need a wee bit of help here, im looking to spend between 500/600 quid.. im fine with the building side i used to do a lot of it but been out th rat race a while and not sure what bits gona give best bang..

dont need a OS/kb or mouse

i want it pentium based as they seem to be the best about now, i want a 8800gt 512 in there too, im only gona be runing a 19"/22" sooooo....

plus i would like 3 gig ram if budget allows and could do with a now monitor... any ideas as i say im out the loop on all the new MB/cpu's and sutch... and im worried about throwing lumps of cash into 1 big bottleneck thx in advance

Quote from Gizz :

i want it pentium based as they seem to be the best about now, i want a 8800gt 512 in there too, im only gona be runing a 19"/22" sooooo....

.......you mean Intel based.

Pentium is the old Intel series of processors, Core 2 is the new series.

This thread would be a good read to catch back up on a few things - http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=40042

Also check out the E8xxx series, I go for one of those. 3 or 4gig of ram should be no problem cause it's cheap right now, obviously to use 4gig you'd need to go 64bit.

Quote from Gizz :

need a wee bit of help here, im looking to spend between 500/600 quid.. im fine with the building side i used to do a lot of it but been out th rat race a while and not sure what bits gona give best bang..

dont need a OS/kb or mouse

i want it pentium based as they seem to be the best about now, i want a 8800gt 512 in there too, im only gona be runing a 19"/22" sooooo....

plus i would like 3 gig ram if budget allows and could do with a now monitor... any ideas as i say im out the loop on all the new MB/cpu's and sutch... and im worried about throwing lumps of cash into 1 big bottleneck thx in advance

Right then, here's my attempt:-

Asrock Motherboard - Ebuyer Quickfind no 144227
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 - 132064 - it overclocks like mad
3GB of OCZ PCw-6400(800Mhz) memory - 116775 & 118305
Point of View 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 - 135258
HP 22" TFT Monitor - 142559
Maxtor 500GB SATAII 32MB Cache HDD - 141471
Optiarc DVD-RW/DL/RAM drive - 139414
Creative Soundblaster soundcard - X-Fi Extreme - 121761
Antec Sonata III Piano Black Case w/ 500W EathWatts PSU (also Antec, v. nice) - 128045

That comes to a total of £562.

What do you think?

Quote from garph :

.......you mean Intel based.

Pentium is the old Intel series of processors, Core 2 is the new series.

This thread would be a good read to catch back up on a few things - http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=40042

Also check out the E8xxx series, I go for one of those. 3 or 4gig of ram should be no problem cause it's cheap right now, obviously to use 4gig you'd need to go 64bit.

yep sorry bout that i just meant i wasnt going AMD (still carnt belive im saying that)

and tnx for the link

nonononooo... no asrock. go with asus or gigabyte or something.

Quote from Joe_Keaveney :

Right then, here's my attempt:-

Asrock Motherboard - Ebuyer Quickfind no 144227
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 - 132064 - it overclocks like mad
3GB of OCZ PCw-6400(800Mhz) memory - 116775 & 118305
Point of View 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 - 135258
HP 22" TFT Monitor - 142559
Maxtor 500GB SATAII 32MB Cache HDD - 141471
Optiarc DVD-RW/DL/RAM drive - 139414
Creative Soundblaster soundcard - X-Fi Extreme - 121761
Antec Sonata III Piano Black Case w/ 500W EathWatts PSU (also Antec, v. nice) - 128045

That comes to a total of £562.

What do you think?

nice find on the monitor!!...

looks pretty tempting that.. i must say.. a few concerns..

i hear that the 8800 is a bit of a monster in terms of size and power usage, so will a 500w PSU be enough? and will a 8800 fit snug on that board????...

the only other thing is the soundcard, i forgot to mention i can drop that also, so could that 27 quid be but to more use in the CPU or MB???

nice list though..

just been reading up on the E2180 and that 20 odd quid i would save on the SC i may as well invest in a new HSF and push it till it bleeds

A soundcard, providing it has a processor for the sound such as the one he's recommended does boost your FPS However if you already have one...

Also the 8800GT, unlike my 8800GTX doesnt use that much power, however 8800GTs are good to SLI so I would get a 600W at least really for upgradability value. Also not sure about the size of the GT version, to fit my GTX in the case I had to move a couple of hard drives, the GT does look shorter though so shouldnt be a problem.

As stated before, Asrock are pretty bad, or from what I have heard, I have never been dissapointed with Asus...I choose them for most of the hardware. Make sure you dont leave the mobo to the side, a solid reliable one tends to boost your computers performance more than a little extra CPU speed.

