Here's fun! And cheese on toast.

[el Chi]

Being very selfish here, but could some kind person please help me build a system? I'm in the UK so sites based in Dearest Olde Blighty (aka Britain) only pleeease.
Basically, I'm pining for:
CPU: 3/3.2 GHz Athlon (Possibly 64bit? Not overly important)
Gfx: ATi Radeon 9800 (Pro preferably, but certainly not XT) 256Mb maybe but if 128's drastically cheaper...
Hard Drive: 120 Gb? Not massively bothered about brand
Motherboard: don't know, don't care so long as it's compatible with the other components (natch)
Sound I'm not so sure about - I already have a pretty good sound system that I'm happy with but it's quite old so if there's some sort of relatively cheap card/speakers bundle (preferably surround sound) then that'd be dandy
RAM I don't care too much about speeds etc as I'm not very au fait there - 512 MB mebbe?
As for cases and power supplies, well I haven't the slightest idea so I'll trust your judgement, you saintly folk, you.
CD-RW & DVD is no problem because I already have both (separate drives)
Screen is not problem as I already have one, same goes for mouse and keyboard.
If I've missed anything...
Thank you for any help you fellas (or laydeeeez) give me - much appreciated.

 

[Axyon]

Just want to point out that maybe buying a 9800 Pro now would be a bad idea... the rest of your system is going to be pretty beefy, so maybe it would be worth it to wait it out for the 6800u or R420/23 cards.

 

[el Chi]

But they will be expensive and I don't want to spend a LOT of money. Or wait.

 

[Axyon]

But they will be expensive and I don't want to spend a LOT of money. Or wait.

Mm, fair enough.

 

[Gryfter]

may i recommend getting a mobile athlon chip and a compatible mobo.. good for oc if you thinking about it.

 

[el Chi]

Good for oc?

 

[Maxi]

Also remember that the 9800's will be cheaper when the new r420 comes out.

 

[el Chi]

Yeah I know but basically I need to get it sorted within the next week (sorted also includes built)

 

[ComradeBadger]

Chi-ster, I point yee to www.dabs.com

 

[el Chi]

<Smacks Comrade Badger on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper>
That's a BAD Badger! Dabs are rubbish...

 

[ComradeBadger]

Rubissh like good prices and getting my stuff to me next day for free?

Ah I see

Also www.komplett.co.uk and www.cclcomputers.co.uk

 

[el Chi]

Hah! That's enough from you. Now stop showing off.


<Goes to secretly check dabs...

 

[Willber123]

what about www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[el Chi]

Yeah that's the one I'm mostly looking at. Mostly.

 

[reap]

Do you think that Geforce 6800 (Non-ultra) is good enough to play games like HL 2, farcry etc, at the highest details???

 

[el Chi]

Are you serious? They will be extremely powerful - cards at the moment could play those 2 games full detail comfortably so those new cards won't have the slightest problem at all.

 

[ComradeBadger]

Do you think that Geforce 6800 (Non-ultra) is good enough to play games like HL 2, farcry etc, at the highest details???

No, it'll struggle with everything :dozey:

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

Wait untill those cards are out even if you don't wana buy them. Once they are out they will drive down the prices of the 9800 pro or whatever else you wana get.


Thats my little piece of advice.

 

[reap]

But 6800(non-ultra) is better when i'm thinking about the future so why don't i buy it? i just wanna know if it's good enough to have full details in HL 2.

 

[ComradeBadger]

Course it bloody is, but whats the point? It'll be running out of an AGP slot, so it'll be handicapped, just bloody wait ffs.

 

[Axyon]

Course it bloody is, but whats the point? It'll be running out of an AGP slot, so it'll be handicapped, just bloody wait ffs.

At the moment, PCI Express can offer very little speed increases. The fact that we've not even manipulated the upper boundaries of AGPx8's memory bandwidth transfer means that PCI Express just isn't worth it at the moment.

 

[Maxi]

The biggest improvement that PCIe will bring is that it will be able to give more power to the cards so that they won't need any extra molex plugs plugged in.

 

[el Chi]

Wait untill those cards are out even if you don't wana buy them. Once they are out they will drive down the prices of the 9800 pro or whatever else you wana get.


Thats my little piece of advice.

Nah I fully appreciate that but my li'l pickle is that I need to order, receive and build it before I go back to uni next sunday. Unless these cards are suddenly rushed to the shops, ain't nufin gon' stop meee. Sadly.
Once again thanks for all your help, and your patience with my never-failing ignorance

 

[ComradeBadger]

www.simply.co.uk


Good place

 

[el Chi]

Yeah that's where I ordered all me old stoooff from
But I'm still looking at overclockers 'cause I'm quite lazy.

 

[ComradeBadger]

Want it slightly more pre-built?

www.mcscom.co.uk

 

[el Chi]

Well I was looking at a barebones type of thing, but I don't think it has enough room for two HDs so I think that's out the proverbial window... Unless I can thinkof a sensible way of transferring all my files from my current one to my new one such as I will soon have <crosses fingers>

 

[el Chi]

Another question, sorry; in this barebones system (the first one) will it have room for: 1 CD-RW, 1 DVD, 2 Hard drives?
I'm assuming it'll have room for all the other gubbins (gfx card, fans for CPU, etc)
And could anyone please tell me what clock-speed RAM it can handle?

EDIT: I just realised how similar this post is to the one above - apologies, but I really need to get this sorted in the next couple of days.

 

[ComradeBadger]

Make sure that you disable the onboard graphics of the GeForce 4 MX :/

Yeah, it'll have room.. if you forgo a floppy drive

 

[el Chi]

Yeah I think I might get a USB floppy one if I desperately need one. Cheers Comrade