Another "new computer" thread

[Lychgate]

So this will be my first attempt at building a computer myself (hopefully it will be a little less daunting than it seems!) and I'm posting this thread to get opinions on the parts I will probably buy. Comments on any incompatabilities or known problems with any of the items, or suggestions for better replacements, would be nice to hear (or informing me of any parts I may have missed out) .

Abit NF7-S V2.0 Socket A nForce2 - £82.17 (komplett.co.uk)
AMD Athlon XP2700+ 2.17 GHz BOXED - £110.20 (kompett.co.uk)
Western Digital Caviar 80GB IDE 7200RPM - £68.03 (kompett.co.uk)
512MB DDR PC3200 x 2 - £129.22 (crucial.com)
Sony Floppy Drive, 3.5" 1,44MB - £10.88 (kompett.co.uk)
Midi Tower Beige 300w ATX - £21.84 (puterz.co.uk)
Leadtek Winfast A280 GeForce4 Ti4800 128MB DDR - £131.60 / HERCULES ATI RADEON 9500 PRO 128MB DDR - £160.65 (overclockers.co.uk)
19" Sony Wega Trinitron - £159 (ebay.co.uk)
Microsoft Windows XP Pro OEM - £90 (ebay.co.uk)


I have a couple of questions myself. Firstly, is the slight gain in speed on the 2700+ worth the extra £30 (US$50) over the 2600+? Secondly, is the 9500 PRO worth the extra £30 over the Ti4800? Though for the graphics card I may use my current video card until the price of the 9700 Pro drops in a few months...

Thanks for the help .

Oh yeah, no CD or DVD drive because I'm using my current ones.

[JPMiller]

Me personally...no I dont think the almost imperceptible speed increase is worth the $50 dollars....spend that on a western digital special edition of your drive (8mb cache!)
or the video card.
Good Luck!

[VHockey86]

Only thing Id suggest is a nicer case. Those 30 dollar cases normally have crappy power supplies. I say pick yourself up a nice dual fan 400W antec

[Lychgate]

I was reading one of the other threads which said that the difference between 512mb and 1gb of RAM is negligable, so I may just buy 512 and use the other £50 to buy a better case .

[vass0922]

Depending on what you're doing that is quite true with the memory. MANY people out there just buy 1 gig because it sounds COOL to have 1 gig of RAM.. while most of it will not be used at all. Unless you're hardcore gaming or major photo/video editing don't bother definately go with the better case

I just grabbed a chieftec with a 450W PSU and should be arriving in a few days (newegg)

[BettaBuy]

Originally posted by Lychgate
is the slight gain in speed on the 2700+ worth the extra £30 (US$50) over the 2600+?

Lychgate, i checked on the komplett site and you have to take in account that the 2600 they're selling is OEM and the 2700 is boxed, so when you go for the 2600, you'll have to get your own heatsink and fan, while the 2700 will have an AMD HS, fan and thermal pad included.

[Lychgate]

Originally posted by BettaBuy


Lychgate, i checked on the komplett site and you have to take in account that the 2600 they're selling is OEM and the 2700 is boxed, so when you go for the 2600, you'll have to get your own heatsink and fan, while the 2700 will have an AMD HS, fan and thermal pad included.

I found a site (rlsupplies.co.uk) that does the 2600+ retail for £88, including delivery. But thanks for letting me know .

[BettaBuy]

nice prices there hadn't heard of them before

[Omardeth]

the speed difference between the 2600 and 2700 isn't really worth the difference in my opinion and you can overclock it easy to get higher speed if you want . but running stock i don't think it is worth it .

as for the difference in the t14800 and 9500 pro . well people will argue but i say the difference isn't worth it . yes the 9500 pro is alittle faster in benchmarks BUT we are talking about single digit # wise , and that is only in benchmarks . the 9500 pro is dx9 capable while the ti cards aren't . in my mind that is another issue that isn't important . because if you turn on the eye candy that dx9 adds it also slows the card down . if you are trying to save money use the card you have , whatever that is or get a ti 4200 over the 4800 .

[Omardeth]

forgot to add yes you want a better power supply . i would say min 400watt and MAKE SURE it is dual fan . amd recomends that the power supply has a fan in the bottom of the ps , most power supplies sit right over top of the cpu when the motherboard is installed , to help keep the cpu cool . the fan pulls the hot air of the cpu .

also that motherboard uses dual channel . so if you are going to go with 512 get 2 256 sticks .