Possible new Rig, What Ya Think?

Energizer

Hello all,

going to buy a new rig as i'm living in New Zealand at the moment and won't be home for at least a year! i miss my gaming pc in ireland!

Needs to be fairly cheap but i also want some performance.

Been looking on the NZ site www.ascent.co.nz for parts.

AMD 4800 X2
2GB TRANSCEND JM388Q643A-6 DDR2-667
MSI K9N Platinum
Seagate Barracuda 160 GB
XFX 7600 GT
Raidmax Case with 500w PSU
Pioneer DVD-RW SATA 18x

Total - $1300.66 - 707.64 Euro

What do ya all think, good specs for price?

Any recommendation would be welcome, don't expect people to source NZ prices just what parts they would recommend?

awhir

go core duo maby a e6420 or e6600.
get one of the new nivida 8600 range.
2gb of valuram.
160gb seagate hdd
cheap case(probly antec since they supplie a good cheap psu with thers)
any dvd drive.
mos probly a 965 chipset baord since they are the cheapest.

dazftw

What games will you be playing really? If there old games like cs and bf2 it wont need that much performance really...

Ive been on a pentium 3 900Mhz with 256mb ram for the last month while I was saving for my new pc!

Its done me grand like!

Thank god ill be getting the new one start of may Ive been stocking up on new games

BlackWizard

I'm a little unsure about the 8600 range being worth it. There is a thread in the graphics forums about it. It just seems over priced for what it's doing.

Energizer

Thanx for the recommendations.

Want the pc to be able to play pretty much anything out there at the moment, no necessarily top settings though.

Was thinking of spending a bit more for the intel chip but not sure of the performance difference.

Is a Core Duo6400 alot faster than the amd x2 4800?

The 8600 is probably a good bit dearer and from what i read is not that hot performance wise. DirectX10 though.

8T8

7600GT is probably best buy at that price range if looking to keep costs down.

I'd stick with the X2 4800+ as well given the price of Core 2's in NZ as it would seriously bump the cost. In terms of performance the 4800+ is no slouch either so it's not something I would be too worried about.

Energizer

Cool thanx, still thinking about the Cpu, may just get 4800 and spend the extra money from intel cpu on a better graphics card.

8T8

That would be a more prudent course of action.

An X1950 Pro for $330 is a better card than the 7600GT and not too much more expensive or a 7900GS for $308.

Energizer

Reading a few review of the 8600gts. seems to get better performance than the 1950 pro in most area's.

Will probably go for one of those.

8T8

The 8600GTS is only a bit faster than the X1950 Pro & definitely not worth the price premium your going to have to pay that said the cheapest is $418 & is in stock unlike the $330 X1950 Pro.

BlackWizard

I've the 7900GS in my laptop. It's pretty damn good. Can nearly run most of my games on full details. STALKER is almost on full detail.

Energizer

Ye your probably right.

The 8600's are also getting some very mixed reviews.

also i'm not going to be having vista on it so the directx10 feature just becomes useless.

So excluding the 8800's and 8600's do u think the x1950 pro is the best for me?

8T8

Yes X1950 Pro is best buy in your case I think.

Energizer

Cool, great advice!

Was searching and found a Nz site with the 8600gts for $315NZD

http://http://pcpacific.net/index.php?cPath=4_97&osCsid=014df672b3b99bac78f31adde64c1e07

Is it maybe worth getting over the x1950 pro at that price or is the ati still much better performance wise?

Hercule

From what ive seen 8600s are quite weak 0 might be worth waiting to see if the mid-range ATI r600 cards are better - or if u really need to get a card imho u wud be better off shopping around and getting the cheapest 8800GTS - can go on ebay for around 280 euros :S - wud be around twice as powerful as an 8600

8T8

Well $315 is a more reasonable deal for the 8600GTS, performance between the two is very close though the X1950 Pro fairs better with AA enabled at higher resolutions.

At that price and if you cannot find another X1950 Pro in the same price range plus in stock then I would consider getting that 8600GTS.

As for ATI's Radeon HD 2600XT leaks are suggesting it is very similar to the 8600GTS in performance so the only consideration for waiting would be if it where cheaper than the 8600GTS however you will have to wait till early May to find out when they launch.

Energizer

Ye, not an easy choice.

Will not be getting pc till probably end of may so will look at the new ATI range and see then.

Energizer

Ok new question?

Is it better to get 2GB of Value Ram or spend the same amount of money on 1GB of Decent Ram?

Pc is mainly for gaming so will this make a difference?

awhir

value ram there isint hugh performence over faster ram.

Energizer

awhir wrote:

value ram there isint hugh performence over faster ram.

So, are u saying i should go for the 2gb value ram over the higher performance ram?

Anti

yeah, you may aswell. It will save you alot of money. And you wont notice the difference in performance unless you go to overclock.

So value ram will be fine for you.

Energizer

Thanx, will do that then.

Deided aswell that i should get a half decent lcd to go with the pc, having a look at this one:

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=353591

AOC 1912VWa Monitor, 19" LCD, 1440x900, DVI, Speakers, Silver
At a glance
Screen type - LCD
Screen size - 19"
Colour - Silver
Max resolution -1440x900
Pixel refresh - 5 ms
Contrast -700:1
Speakers -Yes
Widescreen -Yes
DVI -Yes
TV tuner -No
Dead Pixel Policy - Zero bright pixels


Any good?

8T8

Not bad in specifications but the model number seems to be a region brand so can't get any reviews on it.

There is also a Acer display which has same specifications though is more expensive but I have seen reviews of this display and it is classed as a good all rounder.

Energizer

Thanx for the advice,

Rig is piecing together nicely! now all i have to do is buy the bloody thing!