# Advice wanted.



## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

Hi guys,
I've got the chance of buying a rig with the following spec. Can you give me any idea what it's worth and what I should offer? Many thanks.
Regards,
John.

Acase Stylish Black Case with Blue LED's and scratch-proof coating in front 
430W Coolermaster eXtreme Power Supply 
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Processor (2 x 3.0 GHz) 
4Gb DDR2 800MHz RAM (Upgradeable to 8Gb) 
Four SATA-II connectors allowing full SATA connectivity 
160Gb Seagate Barracuda SATA-II Hard Disk Drive (System) 
320Gb Seagate Barracuda SATA-II Hard Disk Drive (Data) 
20x SATA-II DVD Rewriter Drive 
512Mb Sapphire Radeon X1550 Graphics 
Onboard Realtek 6-Channel HD Audio 
Onboard 10/100 Ethernet 
2 x front and 4 x rear USB 2.0 ports 
2.1 Speaker & Sub Set 
Logitech Deluxe 650 Cordless Desktop (Keyboard and Optical Mouse) 
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition OEM (incl genuine disk)


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## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

here is a basic outline of pricing of components, to give you some idea. I also do not know what you want to use this system for or what you expect out of it.

*SAPPHIRE 100173L Radeon X1550 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $45

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $240

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA-300 Hard Drive - OEM $53

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $80

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory ( X2 )- Retail $68 ( after rebate )

this is probly a better motherboard than what you may get but you have not listed one

ASUS P5K SE LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $90*

Ok my opinion,

the video card will run your monitor but dont expect to play any decent games on it.

I don't like the power supply

great CPU

4G of ram is not really needed if it is a 32bit OS as the system will only use ( recognize ) 3 to 3.5G due to 32bit limitations

I would say it would be a 650 to 700 dollar system


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

Thanks for that. I simply want to upgrade my old Athlon which is getting a bit long in the tooth, but I can't really afford to go the way I would like. Then I was offered the chance of this bundle. No price has been mentioned yet and I wanted some idea before I started haggling. Now with the figures you've given I know what my upper offer can be. If I get it cheap enough I can upgrade the bits that are likely to hold it back, such as the Video card and Mobo. I already have a decent power supply.

EDIT: I've just seen the same bundle on sale at £829. Does that reflect the fact that things are more expensive in the UK?


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

NO way would I pay 800 pounds for that spec! that is about 1600.00 in US dollars


for 1600 US dollars you could get a racing machine :laugh:


in fact / a person from the US (like your forum staffers) could buy the bits for you far cheaper and ship them to you >>>>> you would have more system for less money

you brits really get hosed on computer parts 

the case you would want to buy from UK the shippig on that overseas would be murder


do a 'wish list" from newegg you will soon see


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

what in the hell does a high end gaming rig cost you guys ?????


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

Way beyond anything I could afford. :grin: Out of curiosity I'll find out.


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

ANTEC MIDI CASE P190 BLACK NEO-LINK 1200W RET 
INTEL CORE 2 EXTREME QUAD QX9650 1333FSB 12 MB CACHE 
XFX SKT-775 (MB-N780-ISH9) nForce 780i 1333FSB (Ultimate Gaming Board)
GEIL 2GB DDR3 1333 CL9.0 DUAL CHANNEL BRUSHED-TITANIUM ALUMINUM
2 x ASUS 768MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 ULTRA 2xDVI PCI-E (SLI SETUP)
ThermalTake W0133 1200W TOUGHPOWER CABLE MANAGEMENT RET

All for just £3005.60 :grin:


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## HawMan (May 12, 2006)

linderman said:


> what in the hell does a high end gaming rig cost you guys ?????


Mine was around £600 - $1200.



JTP, i would say no more than £400 for that.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

3000 pounds  I would have to be commited to spend that much!




Hawman is on the right track! :laugh:


enjoy


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## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

linderman said:


> 3000 pounds  I would have to be commited to spend that much!


3,000.00 GBP = 6,377.19 AUD

I wouldn't have to worry about being committed, My wife would be shoveling dirt onto my cold dead body way before that :laugh:


One thing I would do though is too find out what motherboard it has as that can really influence your upgrade possibilities. In saying that tho it must already support 45nm CPU's and PCI-E but it would be nice to know what chipset it has and what features the board has. The board manufacturer is important also as this can influence reliability

This is one system you can get in Australia for 880 pounds ( AU $1871 ) and that includes a 22" LCD

http://umart.net.au/au/product_info...07773&osCsid=568d93a03945733cbc6697ecd85d64f7


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

I must confess, I choose the most expensive option each time for all of the components. :grin: This gives a better idea of UK prices.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Pick up stuff from Ebuyer or OcUK and then put it together. Thats my recommendation. Some of the parts are not top of the line. And the fact that they don't tell you what motherboard it is scares me.


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

If I can get it cheap enough does it really matter?


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

You want to make sure you don't get a junk power supply or motherboard. A lot of times thats where costs are cut with prebuilt systems.


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

I've already got a good power supply, a Jeantech Storm 700. Basically, I have no control over what goes in this package. It's really the E8400 I'm after. Anything else I can use is a bonus, but if I can get it cheap enough I don't mind replacing some components. I'll try and find out what the mobo is.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

The motherboard is the hardest to replace after a year or so because you either a) get the same motherboard for the same or a higher price or b) get a new motherboard and have to replace a bunch of other components as well.

You also have to consider the motherboard's role as a power supply. Why provide your CPU with clean, stable power from a quality power supply only to have the power polluted again when it goes through a poorly designed voltage regulator on a poor quality motherboard?


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

What's the best motherboard to go with and E8400 then?


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

What's your budget?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136363
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136365
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132266
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132263


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

Decisions, decisions. :grin: Up to £100 I guess.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

You can't go wrong with the DS3P.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132266


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

OK. Thanks Matt. I still haven't got this E8400 but I've got my fingers crossed.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

No problem John.


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

I dropped out at £250. It finally sold for £763.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Really? Wow. If you wait a bit the price will come down.


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

I going to have to wait. There's no way I'm paying that price.


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## beefers1 (Aug 23, 2007)

blackduck30 said:


> Ok my opinion,
> 
> the video card will run your monitor but dont expect to play any decent games on it.
> 
> ...


Despite my good experiences with supposedly crappy-quality power supplies, I would have to say that duck is right. As for the video card, I'm pretty sure you can run most of the latest games, just not at the highest settings. Medium should work perfectly fine.


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