A Few good Me..I mean Sites?

[thefunkrocket]

I'm thinking of building a new PC soon (My 1st time) so I was wondering if you could recomend a few good sites for reviews of components.

I have a good idea of what i want just need to confirm what I think

Oh also I saw a thread on here a few days ago with a link to a sight that review online hardware stores, I'll go an do a search now but if anyone knows the site I'm on about an can point in the right direction I would eternally grateful (well maybe not for quite that long but...).

 

[Cdr]

Post your budget on here, and we'll help you find the best for the price

Well, when I say 'we' I mean Jonty, as he's 'de man' when it comes to this sort of stuff.

 

[Jonty]

Flattery will get you everywhere with me, Cdr hee hee. Seriously, though, you're too kind

With regards hardware review sites, thefunkrocket, there are a lot of reputable sites out there. Some of the ones I check, which shouldn't be considered better than any others, include . . .

• The FiringSquad
• Hexus
• Tom's Hardware
• [H]ard|OCP
• Anandtech

There are a lot more sites beside these, so this list is far from exhaustive. You'll find that some sites often have a certain focus which can be useful (e.g. [H]ard|OCP is excellent for overclocking hardware; Hexus are based in the UK etc.).

I'm not too sure of that link you mention, but if you can't find it I'll have a gander for you

Kind Regards

 

[(Shovel)]

Or, as CDR suggests, post your budget and we'll relish the oppotunity to spec you something up... not that we hate doing our own work or anything...

 

[thefunkrocket]

Budget

Ok here goes: My budget atm is prolly around £1500, (but it can go up slightly) but I need everything and it also needs to be future proof for the next few years as I'm of to Uni in september so I don't think I'll have the money to upgrade for the next few years

Anyway what I'm currently looking at is something like:

Barton 3000+
An Asus NF2 MB
The new Gainward 5900FX Ultra (looks nice )
And the rest is to be decided on.

I was, however reading the Thread on the Shuttles and they caught my attention but i'm not sure they'd be quite what I need.

Edit: Maybe the thread was in the DAoC tech forum as I can't find it here so I'll go have a look over there.

2nd Edit: It was. Here's a link to it if you want a look.

 

[leggy]

Re: Budget

Originally posted by thefunkrocket
My budget atm is prolly around £1500

a/s/l?

No seriously that will get you everything you need plus the moon.

 

[Cdr]

Although the moon is already mine

You can have Pluto tho - it's reduced atm.

£1500 is one nice budget to have for building your own PC - care to share?

 

[PR.]

Re: Budget

Originally posted by thefunkrocket
Ok here goes: My budget atm is prolly around £1500, (but it can go up slightly) but I need everything and it also needs to be future proof for the next few years as I'm of to Uni in september so I don't think I'll have the money to upgrade for the next few years

Anyway what I'm currently looking at is something like:

Barton 3000+
An Asus NF2 MB
The new Gainward 5900FX Ultra (looks nice )
And the rest is to be decided on.

I was, however reading the Thread on the Shuttles and they caught my attention but i'm not sure they'd be quite what I need.

Edit: Maybe the thread was in the DAoC tech forum as I can't find it here so I'll go have a look over there.

2nd Edit: It was. Here's a link to it if you want a look.

You get that and you can say goodbye to 1/3 of your budget

I was lookng at these, but I think I will stick the once Embattle posted a few days ago the non-Ultra with 128mb ram and virtually no performance difference

 

[Deadmanwalking]

As im sitting here unable to leave my house due to waiting for a bloody comp to arrive here off the top of me head is what i came up with:

PS. This took me all of hmm 5 mins on OCUK only and is in no way to be taken as usefull

Intel Pentium 4 'Northwood' 3.0CGHz (800FSB) with HT Technology - Retail (CP-023-IN)
£287.00 £287.00

Asus P4P800 Deluxe "Springdale" (Socket 478) Motherboard (MB-026-AS)

