Budget spec with upgrade path

[Sp1ice]

You may want to do a search.. I know there are many threads in the is price range.. ( I know cost is a little more in the UK than in the US ) but for a Case I would go with the Antec Sonata II .. New Egg has it for 100 dollars US with an Antec 450W power supply. It is very quite and has an Air Duct for the Processor and decent airflow through out.

[Cameo]

Thanks a lot Sp1ice I'll check that out in the morning.

Any thoughts on the graphic card?

[SweetDreamz]

6800GS with a some Antec Powersupply.

[Cameo]

You may want to do a search.. I know there are many threads in the is price range.. ( I know cost is a little more in the UK than in the US ) but for a Case I would go with the Antec Sonata II .. New Egg has it for 100 dollars US with an Antec 450W power supply. It is very quite and has an Air Duct for the Processor and decent airflow through out.

This guy? http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=311799&cks=PRL

So that kills the proverbial two birds with one stone? :)

[Cameo]

The suggested case/power combo leave me just under budget. Would it be worth investing a fraction more to get a 7800GT over a 6800GS? I've seen one on Microdirect for £204 incl VAT from gigabyte - does anyone know if this is a reputable brand/card?

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=10253&GroupID=1275


Updated list;

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
GPU: 6800GS or 7800GT
RAM: 2 x 1GB Crucial Memory DDR PC3200 DDR400
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200 250GB SATA 8MB 7200RPM NCQ or similar
Power & Case: Antec Sonata II Miditower, Black w/450W PSU
DVD-ROM: Basic drive, not a necessity but would be nice. Again, would welcome suggestions.


Total (without DVD drive)

£804 with 6800GS
£856 with 7800GT (gigabyte)

Edit: my maths was screwed! Is it worth going £50 over budget for the 7800?


Thoughts? Is the gigabyte card ok?

[imashination]

For 50 quid that would certainly be worth it. As you still have some small amount left even with the card, maybe consider grabbing a dvd-r drive. With discs at 10p each, its a very good way to backup. £40 will get you a pioneer 110 drive

[Cameo]

Thanks imash. Do you know if gigabyte are a good choice for the 7800GT? Are all the graphics card makers a much of a muchness or is there definate reasons to go with one over another (including price which is why Im looking at the gigabyte).

[Decade]

"Are all the graphics card makers a much of a muchnes ?"
Yes, pretty much. Some manufacturers may overclock the cards slightly out of the factory or fit a different cooling solution but they're all the same chips. Gigabyte are pretty good for graphics cards, they normally have a decent bundle.

[Sp1ice]

The Gigabyte is a good card.. not sure if the other vendors you checked were any different but here in the states most of the 7800GT cards are the same price. That is the Case I was suggesting.. has not failed my dad.. keeps everything cool.. and is so silent that the only noise he hears is when his CD/DVD spins up.

As far as CD/DVD drives you can get a NEC dual layer DVD Burner (retail version ) for 40 bucks US again on NewEgg.. so not sure how much you figured for that.

[Cameo]

Thanks again Sp1ice.

Yea now that I've warmed to the idea of shelling out the little extra for a 7800GT, Im also thinking slightly further down the line as well, since at some stage they will become superceded by another card and subsequently come down in price a bit.

Then (correct me if I'm wrong) but won't the ASUS motherboard I've specced here support 2x 7800GT? From reading another thread on this forum it sounds like I would need 500W+ in power in order to run that kind of kit.

Do you know from looking at your dad's Antec case whether the PSU is actually built into it or if it would be possible to replace the PSU with a higher powered one later if you put another 7800GT in there for instance?

[lots]

I've not seen PSUs built directly into the case. If the case follows the ATX standard, the PSU should be replaceable. The Antec you mention should have a replacable PSU, so nothing to worry about...

To put you more at ease, take a look at this picture of the back, and notice the mounting screws (this is the standard layout for ATX PSUs). It should be capable of a new PSU down the road. So long as it is an ATX sized PSU ;)

http://www.antec.com/images/400/Sonata2_b.jpg

[Cameo]

Thanks for that lots. Yea I think I will hold fire for now and get the power with any future upgrade to 2 cards. Just to be sure though, is 450W plenty for this spec I've put together? Some guy at work was saying I should allow 70/80w under the max to be good.

[Sp1ice]

Yeah you can swap out the power supply later.. but then again it depends on if any of the 3D software starts using SLI which is currently just functional for gaming. As for 500W it also depends on what else you have added to the system.. I can run 2 7800GT's in SLI with a 400W power supply successfully for over 48 hours ( long gaming session :D ) the big issue I had was the Heat from 2 of those cards running at the same time. ( I currently only have 1 HD, 1 DVDRW, Processor ( X2 4200+ ), 2 case fans and the 7800GT running in my system ( tested SLI with a buddies card he had just bought) So I do not have a lot of extras in the system right now to pull power.

[motoxpress]

Another vote for the 7800gt. The 6800gt would be a solid second option but, Iwould personally not go anylower than that for reasonable Maya preformance.

-gl

[Cameo]

Thanks again Sp1ce. Actually I think I'll be doing very little if any gaming at all, Im building just to work really. So actually it would be pointless getting 2 cards since Maya cannot utilise the additional power? Thats a pretty significant factor if its the case and makes my life (and bank balance) a lot easier :)

[Cameo]

*Moan* I hesitated too much with the xmas break and now a number of the components at those prices are out of stock! Now I've got to wait for the fresh supplies. That'll teach me I spose.

Just out of interest, how long is expected till the successor to the 7800GT?

[motoxpress]

The 7800 series is pretty fresh. I would not expect the next series (8800?) for another 6 months to a year.

-gl

[lots]

Actually if it was a choice between the 6800GT and 6800GS, I would get the GS. Its $100 cheaper, and offers the same performance. The catch is it offers fewer pipes (12) as opposed to the GT (16). This would hurt performance if it weren't for the GS's clock speed (which is higher than the GT at 425 rather than 350). At the end of the day these two cards perform in roughly the same range. If you can stomach the extra cost, get a 7800GT, if not, get the 6800GS.

[Cameo]

The gigabyte card I was going to go for is out of stock for the next couple of weeks. Other sites I've found have it quite a bit more expensive. I noticed they'd added another card to their stock (presumably because they'd sold out of all the others) and it comes in as the cheapest of all. Has anyone heard of it/got it, has any reports? My only concern is because its so cheap, just want some assurance if possible that its not a crap card;

Leadtek Winfast 7800GT TDH SLI 256MB DDR3, PCI-E, Dual DVI, VIVO, Retail


If anyone has any info, appreciated.

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