Price this up!

[old.[GA] Shovel]

Ok - me is on teeny budget for new PC (well, need to know how much to save!)
so, try this:

In-ards:
Celly 2 600
Motherboard
128 meg o RAM
Diamond Viper 2 (S3 2000 thingy) - 125?
SB Live! Value - 30?
DVD ROM (gotta have some extra!)
Floppy drive - 20?
10 gig HD
Case (ideally coloured, but dont how much more these cost!)
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17" Monitor
keyboard - 10?
mouse - 10? (cheap for now!)

I dont *think* I've left anythign out! - net connection wont come for a while, will probably just get a cable modem when they arrive in my area!

anyway, could you price that up for me please, and suggest alternatives that could save me money!

Cheers

[This message has been edited by [GA] Shovel (edited 03 June 2000).]

 

[old.frankie]

that vid card isnt that good.

Prolly best to get a geforce or GF2

Geforces should be getting well cheap soon

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DR_FRANKENSTIEN

 

[old.TUG]

Here goes

In-ards:
Celly 2 600 = £110
Abit BM6 socket 370 motherboard = £70
128 meg of PC 100 RAM = 75ish
Diamond Viper 2 (S3 2000 thingy) = 110
SB Live! Value - 35
DVD ROM (gotta have some extra!) = 120 for a 10x pioneer
Floppy drive - 8
10 gig HD = 80ish
Case (ideally coloured, but dont how much more these cost!) = 35 from pooter fair
------
17" Monitor = depends how good u want, but from 130
keyboard - 5
mouse - 5

Well, DVD-ROM's are a bit expensive at the mo, I'd give that a miss. DDR GeForce deffo, S3 2k is a bit naff... 135 for an OEM creative 32meg DDR. 10 gig is poo, u can get significantly bigger ones for 5 quid more

Right, time for a decent system suggestion I take it you don't want to overclock so.... hehe

Delete the bits you don't want.

Retail Celeron 2 600 = 110
Cooler included in retail CPU package
Abit BM6 motherboard = 70
128 megs PC100 SDRAM = 75ish
Decent 250w ATX midi tower case = £35 (check pooter fairs - some stuff to look at: make sure PSU is situated horizontally accross the top of the case, not vertically otherwise it will cover the mobo, look for a case with cooling potential. i.e. spaces for 80mm fans front and rear.)
Mitsumi 1.44mb FDD = 8
Maxtor diamond max 5400, ata66 HD. 20.4 gig = £100
52X creative CD ROM = 30-35
Videologic sonic vortex 2 sound card (or SB live value) = £35
Creative OEM GeForce w/32megz DDR ram = 135
17" decent monitor = 150
Diamond Supra Express 56i K56/V.90 hardware moodem = £30
Digital Edge Win95 Keyboard (from currys, metal base) = £5
Genius Netmouse Pro PS/2 Mouse = £5
Some speakers half decent = 10

Thats a decent system for just under £700

Bargain really cuz it won't be slow.

Things to consider:

Celeron 2 566 overclocked to between 850 and 952. Chip costs 90, overclockability is immense.

Nice globalwin cooler for about £15 (www.clockspeed.co.uk)

Exhaust Fan card - cools system and geforce

2 80mm fans for case cooling - 1 front intake, one rear exhaust - again check clockspeed.co.uk

Overclock your geforce as well then and have a very fast system for about £720

Good shit

 

[old.Out4Zero]

You HAVE GOT to get a DVD rom OH yes!!!
Wats up Tug not got one? MATRIX do I have to say anymore? No I think not....

 

[Grimes]

"Supra Express 56i K56/V.90 hardware moodem = £30"

I'd be a bit careful about the "Express 56i" The ones I've come accross in werk have all been S/ware modems and u don't want to go down that road
check the specs b4 u purchase, if it requires a P166(min) & 8meg (preferably 16) leave it on the shelf & buy a Hardware modem.

