new basic PC

[perkster]

On a previous thread i enquried about upgrading my fiances current computer and foudn for £200
i could upgrade it to a reasonable P4 level. However i thought if i am going to spend £200 on it best to spend £500 and get a much better computer. I did some research on here and overclockers.co.uk and think this list is compatitible and good, but you know better than me!

details are here, along with comments questions, links and prices, i was looking for crucial 2gb memory but its out of stock.

THE LIST:

Motherboard:
Asus P5B (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=5&subcat=56

5
£72.84

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=6&subcat=79

3
£140.99

memory:
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=8&subcat=14

4
£56.39

Power Supply:
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=123&subcat=
£70.49

Hard Drive 1 (master):
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HD-078-SE
£52.86

Hard Drive 2 (slave):
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=HD-078-SE
£52.86

Hard Drive 3 (slave)
IDE drive from old computer
free.

DVD burner/cd burner
LiteON LH-20A1P-487C 20x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=10&subcat=1

85
£25.13

Floppy Disk Drive:
Sony Floppy Drive - Black
£5.86

Software:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...tid=20&subcat=
£58.74

I already have speakers, keyboard (ps2), mouse (usb but using PS2 adapter) and monitor. I

also have an external Hard Drive (USB).



I have 1 IDE hard drive that would like to add into the system for the data on it, but will

install new windows Xp on one of the main drives above.

I play GTa san andreas and NFS underground games, but none of the cutting edge games, and

ones i do play I am ok to have medium grpahic settings on them, so i assuem for me the

onboard video and audio will be sufficient or worth spending more on?

EDIT: old PC has a ATI Radeon 9550 graphic card in it, would this be better than the onboard video? worth keeping?


I havent looked at a case yet, but will want one with suitible cooling for the above yet not

noisy. I dont need windows or seethrough parts or neon lights, just something well built

with plenty of room for this build and upgrade, probably black.

I am not looking to overclock it as i dont need that extra performance so i would assume the

cooling that comes with the above processor and PSU and case would be sufficent without

further purchases.

I do want more than the 4 USB ports this board seems to have, any ideas?

any feedback suggestions or comments welcome, any suggestions on case or how to utilise more

USB ports, or any other must haves. I am pleased with above as it totals £536.17 and for its

main purposes (word processing, internet, playing music, play DVDs, burnign CDs and basic

games) it should be more than powerful and if i wanted more games in future all i would have

to add would be a decent graphics/video card.

I read somewhere that these board have probs with IDE drive, i only want to keep my old one, would it be better to get a IDE to USB adaptor and external housing for it and use it from there, or perhaps use a IDE to SATA converter?

thanks in advance to all you lovely people who respond.

[freakitchen]

Excellent list there Perkster - I remember your original thread, and this system is a WHOLE lot better!

You WILL need a PCI-Express video card for this system - the P5B doesn't come with on-board video. The fact that you play any games at all, really, necessitates a dedicated video card - onboard video is really only suited to non-gaming tasks. The old card you mention will not be PCI-Express, so it's incompatible. Here's a lower priced video card that will still have a good go at the games you mention:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=356

That motherboard comes 4 USB on the rear, yes, but there'll be at least two, if not three, headers on the board for you to connect more. It will come bundled with PCI brackets that have USB ports on them, and there's the ones on the front of most cases now that you can hook up.

One change I'd make would be to switch the IDE DVD drive to a SATA model, like this one. The on-board IDE controller is not the best

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=10&subcat=185

Because of this, the external housing for your IDE drive would be a good idea. These obviously do the IDE to USB conversion for you. This one looks good to me - we normally recommend Apricorn enclosures, but they don't retail in the UK

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=14&subcat=72

[durant0s]

I don't know if I would call that a basic PC, looks pretty topnotch to me.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by perkster i was looking for crucial 2gb memory but its out of stock. memory: Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX (2x1GB) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=8&subcat=14

Corsair memory is just as good as Crucial.

Originally Posted by perkster I have 1 IDE hard drive that would like to add into the system for the data on it, but will install new windows Xp on one of the main drives above.

I wouldn't even install that IDE HDD into the computer. Get an external HDD housing for it. The P5B motherboard uses a Intel chipset that doesn't have native support for IDE, IDE is handled by a third party controller which I hear isn't all that great to use.

Originally Posted by perkster I play GTa san andreas and NFS underground games, but none of the cutting edge games, and ones i do play I am ok to have medium grpahic settings on them, so i assuem for me the on-board video and audio will be sufficient or worth spending more on?

The P5B doesn't have on-board video. You need a separate video card.

Originally Posted by perkster EDIT: old PC has a ATI Radeon 9550 graphic card in it, would this be better than the onboard video? worth keeping?

The P5B motherboards don't have a AGP slot, only PCI-Express 16...if that ATi Radeon is a AGP video card you can't use it in your new computer.

Originally Posted by perkster I havent looked at a case yet, but will want one with suitible cooling for the above yet not noisy. I dont need windows or seethrough parts or neon lights, just something well built with plenty of room for this build and upgrade, probably black.

Look at the Antec Sonata cases.

Originally Posted by perkster I am not looking to overclock it as i dont need that extra performance so i would assume the cooling that comes with the above processor and PSU and case would be sufficent without further purchases.

Yes, stock cooling is fine for a non-overclocked computer. Most modern cases have pretty decent cooling already.

Originally Posted by perkster I do want more than the 4 USB ports this board seems to have, any ideas?

