Building a dual processor rig while the rain comes in

WE'RE TRYING to convince resellers in this column to offer freebies or additional discounts to our readers. If you do buy from any of the guys listed here, just tell them that you come from the INQUIRER's daily buy column. And, resellers or readers alike, if you have some hot and spicy deals. Send me a line.

Prices do not include VAT or shipping.

Memorywise, I'd choose Viking memory modules over Ebuyer's value sticks. At 24.99+VAT for 512MB, they're great value for money. I'll grab two of them. For the Opteron Rig, go for a pair of Crucial 512MB Reg ECC PC3200 memory modules at £51.99+VAT. They're CL3 but Reg ECC are notoriously difficult to OC anyway.

If you're not a gaming addict, there's nothing wrong going for that refurbished Radeon 8500DV from Retekdirect. It still allows you to play games, albeit old one plus the DV capabilities and the TV Tuner come handy. £22.50+VAT is cheap. For the PCI Express AMD rig, have a go at the Sapphire X300SE 128MB PCIe card with DVI-i and TVO, for £29.42+VAT at dabs.

As from here, everything is standard. Grab a DVD writer from Amazon for only £25.54+VAT. It is a 16x DVD writer from Ultima. The design might be uninspiring but you would still get the performance at a rock bottom price. Dual Layer and Dual format, can't get cheaper anywhere.

Also grab that Digimate Wireless Multimedia Keyboard and Mouse for only £8+VAT at Aria. A fantastic deal considering, it is a RF system. The mouse though is a ball version as far as I am concerned. USB and PS2 versions.

Also in the goodies back is that Antec Neo Power PSU which seems to be good value at £32.78+VAT. It is a 480w version so it should provide ample power for our dualies out there. It has a special power connector for PCI express, a large fan and gold plated connectors. What's more, you can remove cables you will not use. Get it here at Aria.

I'll finish with two WD Caviar 160GB HDD with 8MB each and spinning at 7200rpm. SATA interface at £95.08+VAT for the pair at 4dabs. Configure them in RAID0 mode.

Not included are the speakers, a sound card, modem and floppy (so obsolete now), monitors, P&P, cables, casing (use what you have) and OS. You'll end up paying £694.73+VAT for the Xeon one and £731.92+VAT for the Opteron. Does that fit your bill, is there anyway of making the rig more powerful, yet cheaper? Drop me a billet doux. µ