New PC Help/Advice

[BlaDe|UK]

hi Guys,

for a while now i have been thinking about getting a new pc, or at least upgrading what ive got, with of course the minimum amount of cash needed, hair pulled out and split ups with girlfriends that this kinda thing normaly involves. What im asking for basicaly is any advice, website inks or any thing that i might find useful (BTW im a newb with all this pc techie stuff, so take it easy on me)

current specs:

17inch Monitor
MS optical mouse
Ms office KB
Biostar Motherboard (upgradable to 1Ghz only)
Athlon 850 Mhz CPU
768mb pc133 memory
Soundblaster ive soundcard and speaker setup
Gf2 MX 32mb graphix card
28Gb hard drive
CD burner
DVD drive
3.5inch Floppy (fnarr fnarr)


Im not sure wether to all out and buy a whole new system from Mesh or somewhere similar (not pc world etc) or just buy the basic components that i need to bring my current machine up to par so i can play decent games with all the pwetty colours.

If i did choose to upgrade i thyink the main parts id need to change are:

motherboard
cpu
memory
hard drive
graphics card
and i wouldnt mind a nice case to put it all in.
Im happy with the rest of the stuff and dont mind transfering them over to the new machine.

As i said i just wanted peoples opinions on what they would do, and what they would buy. Im not to fussed about having the top notch flava of the month product as long as it will run the new games well that are coming out (ut2003 etc), and hopefully last me a bit longer than my current one.

My budget is about £1000 but id really like to have some change.

new or upgrade....lets hear it

 

[Deadmanwalking]

I take it u dont have the expertise to build ur own?

If not buy a new one from mesh and start with one of ther basic ones and upgrade to the top notch bots u want and take the bits u do ant to keep from ur old pc

 

[BlaDe|UK]

its not that i dont have the expertise to build my own, its just ive never tryed it. But hey, ill give it a go. (cant be that hard surely)

 

[S-Gray]

£1,000 ? you have way enough money to build a Sweet System yourself, or get a readymade one (Maybe dearer).

What do you plan on using your Computer for?

28gb is big enough, unless you wanna download Music / Movies etc, then you may want to consider an upgrade.

Are you planning to Sell your other Computer, if you plan on gettin a whole new system? Then you could add the money earned from that system to give you a bit more

 

[BlaDe|UK]

my main use for the pc is playing games on but i do use it for every day stuff as well. I do get a load of music and movies so i definatly want to upgrade the HD (its full as it is) and i really wanted to keep whats left of the old pc so that one day i could network them up and use it as an FTP or summit like that. (PLus, i probably wouldnt get much for it these days anyway.)

 

[S-Gray]

17inch Monitor
MS optical mouse
Ms office KB
Biostar Motherboard (upgradable to 1Ghz only)
Athlon 850 Mhz CPU
768mb pc133 memory
Soundblaster ive soundcard and speaker setup
Gf2 MX 32mb graphix card
28Gb hard drive
CD burner
DVD drive
3.5inch Floppy (fnarr fnarr)


---

OK, Monitor is fine ,Mouse, Keyboard Floppy are basic stuff, but you said you wanted a new comp so that means you'll want extra, id go for:

Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer v3 (Around £35)
Microsoft Pro Keyboard (£30/£40)
Floppy just a 3.5'.

Your Motherboard... i would go for an Asus / Abit, both have great Reputations for been Stable.
Now, would you want a Pentium Chip, or an AMD? More people are using AMDs Athlon Xps (I have the 1800+ version) because their a lot cheaper than P4's.

Sound, i would have gone for a Soundblaster Audigy, they cost around £70 for the Card.

Graphics, i would go for a GeForce 4 4600, i wanted one of these but they didnt have any instock so i went for a GF3 Ti200

Memory, id chose 512mb DDR, nice and fast stuff, probably about £80 (But Memory prices are always goin up and down)

Because you have Music and Movies, you should get a 60gb Hard Drive, 7200rpm this would cost ohhh about £70.

CD Writer, i have (and a lot of people on the boards here) a Liteon 40*12*48, its cheap yet very reliable. It cost me £47

CD ROm, just a bogstandard 48*, bout £30

 

[BlaDe|UK]

Nice one fellas, some top stuff here.
Gonna spend the weekend 'window shopping' then probably make my order on monday first thing.
Thanks again....its appreciated.

 

[Summo]

Blade, have a look at the TechNation A-List which will probably really help you out.

You could get a total new top notch system for £500-£600. The money you have is phenomenal in hardware terms and at the end of it I'd consider going for a nice new 19" or larger monitor.

 

[Embattle]

If you can buy a Iiyama 454 VM Pro, about £300 but well worth it.

 

[Embattle]

The A-List does need updating.....I did send a revised copy to Xavier but he has been busy lately.