what pc to buy????

[chalky]

Can anyone help me please pick a pc to buy i am hopeless with these things.I am looking to spend about £700 or just more.The pc is mainly for gaming but i do like to copy cd's and i want to give dvd's a go to.

I want the pc to have:
INTEL PENTIUM 4
2.8 ghz or upwards
At least a 80Gb hard drive
Dvd copier
And i want a really good graphics card
Also if possible a printer and scanner but not that important.

I found this one in currys but am not to sure if its good
Processor Type Intel Pentium 4
Processor speed 3000 mhz
RAM Memory 512 mb
Hard Disk Capacity 120 Gb
Drives Fitted MFDVDRW
Graphics card memory 128 mb
Viewable Screen Size 14.1 inches
Operating system Win XP Home
Software included No
Graphics Description ATi Radeon 9200
CD Speed (CDR, CDRW, CDROM) 16,10,40
DVD Speed (DVDR,DVDRW,DVDROM) Not Specified
Modem Yes
No of USB connections 7
No of PCI Slots 3
No of Firewire Sockets Not Specified
Sound Card Onboard Sound
Speakers Included Yes
TV Tuner Not Specified
Graphics port AGP
3D accelerator graphics Yes
Keyboard Yes
Mouse Yes
Weight 10.5 kg
Height 360 mm
Width 185 mm
Depth 410 mm
Onboard LAN No

[DarthVader]

The graphics card in that comptuer is not suitable for modern gaming plus it would be better to have 1024mb (1gb) of memory rather than 512mb if you wish to play modern games.

It might also be worth looking at AMD Athlon based computers because if you have a budget of £700 I think you would have a difficult time finding a decent pc with an Intel Pentium as the CPU. Athlon's are very good performers too and especially for games so it would be worthwhile looking into it.

It might also be a good idea to do a little bit of research on what computer to buy. There will be plenty of magazines out there (like PC Pro or PCW) that will give reviews on certain machines and have A-List's that show what their favourite models are.

They even have websites with reviews of computers:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk
http://www.pcw.co.uk

Then of course there is google too. :thumbs:

[chalky]

thanks very much i will look into that now.

[chalky]

is this NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 256MB any good for games?I found this one for £776

Type PC
Configuration Preconfigured
Chassis Type Tower
Internal
Processor Intel Pentium 4
Processor speed 3200 MHz
Internal Memory 1024 MB
Harddisk size 256.0 GB
Drives
DVD-ROM No
CD Re-Writer No
DVD Re-Writer Yes
Display
Monitor Not Included
Screen Size
Graphic card NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 256MB
Audio
Sound card AC '97
Speakers No
Software
Operating System Windows XP Home
Related
Extra Hardware
Extra Software Works 7.0
Miscellaneous 1 Year FREE Onsite Warranty

[wack]

That graphics card is still midrange, you need a 5900 or a Radeon 9800 pro really to play games at a decent res

[chalky]

ok thanks.I think i need to spend more on the pc

[DarthVader]

ok thanks.I think i need to spend more on the pc

You should definitely consider a computer with an Athlon in it though.

[RobDickinson]

£700 is plenty for a gaming PC.

heres what I picked at microdirect :

Intel Pentium® 4 2.8GHz (533MHz) Prescott 1MB cache Retail inc.Fan (3 year warranty) £99.95

Asus P4V8X-X P4 VIA P4X533 533FSB 8xAGP +SATA RAID +LAN +6 ch. Audio +USB2 ATX (up to DDR400) £27.26

512MB DDR400 PC3200 RAM (major brand) * 2 = £86.50

160 GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache 7200rpm ATA100 £53.65

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR AGP +DVI +TV Out Retail £119.95

NEC ND-2510 8x Dual Layer Black 8.5GB DVD +/- R/RW oem £38.25

Antler Supercase PC-115A Black/ Silver midi 350W USB2 ATX £22.00

Total Price Excluding VAT
£452.56
VAT @ 17.5%
£79.20
Total Price Including VAT
£531.76

Thats Just an example (thrown together at random, dont buy without help..), and you need to ad mouse/keyboard/fdd for £30 or so and a monitor - thats your pick from £80 - £XXX



I'd swap the gfx car with this(or similar) once its available (before puchase) - which is cheaper and better :

Sparkle GF 6600 256MB DDR PCI-E DVI & TV Out Retail £ 111.57


edit - and an athlon system woul dbe cheaper and probably faster too. What I've selected may not be great - no idea on the case or motherboard btw...

