this is my new PC (when I have saevd a few more pennies)

AMD Athlon AM2 Dual Core 5200 64 Bit Processor
2048MB DDR2 667MHz OCZ Dual Channel RAM
640GB(2 x 320GB) Serial ATA II Hard drive with 16MB Buffer
nVidia 8800GTX 768MB PCI-E Graphics
16x Dual Layer +R/-R/RW DVD burner
DVD Rom Drive
ADI Sonic 7.1 High Definition Audio With Optical SPDif
Wireless 54G and Gigabit LAN
Logitech Elite Media Keyboard & X7 Laser Mouse

# Thermaltake Black Aluminium Case
# 5 x 5.25" Drive Bays
# 6 x 3.5" (4xInt, 2xExt) Bays
# 4 x 667MHz DDR2 Slots slots (4GB max)
# 1 x Parallel Port, 1 x Serial Port
# 6 x USB2 (2 Top, 4 Back)
# Wireless 54G and Gigabit LAN
# ADI Sonic 7.1 High Definition Audio With Optical SPDif Sound
# Dimensions (mm)-
210 (W) x 495 (H) x 478 (D)

for about £1100

thing is. SWG isn't that resource intensive, but a lot of the newer stuff coming out will be.



from the same place... this PC is about £800 without monitir or speakers though

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2MB Cache Dual Core 64 Bit Processor
2048MB DDR2 667MHz Dual Channel RAM
320GB Serial ATA II Hard drive with 16MB Buffer
nVidia 8800GTS 320MB PCI-E Graphics
16x Dual Layer +R/-R/RW DVD burner
DVD Rom Drive
7.1 8-Channel Capable Sound
1 x Gigabit LAN
Microsoft Cordless Keyboard & Optical Mouse

# Thermaltake Aluminium Full ATX Tower Case
# 5 x 5.25" Drive Bays
# 6 x 3.5" (4xInt, 2xExt) Bays
# 4 x 667MHz DDR2 Slots slots (4GB max)
# 1 x Parallel Port, 1 x Serial Port
# 6 x USB2 (2 Top, 4 Back)
# 1 x Gigabit LAN
# 7.1 8-Channel Capable Sound
# Dimensions (mm)-
210 (W) x 495 (H) x 478 (D)

novatech.co.uk


have branches in Bristol and Portsmouth

Jibblett wrote:

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this is my new PC (when I have saevd a few more pennies)

AMD Athlon AM2 Dual Core 5200 64 Bit Processor
2048MB DDR2 667MHz OCZ Dual Channel RAM
640GB(2 x 320GB) Serial ATA II Hard drive with 16MB Buffer
nVidia 8800GTX 768MB PCI-E Graphics
16x Dual Layer +R/-R/RW DVD burner
DVD Rom Drive
ADI Sonic 7.1 High Definition Audio With Optical SPDif
Wireless 54G and Gigabit LAN
Logitech Elite Media Keyboard & X7 Laser Mouse

for about £1100

thing is. SWG isn't that resource intensive, but a lot of the newer stuff coming out will be.



from the same place... this PC is about £800 without monitir or speakers though

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2MB Cache Dual Core 64 Bit Processor
2048MB DDR2 667MHz Dual Channel RAM
320GB Serial ATA II Hard drive with 16MB Buffer
nVidia 8800GTS 320MB PCI-E Graphics
16x Dual Layer +R/-R/RW DVD burner
DVD Rom Drive
7.1 8-Channel Capable Sound
1 x Gigabit LAN
Microsoft Cordless Keyboard & Optical Mouse

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Nice systems you picked jib !   A few attention points from my side
Carefull here there is a huge difference in the videocard. THe 8800GTX is quite a lot faster then the GTS. And the diff. will probably only get bigger when you go for newer games and finally directx10 games.  But both cards will be able to play swg and all current games (maybe except Oblivion and fligh sim X)  with great ease.

The processors are pretty even i think doesnt matter wich of the 2 you choose.
2 gigs rams is a solid choice especially if your thinking of getting vista. So i wont cut on the mem.

Personally i would go for 2 HD's (size doesnt really matter i think), so you can make backups on a physicallly different HD. The change that both HD's die is way less
Also bear in mind that both systems would like to have a pretty big powersupply (450W+)

I dont know on what notice you want the new pc. But ati plans to release their new high end cards (8800GTX competitor) in april/may so that might lower the prices of the 8800 cards.

