another first build!

[Delvecchio1975]

Hi,

I've been lurking around a bit, and i'm thinking of building my own gaming-pc. I don't play shooters or anything, but games like Medieval II total war, Europa Universalis 3, and anno1701. I'm playing two of those three on my HP laptop now (128MB video, 512MB ram), but with MTWII i can only play campaign map, not battles, and with anno1701 it starts becoming very slow once your village becomes slightly bigger. EUIII it doesn't do at all because the videocard apparently doesnt support pixelshader 2.0, whatever the £$% that is.

goal: a gaming pc that can run these games EASILY and with some space for growth.
notes: i already have a computer case (nothing special), a samsung monitor, keyboard and mouse - the rest is too old and i intend to throw out.
budget: not really, although the cheaper the better

So stealing without remorse from some of the specs around here - what would you guys think of a little something like this:

* M2n-sli Deluxe Atx Socket Am2 Nvidia Nforce 570 Sli Mcp 8gb Ddr2 Sata2 Dual Gigabit Lan Audio 116477
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core (2.0GHz) Socket AM2 L2 cache Retail Boxed Processor 111288 61 in stock £57.50 £57.50
* Kingston 2GB KIT (2X1GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300 CL5 Non Ecc 1.8V 091124 294 in stock £74.34 £74.34
* Sapphire RADEON X1950PRO 512MB GDDR3 DUAL DVI TVO PCI-E 126774 29 in stock £109.61 £109.61
* Sony AW-G170AB2 18xDVD±RW/RAM Dual Layer Writer Black - Bare Drive 116255 1085 in stock £16.02 £16.02
* Antec TruePower Trio 550W PSU - With 3x 12v Rails and 120mm Fan

I'm not rushing off to buy imediately, it's more of an exercise in planning ...

any input is welcome!

:eek: Delvecchio :eek:

[spyder34]

if you want gaming go with intel its better and faster right now intel is winning the race in the gaming world anyway

[Katreat]

Unless you have a strong wish to go AMD the current crop of C2D chips are the clear leaders at this time. I would highly recommend them just because they are a tested new architecture that runs both cooler and uses less power. AMD has cut prices to stay competitive, but you are still buying an old architecture which is about to be replaced. If you really want to stay with AMD I would hold off and see how the new AMD 3s stack up when they are released around mid year.

Also, if you stay with AMD then you need to move up to 800 ram if I am not mistaken. AMD chips run much better with the faster ram.

That video card might be a little over kill for the games you are running. Also, it is 9X and 10X is just around the corner so you might want to get something like a 7600 as a placeholder until the new 10X cards come down in price.

Here is a quick list for a basic Intel build (which I copied from another thread) that would serve your current needs just fine.

Core 2 Duo E6300
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=112704

Corsair 2GB DDR2-667
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=98691

Antec 500w ATX 2.0 PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=120377

nVidia 7600GS video card
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=121570

ASUS P5B motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=113965

Seagate 7200.10 320GB
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=115418

Lite-on DVD-RW
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=122955

Total price is £475 including VAT and delivery. You'd need to get an operating system also.

[Freakitchen]

Some idea of a budget would really help.

If you want to stick with AMD, I suggest the M2N-E motherboard (SLI support will benefit you very little, it's no more than a marketing ploy for anything but the largest budgets).

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/112086

You really need DDR2-800 for an AM2 system; it's a limitation of the memory controller.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/111439

Would recommend a Lite-on Retail DVD Burner.

EDIT: Katreat was posting while I was typing. His parts list is excellent, but his links are broken as they are the truncated versions copied from another thread.

[Delvecchio1975]

@ katreat: i have no such wish (to stay with AMD), so i'd happily go with Intel - I understand my current games would run great on the system I proposed, but I'd like some manouvring space - if MTW3 or EU4 comes out in a year or so, I don't wanna start over, right? Does your proposal leave that kind of room?

@ freakitchen: i'd love to stay around £500 ($1000?) but it's really more important for me to have it future-proof for at least like two years. thanks for the tip on the SLI, i read it before but it was just a comment in some thread and noone really got into the subject further.

and about your edit, i noticed it as well, but i used the product id's in the end of the links to find the stuff on ebuyer - cheers!

[Freakitchen]

If you were to build the system in Katreat's post, then you'd certainly have a system geared towards longevity. A system can never be TOTALLY future proof - such is the pace at which computer hardware moves. The suggestion regarding the 'placeholder' video card will allow you to build the system now, and upgrade to a stronger Direct X 10 compatible video card in the future when the full range has been released.

The only change I'd suggest, then, with upgradability in mind, is a stronger power supply. This unit will give you the option to drop in a much more powerful video card later on.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/114945

Also keep in mind that, in a couple of weeks, the E6300 processor will be replaced by the E6320 - twice the L2 Cache at the same price.

[Delvecchio1975]

groovy! i'll definitely wait for the E6320, and go for the stronger power supply and the placeholder video card - when will those Direct X10 cards be available in full?

[Katreat]

groovy! i'll definitely wait for the E6320, and go for the stronger power supply and the placeholder video card - when will those Direct X10 cards be available in full?Originally they where suppose to be showing up around mid year. I know Nvida has 2-3 more in the offing to replace the 7xxx serives and ATI is rushing to get their competetive card out there. But have not heard much recently.


Freakitchen, sorry about the links, did not relize they would not work. I pulled them out because most of my information is in US $ and remembered a thread with a work up in Euros. Anyway, since the OP figured it out I wont bother going back and trying to fix it all :)

Kat

Edit: For a little more info on video cards you might check out this link.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/03/06/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/index.html

If you prefer ATI the X1650 pro and 1650 XT are around the same price and very comparable in performance to the 7600 GS and GT. They are all excellent buys for the price and will shine in the games you are playing right now.

[Freakitchen]

Heh, I've just realised why I liked that parts list so much - they're my own :D

Here's the list in the original thread.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=178563

[Katreat]

Heh, I've just realised why I liked that parts list so much - they're my own :D

Here's the list in the original thread.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=178563Glad forms are not copywrighted :).

I was about to post my standard newegg list when I noticed the Euro $ marks so I just went browsing because I remembered reading that thread. At least I did not claim credit for the research :). Now that I understand that links can not just be copied from one thread to another I will just link other threads in the future.

Is there a method for recovering the full link shy of going to each site and re-copying it?

Kat

[Delvecchio1975]

Heh, I've just realised why I liked that parts list so much - they're my own :D

Here's the list in the original thread.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=178563

Good research, Freakitchen! I mentioned in my initial post though that i stole the specs - was too lazy to go back and look up exactly whose i had stolen - i thank you graciously for your list!

[Freakitchen]

Don't concerned about 'stealing' my list guys - that's what forums are all about! We encourage members to search other threads for ideas. Katreat - you're right that copying links from other posts can cause problems, but you can right-click them and 'copy shortcut' or 'copy link location', which copies the whole link.