[DarthVader]

£700 is plenty for a gaming PC.

edit - and an athlon system woul dbe cheaper and probably faster too. What I've selected may not be great - no idea on the case or motherboard btw...

It would be a great advantage if he/she decided to build the computer on their own but I get the feeling (considering he/she said they were "hopeless" with these things) that they will want to buy a computer that is already built for them.

I would also seriously recommend 1024MB (1GB) over 512MB for gaming in this day and age (and for other tasks that might require more memory).

Although when it comes to building computers and installing software then we do all have to start somewhere.

Chalky, did you want a monitor/keyboard/mouse and software included in the £700 budget or just the base unit? :shrug:

[RobDickinson]

You can almost always find the same spec PC ready built somewhere for parts price, or close anyhow, only reason to build one yourself nowdays is to get a precice spec and know exactly whats gone into it.

Overclockers tend to be pricey but even they have full systems here:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/full_systems.html

I'm sure you;d get very close to what I picked for £600 or so.

[DarthVader]

Seeing as were onto speccing systems for you now I want to have a bash too :p :

Western Digital Caviar 200.0GB UDMA100 (Quicklinx - 25T5WS)
1024MB 2x(Crucial Technology 512MB 184Pin DIMM PC3200 DDR RAM Non-Parity CL3) (Quicklinx - 2LGMWS)
Micro-Star International (MSI) 16xDVD 48xCD Int IDE RP Black (Quicklinx - 2M3NWS)
Antec SLK3700BQE-UK 350W PSU ATX Black Quiet Edition (Quicklinx - 2WG7WS)
Gigabyte GeForce FX5900XT 128MB DDR AGP DVI VO (Quicklinx - 2ZZ9WS)
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ S754 512Kb Box (Quicklinx - 36T1WS)
NEC DVD+-R/RW 16x Dual Layer Black - Drive Only (Quicklinx - 3DZGWS)
Asustek Socket 754 nForce 3 ATX Audio LAN RAID (Quicklinx - 3GNQWS)

All for £633.85 including VAT at http://www.dabs.co.uk but I must note that specification does not include a monitor/mouse/keyboard or any software and the case and cd/dvd drives are black. I have also not included a floppy drive in that spec seeing as the darn thing should have been extincy ages ago but these are no more than £8 to buy anyway (though it is £9.99 for a bog standard white one at PC World). That computer specification would meet your requirements (plus the delivery is cheap considering the weight).

You can go directly to any of the items listed above, on the dabs webiste, by entering the Quicklinx code in the top right had corner of the page.

[shaggy84]

Hi for the money you want to spend you can get a top spec computer with a very fast graphics card the radeon 9600xt is a very good card and is nearly as good as a card 3 times more expensive i know i have tried them all!!!! people judge graphics card on how much they cost.

Any how if you want a quote for a very good system drop me pm and i will send you a spec and a price. NO PROBLEM

[DarthVader]

Hi for the money you want to spend you can get a top spec computer with a very fast graphics card the radeon 9600xt is a very good card and is nearly as good as a card 3 times more expensive i know i have tried them all!!!! people judge graphics card on how much they cost.

Any how if you want a quote for a very good system drop me pm and i will send you a spec and a price. NO PROBLEM

I think chalky would be better off with a Geforce 5900 (minimum) or a Radeon 9800Pro (minimum). You might feel that the Radeon 9600XT is a good performer now but the real question is - how will it perform with the next generation of games? If chalky is going to spend a lot of money buying a computer then he or she might as well buy a graphics card that will last a while (and if the budget was right a 6800GT/x800pro would be ideal :nuts: ).

I generally find people judge the graphics card by what chipset and how much memory it has in it. Then they go and find the best value model for that specific chipset. I tend to do it that way.

