU you want to go for if you want to be able to upgrade.

of the bundles, just check the mother board specs in each in your price range and look for the features you want, do you want to run an APG grafics card, or do you want to move with the times and get a PCI-E card.

Only buy a bundle if it fits what you need, if your looking at a bundle and thinking "I'll add some more ram" or "I'll get a faster CPU" and stuff like that, maybe think about buying seperate.

Can't help you on the grafics card front though, I prefer ATI, quite often better value for money.

[RoSs_bg2_rox]

Jim pretty much covered it all, but I would stress that if you can, you really should get the 6800GT. The 6600 offers no real performance benefit over a 9700 (in terms of AA, AF and the like). Case is really up to yourself, I like my Akasa Exlipse 62, but it cost me a fair bit more than that one, and came without a PSU. Advantages are, it's extremely roomy, and has great cooling (through 2 120mm fans). I would also stress the fact that you should look at a quality PSU. The Tagan 480W for example, will last you years, and is a great investment.

The Asus A8N SLi Deluxe is a great board, I own one myself and am exteremly happy with it. If you could afford it, it might be worth spending about £150 on RAM (RAM is *extremely* cheap at the moment, and rumoured to be going on the up soon) and then buy a 3000 venice/winchester, and overclock it. Obviously its up to personal choice on whether you wish to overclock.

If it was me, I'd stay away from the bundles, as there's none there I would say were spectacular.

Also, Overclockers does have a bad reputation for returns, but I'm with you, I love them. There site layout is by far the best/simplest/easiest to work with among the competition, and they delivery promptly too. Although I've never had to return goods with them. If you did want to look elsewhere (although you mentioned you liked them) then www.scan.co.uk is a reputable and good source, where I've purchased thousands of pounds worth of stuff without a problem.

Good luck,
Ross

[Dace De'Briago]

Mate, ignore the bad 'returns' rep with overclockers, I've never had any problems with them in this regard...

Nice cheap gaming unit for you below [img]smile.gif[/img]
You can always upgrade the graphics card from onboard dependant on budget and requirements at a later point.

(nb: Recommended graphics card for the price at the moment: x800 for around £120, x850xl for £175).

(nb: if you want a better CPU the 3700 San Diego is at a good price point - future upgrade though IMO)

(nb: you don't need a dedicated sound card - onboard is great)

(nb: if you want to do a little mild overclocking, the Geil Value RAM is a bargain)

Just under £500 and perfect for what you need. Note this includes a OS because they arent transferable...

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM) 1
£119.95
MSI RS480M2-IL ATI XPRESS 200 Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-058-MS) 1
£56.95
OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK) 1
£54.95
LG GSA-4163BA 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-028-LG) 1
£27.00
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6B160MO SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-MD) 1
£49.95
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition - OEM (OS-001-MS) 1
£54.95
AOpen H500B Midi Tower 300W 24-Pin PSU (CA-002-AO) 1
£44.95
Subtotal £408.70
Shipping (Amtrak Next Day (Mon-Fri) - UK Mainland) £10.25
VAT £73.32
Total £492.27

Hope thats ok for you kiddo [img]smile.gif[/img]

[shamrock_uk]

Thanks guys, that's some wonderful advice there! I shall check out those alternative stores you mentioned Zink - thanks for the heads up.

I've only ever have to return something once to Overclockers - a faulty power supply that wouldn't start - I just sent it back and a new one turned up no questions asked about a week later.

Although it did blow up on me later, so maybe they were just biding their time to do me in... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I shall have a good look through all your information and price it out, but that's given me a great headstart! Thanks again