In this thread, we help Landshark pick computer components

[old.LandShark]

Well, my situation is that I have to build several comps:
An all-purpose machine for a guy not intending to be playing many games, for £400-450
The same but more powerful, for £700-750
Both without monitors and including VAT in that price.

And for myself, an easily upgradable machine which would for the moment cost around £400 (without VAT) and again without a monitor. When I say upgradable, I mean don't worry about having much more than a gf4 level of graphics card, or more than 512mb of RAM, cos I'll upgrade later.

Here's what I had so far on the £450 machine...

 

[old.tRoG]

Western Digital Special Edition HDs (8Mb Cache) 4tehwin!

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[old.LandShark]

Mmmm, I know they're nice but on a budget of £450 I can't really afford top-notch stuff, can i

 

[Restart]

Try this website, some very nice prices.

www.cclcomputers.com

 

[pitspawn]

Computer components prices really are at insane levels now, especially with ram. Your going to have a tough time getting a good rig for cheap.

I purchased a stick of 512mb Corsair XMS DDR3500 CL2 ram a good 2 months or so ago for £97.98 inc VAT. The EXACT same stick of ram now costs £152.02 inc VAT. PROFIT MARGINS anyone? Fucking rip off IMO.

@Landshark: Those components are ok, but not special. I really recommend trying to persuade the person your buying them for to get his/her budget a little higher, its well worth it. You dont have to buy the very top stuff, but going down only a few notches halfs the cost with very nice results =)

Recommended online stores ive purchased from...

www.overclockers.co.uk / www.overclock.co.uk / www.vgicomputers.co.uk

Also one of my favourites was www.overclockingstore.co.uk but they stopped trading. They're service was a little slow, but they stocked stuff thats not normally obtainable in the UK. Particuarly with case modding/cooling.

 

[old.LandShark]

Dammit, I'm not after special, I'm after the best I can get for those budgets :doh:
I must admit I was thinking RAM looked stupidly expensive atm :|

 

[pitspawn]

Actually that TwinMOS is VERY good value, i wonder how it performs. All the competitions brands at similar speeds cost a whole lot more. Im looking for a memory upgrade on my second machine, but i dont want to pay the rip off current prices. Ive had good experience with crucial memory in the past, but turned to corsair for the higher overclock capabilities.

 

[Aoami]

try this site

E-Buyer

 

[old.LandShark]

On a revised budget of £650 after an aquaintance finally gave me a firm decision on buying my old drum kit. Rar!
Anyone see any problems?
I'm very much torn between a low-end 9800 and a high-end 9600.

Antec Sonata Piano Black Quiet Case - 380W TruePower Silent PSU + 1x120mm fan
£73.95
Intel Pentium 4 'Northwood' 2.4CGHz (800FSB) with HT Technology - Retail
£126.00
Abit IS7-E 'Springdale' (Socket 478) Motherboard
£61.95
TwinMOS 256MB DDR PC2700 CAS2.5
£59.90 (quantity = 2)
Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA V 120GB - OEM
£76.90
Samsung SM352-B 52x52x24x16x CD-RW/DVD Combo
£41.10
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 128MB TV-Out/DVI
£188.50
Zalman Flower CNPS6500B-AlCu Silent Pentium IV CPU Cooler
£24.90