Romizzi wrote:

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So what would you recommended spec be Mart? ( I wont be going for dual HD, I would never create back ups of anything :P )
Also, any recommended retailers..I was hoping to order online and have it deleivered.

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I don’t know good English retailers and the going rates in England. So I used a Dutch price watch to get the prices for the machine I would pick. I assumed you keep your current mouse keyboard and monitor. 

	Product	Price
	Processor		Intel Core 2 Duo E6600		€ 275,-
	Mainbord		Asus P5N32-E SLI nforce 680i chipset		€ 196,66
	Cooler		Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro		€ 13,-
	Memory		Kingston 1GB x 2 (2GB) PC6400 DDR2, CL4		€ 203,-
	Videocard		DDR3Sparkle GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3		€ 270,-
	Soundcard		Onboard
	Netwerkcontroller		Onboard gigabit lan
	Hard disk		Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, 320GB		€ € 76,80,-
	Dvd-brander		Any brand 16X		€ 26,-
	Behuizing		Antec LifeStyle Sonata II (450W powersupply)		€ 91,-
			Total price		€ 1151.46/  £ 786.83

 If you’re planning on playing more graphical intense games you could also consider the Sparkle GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB for €349 (The 8800 GTX is for high end games and mostly shooters since they tend to be most graphical intense)The price difference between a core 2 duo E6400 and a 6600 is 70 euro. So I think the 6600 is better value for money

Romizzi wrote:

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Ok, so something like this you would order and build youself at home? If so, what about OS software?

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Yes these prices are just the hardware. This means you buy the pieces from various shops (with lowest prices ) and put the stuff together yourself.  Its not really hard if you read the instructions carefully and use common sense. But assembly cost for a pc (without software) should only be about 30 euros

Software, well there are various ways to get it

I've been running vista for a while now its pretty nice. Takes a bit of getting used to and the videocard and soundcard drivers still dont feature all stuff they do in XP but for 90% of the time you wont notice.
Except if your useing a creative soundcard with EAX. Since MS decided to change the way sound it threated in vista, EAX doesnt work (apperently creative was too lazy to get into this sooner)
With the specs jib and i gave you you should have no real (noticable) performance loss.
You should be able to buy a OEM version together with your mainboard for about 90 euro's. But keep in mind that its linked to your mainboard after activation. So if you need to replace it you need to "ask" MS for a new key. Most of the times this will be no problem.

Overall i say if your happy with XP and dont have the urge to try new stuff stick with XP for a while and wait till the directX10 contents comes that you might want to play and then switch.
If your dieing to try it, go for it. I havent had any problems till now (tho i havent tried swg yet since i use dual boot)
(64 bit or 32 bit OS ?? i keep using 32 bit for a while since the 64bit software doesnt allow unsigned (beta) drivers that i want to try so i cant tell you how 64bit is)

Other software you'll need are virusscanner and a firewall
At the moment i use NOD32 its lightweight and does what it should (norton stuff tents to take a lot of your pc resources) And i use my build in firewall from my router so i cant advise you on that.

o btw installing XP and especially Vista is a walk in the park. (even if you dont do it regually like i do )


Hmmm i make pretty long posts sorry for all the reading mate   if you got more question id be happy to answer

-- Edited by Martijn at 23:55, 2007-03-17

Videocard is good yes.


The trick with the memory is that modern mainboards have 2 memory lanes. (dual channel memory) this is for higher transfer rates.
All big memory suppliers have kits of 2 sets of memory. (they call it matched pairs)
So you'll be looking for a kit of 2x 1Gb memory.

well. I went with Vista, and once you get past the annoying double checking on everything (which you can turn off) its just xp with bells and whistles.

So just go with xp :D

ask marty he seems to got it under controle (running duel on vista)

hehe hey hey Rommi i will log on this week. I have been sick last week and got visistors during the weekend. But now all is back to normal so see you next week :P

Yup thats the stuff good brand nice speeds and the right size
A alternative for the Geforce 8800GTS is the ATI HD2900XT (should be around 349,-)

/think i hope he aint going to ask me to come and put it all together

Well its money well spend mate

hehe maybe i should have mentioned that a big pc case is a big plus nowaday with the big fans and graphics cards.

If its a really tight fit you should pay some attention to the temps. If the air flow is really bad. you might experiance overheating. But i think it will be ok

Nope, I pinched a load of the ide cables and disc drives etc out of it :)
Also gave away my old G card