im looking at getting a new pc as ive had this one since 2003

im after a pc that will play all the lastest pc games online

can i get something off the shelf or is it best to have one built?

 

How much you got to spend mate? thats the million dollar question

 

not an easy choice .... can get a monster spec one built for around a grand inc screen

as said above though ... how deep are them pockets

 

proba bout Ł600 dont need a monitor gona plug it up to a lcd screen

can i get anything useful for that?

 

Ł600 is ok if your not wanting a screen because that knocks off Ł100 straight away

Take a look at this http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/viewPr...&idproduct=110

The graphics card bundled with it isnt up to much, so click on "customize" and then changed it to "8800GTS 320MB", you should find the total price is Ł601

Thats everything you need to get up and running those new games

 

have a look on here very cheap http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/

 

custom pc+vista=

vista is fine on off the shelf stuff, but does not work well with components that were not specifically designed to work with it. So be careful

 

Stephen he would most likely be buying prebuilt, so they cant ship him out something that doesnt fully function, it will be 100% vista compatible.

But yeah i know what your saying, im stuck on xp because my webcam doesnt work and my xfi sound card will never work as well on vista as xp because they changed how the sound is created so its cheated people out of spending loads on a top notch sound card

 

i use novatech quite a bit
had a duff graphics card ... got an rma ... took it back got a refund ... went round to the shop and got another one Ł10 less than it was the week before has been fine ever since
sometimes not the cheapest around but not a bad company to use

 

RST Ski,

If you can build your own system you will get a lot more for your budget or even if you give somebody Ł50 to build it for you anjd you can be sure the quality of the components are top notch.

Prices from www.scan.co.uk and inc vat

Intel q6600 quad core CPU Ł169.99
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Mother board Ł69.31
2GB Corsair 800MHZ ddr 2 ram Ł46.99
320Mb XFX 8800GTS video card Ł184.99
320GB 16mb cacheSata 2 IBM/Hitachi T7K500 HD Ł46.99
500W ez silent cool Power Supply Ł19.99
DVD RW or use existing one Ł12

Ł550 pre built using your existing case or add Ł20-Ł30 for another case, this obviously needs an OS to go on, but you can choose that yourself.

That Dino Pc shop spec looks ok though I would change the ram to 800mhz or your bottle necking the CPU andf Graphic card. It would require an OS installing and the hardware drivers and if you are buying the PC pre built this should always be done anyway otherwise your better doing it the build yourself.

The hard put of building a pc is not the screwing together but its the software setup. On the Dino shop PC, the basic warranty is bollocks as its just really a 1 yr warranty:

Number of repairs Unlimited
Covers parts for 1 year
Covers labour for 3 years
Type of warranty Return to base
Carriage costs free for first 30 days

 

you could buy a comp in parts, that in most ways would be better and cheaper

but you would not have the same support as a finished one has

 

Tony if your building a system with a Q6600 AND a 8800GTS id NEVER trust a 20 quid PSU, and it says on google" Supports Intel Pentium 4, AMD Sempron and Athlon 64" wow no sweat for a quad core then!? You need a good brand and one with more power in my opinion, i mean i wouldn't beat against that 20 quid one running the system but how long it would last is another thing!

Also the case, again if your buying a pc as high a spec as this one would be i wouldn't want to put all my parts(ooerrr) into a Ł30 case, like the psu it "probably" would be fine but cases are like shoe's or tyres, you buy decent ones and they will last longer/look nicer.

Im not trying to get into a mass debate here but i dont want this guy wasting his money on any parts and my 2cents HAD to be added

 

But we dont know what case this guy has in his current system.

Looks and quality of a case mean nothing to a degree. If you are going to be overclocking and running serious Hot Temps as a result then yes, airflow may come into it.
I beleive as this guy is asking what components he needs, he wont know how to overclock and the best PC for him is one that works fast out of the box and therefore wont need a Ł80 case using up his small budget.

That power supply I misquoted on, its actually 550W output and not 500w and using a psu calculator program and all his system components working at 90% load it comes out at 522W. I included an extra HD in that as well as upping the settings a little. It also has the required 24 pin adaptor for the motherboard, and a single 12V rail which many believe is better. He could buy a 600w for another Ł5.

Interestingly that Dino shop PC only comes with a 400w PSU even when you add that 8800gts to it. I do not think this PC would power on unless the PSU was changed. That is why it seems so cheap.

If the lad had been into overclocking then I would have said go for a bigger PSU to facilitate this.

