Planetarion Forums

roadrunner_0 · 3 Jul 2005, 16:12

can anyone actually find me a better deal than this although the actual price i have seen was £999 rather than the price on that website, thats just the best description i could find

ChubbyChecker · 3 Jul 2005, 16:30

Buying the separate components would probably be cheaper, I can't be bothered to check myself. Though www.ebuyer.com are cheap for that. They used to be anyway.

What graphics card is it?

roadrunner_0 · 3 Jul 2005, 17:35

its an ATI X600 PRO

it says more about the components in the spec bit

ChipZ^ · 3 Jul 2005, 18:22

Cheapest way to get a new pc is to build it tbh. The specs in the link could be built for under 800. Also wen u build it yourself u can put exactly wat u want, customise it better to what u want it to do, and save lots of money

.

If u've never built one before and find the idea daunting theres no need to worry its pretty straight forward and jsut involves plugging parts into holes. There are lots of step by step guides on the net u can print out that take u throught the whole process.

My advice, build ur own as then ur garanteed quality parts and a cheaper computer

sword · 3 Jul 2005, 18:23

Whats wrong with your old one?

roadrunner_0 · 3 Jul 2005, 19:06

my old computer is a 950 duron that is slowly dying a death

and i cant find a comparable computer for the price, and, to be honest, the thing that stops me building one for myself is sheer lazyness

But if anyone can point me to where to build the same computer for under 800, be my guest and change my mind

Thermodynamics · 3 Jul 2005, 19:23

TBH, "bargain PC's"- I just can't trust them unless its a major brand. They generally put in the cheapest components they can find. What are the timings like for your RAM? DRR? DDR2? How many upgrade slots for it? Your HDD? IDE or SATA 1/2? The RPM? Access time? Data transfer rate? NCQ? How many IDE channels on mobo? Your monitor, the refresh rate? [anything more than 16ms is a no no for gaming. How many colours? Max resolution? Whats the ventilation like? will my PC be cool or hot and unstable? The "warranty", will they replace parts? will it need to be sent off [it does say on-site...]? The PSU- how many watts [this is important if ur thinking about putting in a decent GPU] and em x600 hmmmm.......

Anyways, for a computer geek like me, I just have so many questions that the guys in Currys couldn't answer, yes building a PC is cheaper- but there is a clincher, its usually only cheaper if you have an OS handy for it.

meglamaniac · 3 Jul 2005, 19:27

That's actually a resonable price.
As usual though, they've beefed up the processor and memory specs and shafted you on the graphics side. The X600 is crap - it's a low to midrange card at best. Consider replacing it with an X700 Pro, X700 XT, or GeForce 6600 GT and then you'd have yourself a very nice gaming setup.
Don't bother with the high end cards like the X800 or GeForce 6800 series, for the resolution you'll be running on that TFT, the mid-high range ones I suggested will be fine - in fact I use the 6600 GT with a 17" panel.

Other than that, unless you're worried about the "pro*" side of machine building you should be ok.

* Low memory timings, HD seek latencies, cooling solutions, noise etc.
I spent just over £1200 building my system purely because I was concerned with these things, but as a result I have spent a lot more for the spec that I have than you'd pay in a shop. On the other hand, it's inaudible from 2 feet away and still plays games with the best of them.
It all depends on what you want.

ChipZ^ · 3 Jul 2005, 19:28

Yeah i assumed that he has an OS or has no problem using a pirated copy

Thermodynamics · 3 Jul 2005, 19:28

Oh and looking at that price? for £1300 [€2000 which is a little more I think] I built:

AMD 3800+ [on par with 3.4 Intel]
Epox 9NPA+ Ultra [Up to 4 SATA2 devices and 4 IDE devices]
1.5 GB Corsair [high performance stuff]
2x 160 GB SATA2 NCQ in RAID 0
Ati X850XT [powerful stuff]
17" TFT with 8ms, 450:1 contrast ratio
5.1 surround sound

So you see, building a system, you get far far more bang for your buck and YOU KNOW THE SPECS, down to the finest detail- NB. I didnt pay for an OS.

meglamaniac · 3 Jul 2005, 19:37

Btw, should you decide to go down the quietness route, be forewarned: it's goddamn expensive.
I spent £44 on 5 fans (includes processor fan but NOT the heatsink) because they are a brand that is well known to be extraordinarily quiet. And indeed they are. However, you sure as hell pay for the privilage.

As thermo pointed out, it's also nice to know exactly what is in your PC.
This is invaluable when sorting out any problems that may arise, as you know what each component SHOULD be able do to, so a lot of guesswork can be removed from the troubleshooting process.