Viewing Thread:
"What can I get for £600?"

Me buying a new pc.. I got a TFT and keyboard/mouse etc so I'm trying to spec up something decent.

This is what I have come up with so far, with my budget of £600.

Comments please..

Asus A7V8X-LSA1394 DDR333 KT400 x8AGP +Lan+USB2+ATA150+FW 1394

AMD *Retail* Athlon XP 2600+ *333 FSB* (2.08 GHz) with AMD Heat Sink Fan 3Yr

80Gb Maxtor Serial ATA (ATA-150) (7200rpm, 8MB Cache) 1yr

1.44Mb Samsung Floppy Disk Drive

Lite-On 52x24x52 CDRW IDE Burnproof Retail Kit Inc Media/Software (subject to change)

Panasonic 16x48 DVD ROM (Read DVD-RAM also)

128Mb ABIT *x8* Siluro GeForce 4 AGP Ti4200 TV Out/DVI/Dual

512Mb PC2700 (PC333) DDR Memory (Major)

Chieftec Scorpio Black TX-10 BD 340W PFC Midi Case

Craw wrote:
> There's a £2 price difference and I've seen a couple of dodgy
> reviews about the onboard sound on the NF7-S, so it swayed me a bit
> seeing as I'll be doing quite a lot of audio editing on my new
> machine.
>
> I'm ordering the stuff on thurs so I will keep y'all posted on how its
> going. Thanks for the advice though.


Onboard sound will be identical :O] Actually there was a problem with the mics crackling, but that was sorted after the first board revision I think.

Miserableman wrote:
> Craw wrote:
> Going for this motherboard instead now..
>
> Asus A7N8X-Deluxe - nForce-2 - x8 AGP+Lan+6Ch
> Sound+SATA+1394+SATA-RAID+USB2
>
>
> It's just the same spec board from a different manufacturer, usually
> at a higher price. The ABIT is (in theory) better for overclocking and
> comes with a serillel adaptor, but if you can get the ASUS cheaper
> then go for it. I've got the NF7-S, no problems to report whatsoever.

There's a £2 price difference and I've seen a couple of dodgy reviews about the onboard sound on the NF7-S, so it swayed me a bit seeing as I'll be doing quite a lot of audio editing on my new machine.

I'm ordering the stuff on thurs so I will keep y'all posted on how its going. Thanks for the advice though.

Mr Snuggly wrote:
> Wow, it's Craw! Long time no see!

Heh heh I still show my face occasionally. But since you changed it to 1 gameaday.... lol

Nah since changing my job back in October its been more tricky to get online. In my old job I surfed for 7 hours a day but now I do a real job I cannae do it. Plus your site is blocked. Well, the chat forums are, anyway.

You'll probably find me on here more than any other forum too, since I became a sad IT techie.

Craw wrote:
> Going for this motherboard instead now..
>
> Asus A7N8X-Deluxe - nForce-2 - x8 AGP+Lan+6Ch
> Sound+SATA+1394+SATA-RAID+USB2


It's just the same spec board from a different manufacturer, usually at a higher price. The ABIT is (in theory) better for overclocking and comes with a serillel adaptor, but if you can get the ASUS cheaper then go for it. I've got the NF7-S, no problems to report whatsoever.

Wow, it's Craw! Long time no see!

Going for this motherboard instead now..

Asus A7N8X-Deluxe - nForce-2 - x8 AGP+Lan+6Ch Sound+SATA+1394+SATA-RAID+USB2

And a lite-on cdrw instead of the sony

I've checked out the s-ata benchmarks and they look superb, so I'm gonna give it a try.

Also, you're the first person I've ever seen to get a serial ATA disk. A report will be required!

Craw wrote:
> OK... for £650.. how about this?
>
> Abit NF7-S (V2.0) - nForce2 -400FSB USB2+A133/SATA+Dual DDR400+AGP8x
> 128Mb ATI Radeon 9500 (STD) Retail x8 AGP DDR/DVI/TV Out
> AMD ATHLON XP2600+ 333MHz FSB – OEM
> Coolermaster CP5-6J31C Socket A Upto XP3000 AMD Approved
> 80Gb Maxtor Serial ATA (ATA-150) (7200rpm, 8MB Cache) 1yr
> 512Mb PC2700 (PC333) DDR Memory (Major)
> 1.44Mb Samsung Floppy Disk Drive
> Panasonic 16x48 DVD ROM (Read DVD-RAM also)
> Casetek 1019SM Silver Metal Case (no PSU)
> 450W CWT + SATA Quiet Dual Fan AMD/P4 App Active Fan Control Active
> PFC
> Sony 52x24x52 CDRW IDE Retail Kit Inc Media/Software
>
> TOTAL
> 649.89


An *extremely* nice machine. The only possible variations I would go for would perhaps be spending another tenner on the heatsink (although I have one of those 6J31C's downstairs, and it's fine, I just quite fancy expensive heatsinks!) Also I don't know about the case - I couldn't find the exact model specs on the web, but for that sort of money you could get one of these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/
Online_Catalogue_Antec_160.html

I bought that £60ish sans-PSU effort, and I've not made many better purchases in my life. I'm not saying it's better than the one you've chosen, I'm just saying it's extremely good and I've no idea how good your one is :O)

Other than that, formidablé!

Asus A7V8X-LSA1394 DDR333 KT400 x8AGP +Lan+USB2+ATA150+FW 1394
Riiight...

AMD *Retail* Athlon XP 2600+ *333 FSB* (2.08 GHz) with AMD Heat Sink Fan 3Yr
Very nice.

80Gb Maxtor Serial ATA (ATA-150) (7200rpm, 8MB Cache) 1yr
Nice enough, although I prefer at least 100Gb

1.44Mb Samsung Floppy Disk Drive
Heh.

Lite-On 52x24x52 CDRW IDE Burnproof Retail Kit Inc Media/Software (subject to change)
Good, but better if you have a DVD writer.

Panasonic 16x48 DVD ROM (Read DVD-RAM also)
Get a DVD-RW instead. It can read DVDs too.

128Mb ABIT *x8* Siluro GeForce 4 AGP Ti4200 TV Out/DVI/Dual
Nice :)

512Mb PC2700 (PC333) DDR Memory (Major)
Not bad, but you could put two 512s in to make it better if you have the space.

Chieftec Scorpio Black TX-10 BD 340W PFC Midi Case
Argh, I hate black. Not that I'm racist or anything...

Thoughts please... purchase iminent..!