Maybe new computer specs, opinions and advice please!

Davie_UCF

Here since 2001, Trainz!!
Looking into a new PC.. this ones slowly dying and extremely dislikes Vista.

This is the first one I knocked up on Pcspecialist, Any recommendations? I was confused about Intel or Amd and Nvidia or ATI..


Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 6400+ (3.2GHz) 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (Socket AM2)
Memory (RAM)
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® M2A-VM: DUAL DDR2, SATA II, x16 VGA, 2 x PCI
Operating System
WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£95)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
400GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
512MB RADEON X1950 PRO PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic 7.1: £48
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100 LAN PORT (ETHERNET) AS STANDARD
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case
Black Neon Bubble case + Neon Extreme Kit!
Power Supply & Case Cooling
600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)



Thanks for the help!
 
Hi mate,

Over all it looks like a good system, as for AMD - Intel or nVidia - ATI, go with what you know, I would go Intel and nVidia as that is what I am used to.

The only thing that jumps out, that motherboard has onboard video, make sure it can be disabled in BIOS for better operation, go here have look see:

http://www.scorptec.com.au/product/22351/

That goes for the audio also, make sure it can be disabled in BIOS...
 
Customized an Intel based one and used Nvidia to see comparison.

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Duo E6850 (2 X 3.00GHz) 1333MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM)
2048 MB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® P5K SE: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 2 PCI, 3 x PCI-e x1
Operating System
WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£95)
USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
320GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
3rd Hard Disk
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
512MB GEFORCE 8600GTS PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio 7.1: £28
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case
Silver Neon Bubble case + Neon Extreme Kit!
Power Supply & Case Cooling
600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)



Ram, 800mhz? Confusing stuff! Also is the graphics card good enough?
I'm hoping to use the system for the new Kuju sim if I get it.. and general other new games.. although i'm not really a gamer :p

Thanks

Edit.. If onboard graphics, are they quite good? on the previous system like you pointed out, has a '[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]ATI Radeon X1250' intergrated, is that good enough to maybe save money on a card for now, (would be better than my current 7900GT AGP in this old system?)
[/FONT]
 
Last edited:
Customized an Intel based one and used Nvidia to see comparison.

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Duo E6850 (2 X 3.00GHz) 1333MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM)
2048 MB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® P5K SE: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 2 PCI, 3 x PCI-e x1
Operating System
WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£95)
USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
320GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
3rd Hard Disk
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
512MB GEFORCE 8600GTS PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio 7.1: £28
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case
Silver Neon Bubble case + Neon Extreme Kit!
Power Supply & Case Cooling
600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)



Ram, 800mhz? Confusing stuff! Also is the graphics card good enough?
I'm hoping to use the system for the new Kuju sim if I get it.. and general other new games.. although i'm not really a gamer :p

Thanks

Edit.. If onboard graphics, are they quite good? on the previous system like you pointed out, has a '[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]ATI Radeon X1250' intergrated, is that good enough to maybe save money on a card for now, (would be better than my current 7900GT AGP in this old system?)
[/FONT]

This one looks good.

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=14993

has a very similar system and it benchmarks twice as fast as mine and to be honest I'm not displeased with my performance. It's roughly what I would buy at the moment. I might take the RAM upto 2.5 gigs though.

Onboard video doesn't quite cut it for Trainz, look at tomshardware.com on their video card section for a rough comparison.

Cheerio John
 
I would suggest you look for some reviews on that motherboard ( or any motherboard you might choose ) to see if its ok, ie. stable, fast and no potential problems. This board needs the latest bios to use the 6400+ from what Ive read. It also doesnt have many expansion slots though that only matters if you think you might need more.

The other thing you might consider is faster memory eg DDR2 800 or faster ( make sure that the motherboard works with the brand you choose ).

John
 
Well the site i'm using is great because it will tell you if things aren't compatable and its just down to me to choose all the components I want and can afford really..

Check it out
www.Pc-specialist.co.uk

That intergrated ATI graphics on the first system I posted, I though the odd point with that intergrated graphics was that its actually a really good chip/card? but wouldn't run trainz ok?

David
 
In general onboard video isnt that great for gaming especially when you use higher screen resolutions. The graphics card you have selected is a mid range card which may be ok for TRS Iam not really sure, have a read of some reviews for it as a guide.

John
 
It is annoying that the AMD systems motherboard comes with the best intergrated graphics availible at the moment, meaning I practically have to pay for that even when I won't use it..
which does make the Intel system more attractive I suppose..
 
I just built an Intel system almost exactly like the one you posted above...same CPU, MOBO and Ram, and an 8800 GTS 640 GPU. It is splendid in Trainz and other games as well.
Ed
 
Awesome, I'm still toying with different setups..
what is advisable when it comes to graphics ram?
Euphod you say you have the 8800 with 640mb? what makes this a lot better than the 512? when I checked the price of my system with the 640mb it went up a lot!