Which X-Fi were you looking at? The XtremeAudio is NOT a proper X-Fi, and even a proper X-Fi will not improve the speed of your PC any noticable amount (although the sound is great).

SLi on Intel sockets is a bit of fail atm - only nVidia boards support it (well, lets forget about Skulltrail), and they tend to suck.

If you have the cash for two 8800GT's, get an ATi 3870x2.

EDIT - I'm too lazy to spec up a built, but if someone else does (and uses proper model names rather than "ASRock board") i'll be sure to ridicule i- i mean make helpful suggestions.

cheers for the info guys had a look around and threw this together so whats your take on this???? and is the 2180 the best way to go??

again thanks for the info


EV Black Mid Tower Gaming Case with Massive 14cm Front Fan - No PSU 134798 £21.99

Arctic Power 500W PSU With PCI-E 2x SATA, 20+4 ATX12V 8pin +12V Connectors - Retail Boxed 124922 £23.27

Point Of View 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 256bit Dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card 135258 £109.98

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz Socket 775 800MHz FSB L2 1MB Cache Retail Box Processor 132064 £41.84

Asus P5N-E SLI 650i Socket 775 PCI-E Onboard Audio ATX Motherboard 125082 £53.

OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC with LIFETIME WARRANTY 116755 £35.60

*£25 Cashback May* HP L2208W 22" TFT Monitor 1680 x 1050 300 cd/m2 1000:1 5 ms 16:9 VGA Carbonite 3 Years Warranty 142559 £137.70

Optiarc AD-7201S 20X DVD±RW/RAM LightScribe SATA Black Bare Drive - Boxed With 2 LightScribe Disks & Nero 144217 £16.95

Maxtor STM3250310AS 250GB SATAII 8MB Cache - OEM 131214 £29.99

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler 105994 £15.28

Quote from Jakg :

Which X-Fi were you looking at? The XtremeAudio is NOT a proper X-Fi, and even a proper X-Fi will not improve the speed of your PC any noticable amount (although the sound is great).

SLi on Intel sockets is a bit of fail atm - only nVidia boards support it (well, lets forget about Skulltrail), and they tend to suck.

If you have the cash for two 8800GT's, get an ATi 3870x2.

EDIT - I'm too lazy to spec up a built, but if someone else does (and uses proper model names rather than "ASRock board") i'll be sure to ridicule i- i mean make helpful suggestions.

The reason I put 'Asrock Board' is that
Asrock WOLFDALE1333-GLAN R2.0 945GC Socket 775 5.1 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

is a little long-winded. I did put the Ebuyer quickfind code? Ah well, no harm done.

Anyway, maybe this is a better motherboard, certainly popular with OC'ers.:-

Ebuyer 132266
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P iP35 Socket 775 8-channel audio ATX Motherboard

Anyway, only trying to help, no ridicule please if you don't mind as I don't try to help people only to be shot down in flames. Save that for somebody else.

Quote from Gizz :

cheers for the info guys had a look around and threw this together so whats your take on this???? and is the 2180 the best way to go??

again thanks for the info


EV Black Mid Tower Gaming Case with Massive 14cm Front Fan - No PSU 134798 £21.99

Arctic Power 500W PSU With PCI-E 2x SATA, 20+4 ATX12V 8pin +12V Connectors - Retail Boxed 124922 £23.27

Point Of View 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 256bit Dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card 135258 £109.98

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz Socket 775 800MHz FSB L2 1MB Cache Retail Box Processor 132064 £41.84

Asus P5N-E SLI 650i Socket 775 PCI-E Onboard Audio ATX Motherboard 125082 £53.

OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC with LIFETIME WARRANTY 116755 £35.60

*£25 Cashback May* HP L2208W 22" TFT Monitor 1680 x 1050 300 cd/m2 1000:1 5 ms 16:9 VGA Carbonite 3 Years Warranty 142559 £137.70

Optiarc AD-7201S 20X DVD±RW/RAM LightScribe SATA Black Bare Drive - Boxed With 2 LightScribe Disks & Nero 144217 £16.95

Maxtor STM3250310AS 250GB SATAII 8MB Cache - OEM 131214 £29.99

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler 105994 £15.28

Rubbish PSU & mobo, tbh.

For a PSU i'd go for a nice Corsair 450w unit, and mobo wise i'd get either a Gigabyte P31-DS3L or a P35-DS3R depending on your budget.

