New PC buying help needed

[Muz]

Hi all,

Im after a new pc as the old one has just about had its day. Budget is around ?1500 but the less spent the better as im gonna be taking a loan out for it.

Specifically, i want: an ATI 9800 Pro card (128 Mb at least), 512 DDR RAM (at least though 1024 would be great), 160 Gb HD (tho an even bigger...), a good sound card, a dvd multi burner and an AMD or Pentium 3.0 Ghz. A flat monitor would be cool but is not necessary as i have a 17" CRT as well as keyboard, mouse and software.

Can anyone recommend me cheap places? Would building one be cheaper and if so where do i start?

Ive had a look at meshcomputers.com and timecomputers.com and time seem really cheap but their most expensive pc package doesnt include the graphics card im after and they dont seem to conifgure pc's. Dell seem expensive...

Any help would be much appreciated as i would like to sort this asap...

Cheers
Muz

[Adam]

I got a P4 3.0ghz/512ddr/Radeon 9800pro, Audigy 2 sound card, DVD Burner and seperate CD drive for ?1387 (take in account there special offers) from Dell and it's the dogs balls tbh.

[Muz]

Hmmm that does sound really good considering its dell. Did you get a flat screen aswell? And does that price include VAT?

From what ive gathered, self-building is the cheapest option that still allows for quality parts. Im more than willing to do this but i have no idea where the best place to get parts from is.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Muz

[rjpageuk]

www.overclockers.co.uk is a great place to get parts from, as is www.komplett.co.uk.

There is a topic here, in this very forum (stickyed) which outlines some of the best suppliers:

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/viewtopic.php?t=15164

[DjSatansfury]

116242 AMD Athlon XP3000+ 2.167 GHz 333 MHz bus
- Socket A (Barton) processor


118267 Abit NF7 V2.0 Mainboard for Socket A DDR
- nForce2SPP/MCP/Ultra 400,ATX,USB2.0,LAN
60.34 60.34

121356 Western Digital Caviar 160GB IDE 7200RPM
- Special Edition 8MB cache WD1600PB
94.71 94.71

117894 Cooler Master AERO 7+ AMD

- ASB-V73 til AMD XP3000+ CPU and Higher
- Surcharges 0 pr stk kommer i tillegg. 50-99
stocked 25.64 25.64

115750 Corsair XMS3200LL DDR-DIMM 512MB PC3200
- 32Meg x 8, CAS 2-3-2-6-T1, 400MHz
- Surcharges 0 pr stk kommer i tillegg. 1
stocked 104.58 209.16

112007 Chieftec PSU ATX 420W 2 fans
- power supply for P4/AMD CPUs w/PFC
- Surcharges 0 pr stk kommer i tillegg. 5
stocked 56.95 56.95

117959 NEC DVD-recorder IDE ND-1300, Bulk
- DVD+R/+RW of DVD-R/-RW
- Surcharges 0 pr stk kommer i tillegg. 50-99
stocked 96.39 96.39

119629 Sapphire Radeon 9800 Atlantis PRO 256MB
- AGP, ATI, "Ultimate Edition", Retail
- Surcharges 0 pr stk kommer i tillegg. Backordered
(lead time: days) 398.6 398.6

108590 Chieftec Dragon MidiTower, w/Door, Black
- Case w/360W power, DX-01B-D, P4/AMD (UK)
- Surcharges 0 pr stk kommer i tillegg. Backordered
(lead time: days) 74.42 74.42

114711 Sony Floppy Drive, 3,5" 1,44MB Black
- Floppy Drive Internal
- Surcharges 0 pr stk kommer i tillegg. 50-99
stocked 10.52 10.52

116868 AC Ryan Flat cable ATA133 Round, 45cm
- Yellow, with 2 contacts
- Surcharges 0 pr stk kommer i tillegg. Backordered
(lead time: days) 6.91 6.91

117100 AC Ryan Flatcable Floppy Round, 45cm
- Yellow with 2 contacts
- Surcharges 0 pr stk kommer i tillegg. 10-19
stocked 4.49 4.49

120508 Samsung 17" LCD Syncmaster 172V TCO99
- Screen Silver (UK)
291.31 291.31


Total: 1477.65

You'll have to build it yourself tho (although it aint that hard)

I mean, that is a great system. You will be able to find it cheaper, and also find better/cheaper peices for the system (But i aint got time to do all that sourcing) But thats quite good, got all you've asked for, plus a few extras such as some class RAM, and a DVD Writer.

