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Geek Culture / If you had £500 ($938.80) to build a gaming system, how would you do it?

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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 02:00 Edited at: 17th Sep 2006 02:01
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This is kind of a little game and also to help me decide which parts would be good for a gaming system on a tight budget.

So, if you had £500 ($938.80) to build a system, which parts would you buy?

Please pick out which of these parts from: http://www.ebuyer.com

you would go with and list them here (post the link from the component page here)

1) Case
2) Graphics Card
3) Processor
4) Mother Board
5) Ram
6) Hard Drive

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jasonhtml
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 02:12
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why not try http://www.newegg.com? it has all kinds of computer parts. and it makes each part easy to find by using subcatagories? also, its cheap and has fairly fast shipping.


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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 02:36
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But do they ship to the UK also? because ebuyer ships to the UK and the US.

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Jon Fletcher
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 02:37 Edited at: 17th Sep 2006 02:37
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my brother bought all his parts from ebuyer when building his new pc, unfortunately i dont know crap about hardware, so i cant be much of a help.

i know he managed to get a dual core 3.4 ghz, 2GB ram, 256mb ATI (cant remember which) 200GB HDD for around £400 just from that site


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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 02:44
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Iam hoping to get a 512mb card so I can run the newer games that are out.

Hmmm, even if you dont know about hardware, you can still see what you can get for £500

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Steve J
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 02:44
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intel core 2 duo e6600

1 or 2 gb ocz ram

xfx gfx card

asus mobo

lian li if possible

water cooling


should do it=)

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_Nemesis_
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 03:07
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Just a note, don't get into the idea that a higher amount of memory on the graphics card makes it better. Some of the high-end 128mb cards are much better than the low end 256mb ones - the case is probably the same with 512mb and 256mb ones.

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Jon Fletcher
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 03:09
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Quote: "Iam hoping to get a 512mb card "


that left over 100 might be able to cover that

also, despite what everyone might say, eBay can be pretty good, i got 2GB of DDR2 ram for my laptop for only £80 new, probably due to the fact that it was an american seller, and our exchange rates, but still, was a bargain


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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 03:10
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Hey _Nemesis_, we both live in the same city

But what graphics card would you recommend, which would play high end games like Oblivion?

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Jon Fletcher
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 03:15 Edited at: 17th Sep 2006 03:18
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surely the homepage of oblivion might have some recommended specs listed somewhere?

EDIT:

http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_faq.htm

there we are, it lists some reccomendations, unlike everyone else i cant just immediately think up a graphics card, lol....so, i hope that helps


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Bahamut
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 03:32
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I'm a bit rusty on PC's. It's been a while since I've had to know about all the parts, so instead of recommending brands/specific items I'll run through each part in order of importance for me.

Feel free to disagree. My knowledge is limited at best, though by following this order I have a PC that kicks arse for its spec.

1)Hard Drive. The Speed is far more important than the size. Also search around for a reliable make (nothing more annoying than a HD buggering up). Maxtor suck. That's about all I know on that one.

2) Motherboard. Must support high-end parts, so you can upgrade later.

3)Processor. In my experience AMD>Pentium even when money is no object. Things may be different now though.

4) Graphics card. I'd read reviews on these. Some can be dodgy, and alot of AMD cards seem to cause bugs in games if your lazy like me and never update your drivers.

5) RAM. It's cheap and easy to get by the bucketload.

6) Case. I know bugger all about cases. They could be the most important part for all I know.


This is the order of importance I followed a few years ago when my dad taught me how to build a PC. It's spec is AMD Athlon 1800+, an 80 gig HD (7200rpm) (can't remember the make, but it's good). 256MB RAM, 32MB Geforce 2 and I can't remember the make. If it weren't for the graphics card it would still hold its own against supposedly better machines. It's still faster than my other PC that has pretty much double the spec (with a pentium 4 2.8GHz processor and a maxtor HD) on windows apps and games that it will actually run.

Even so, I accept no responsibility if you follow my advice and fail. I warn you - my knowledge is severely limited (as I'm sure other members here will testify). I recommend reading up on the subject as much as possible, and make your own decisions.

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Steve J
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 03:36
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1) I agree on hardrives

2) Agreed

3) It has changed. The Core 2 Duo pwns the FX series by a long shot. Get it.

4) Use Nvidia. Teh Pwn.

5) No, no! Get Good timing ram (lower the better). It should be ddr2 at least 5400. Try and get 2 gb if possible, dual channel rox

6) Try and get a nice cool one, Nvidia cards release HEAT!

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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 04:22
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I guess ill be shopping next saturday for a new system and by them I should have enough views to go by, to getthe right parts.

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jinzai
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 04:36
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You might consider getting 2x256 as opposed to 1x512. I just got some older SDRAM...$40USD at a local retail outlet. That is $10 cheaper than the 512Mb. I noticed a HUGE performance improvement going from a pathetic 128MB to 384MB. The current cost of my memory is about $60USD. Yes, the graphics memory is hugely important, too...but system memory still trumps it in my opinion. Maybe you could consider used memory to save some money, as well.
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Saikoro
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 06:38
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Quote: "Yes, the graphics memory is hugely important, too...but system memory still trumps it in my opinion."

Thats a fact, not an opinion. They're used for different things though... video memory for quickness of display, system memory for grabbing data relating to the system itself.


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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 17:10 Edited at: 17th Sep 2006 17:10
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I have two 512 DDR Ram cards in this system, which I can use in my new one, so I just need to buy a 1 gig card or a 2gig card. Ive seen some good cards for 512mb on ebuyer, but I am not sure which would perform the best.

Hmm, I just put some hardware into a list, so here it is:



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Jon Fletcher
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 17:35 Edited at: 17th Sep 2006 17:36
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i think the AMD t-shirt is the best purchase out of that

edit:

i would go for DDR2 533mhz ram


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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 18:35
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The shirt is part of the "money saver" although I think its a sceme, just to get rid of a shirt

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Steve J
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 19:10
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CORE 2 DUO by intel. That AMD card gets wasted by the Core 2 Duo.

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 17th Sep 2006 23:43
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Yup, Steve's right. Right now Core 2 Duo is wiping AMD's X2 up and down the wall several times. Plus it's less expensive. Check out the Intel Core 2 Duo e6300 1.86Ghz. That sucker can be OC'd to 3.0 with the proper cooling!

Quote: "Iam hoping to get a 512mb card so I can run the newer games that are out.
"


The research has been done and 99.9% of the time the extra 256MB (512MB total) on a graphics card doesn't do anything for performance. And in the cases it does do something the extra money to get the 512MB isn't worth it. SLI or Crossfire two 256MB for better results.
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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 18th Sep 2006 00:13
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There is this one that you said, Sid: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/114212

And this one, which I think is better: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/102622/rb/21826968454

What do you think?

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Jon Fletcher
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Posted: 18th Sep 2006 00:15
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i like the 3.2 ghz Pentium D, but thats just me, i tend to judge just by the clock speed


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