Hi there, this is hopefully near the end of all the validation questions I have been asking everyone out there, I am hoping to place the order this week so was hoping to get final opinions now that I am pretty sure what to go for. All the prices I have got have been converted to dollars from their UK equivalent since they are the prices I can get and I will show what prices alternatives seem to cost here.
1 CPU
Going to go for the Athlon 3700+ since it is more than enough for me and I may start trying to overclock once the system is up and running. It costs $230 whereas the Opt 165 is $430 and the X2 3800 is $360. I think that in a years time if I feel that I am lacking in power that the X2 4400 or the FX 57/60 will be relatively cheap due to AM2/Conroe market effects so there is a relatively easy upgrade path if I go for socket 939..
2 MOBO
Going to go for the ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131004
I think that since I may look at over clocking and maybe upgrading the processor in the future it is best to push the boat out and get as good a MOBO as I can. I will not be using crossfire at first but again this leaves the option open for future upgrades if I chose. If I am getting graphics issues and simply want to up the performance I can just grab another graphics card and away I go. Price in the UK is approx $225
3 Graphics card
Going for the Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out Dual DVI PCI-E
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=18458780361&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=106035
I could not find this listed on newegg but for the money it seems a good value X1800XT graphics card and these seem to be highly recommended, they work out to be approx $370
4 PSU
Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V 550W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103932
These cost approx $125 dollars in the UK but feel like it is a good investment.
5 Case
Antec P180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129154
These cost approx $140 dollars but seem to come highly recommended also
6 Hard Drive
WD caviar SE 80GB 7200rpm SATA/150 8MB cache
This is how it is described in the UK, it comes out at approx $50 dollars and will be my primary drive, probably get a 2nd for storage but not sur eyet
7 RAM
This is where I am not sure, the ranges in the UK seem to be vastly different to what is avaialble in the US and I would like some guidance if anybody has any ideas. I imagine I would be fine with 2 x 512 and then again in the future if I have any cash I can always upgrade by adding 2 more sticks.....
Any thoughts positive or negative on this setup are appreciated as I am seriously lacking in system building experience and it has been a long time since I even tried to figure what was going on in the hardware world.
Also if you could advise whether it is worth going for the 64 bit XP pro or sticking with regular XP pro that would be appreciated as I am not sure how large the difference would be during setup.
Thanks in advance for all the help as it is really appreciated
1 CPU
Going to go for the Athlon 3700+ since it is more than enough for me and I may start trying to overclock once the system is up and running. It costs $230 whereas the Opt 165 is $430 and the X2 3800 is $360. I think that in a years time if I feel that I am lacking in power that the X2 4400 or the FX 57/60 will be relatively cheap due to AM2/Conroe market effects so there is a relatively easy upgrade path if I go for socket 939..
2 MOBO
Going to go for the ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131004
I think that since I may look at over clocking and maybe upgrading the processor in the future it is best to push the boat out and get as good a MOBO as I can. I will not be using crossfire at first but again this leaves the option open for future upgrades if I chose. If I am getting graphics issues and simply want to up the performance I can just grab another graphics card and away I go. Price in the UK is approx $225
3 Graphics card
Going for the Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out Dual DVI PCI-E
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=18458780361&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=106035
I could not find this listed on newegg but for the money it seems a good value X1800XT graphics card and these seem to be highly recommended, they work out to be approx $370
4 PSU
Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V 550W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103932
These cost approx $125 dollars in the UK but feel like it is a good investment.
5 Case
Antec P180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129154
These cost approx $140 dollars but seem to come highly recommended also
6 Hard Drive
WD caviar SE 80GB 7200rpm SATA/150 8MB cache
This is how it is described in the UK, it comes out at approx $50 dollars and will be my primary drive, probably get a 2nd for storage but not sur eyet
7 RAM
This is where I am not sure, the ranges in the UK seem to be vastly different to what is avaialble in the US and I would like some guidance if anybody has any ideas. I imagine I would be fine with 2 x 512 and then again in the future if I have any cash I can always upgrade by adding 2 more sticks.....
Any thoughts positive or negative on this setup are appreciated as I am seriously lacking in system building experience and it has been a long time since I even tried to figure what was going on in the hardware world.
Also if you could advise whether it is worth going for the 64 bit XP pro or sticking with regular XP pro that would be appreciated as I am not sure how large the difference would be during setup.
Thanks in advance for all the help as it is really appreciated
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