Advice Please

[fizzy]

Hi
I have been reading some of your comments and I wonder if you could please give me some advice on the best type of computer and monitor to buy. And fromwhere.
My poor old computer is on its last legs, (rather like me) and I need a replacement that will last several years before becoming an old dinosaur (like hubby)
I would like a tft (dvi I think) monitor and it has to be nice and clear because I like to edit photo's and also mess about with graphics, I know the fat monitors are supposed to be better but ... well I just want a flatty

I'd like intel (I have a pentium 4, so better please) duo would be good.
a decent graphics card, ram, memory and all the other stuff to make it go (fast and quiet please) its going to be on for long hours every day so might need cooling ... mine sounds like its in competition with the space shuttle on hot days or if I ask too much of it.

2 x dvd/cd/read writing disc thingys... you can tell I have been searching the net (and getting nowhere fast) cant you?
a card reader for my digital camera ..
firewire? whats that and will I need it in the next 5 years?

Well thats about it for now, except I dont want to spend a fortune my kids already did that.
I look forward to hearing from you with all the advice.

 

[muckshifter]

Would madam like that in yellow?


Like your style ...


Here is an "example" you could build on ... I'm sure other members here will chip in with even more "advice" as to what to go for.

http://madoka.3bsystems.co.uk/productdetail.php?stockcode=SK-01935&catref=116

... as I said, 'tis an example.

We can easily spend £1000.00 of your money, and some more, so if you could give a set amount, I'll try and make sure we stick close enough.

There is one point I always make ... insure you get the best Motherboard first, then build on that.


oh, and welcome to the forums ...

 

[itsme]

Nice one Sir mucks! Cant get better than a Click Click Fitter

Oh! and welcome Fizzy

 

[fizzy]

Does it come in blue?

Blue goes better with the dark circles under my eyes



Thank you for the welcome muckshifter,



I was hoping to keep it under the 750 mark if at all possible



by everything techy but know I need to learn, (insert coughing or whistling smiley here) so thought I would come to the best (creep creep) (insert coughing or whistling smiley here too)



You just know once I find an all singing all dancing setup that does everything I need that will be the end of my ohhh look I need that research for the next 5 years dont you. Although I will have to read these forums much more often they are quite amusing.

seriously its just going to be a toy to surf and do graphics and digi photo's



I had a look at one on ebuyer but am put off by their poor customer service reviews, and I am just the person things going wrong happen to

will go and study your suggestion

Makes mental note to enable the cookies before writing to this forum then getting logged out and losing the lot

 

[Anon_F]

fizzy, suggest you do not look at Click Here they offer crap builds, customer support & service.
But you could look at www.novatech.co.uk who make decent PC's

 

[fizzy]

hi itsme and feckit thanks for the warning on the click there I read iffy bits about them too

I would love to know what motherboard and graphics card is good and what pci express is and whether you have to do special things to make a dvi monitor work, (tried asking that in the local pc shop I think I knew more than he did and I know nothing)
Showing how very green I am arnt I

 

[TriplexDread]

Welcome Fizzy.

For 750 GBP's or Dollars?

In any nomination you will still get a cracking TFT for that amount anyway.

Some people would agree with you CRT's are better than TFT's however after spending £350 on a Iiyama 21inch CRT and then buying a £175 TFT im afraid it is no longer the case. TFT's have come along over the past few years which imho make them superior in a few ways. ie space saving hue and colour distribution and sharpness of picture.

You make a choice and pay the price I guess

 

[Anon_F]

Oooppss Sorry Fizzy & A BIG Welcome to PCReview from me

 

[muckshifter]

hi itsme and feckit thanks for the warning on the click there I read iffy bits about them too

I would love to know what motherboard and graphics card is good and what pci express is and whether you have to do special things to make a dvi monitor work, (tried asking that in the local pc shop I think I knew more than he did and I know nothing)
Showing how very green I am arnt I

No, green is not your colour ... you ask all the questions you like here, non are considered dumb or stupid, though you may get some silly answers.

I love, what I call, "The Numbers Game", these days it is pretty irrelevant when dealing with CPUs and a lot of other aspects to a PC ... what you are more interested in is not what 0-60 it can do in however many seconds, but, will it do what you want it to, now, and in at least 3 years time ... the answer is, yes.

Motherboards?
I cannot stress enough how important this selection is to a PC ... it amazes me no end how manufactures just don't list their MB ... but then you soon realise why, it is a crap MB they use.

Everything without question get connected to a MB ... use a crap MB and it don't matter what fancy doda you attach, it'll still be crap.

Anything that has on-board video, integrated or whatever fancy name they call it these days ... should also be avoided. If looking at a pre-built system, Dell HP or some other crap company, and they do not list the MB, ask them ... better still, ask us.

Asus get top billing 'round here, and rightly so, but ... they also make run-of-the-mill MBs
DFI MB are rare in proprietary manufactured PC such as Dell & HP ... but their MB are cracking MBs
MSI are, in my book, very good also.
Abit, have made a comeback, but I still need convincing on their stability ... it has been shocking in the past.

My advice ...
Look for an Asus Intel (never thought I would say that word in giving out advice) based MB ... It then goes without saying that the Intel (there's that word again) Duo-Core 6600 is a good accompaniment ... these days 2gig of ram is expected in a new PC, though 1gig will be fine ... PCI-E is also expected, although what exact card you "need" depends on if you are a "gamer" or not ... You'll get a DVD-RW as a de facto but two is a little over the top, in my opinion.

