Buying advice required

[2nd Ranger 1]

I am in dire need of a new PC, so I am trying to do as much research as possible before I go buying something I don't really need.

I found this site that gives me a load of custom options. My concern is the cost:benefit ratio, mainly concerning the whole SLI deal. Do I really need it? I'm not a real hardcore gaming type who buys all the latest games. I would just like to be able to play some recent releases, as well as run some older games flawlessly.

I don't think the link can show what I selected, so here are the custom options I chose:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 512k SKT-939

2GB DDR PC3200

Dual 256MB 6600LE SLI

80GB HD

15" LCD monitor

That all works out at around £614.

I think that is about right for what I require. Basically I just need to decide if the SLI is worth it or not (for example, would I be better getting a single 512MB card, etc).

Any advice would be appreciated, as I don't really have any idea what I just said. Also if anybody knows any other (UK) websites with custom drop-down menus like the one I linked, that would be cool too.

Thanks!

[Cpl Ledanek 247]

my experience with SLI:

if your playing on 19" and below monitor, specially not the widescreen kind: DO NOT BOTHER.

I had two 6600 128MB GT 2GB PC3200 2.5Ghz AMD and though it was great on one or two games, its wasn't future-games-proof.

Now I'm on a single 7900 256MB, I'm able to save another $100+ (US) for other future upgrades....maybe towards a bigger widerscreen. Or bigger HD, around 250GB.

I'm a casual gamer too btw.

If I had to build another pc for future, around Dec '07, I'd go:

4GB RAM (2GB for Vista alone )

an SLI board but with just one 512RAM 8800, then add another if I have a widescreen 22"

or just a 256RAM that is DX10

Remember I'm a casual gamer and also not your resident guru around here.

I'm the cheapest ###### here who pinches pennies like its nobody's business

[ROCO*AFZ* 0]

Here is what i would do... Get one with an SLI capable mainboard, and get only 1 card. When it gets to the point that you need a 2nd, buy it then.

[CrowmanUK 0]

Any chance of building one yourself mate? If not I'll have a good look around and see whats on offer for you.

[2nd Ranger 1]

I considered that, but I don't know if my skills will pay the bills in that regard. I wouldn't even know where to start with stuff like motherboards and PSUs and what's compatible with what.

[Cpl Ledanek 247]

@2nd Ranger, I'm not sure if MaximumPC magazine reaches where your from, but they have a pictorial on how to assemble one. If not I'll PM you the ingredients.

Right there is an easy free labor-fee. say that 10 times.

Take your time, find a case your going to be happy in the long run, with great expandability.

Buy a PSU that's beyond what you need, 600-750 Watts.

I'd get the 4GB memory now while the price is cheap. For some reason the old DDR are expensive .

CPU get the fastest you can afford. It can get messy upgrading CPU with the thermal grease---I ruined my favorite jeans. Long story.

[Kamakazi 0]

Just throwing out there that you don't need 4 Gig of memory unless you are getting Vista. and even then it should be but in the very much "luxury" pile.

The SLi isn't worth it on that kind of a card, you would be much better off going for a 7 series Nvidia card instead of 2 6 series cards.

[CrowmanUK 0]

You could always get a barebones system and add in some bits that you want, some barebones jobs here

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist....3&catid=781

See what sort of price you want to pay then look at how much the extra bits would be on top.

[2nd Ranger 1]

Cool, thanks for that link. Also thanks to everyone else too, much appreciated.

I started reading up on building my own, though I still have no idea what sort of components to buy. Motherboards and fans all look the same to me.

[CrowmanUK 0]

What sort of budget are you looking at mate? It'll give me something to do tomorrow, I specced up a system for a mate of mine today and his missus phoned me up and gave me a right bollocking, well it was his choice to go for a quad core cpu not mine

[2nd Ranger 1]

Up to about £600 probably. I've done a couple of those custom build things on websites, and the prices have been around that mark.

[KRP 56 92]

I started reading up on building my own, though I still have no idea what sort of components to buy. Motherboards and fans all look the same to me.