I think the screen is cheap because of the VGA input. Its not too bad unless you want to watch high definition in the future, because you'll need DVI-D input with 'HDCP'. A couple of people I know slipped up an got an internal blue-ray player for thier computer only to see that it doesnt work. This from what I can tell only effects HD playback, and not games running in high definition resolutions.

Quote from Joe_Keaveney :

Anyway, only trying to help, no ridicule please if you don't mind as I don't try to help people only to be shot down in flames. Save that for somebody else.

joe please dont think that m8 you have been more than a help really u have, you put me onto the E2180, witch im eternaly gratefull for, as i say ive been out the loop for some years now, and knowing what cpu you keep kicking and it carrys on ticking is a out my radar at the moment plus you spent YOUR time putting that together for me witch again im very gratefull for ...

spacedskunk! again tnx for ya input, i had noticed the conector problem, but im only using for LFS and wwiiol so no real biggi for me i wouldnt have though i would just need a adapter to fit the 8800 if im not mistaken....

after thinking about this i may drop the TFT and just throw the money at the mobo and cpu/ram i can always pick one of those up latter, so drop the monitor so i got 5/£600 quid for the more important stuff ....

You may want to look at this:

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L iP31 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

Ebuyer code 140061

if you don't want to spend so much on a decent motherboard. This one is £41.

A VGA -> DVI adaptor is almost always included with a DVI GFX card.

If not, they are only about £2 a pop anyway.

+1 on the P31-DS3L - Great board (if a little finnicky).

thanks again guys.....

as im droping the monitor (£140 ish) am i better upgrading the cpu/mobo with that?.... or is the E2180 still the best option... even with the extra 140 throwed at it?...

as regards the mobo i would rather get a good quality one and O/C freindly as im gona O/C the cpu so better the board the better....

+1 on the P31-DS3L - Great board (if a little finnicky). ........ what d we mean by finnicky???

thanx again troops

finnicky - can have some odd issues.

If your ditching the e2180, the e8400 is a great CPU if your overclocking.

If your overclocking a better board might be the Gigabyte P35-DS3R or Asus P5K-E.

Remember to get something like an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro to keep the CPU cool.

jakg........ taking all that into acount i re did the list so hows this look, price is lower and i feel better about the quality so what ya finks??

Point Of View 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 256bit Dual DVI PCI-E

OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MH ... TC with LIFETIME WARRANTY

Optiarc AD-7201S 20X DVD±RW/R ... htScribe Disks & Nero

Maxtor STM3250310AS 250GB SATAII 8MB Cache - OEM

Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freez ... cket 775 Processor Cooler

ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP AiLifestyle ... nel Audio ATX Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket ... he Retail Boxed Processor

EV Shiny Piano Black Mid Tower ... lour LCD Display - No PSU

OCZ StealthXStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm LED Fan

£499.16


whats ya take on that lot?????

reviews on PSU are pretty good

tnx again for any input

The RAM is a bit expensive - you can get it elsewhere for arond £25 a set iirc.

I'd also look away from the Maxtor drive, and towards going for a Gigabyte P35-DS3R (imo an inferior board but fine for you) and spending the rest on a top - speed drive, like this.

EDIT - This bundle - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135101 - Should help you.

thx jakg ended up going with overclockers in the end, had everything in stock i wanted so just bit the bullet ended up slightly over budget budget but hey what the heck ..

final shoping trolly ...

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB)
Asus P5K-E WiFi Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC2 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI
Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

and a few other bits and bobs sutch as leads and what-not... should be here tomorow all being well....

should be able to max LFS out on that with reasonable frames... yes????

again tnx for the help guys will let ya know how she goes, and if my fire extinguisher works ok after overclock

well got all the gear on next day with overclockers ...

poped it together and its pretty quick, full AI grid maked out 75FPS with no drops, (only 75fps due to crappy monitor)..

im not gona bother with overclock just yet its eating everthing i thow at it now so ill hold off untill i need to ramp it up a bit, the 8800GT O2 is just a beast, it actualy biten me strait from the box , ram seems good clocked that very stable... eerrrr board seems grate vry pleased there,..... although if u have one of these boards... "asus P5K-E" DONT TOUCH the chassis intrusion jumper!!!!!!!, took me over a blumin hour to sort that out (grinds teeth )...

no but very pleased with the finished rig, thanks to all or offerd there help .....

just wish i had time to use it ... wife had a new lappy yesterday and i gota put OS on that and set up wireless ... see ya on the track soon troops

Glad to hear it's all going well! Hope you have fun with your new rig!

See you on the track