 

[old.TUG]

No I ain't got one yet

I am waitin for the 16X pioneer to touch about 75-80 squid then I'll get one

Atm though, they are overpriced compared to 4 months ago...

 

[stu]

IMO you are better going for a quality piece of kit (which may on the face of it be smaller/less powerful/slower) than go for a cheapo pimped up piece of hardware.

eg a £130 17" monitor is going to be absolute PANTS. Most people neglect their monitor when pricing up a puter, when (as anyone who's used a decent one will tell you) it probably makes the biggest impact. You're sat staring at it all the time, after all: there's no point in having a singing and dancing gfx card if your monitor is crap. Also, they hold their value better than ANY other element of a PC, and stay "on the cutting edge" longer. Spend a little extra on your monitor, it's worth it.

Similarly, I'd spend more than £35 on a case. Having struggled with truly shit cheap ones, and gotten a quality one with my new machine, it certainly pays off. Mouse, keyboard, speakers... it amazes me how people will spend every penny they have on their processor/gfx card, but are prepared to cut corners when it comes to the bits of the puter you actually have to USE, day in, day out. Get a MS/Logitech mouse, depending on which you prefer. Logitech do a nice standard comfortable keyboard for about £15 from PC World. As for speakers, tbh all PC speakers are a bit shite, if you don't have a mini system at least to run it through you're better off with a set of half decent headphones.

Don't bother with a DVD ROM drive, waste of time.

I'd stay away from Maxtor drives, they're notoriously unreliable. Stick to a nice IBM 7200rpm drive. If you get an ABit BE6-2 and a UDMA66 IBM drive, it will make a MASSIVE difference to your system performance.

It's easy to say "spend a little extra", but you end up on a reverse diminishing returns curve: the less you spend, the shorter the time your PC will actually be up to date, and the more you will have to subsequently spend on it.

Oh, and it goes without saying, Celerons are for paupers

 

[old.TUG]

lol stu read his post again... then maybe your brain will kick in...

And BTW: BE6-II's HPT366 controller is a bag of wank. I chose a BF6 (came today) for me new coppermine PIII because the highpoint controller is troublesome and lets face it, not that fast when it's in action.

Sure, u got some nice points, but he's on a budget... and a lotta ppl are happy with maxtor HD's too. The new ones are plenty reliable. I have an old 2.5gig from 97 now used for me mp3's and it's fine.

Of course: I use an IBM 7200 ata66 2 meg buffer drive as me main drive

lol @ Celeron's are for paupers... celerons are for ppl on a budget is all m8. I use an old celly 366@605 and it's not half bad.

So come on stu, wot system have u got mr rich boy?

 

[old.MeddlE]

Motherboard wise, I'd go for the ASUS CUBX, flipchips with no converter!! Takes PPGA and FCPGA, so any socket 370 and all the new PIII and Celeron II.

Talking of Celeron II, not all it's cracked up to be is it. Even when clocked it's performance is way down on PIII, looks like Intel managed to cripple it properly this time.

 

[old.[GA] Shovel]

Well, TUg and I priced up and I think it came to £800 (what with Win98SE on too), although monitor we allowed only 150 quid for.
Now, I dunno, whats the max res I can get on a 15"? I wonder if maybe it would be better to get a cheaper but higher quality 15" than a cheap and average 17".

Stu- cheers.
I have a Logitech Piolet on this machine now, and its class, will definately get Logutech for the new one (probably wheel mouse for 15 quid)
Keyboard, using a digital edge 15 quid jobby, actually quite nice and comfy with hand rest.

Frankie.
I would love GF 2, rerally I would, however, the cost is not really an option, I'm not after the fastest machine on the planet, just something that will play meh games half decent, let me play UT when I get net sorted, and do the standard WP/WebDesign/graphics/VB too (am supposed to be doing VB next year for A level if I dont fail maths... )

Tugs mention of GF 1 for 135 is sweet - so I'll go for that. Tug, plz get back to me on what that case is like (I emailed yah URL the other day!).