Now, while most manufacturers will supply a case with a power supply (it will work fine) we here like to make sure our PSU (power supply unit) can handle any little extras we may throw in our PCs ... again, we have our favourites and again, do not get caught in the numbers game over what Watts can do what. There are more important things to look for than the total wattage of a PSU.

More food for thought.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Firewire is a data transfer port faster than USB2. It's typically used to connect camcorders to the computer and for other components such as external hard disks. If you don't have a camcorder that will only transfer data through a firewire port, I'd say it's not essential.

For card readers, there is a combined multi-card reader/floppy disk available for about £15.00, the card reader part of it connects to your internal USB connection.

Any colour you like as long as it's black, silver, beige or garish.

E-Buyer are poor. Cheap, but lousy customer service.

PCI-e is the current slot for taking graphics cards in all modern motherboards.

To buy a Pentium Conroe based system with all the bits and bobs you may just get away with £750.00.

Are you looking to build it yourself or buy a tailor made system?

 

[TriplexDread]

Brilliant advise Mucks!

Missed a good manufacturer out tho, whether on purpose or due to not ever used em, however I consider Gigabyte a worthy opponent aswell

 

[muckshifter]

Brilliant advise Mucks!

Missed a good manufacturer out tho, whether on purpose or due to not ever used em, however I consider Gigabyte a worthy opponent aswell

As I said ... we each have our favourites. Gbyte would have to supply me with a free MB for testing to convince me that their reliability & stability have recovered, same as would Abit.

There are a few members here who have other manufactured MB I cringe at also ... but then, you should know me by now.

I have change my stance on TFTs though ... cracking little monitors.

 

[fizzy]

£750ish Trippledread (I would feel so rich if it was dollars) and thats not just for the flatscreen has to do the whole bundle if possible.

I need a ready made or built to order, am just about capable of pushing things in slots if the instructions come with pictures and A goes into B is clearly defined, heck I managed an MFI flatpack, how much harder can this be ... waits trembling in the corner for the answers to that.

So Ideally then an ASUS (add some numbers and letters to this to make it impressive and confuse ladies like me) motherboard. (google here I come)
Intel (there's that word again) Duo-Core 6600
2gig of ram
PCI E (slots?)
a graphics card not really a "gamer" so hopefully that will lower the price a bit. (off to google again, unless you have the answeres ready)
has to link up to a dvi monitor (read thats the way to go)
Re the 2 x DVD-RW only bit of advice I thought might be relevant from previously posted reference to PC multinational shop, he said it makes copying from one dvd to another faster/better without putting it on the hard drive first, my dvd reader tray is stuck in and no amount of bent paperclip bullying will open it (and no I did not use it as a cup holder )

Once I have all that sorted I then need to find someone/somewhere to put it all in a nice box (do they do them in purple?)
novatech employees hide under your desks I may phone tomorrow

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116034/rb/22239397806 this was the one I had been looking at on ebuyers.
The dinosaur oops .. hubby thinks the motherboard is a gigabyte GA-81945P Pro intel 945 p

 

[floppybootstomp]

Here we go, I wuz bored

Add £80.00 for somebody to put it together = £800.00

Find somebody who can get the parts trade price, would probably reduce price to £700.00.

I've had to compromise in some areas and some component colours are a matter of personal preference but this would still be a very respectable system.

For Win XP Home edition add about £60.00

Also, to save money, compromises could still be made but judging by the requests made, I'd say this is minimum spec:

 

[WinkingPig]

By the way, the S200's are rubbish, i have a set of them here...

I had an even cheaper set of Creative speakers that perform better in the bass / overall sound experience.

 

[floppybootstomp]

By the way, the S200's are rubbish, i have a set of them here...

I had an even cheaper set of Creative speakers that perform better in the bass / overall sound experience.

Excellent, this is what we need to hear

I've never bought such a cheap set of speakers, I must admit, but I've always thought Logitech's products were good.

I was just trying to keep in budget.

Ok, swap out Logi, insert Creative

 

[fizzy]

You are all wonderfully helpful,
I am looking them up now, floppybootstomp, not sure about the monitor its a 17" would prefer to get a 19" with DVI
Trying to persuade hubby he can build it for me, that might not be a good idea though.
My circle of friends doesnt include any in the trade nor any computer building wizards I will have to find a profesional
Thanks for the speaker advice they can be omitted son has some nice ones here I can have

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ok, this 19" Monitor with DVI input costs another £40.00. BenQ

I was just trying to keep within budget

Similarly, the Conroe 6600 is probably the best Intel CPU for the money right now, but it's almost another hundred quid.

 

[fizzy]

I have just come across these companys that let you customise
http://www.komplett.co.uk/
http://www.vantagecomputers.co.uk/
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

Do you think that could be an answer for me? does anyone have experience of them and are they good.
My head is swimming with all this new info

I love that monitor

Confused enough for today and will research some more tomorrow and monday.
Thank you to everyone that has helped so far, I really do appreciate you all.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Komplett are ok, I know nothing of the other two.

I saw this (link) at Komplett and thought it was good for the money.

I added speakers, monitor with DVI input, mouse and keyboard and it came to about £730.00 which includes pre-installed Windows XP home (if you do go for this option make sure you get the Windows XP full CD).

However, the video card isn't that good, 7300LE with only 64Mb memory and the hard disk is only 160Gb. It also doesn't have a DVD-ROM drive for copying from, nor is there the option to add one. But they only cost about £15.00 and are easy to fit.

However, it would cope with your needs, as long as you don't want to be gaming.

For another £100.00 or so you could upgrade some components like maybe the grafix card; PSU and/or memory.

Pic attached (click on it to enlarge) showing a list with the other components I chose, same monitor as I listed above, oddly enough.