That motherboard actually support 10 USB ports...the 4 on the I/O plate on the back plus connectors for 6 more USB ports on the motherboard. These are for front panel USB ports and a 2 port USB dongle that you install in one of the expansion slots on the back of the case. 10 USB ports should be enough for most people. If not, you can always use a powered USB hub or add a USB expansion card.

Originally Posted by perkster any feedback suggestions or comments welcome, any suggestions on case or how to utilise more USB ports, or any other must haves. I am pleased with above as it totals £536.17 and for its main purposes (word processing, internet, playing music, play DVDs, burnign CDs and basic games) it should be more than powerful and if i wanted more games in future all i would have to add would be a decent graphics/video card.

The parts selection is good but you can play around a bit with it to fit your needs better. Do you really need the E6600? Or could you get by with a E6320? And do you really need two 320GB HDDs? And you could even get a less expensive but good quality 450 watt PSU to run this computer. Take the money you saved and get a decent video card.

Originally Posted by perkster I read somewhere that these board have probs with IDE drive,

Yes, they do.

Originally Posted by perkster I only want to keep my old one, would it be better to get a IDE to USB adaptor and external housing for it and use it from there?

Yes, get a external USB HDD housing for your IDE HDD.

Originally Posted by perkster or perhaps use a IDE to SATA converter?

No, don't do that...those things don't work so good.

Cricket

[perkster]

Originally Posted by Cricket Look at the Antec Sonata cases

Most of these i find on overclockers come with a PSU, i am struggling to find one without a PSU, I think paying for a case with PSU is a waste since i am getting a corsair PSU anyway.

[freakitchen]

Depending on your budget, there are a couple that you might want to look at:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=7&subcat=507

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=7&subcat=160

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=7&subcat=160

If I were building a computer now, it'd probably be in the Antec P182. But the Akasa is a bargain.

[perkster]

Thanks they look very good options! supprised how cheap the akasa is, think its between that and the P182, no point buying something between the two, what is the major benefit of having the PSU on the bottom of the case? i thought heat rises?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by perkster Most of these i find on overclockers come with a PSU, i am struggling to find one without a PSU, I think paying for a case with PSU is a waste since i am getting a corsair PSU anyway.

If you get the Antec Sonata you don't have to buy a separate power supply, the one in the Sonata is a good one and will power your system easily unless you get a really power video card. Or take the Antec PSU out and install the Corsair PSU and keep the Antec PSU on the side as a spare. Having a spare power supply can come in very handy in the future.

Cricket

[LeftyAce]

what is the major benefit of having the PSU on the bottom of the case? i thought heat rises?

The PSU's fan vents out the back of the case, so it shouldn't heat up everything else.

I'm honestly not sure of the benefit of putting the psu down there, but you can be assured there's no serious downside :-)

[Mr.Ferrari]

If your going with a basic videocard..you don't really need anymore then maybe 350-450w. Deciding on a video card first will help dictate the kind of power you need..

[perkster]

well for video card i am going to go with either:

Asus GeForce EN7600GS Silent HTD 256MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=356

or

Asus GeForce EN7600GS TOP Silent HTD 512MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=356

the 2nd seems to be doubt the memory for only £25 more, worth it just in case she wants to play one of the future upcoming games?

thanks for tips on the parts so far and cases... i think with PSU being so important i may go with the PSU-less case and the corsair PSU as i hear they are the best quality and i want very good components in this system so it doesnt go wrong.

[perkster]

sorry to revive this thread, but having problems picking out the graphics card.

im thinking either:

EVGA GeForce 7600 GS 512MB DDR2 HDTV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=356
for £93.99

or

EVGA GeForce 7900 GS KO 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=358
for £105.74

or

EVGA GeForce 7950 GT Superclocked 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=328
for £152.74.

I prefer to spend about £100 on the graphics card, but £50 more is not too bad if you guys think its a much better card, i know none of these have the directx10 support of the 8*** models. the games it will be used for are GTA san andreas, GTA 4(when released), C&C3, starcraft 2, and primarily i want to run microsoft flight sim on full grpahics with full scenery really smooth.

any advice welcomed, i have added to my cart at overclockers all the other components except the retail liteon SATA DVD burner which they dont seem to offer i have to get that elsewhere..

thanks in advance.

EDIT: last question, i assume this board has onboard sound and i dont need to add a soundcard to my list?

[freakitchen]

First, don't worry about reviving a thread - we prefer members do that if they have anything to add. I know my original recommendation was for the 7600GS, but that 7900GS seems to fit nicely in the 'sweet spot' of price vs. performance. Not too expensive to make upgrading to a DX10 card later on difficult, not too cheap that you will be disappointed with the performance in the games you mention. The fact that it 'only' has 256MB memory shouldn't worry you - the benefits of 512MB and above really only become apparent when playing at very high resolutions on larger screens.

All that said, you should seriously consider this as a similarly priced alternative:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=404

I did the same comparison when I was looking for an upgrade - and pretty much everything I saw showed that the x1950Pro beat the 7900GS across the board. Overclockers have a few models at that price - an ASUS, a HIS and the Sapphire I linked to. They're pretty much identical, but the 'aftermarket' cooler on that Sapphire will certainly help keep noise to a minimum. It also has passive heatsink on the vRAM modules.

And yes - all motherboards have on-board sound these days. The P5B is surround-sound capable.

[perkster]

thansk for that, however just foudn this:

EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=56&subcat=912
for £117.49

EVGA very recommended here, and 8600 is DX10 ready so more future proof for £17 more and same amount at 256.

in fact its only £12 more than the radeon you suggest, however i hear the radeon are better for general use and the 8600 etc are more aimed at HD gaming. still i think an 8600 would be more than powerful for all uses of computer plus last longer