Tug, I assume all the prices you mention include Vat yeah? cause I have to add on another 20%..... eep.

Anyway, thankyou all.

TUg, dont tempt Stu into a "mines bigger than yours" flame war, I wanna get some useful info out of this, and you might find youself with some dosh too! (I am a fool I'm sure... but anyway.. )

cheers people

 

[stu]

TUG: you're being a bit of an arsehole really aren't you. All I do is post and try and be helpful, and you choose to be a cunt. And of course if I respond by giving you a shitload of abuse, you'll then bleet about how I'm unable to converse like an adult or some such shite.

Incidentally, I've got a Coppermine 550, Geforce, BE6-2, 256MB of PC133 (although 128MB is knackered at the moment, getting replacement,) Mitsubishi Diamond Pro monitor, IBM 7200 UDMA66 Hard Disk, SB Live, Intellimouse Pro (got an Explorer, bag of shite, gave it away), and a pair of Sennheiser headphones. Is that ok with you TUG? I wasn't aware I had to get your permission.

 

[old.TUG]

Hehe

yeah that case is ok... I forgot to reply to ya! D'oh!

Not the best for roomyness but it don't matter seeing as ya won't be fiddling with it much

all prices inc vat yep... seeing as u ain't buying till july was it? Maybe you should wait and see how these AMD durons fair up, cuz they are piss cheap - something like 65 quid for a 600MHz one!

 

[old.frankie]

wow, for once i agree with STU

TUG ya so evil, pure satanic EVIL



prolly meant it in a weird twisted nice way though.


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DR_FRANKENSTIEN

 

[bids]

'Tis becoming clear to all that some of these pricks simply need to be ignored (Exor & Stu- particularly). Every thread they're involved with turns into a flame war, due to their 'on-line' persona. Being a twat and trying to wind people up seems to be their objectives, in some cases they have succeeded (including me !).

Suggest we simply ignore any postings by these pompous pricks.

Bids

P.S. Keep up the good work Tug - I for one find your postings on hardware really useful - have used them a couple of times when considering new kit.

 

[old.[GA] Shovel]

TUg - No idea when I'll actually be buyin ( ) - its kinda money area.

I figure its gonna need 800/850 quid (put the monitor up a it after what Stu said) - I recons I will need to work for a month to get the furthur 400 I needz, so maybe august... cak, thats ages away..... I'll probably be able to afford something better by then... hmmm, well, I got my list of stuff to be putting in it, I the odd change here and there wont hurt.

Durons? - would these be the K6/2+ aka K6/3 relaunched chips? or something altogether new?

anyways, time to start working I guess
(writes numerous letters to local shops in Cambridge demanding easy money...)

Cheers

 

[old.TUG]

Stu: Read his post. He said budget - hence I LOL'd @ your reply.

Heh, thats fine w/me about your system - cuz I know for a fact that system would NEVER pull 100fps in 1024*768 with everything on in 32bit colour/textures. Maybe 70 in demo001 and 002.

Bids: cheers m8 If I can help, I will. I ain't no genius but I like to share whatever knowledge I have on hardware. I spend over an hour and a half per day reading all the latest hardware gubbins all over the net - industry news, hardware product info/reviews/news etc cuz to me it's education that I will use in the future. I also read lotsa hardware messageboards - you can learn LOADS from peoples hardware problems.

Shovel: In august u could prob have something 2 times faster I know of an impressive monitor for not much cash too: Belinea 106030 - impressive quality 19" monitor. 0.26 dp shadow mask, 1600*1200 max res, nice colour balance, nice crisp images/text - altogether a good economy class monitor. I'm gonna get one some day £235 notes to you sir.

Durons are basically a cut down version of the new thunderbird CPU - thunderbird is an athlon but with on die full CPU speed L2 cache and a few other bits and bobs, plus it's socketed instead of being a slot chip. The duron is essentially as quick as an athlon (no more than 5% slower according to most ppl) and it's really cheap. We'll see how mobo and other hardware compatibility fairs up over the next month, as well as overclockability!

