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"My (planned) Gaming rig"

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Sun 20/07/03 at 12:39
Regular
Posts: 787
Ok. I've been doing a lot of research recently and I plan to build a new computer from parts brought from the ludicrously cheap e-buyer. (Thanks to Uncle Albert)

However - This is where you lot come into play - This is only a plan for what spec I want - Please make any suggestions/changes and additions to anything that I may of missed out. I'm not exactly the cleverest person when it comes to choosing parts - All the different spec's and stuff are a tad daunting.

MSI KT4V-L SKT A 8X AGP DDR/Sound/lan/USB2.0 Motherboard - £45.48

AMD ATHLON XP2800+ 333MHz FSB Barton 512kb L2 Cache OEM - £102.51

PC3200 512mb 400MHz DDR RAM - £49.99

Soundblaster 5.1 Live OEM - £20.96

Seagate Barracuda 80Gb 7200rpm UDMA100 Hard Drive OEM - £54.99

Sapphire Radeon 9600PRO 128MB DDR DVI-I TV-Out Lite Retail - £116.16

JNC 4JA 121(a) Red ATX Midi Tower Case 300w PSU - £11.75

Liteon 52x24x52 IDE Internal CD-RW Drive Retail Box - £26.50

Aopen 16x48 IDE DVD Drive Retail Box - £19.99

Alps Floppy Disk Drive 1.44MB 3.5 inch internal OEM - £4.70

Coolermaster CP5-6J31C Socket A Upto XP3000 AMD Approved - £4.91

Chic 870 Scrolling Mouse PS/2 - £1.32

PS/2 Keyboard for Windows UK Version - £1.40

AC Power Lead (Kettle Type) Suitable for ATX PSU - £0.99

USEDSamsung 17 Monitoir SM753S 17 FST .23 70KHz MPR2 - £60.26

Logitech S2-50 2w RMS Speaker Beige OEM - £7.25

Ex VAT = £535.15
Inc VAT = £628.86

********************

Questions.

1) Is this setup decent? Can you suggest any changes
2) What the monkey does OEM mean
3) Is the motherboard ok for this setup?
4) What about the graphics card?
5) Would this be suitable for running games like Rise Of Nations or Half Life 2?
6) Have I missed anything out (cables/leads etc)
7) Is the case suitable? Or do I need something better?

Thanks.

gamezfreak
Sat 26/07/03 at 19:06
Regular
Posts: 10,364
Cheers for the advice Adrian - But I believe someone pointed that out earlier so I chose a Cheiftec Dragon case with a 360w PSU from www.overclock.co.uk.

Silent Assasin - I'm saving up. And also I don't really want the latest gear when it comes out - the spec i've got should be apt enough. Cheers anyway.
Sat 26/07/03 at 09:15
Regular
"Jim Jam Jim"
Posts: 5,626
gamezfreak wrote:
> JNC 4JA 121(a) Red ATX Midi Tower Case 300w PSU - £11.75

Don't bother with this case at all. 300w PSU included will be absolutly rubbish. My last PC I had was built in a cheap case with a 300w PSU, it wasnt the same case as the one above. But I had problems with crashing which I think was down to the PSU, and the case was flimsy and vibrated because of the CPU heat sink fan.

Spend a bit more money and get a better case and a better PSU. Noticed you are getting the case from ebuyer as the price is £11.75 exc VAT but then its £13.81 with VAT. This is the case that I had http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html? (SPACE) action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=44815

Those Cheiftech cases look nice and come with a decent PSU. My friend has 2 of these and is running a more or less the same sort of thing as you are. Think he has 2 hard drives as well as a DVD writer and a Radeon 9700 Pro. Spend a bit more on the case and PSU as thats what you look at and what powers your system. That case your thinking of getting is cheap for a reason, I spent 15 times that amount on a decent 460w PSU and a decent case. The case is built solid and PSU keeps my system running with enough power.
Fri 25/07/03 at 17:58
Regular
"I see you"
Posts: 536
gamezfreak wrote:
> Whaaa - Steady on ol' boy! lol.
>
> I won't be getting the parts for about a month yet. I like to research
> things in detail before I buy them - Thats why I posted this to get
> opinions/reccomendations.

Putting off building a PC is the worst thing you could do because you'll see the prices drop and then think 'oh i'll wait another month' then another month passes, see where i'm heading? Or is it you just don't have the money and are saving up? if this is the case then there is no need to write down specs or prices cos the'll change in a months time.
Thu 24/07/03 at 22:17
Regular
"PC Gaming Founder"
Posts: 2,136
gamezfreak wrote:
> I won't be getting the parts for about a month yet.

By then, your spec will be the equivalent of a 386, and the rest of us will be using our computers to tidy our rooms! ;)
Thu 24/07/03 at 20:03
Regular
Posts: 10,364
Whaaa - Steady on ol' boy! lol.

I won't be getting the parts for about a month yet. I like to research things in detail before I buy them - Thats why I posted this to get opinions/reccomendations.
Thu 24/07/03 at 19:49
Regular
"I see you"
Posts: 536
gamezfreak, have you built your system yet? If not what is the technical information of your motherboard, ie bus speed, supported cpu's?
Wed 23/07/03 at 18:25
Regular
Posts: 10,364
w00t - Cool.

Props to ya dude.

You've helped a lot in here.

Cheers :).
Wed 23/07/03 at 18:15
Regular
"aka memo aaka gayby"
Posts: 11,948
Actually, on that same page, have a look at the 'Dr Thermal Aluminium/Copper 3000+'. It's only £6.46 and has some great reviews. I've seen good things about it on hardware sites too, outperforming many more expensive models. It's also rated up to 3000+, so there shouldn't be any problem with the 2800+ you intend on getting.

Here's a customer review from the site:

"Got one of these on an XP 2500 its audible but not too bad. Idles around 38 degC with AS3 rising to about 41 degC under load with no other case fans."

Bloody good.
Only problem is it's slightly noisy.
Wed 23/07/03 at 18:13
Regular
Posts: 10,364
w00t w00t

Nice one Mem.
Wed 23/07/03 at 18:11
Regular
Posts: 10,364
It'll do I guess - Seeing as its copper and everything.

Cheers.

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