There's plenty of us here that could walk you right through the steps of building one. Whiteknight 77 even has a build your own thread here.

[CrowmanUK 0]

Just having a very quick flick through on overclockers mate and you could get a very decent system for a little bit more, what parts can you move from your old machine? cd roms/dvd drives/hard drives etc, anything like that could save you a bit of cash, see what you think of this lot, its gone a bit over, but only a bit and if you've already got a monitor it'll be better than the 15" tft that the other place would throw in...

Dvd writer

2 gig ram

A serious case you could transplant to your next rig

Dual core 4200 cpu

Asus Sli enabled motherboard

Antec 500w psu

250Gig Sata drive

7900GS 512meg graphics card

I've probably gone overboard on the case and power supply but you wont buy another case after that and with the extra cooling that it provides it'll keep your parts cool and happy, I've got an antec power supply too and i'm really happy with it. The total cost of that lot from overclockers is £695 with shipping, so you could knock off 140 quid for the case and cpu and get yourself a 40 quid job with a psu built in but I've found that tend to die pretty quick. I'll nose a bit further tomorrow, if you did buy that though and get a cheapo case you could get an x-fi card

[Kamakazi 0]

Not to be too critical of Crowman's build, which is quite nice, might I suggest going Intel Core 2 Duo, the performance will increase significantly if you go with an e6300 that is just about 5 pound more. All you have to change is the motherboard to something Core 2 Duo compliant, shouldn't be too hard. And the performance difference is considerable.

EDIT: Okay, just did some looking, although the performance increase would be substantial, the SLi motherboards are considerably (50 pounds-ish) more expensive, so I guess the setup above is the best you can do for your budget.

Edited February 6, 2007 by Kamakazi

[CrowmanUK 0]

The setup my mate was looking at was Intel core2 mate, and it just added too much to the cost to get it inside a 600 quid ish build, but if cost wasnt that much of an option I would have gone down the intel route, even though every system i've built for myself has been amd. Intel really pushed the boat out with the new dual core chips, they just need to bring the prices down a bit. I really bit down on picking the motherboard too, cheap as chips as an orange skinned brit "celeb" might say, but I did go to town on the case and psu which should last and last and last, another pair of eyes looking is always good though so if you see any bargains post em up here.

[Kamakazi 0]

I think the motherboard is nice and solid, not an overclocking machine by any stretch, but I quality piece of silicon. I actually have that exact same PSU in my case right now. Going strong for almost a year, with alot more load than he is going to put on it.

[Colin 0]

http://www.techspot.com/guides/41-highend-...g-guide-200701/

Here have a drewl bro

[El_Davido 1]

As Crowman will tell you, Ive been putting off buying a new computer for ages now, and looking at all the options, buying from a company, building my own, the best cost vs performance route is definatly this company, www.pcspecialist.com they have great reviews and you can spec out anything you want. I worked out the price of build it yourself and one of these and this is only a fraction more expensive, they must be only making a small profit on each part. So thats where Im buying from.

[2nd Ranger 1]

PC Specialist is actually one of the sites I was looking at. I did a custom job and it came out at £538, though I think this is probably because I don't know anything about some of the components I chose.

Looking at what everyone is recommending, I take it the Dual Core processor is the way to go? The processor in Crowman's link is AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz . Will that pretty much set me up for a few years?

I've probably gone overboard on the case and power supply but you wont buy another case after that and with the extra cooling that it provides it'll keep your parts cool and happy, I've got an antec power supply too and i'm really happy with it.

I was looking at a 500w PSu anyway. I read somewhere that for any decent machine I'd need at least a 500w. As far as Hard Drives go, I don't think I'll need anything as big as 250GB, so I can knock a little money off there.

As for stuff I can use from my current PC, I don't know how much help it would be. I got it in 2002 and since then I've only upgraded the graphics card and the RAM. I could probably use the CD/RW drive but not much else.

Thanks again to everyone for the help.