[This message has been edited by TUG (edited 08 June 2000).]

 

[stu]

Actually bids, what is becoming clear is that small minded cretins like you don't seem to actually be able to read, you just see my name and launch into a tirade of abuse. "Every thread they're involved with turns into a flame war, due to their 'on-line' persona. Being a twat and trying to wind people up seems to be their objectives". Please, feel free to show me ANYWHERE in this thread where that is the case. Because if anyone in this thread appears to be doing that, it's you.

 

[old.TUG]

Ok, this ones easy. First: your reply above, then secondly:

"TUG: you're being a bit of an arsehole really aren't you. All I do is post and try and be helpful, and you choose to be a cunt. And of course if I respond by giving you a shitload of abuse, you'll then bleet about how I'm unable to converse like an adult or some such shite."

Sooooooo easy

 

[old.Cornholio]

Tsk, tsk...

handbags at dawn?!?!!

but seriously..

TUG does have some very useful things to say.

About the dvd styles... check http://www.7thzone.com for some good advise on which one to get..

i have a SCSI Pioneer (303s) which I use for filmz and use as a cd drive... Most excellent it is too... Region free, fast, reliable data transfer etc! Nice. Much better than a Atapi CD rom... mainly 'cause it is SCSI and the massive throughput from dvd filmz means that sustained data transfer is good. the adaptec 2904 contoler is cheap (30 quid) and very good too.

Peace!

mr_corn

[This message has been edited by Cornholio (edited 09 June 2000).]

 

[stu]

OMG TUG. So you did EXACTLY what I said you'd do. I act reasonably. You act like a twat. I tell you you're acting like a twat. You go "hahaha see you're just here to wind people up." Predictable? Just a little.

 

[old.Sturt]

As much as I dislike Stu, I must actually admit I'd have to side with Stu on this one. In his origional post he was offering his advice and views on certain areas, i.e Monitors.

Anyhow, just wanted to say TUG, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop always going on the attack for no reason whatsoever, perhaps its you that can't have a mature discussion.

Sturty

 

[bids]

Ho hum - *yawn*

 

[old.TUG]

heh ok

 

[old.Pe0n]

Stu earns £50000 a month, so his idea of budget is a bit.. odd


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.:: pe0n ::.

 

[old.tigertom]

Can anyone reading this thread tell me a good brand of CD-RW/DVD combo i.e I want to make my own CD's of music AND software, play DVD's, and Audio CD's, AND use it as an ordinary CR-ROM for loading software an' that. In one piece of kit. Preferably capable of being installed by someone suffering from technofear. Thanks.


TigerTom

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Visit http://www.tigertom.com.
It's got some nifty stuff.

 

[old.TUG]

Ricoh:
http://www.dabs.com/products/prod-info2-info.asp?stockcode=461-667-0150

 

[old.fumig@tor]

ok after reading through all this ive deicied to share my knowledge with you all same as u tug the beggers never appriciate it but hey....who am i?

ok if go to tehses computer fairs rather that deal with the shady guys behind the counters you will have bucket loads i tell you cos they have noo overheads to fork out
take tis for example
PIII 500mhz £95
128 pc 100 £62
a nifty ickle motherboard £56
atx case £20
thats a decent system i got me picked up a 40x cd drive for about £30
just a basic run of the mill kinda system really got a diamond stealth 3 s540 32mb agp from jungle.com crap really will get a geforce in the next few days
but all in all i save over £200 quid easy just check flyers and stuff when they appear in ur area or ur newspapers i live in the west midlands and one is on in birmingham motorcycle muesum or wolverhampton racecours but there is always more
so there it is do your self a favour
hope it helped ask me anything u like

 

[old.tigertom]

Thanks Tug. Looks like a good 'un.