£96.50 £96.50
Corsair 512MB DDR XMS3200 Platinum CAS2 (MY-007-CS)
£80.90 £80.90

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB TV-Out/DVI - Retail (GX-026-SP)
£327.65 £327.65

Antec TruePower 430W PSU (CA-001-AN)
£64.40 £64.40

Western Digital Caviar 80GB Special Edition 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-000-WD)
£59.00 £59.00

Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 750SB 17" (MO-004-MB)
£126.00 £126.00

Coolermaster ATC 710-GX2 - Grey (CA-011-CM)
£70.20 £70.20

Subtotal £1,111.65

VAT £194.56

Total £1,306.21

Like i said take this as a very rough base and the add/replace items as the clever people comment

God im bored

Edit: I dislike OCUK with a passion but they have a pretty catelogue bit it thought it best and easiest to use them for rough prices. Feel free to insult my lack of technical knowledge and awfull hardware choices . DOH I always forget CD drives and Sound cards, Jonty sort it out

 

[throdgrain]

My personal experience wouldn't recommend OCUK, however Ive found The Overclocking Store to be pretty helpful

 

[(Shovel)]

One serious recommendation regarding the graphics card.

There's two ways you can look at it: Either "Get the top one and go with it until it dies", or the "Get a lower model and save money for more upgrades over time"

In your situation it is all the more difficult. Basically, you're unlikely to ever use the full power of that card. Why? Because by the time a majority of games arrive to test it, DirectX 10 will likely be with us and there will have been two generations more cards adding new features into the mix that the 5900 wont support.

I tend to buy lower models, with a view to replacing them when I need to, it's my opinion that the top models are a bit of a waste. However, that's your call.

As has also been said, they eat wallets for breakfast too.

With regard to going to uni, I'd seriously recommending using some of that extortionate budget on a good TFT screen. The average student room is slightly smaller than a showbox, and getting a quality CRT display in there can be a pain. I have a 19" CRT Iiyama and lugging it from Cambridge to Manchester was not a lot of fun.

nForce2 boards are a good bet - good sound on em too. Obviously they'll support the Athlon til it dies, so you're future proofed until the product family gets the can.

Invest in a good monitor, a good case (with a good PSU) and save a bit for quality peripherals - mouse & keyboard etc.

Frankly, on that budget, I'd consider getting some Hi-Fi equipment to go with it, but that is down to personal taste of course

 

[thefunkrocket]

Heh a good Hi-Fi? I have one of those, it consists of my portable CD player and my old Mac speakers

I was looking at the 5900 as it hot a good review on HardOcp and I've heard that some of the other FX's can be a little bit dodgy but if they're fine then one of those will probably do, as you said they do eat wallets

 

[(Shovel)]

Some of the other FX range aren't as good as they should be no. In that respect you may well be worth considering ATi's Radeon range, since the mid-range range cards they offer are all up to standard. There are a few inconsistancies in the numbering though (I think), e.g. The 9500 Pro is faster than a 9600 Pro. Someone ought to check that though!

 

[Jonty]

Hello

(Shovel)'s spot on as usual With regards the graphics card, yes, the 5900 Ultra is insanely expensive at the moment, but it is faster than anything else on the market. The 5900 (non-Ultra) is far cheaper, although I wouldn't say there is no noticable performance difference between the two, as has been suggested (that said, it's still an incredibly fast card). The 5800 Ultra is now almost unavailable, and the 5800 should be stayed away from. Finally, the 5600 Ultra has now been updated and is a good, solid contender, and has shaken off much of the medicore coverage it first received.

With regards ATi's range, the 9800 Pro is a great card, although is slightly outperformed by the 5900 Ultra (if you did want to purchase one of these cards, go for the 128Mb model, as the 256Mb version simply isn't worth the money). 9700 Pros are still fantastic, and their new lower prices make them good value for money. The 9500 Pro, as (Shovel) highlights, does outperform the newer 9600 Pro, but ATi is phasing out the former, and in any case, the latter is cheaper, utilises newer technology, and the performance difference is usually only marginal.

Kind Regards