David
 
Actually the 320 version is quite capable compared to the 640, many say it's a waste to buy higher.
Ed
 
Actually the 320 version is quite capable compared to the 640, many say it's a waste to buy higher.
Ed

If you have a large number of items with big textures on the layout the 640 Mb is better. I think some one once added up all the textures in one screen shot and came to 700 Mb.

Cheerio John
 
Indeed, my 640mb card handles Trainz and Oblivion well, which are both notorious for high texture caching in VRAM.

Cheers,
John
 
I've just upgraded to this
The MOBO comes with a seperate sound card

Dave

CPU AMD 6000 x2
MOBO Abit AN9 32X, nForce 590 SLI ATX





 
Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 6400+ (3.2GHz) 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (Socket AM2)
Memory (RAM)
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® M2A-VM: DUAL DDR2, SATA II, x16 VGA, 2 x PCI
Operating System
WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£95)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
400GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
512MB RADEON X1950 PRO PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic 7.1: £48
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100 LAN PORT (ETHERNET) AS STANDARD
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case
Black Neon Bubble case + Neon Extreme Kit!
Power Supply & Case Cooling
600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Personally, I would recommend replacing the M2A-VM with the M2R32-MVP. I use that motherboard and I haven't had any problems with it. Also, it is a Crossfire board, so you can use two video cards if you want to go down that path.

As a comparison, here is my system specs:

Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 5200+ (2.6GHz) 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (Socket AM2)
Memory (RAM)
4096 MB PNY PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 (4x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® M2R32-MVP: DUAL DDR2, SATA II, 2x PCI-e x16, 2x PCI-e x1, 2x PCI
Operating System
WINDOWS® Vista Ultimate x64
USB Options
up to 10 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1st Hard Disk
160GB WD Caviar SE SATA II (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
250GB WD Caviar SE SATA II (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk
250GB WD Caviar SE SATA II (7200rpm)
1st CD/DVD Drive
18x LG GSA-H44N Dual Layer DVD±RW IDE
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
512MB HIS RADEON HD 2600 XT PCI Express
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
ADI SoundMAX 1988A HD Audio (onboard)
Network Facilities
Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit LAN (onboard)
Netgear WG311T 108mbps PCI Wireless
Floppy Disk Drive
1.44Mb
Memory Card Reader
External Laser 33-in-1 Card Reader
Case
Thermaltake Shark VA7000BWA
Power Supply & Case Cooling
Antec Neo HE 550W, 2x 120mm fans (supplied with case)
 
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Here is the complete opposite end:
Processor (CPU)
Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz
Memory (RAM)
256 Mb (I do not know any other info)
USB Options
Uh... 6. 2 front 4 back
1st Hard Disk
160GB SATA No more info
2nd Hard Disk
40GB Western Digital unknown IDE model
1st CD/DVD Drive
BENQ unknown IDE
Graphics Card
256MB Nvidia Geforce 5200FX (Australian Release)
Floppy Disk Drive
1.44Mb
Runs Classics alright for my layout. (City of Morgan)

Guess how old it is.
 
Last edited:
Hi Davie UCF

I can personally recommend Pcspecialist, I purchased my system, (specs below), about 5 months ago. It took two weeks for them to build and test it, but it is the tool for the job. They will give you unbiased and expert advice without obligation if you care to contact them.

DaveW
 
Thanks for the recommendations Dave :)

So whats the difference between Crosshair and SLI?

I'm still fiddling, probably will order in 2 weeks or whenever I feel motivated to.. I can wait a little while, you never know, the prices might go down ;)
 
Originally posted by Davie_UCF
Thanks for the recommendations Dave

So whats the difference between Crosshair and SLI?

I'm still fiddling, probably will order in 2 weeks or whenever I feel motivated to.. I can wait a little while, you never know, the prices might go down


As far as I am still aware, SLI is still limited in which games it natively supports and it requires absolute hardware support. To enable SLI, you need two video cards that are exactly the same.
Crossfire, on the other hand, supports all games and there are hardware combinations that support software Crossfire. To enable Crossfire, you either need two video cards that will support software Crossfire (Radeon X1600's, or similar), a video card and its matching Crossfire Edition card (Radeon X1900 & Radeon X1900 Crossfire Edition), or two video cards that natively support hardware Crossfire (HD2400/2600/2900).

Chris
(psycho_aussie)
 
Hi,

Just to add something to what Chris said, you must also run a Motherboard that has a nVidia Nforce northbridge chipset to support SLi video cards, which means that you must go looking for a 'certain' motherboard, another limitation.

But, just because the game doesn't support SLi doesn't mean that they will not run if you have SLi, my brother has 2 7600GT's in SLi and all games work fine. Dawn of War & Dark Crusade, Flatout 2, Trainz, Battlefield 2 & 2142, even (Open)TTD runs fine.
 
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