I mean somepeople will tell you, you can OC the machine as well, which is fine if you are comfortable about that

[DjSatansfury]

oh and all that was from www.komplett.co.uk

Tbh, if you stay away from ebuyer, and source around aria.co.uk, overclockers.co.uk and komplett.co.uk, you'll do fine (although remember delivery costs, ?10 a time usually for 24hr)

[Fragmaster]

Yep I buy from aria.co.uk and overclockers.co.uk both are great sources to buy from. I really don't recommend buying from a manufacturer because it is way overpriced, and some deals that look great just aren't.

By the way 9600 can be clocked to 9800 pro IIRC.

[Muz]

Wow - cheers guys, that lot looks great. Ok so i'll have a look around the websites you have suggested.

Now what the hell is overclocking and how can i get it done?!

You mean you can turn a 9600 into a 9800 pro? How?!

Also, i've noticed that an AMD Athlon that is suggessted is an XP3000+ but is only 2.167 GHz . Does that mean that pentium processors are much faster as i always thought AMD were cheaper and quicker.

Basically i want to buy a machine that is really good and guarantees i won't have to update for at least another 3 or 4 years. It'll be used mainly for gaming and multimedia stuff - downloads, dvd's etc.

Overclocking...help!

[DjSatansfury]

3000XP means it the equivilent of a 3ghz P4...or near enough anyway

[Muz]

Cheers, I'll stick with the AMD then. Can a 3000+ be overclocked? Or is that a bad idea?

[Montaver]

Err, 9600 cannot be clocked into a 9800, it only has 4 Graphics pipelines and runs on a different core...

Get a 2.4ghz p4, dual 512ddr (some nice corsair stuff with heat spreaders to take the extra mhz), wack the fsb to 500 (core will then be at 3ghz or more), get the jet7 cooler, a herc 9800 pro, a nice case, and bobs your uncle!
Will come to alot less than 1500 tho

[Ciaran]

In terms of a definition, overclocking is quite simple: it refers to changing the settings of a computer system so that the hardware runs at a faster speed than the manufacturer rated it for. Every piece of hardware in a computer system is tested and is supposed to be rated to run at a particular clock speed. When you overclock, you change the settings of the hardware so that it runs faster than what the manufacturer originally intended. Overclocking is also sometimes called pushing or speed margining.

If you cool things properly overclocking shouldn't do any harm to the hardware.

[Adam]

Hmmm that does sound really good considering its dell. Did you get a flat screen aswell? And does that price include VAT?

I got a 19 Inch standard monitor and the price included VAT and delivery, delivery is ?50 aswell but like every second month they do it free.

[demon9k]

Cheers, I'll stick with the AMD then. Can a 3000+ be overclocked? Or is that a bad idea?

The new pentium 4s (800FSB versions) from what I have read are a lot better than there AMD counter parts. I would be going for a 3Ghz 800FSB over an AMD but thats just my personal preference. AMDs are still damn good processors.

[hub]

Hmmm that does sound really good considering its dell. Did you get a flat screen aswell? And does that price include VAT?

I got a 19 Inch standard monitor and the price included VAT and delivery, delivery is ?50 aswell but like every second month they do it free.

They're currently doing free double memory, free graphics card upgrade and free delivery... just got a P4 2.66, 512Mb RAM, 40Gb HD, 5200 (I know ) for around ?600. Bargain.