Afterall if (for example) PC World had a Geforce FX 5200 that was £200 (this is only an example remember) and they also had a Geforce FX 5900 for say £150 do you honestly think I would buy the 5200 because it costs £50 (unless I was an idiot)? :shrug:

[RobDickinson]

hmmm that from mr registered today and only post... not nigerian are yoe?

[DarthVader]

hmmm that from mr registered today and only post... not nigerian are yoe?

So am I not the only person to think that guys post is a bit suspicious? :suspect:

Afterall who would recommend a 9600XT when 9800pro's or 5900's can be bought at relatively good prices these days? :cuckoo:

[dbilsborough]

There was a rather nice Dell machine on the outlet this morning at 6.00am it's PCIexpress too, so a little futureproof

Dell 8400
3.0ghz P4
1gig ram (2x512)
DVD writer
160gig SATA drive
256meg X800XT graphics (worth nearly £400 on it's own)
1 year warranty

£770 delivered.

I got the same machine for less than £700 apart from mine being a 2.8ghz, and that's the best spec Dell you can get save for a 3.4ghz chip instead of the 3.0ghz one, so worth checking out - www.dell.co.uk/outlet. Free delivery at the moment too.

There will usually be an 8300 or a 4600 welll within your price range, look for an 8300 with a 9800pro or XT card, you will get one for less than £500 if you look long enough :thumbs:

[clem_f]

I'd have a look at the PC in this thread
http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=320092
if you add £100 for a pci express x800se card, I think you'd have a pretty good sytem for about £650. Includes a 17"crt as well which might be useful.
Includes the new PCI express technology plus SATA drive

[chalky]

Thanks guys thats great help.Am not going to build one just buy one at pc world or something like that.

[DarthVader]

Thanks guys thats great help.Am not going to build one just buy one at pc world or something like that.

Did you contact shaggy84 btw (excuse me for being so nosey)? :suspect:

[chalky]

no i didnt.I got good help from the links you had given me DarthVader.

[DarthVader]

If you want to know what sort of specification you should have to run Doom 3 then you should have a look at this Hardware guide at Hardocp:

http://www2.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQ0

For some weird reason the website seems to be having problems currently but I am sure it will be fine later when you read this post.

It might also be worth checking other websites (than that of pcpro or pcw) for specific reviews on hardware. Website such as:

http://www.tomshardware.com
http://www.hexus.net (A British site I think)

Of course if you want a review at another site just put the name of the piece of hardware into google (and the word "review" would help) and it will come up with plenty of reviews from other sites. :thumbs:

It might also be worth checking out the "bog standard" Geforce 6800 as it might just be within your budget and it performs better with Doom 3 than the 9800pro or the 5900. The cheapest 128MB Geforce 6800 is £184.99 inc VAT whereas a 9800pro/5900xt might be around £110-130.

[chalky]

good tips thanks.I will look that up later tonight.

[chalky]

I ordered my new pc today from dell its a Dimension 4700 (D1044) and its got:

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 530 with HT technology (3.0GHz, 800MHz fsb, 1MB cache)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition SP1 - English
1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz
250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ Cache
128MB PCI-Express ATI Radeon X800SE™ with TVout & DVI
Dell E773p 17" (16.0 VIS) Value CRT Monitor
16X DVD+RW
Dell A215 speakers
Dell QuietKey Keyboard
Dell PS/2 Scroll Mouse
Dell v92 Data/Fax modem
Microsoft® Works 7.0 - English

[DarthVader]

That seems like a good spec. :thumbs:

How much did that cost (including VAT and delivery)?

[chalky]

£887

[Bravoman]

Thanks guys thats great help.Am not going to build one just buy one at pc world or something like that.
Don't know if you've ordered one yet, but I ordered all the bits to build my own, decided I didn't fancy it and found a local shop to do it for me for £35! saved a fortune on PC World prices. Just had to install an OS

Edit Just read the last couple of posts :doh: sorry not a lot help was I

[DarthVader]

£887

Sounds like a good price. :thumbs: