Buying a new pc

[Azurus]

Well im about to get a new pc for gaming (what else?). Have a budget of around 550... Was looking at this dell.

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Is it worth the cash? (i wont be buying a monitor already got a nice one)

 

[Bahumat]

If you can get a 'free' copy of Vista, and know how to put the hardware components together i'd do that and save some money.

If you cant, then it's a pretty good deal. some people may mention the gfx card.

 

[Case]

For the money thats not bad at all. The gfx card isn`t great but for the money can`t really go wrong. Would be good to know how upgradable the machine is, what sort of motherboard is in the system I certainly wouldn`t buy without this info.

If it`s halof decent though and can be upgraded later go for it.

 

[British]

If u aren't afraid of putting a PC together by urself, i would highly recommend Computer Supplies from Novatech. I put a decent PC together for 400 quids. Included in the price was an Athlon 64 Dual core 5000, Asus motherboard :
Asus M2N32 SLI Deluxe **WiFi Edition** Nforce 590 Socket AM2 SLI Motherboard : asu-m2n32d

4 gigs ram :

800MHz 240Pin 1024MB PC6400 DDR2 RAM DIMM 1.8V : ram-80/1gb

and a decent hard drive :

Samsung Spin Point SATAII NCQ 320GB 16Mb Cache Hard Disk Drive <9.0ms 7200rpm - OEM : sam-s320s2

The PSU was like 30 quids for 600W and the kept my old case.


All next day deliveries and very well packaged.

British

 

[Azurus]

I wouldn't have the first clue how to put one together, could maybe pay someone from the local PC shop to do it. So that pc you put together, is it much better for gaming then the dell one im looking at?

 

[Fafnir]

Well my last 3 comps have been Dell comps, and they have runned without problems, and when i want to upgrade i just have to modify the chassi a bit to fit the new psu.. Thats the downside with Dell they always give you the psu with just the right ammount of power needed.

 

[Overdriven]

I wouldn't have the first clue how to put one together, could maybe pay someone from the local PC shop to do it. So that pc you put together, is it much better for gaming then the dell one im looking at?

IF you're going to do this, have somebody tell you all the prices for all the hardware and where to get it from. Most PC builders will give you a price for all the hardware and build price (Ask them how much it'd cost them to order the parts in AND put together - then compare it (minus labour cost) to the price (inc vat) which you got for the parts)

PCs you put together usually last longer than pre-built ones, since you know if a piece of hardware dies you know exactly what to replace it with. Most pre-built machines don't give the exact PC spec (hardware wise) so it's iffy.

 

[Fafnir]

And just talked with Dell they are now using standard sizes on their components, they didnt do that 2 years ago

 

[Jeremiah]

Try building your first PC (practice by taking your old one apart!).

All the important things come with instructions (like the Motherboard and CPU), and its really hard to put things in the wrong way round. The memory chips, connector leads and PCI (and AGP if you are old skool) cards can only go in one way (unless you use a hammer of course!) and the motherboard manuals usually have an idiots guide to connecting everything else.

Cases tend to share a common design too so that your MB, HD and PSU will be able to be screwed in without problem

The golden rule in general is to try stay clear of the ends of cards and memory sticks where the connectors are. And dont wear anything wooly =).

IMO, the scariest thing about building your first PC is putting the heatsink ontop of the CPU. I was so convinced I was going to break mine =)

 

[Overdriven]

IMO, the scariest thing about building your first PC is putting the heatsink ontop of the CPU. I was so convinced I was going to break mine =)

That's the second thing I still hate doing. The thing I hate most are the small ass connectors you have to put in. They make me cry... Stupid hands.

 

[Jeremiah]

That's the second thing I still hate doing. The thing I hate most are the small ass connectors you have to put in. They make me cry... Stupid hands.

Do you mean the LED connectors that no matter how hard you try, you still connect them back to front first time round?

 

[Overdriven]

Do you mean the LED connectors that no matter how hard you try, you still connect them back to front first time round?

That's the one. They're allways the part I can't remember, but the part I hate the most.

But yeah, it's pretty much "Okay, they're all in!... Bollocks, they're the wrong way around"

 

[British]

That's the second thing I still hate doing. The thing I hate most are the small ass connectors you have to put in. They make me cry... Stupid hands.

took me 45 minutes to fit mine on, cut my finger with the case in the process. I swore like a trooper


British

 

[British]

I wouldn't have the first clue how to put one together, could maybe pay someone from the local PC shop to do it. So that pc you put together, is it much better for gaming then the dell one im looking at?