 

Rst Ski, I just ordered bits for a new pc build of my on and its similar spec to that listed above. It came to Ł410inc vat and is speced as follows:

quad core 6600, 2GB 800mhz ram, 256mb 2600xt graphic card a 700w PSU and Intel p35 Gigabyte motherboard.

Have you considered using some of your old PC?

 

yeh i would, not sure whats worth using from my pc at the mo, quite oldish

 

You can use DVD Drives, Case, Hard Drives, Case Fans and some cabling. My old spec was a 2.8GHZ P4, 2GB ddr 400, 3 x 120GBHD and a 200GB and 2 DVD RW's. I gonna use the the HD's and DVD's, and Case.

 

GTi_iTG - i have vista home prem 64 bit and i have the XFI Creative Soundcard mate and it works fine .... or do you not mean the Creative one?

 

I just installed Vista Ultimate yesterday and my X-fi xtreme audio works perfectly now they must have bought out new software to make it work since i last tried vista

 

GTI, Are you running Vista 64bit? I have the 32bit ultimate version installed and its not bad. Got a performance score of 3.6.

 

Yeah i got 32bit Ultimate aswell, i got 4.9 on the rating

 

I now have a 5.5 score and that was due to only having 2GB of Ram!

 

3.6 to 5.5? 5.5 is a VERY high rating, you wouldnt just get there by adding another gig of ram? thats assuming you had 1 gig before?

 

No, changed the spec to quad core, 2600xt, 2GB Ram and a raid 0 configuration. If I had put more ram in it would of been a 5.9 I think.

I played unreal tournament 3 beta at full setting in 1280x768(max mon res) whilst encoding a file to 720pHD

Some difference in the performance compared to the old system and its definately worth the money to go quad core.

 

You got a new system then, why didnt you just say that before

Well done, good score

 

Gti, I did say I got a new system

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Desktop-PC-Int...QQcmdZViewItem

would this play the likes of cod4 ? gears of war ect?

 

i would personally agree with what else has been posted on here ..GTi_iTG knows his stuff although tonyk does too ..


i have a wish list for my new system but its sitting at around the Ł700 level .. and i aint got that sort of cash yet

 

Just about but it wouldnt look very good(graphics wise) as that graphics card isnt up to much, its a low end 8 series.
Also one gig isnt enough really for new games, i normally recommened 2gb's for anyone who asks about a gaming pc.

If money is tight id get at least a Althon 64 4200 x2, 2GB's of ram and a 7900 series card, if you pick ANY card from the 8 series range then its got to be at least a 8800GT.

And Eagle i do try

 

Right just had a quick scan and for not much more cash you could get this brand new http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/viewPr...&idproduct=105

10 tens better spec than that ebay offering, fast processor, 2 gigs of ram all you need to do is swap the graphics for something like this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136197

 

I'm looking at getting a new laptop of a decent spec, what is the best processor to go with at the moment?

 

How much cash you got, thats the big question i mean laptops cost a bomb for a good spec one.

Ones for surfing the net etc are cheap though

 

AMD if you can. But dont settle for anything less than athlon. Celeron, turion etc are wank lol. Otherwise go for cor 2 duo with at least 2-2.2Ghz, as thats what you need to run vista comfortably IMO (as all laptops come with vista now)

 

Money wise anything up to a grand, it doesn't have to be truely portable i just need a laptop with going away a fair bit and not having the space to put a desktop. I'd like a 17" screen if possible, i only play games on a console too.

I'm also entitled to tax free so i have a bit more money to play with. I was looking at core 2 duo's and AMD processors too, but don't know which is best. Software wise i'm not fussy as i'm not sure on vista just yet so would probably put xp back on it if i don't get on with it. My current laptop is a P4 2.6ghz so any recommendations are appreciated.

 

A grand a good budget for a good laptop i think.

I think where laptop are concerned you dont need to look much further than Dell.
Ive had a quick look at laptops around a grand and theres a pretty decent speced XPS offering(XPS is Dell's performance range of equipment) http://ecomm.euro.dell.com/dellstore...6-708036468870
Top of the line(for a laptop) processor, 2 gigs of ram, proper graphics card non of this on board crap, granted its not the best seen in a laptop but it will play a few games just not at highest graphical settings.
Vista does come with it(im not a fan either, installed on pc for 2 weeks now im back on xp pro) anyway you said you can sort out xp to put on it so thats no problem.
Also since this is a top spec XPS i think you get 24/7 tech support from Dell, cant be bad

 

Oh one thing, the screen maybe abit small? if it is have a butchers at some of there other laptops.

That XPS is a really nice looking machine though, wouldnt mind it myself if i had a grand knocking around.