I have built about 5 or 6 now and I never screwed up so far... There are loads of websites with very good thorough guides on how to build PC from scratch ie :

Build Your Own PC » PC Mechanic

Install selected hardware

I 've had a few dell PCs and they were all crap. They use low end components and bad quality memory.

British

 

[crispy]

Find the hardware yourself - its piss easy to put together
Makes it cheaper OR better... Plus you can go directly to hw manufacturer and get something new if it breaks...

And go for a radeon x1950pro instead of that nvidia thing there - its much better and approx same price :>

 

[Lamp]

1. Dell sucks. Their PC's are full of bloatware, crap packages, and their customer services are the worst.

2. Vista sucks. Stick with XP.

3. Build your own.

 

[Solo]

Go to dinopc.com

 

[Olgaline]

Vista 64 imo and yes! if you have even the slightest idea on what your doing then without a question build your own!!!

 

[Jeremiah]

You could always get an ASRock MB, it comes with a "useful" installation video!

 

[Lamp]

Or completely forget the PC, nip down to a good DVD store, and watch the first 4 seasons of QI ("Quite Interesting" - BBC TV) back to back.

 

[crispy]

You could always get an ASRock MB, it comes with a "useful" installation video!

rofl xD :worthy::worthy::worthy:

that accent is quilte lulzy xD

 

[Hawkwind]

Do you mean the LED connectors that no matter how hard you try, you still connect them back to front first time round?

Tip: The lighter of the two wires is usually positive.

 

[Golly]

omg british!

just priced up that rig and its sweet as

ram 4x 25.85 (4096)

cpu 1x 65.80 (amd a64 5000)

mobo 1x 101.15 (m2n asus)

hdd 1x 46.51 (320gb samsung)

gfx 1x 82.19 (7900gs)

total cost- £399.05

BARGAIN!

awesome mobo for upgrading as well, didnt realise pc components were so cheap these days, this thing cost about 900quid about 6months back

awesome website, is it defo decent?

 

[Heta]

I'm going mac next time I buy a computer

 

[British]

omg british!

just priced up that rig and its sweet as

ram 4x 25.85 (4096)

cpu 1x 65.80 (amd a64 5000)

mobo 1x 101.15 (m2n asus)

hdd 1x 46.51 (320gb samsung)

gfx 1x 82.19 (7900gs)

total cost- £399.05

BARGAIN!

awesome mobo for upgrading as well, didnt realise pc components were so cheap these days, this thing cost about 900quid about 6months back

awesome website, is it defo decent?

Decent spec for the money and Novatech are very reliable !

British

 

[Gamah]

AMD :| not even DC ;\\;\;\;

 

[Golly]

AMD :| not even DC ;\\;\;\;

65quid > 170quid

 

[Gamah]

65quid > 170quid

170 quid / twice + the perfomence..whats the point of buying a shite pc that wont last out the year :|

I streched my budget to buy a core 2 duo E6600 a few months back and I am glad I did.

+ new ram, £100 mobo etc :|

If you cant afford it, save the money for a few more months and get a better pc that will last longer.

you cant really NOT get duel/quad cores these days for a gaming rig.

 

[Sharma]

Tempted to finalise my rig this weekend with an extra 19" TFT and 6000+ X2.

As for graphics cards, you MUST buy one of the 8600-8800 series or Radeon equiv.

I have never seen a more dramatic performance boost than when I upgraded from a 7600GS to a 8600GTS, for £120 I went from being able to run Bioshock on medium settings at an "ok" pace to running it flat out high without a single frame skip.

You don't need to splash out a lot these days to make a stupidly good system, mine in total probably only cost me short of £650.

 

[Golly]

the jump in performance from a 8600 to an 8800 is huge but so is the price tag

was looking over some benchmarking on the whole lot before, and the 7900gs came out better than the 8600 because it ran at 256bit instead of 128bit, the difference was marginal but noticable at like a 5-8 frame increase on things like quake4 and dark messiah

may up the budget but looking to goto amsterdam again in next few weeks, that hurts expendable moolah by about 250-300quid so figured id build a cheap but effective pc for time being, current pc is pretty much dead and only useful for tinternet atm :<

anyone have any other reccomendations, experience with the various nvidia cards or is it better to go with a radeon etc?

is the duel core THAT much better than the older amd64 chips?

how about similar priced chips from amd? (£140-180 range)

mobo not an issue, theres an intel version of the nice m2n asus board yea?

how would 2x 8600gt compare to say 1x 8800gs? (similar prices etc)

is the low lat ram worth it? how about the high speed hdd's?(raptor use to be i think?)

does anyone still use raid'd systems?