help needed

[Lcd]

hi all, im new to the forums, just a bit of advice needed really, im sorry if this is posted in the wrong section, i wasnt sure and its kind of related, anyway, im looking at buying a new pc, it will be used for various things including gaming, online gaming like world of warcraft needs to be able to run well on it,

the problem is, gaming pc's cost a bomb, i can go upto about £850 at a stretch, and preferably want a moniter etc etc included in the package, does anyone know of any good places to buy for that sort of money and what specs i should be looking at, the one i have been considering cost £750 and has specs of


Intel® Pentium® 4 650 (3.4GHz, 800FSB, 2MB Cache)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz (2x512)
160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
16x max. DVD+/-RW Drive
256MB nVidia GeForce 6800 (DVI/VGA/TV-out)

also comes with moniter, keyboard and mouse, i was looking for better to be honest, but as im on a limited budget i guess i cant be to picky, all advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance

 

[murdoch]

new pc

I would stick to the operating system being windows xp home or pro, media edition is to hyped up. Is the grahics card agp or pci-e? Don't buy from Mesh Computers

 

[Lcd]

thats all the info it has on the graphics card so i couldnt say, i doubt ill buy this one, but at least it gives you an idea of what i found so far, hopefully can be improved on, thatnks for the advice

 

[chelseafc2005]

is that a dell system i think so my borther has got the exact same spec from dell. Anyways whydont you try building your own you can get a very good system to the specs that you want and to a very high quality build?? And if you dont want to build your own go to a local computer store they could probbly build you a good one with high quality parts

 

[Lcd]

yeah its a dell system, i was considering building my own, i did with the 1 i have now, but i would prefer to buy the new one on finance than come up with that money in one go

 

[Lcd]

another one i have been looking at is a zoostorm, specs are

PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon 64 3200+

MEMORY: 512 MB 400MHz DDR RAM (2 x 256MB Strips)

HARD DISK: 2 x 160GB SATA (RAID 0) 320GB total.

GRAPHICS: 2 x 256MB PCI Express NVidia GeForce 6800GS (SLI)

DVD WRITER: 4xDVD+R9 (Double Layer) 16xDVD+R, 4xDVD+RW, 16xDVD-R, 4xDVD-RW, 48xCD-R, 32xCD-RW


memory a bit low, but 2x graphics card is a + point i guess, aaahhh someone help me before i pull my hair out

 

[TriplexDread]

How much is that one?

Do you have a link please?

Yes the memory is well to low. I woud say minimum decent spec you will need least 1gig. Altho a lot will say 512 is enough.

I have a gig and my system is struggling to do stuff now because of the intensity of things. ie Digital editing and what not. The choice however is yours completely. You can always get more memory in a couple of months or so. However make sure you get the same spec as is installed already or buy all new

 

[Lcd]

im still looking, that one has potential but i dunno, the link is



http://www.pcnextday.co.uk/product_detail.asp?stype=5&productcode=3365-5402&group=CSHP&pgroup=CS

price £847.23 (inc VAT) £721.05 (ex VAT)

 

[TriplexDread]

Looks ok. However they make the point of saying 512 is enough memory for even todays games. Where they might have a point on some degree I very much doubt it will do for all games. Absolute minimum for games aged 12months+ is 256 so once you have your operating sytem running aswell and other stuff like virus checkers and any other clutter which is pretty much standard you will be making a lot of use of your page file.

Yeah thats what its there for I hear you saying. But look at the rest of your specs in comparison. 512 will really be a bottle neck in this case IMO

 

[Lcd]

yeah i agree, thats my main concern with that 1, best graphics card option i have found though

 

[chelseafc2005]

Also what is the mb in the computere( the sli one)?? the motherboard espescially in an sli setup is very important

 

[Lcd]

all the info about it is in this link

http://www.pcnextday.co.uk/product_detail.asp?stype=5&productcode=3365-5402&group=CSHP&pgroup=CS

 

[muckshifter]

all the info about it is in this link

http://www.pcnextday.co.uk/product_detail.asp?stype=5&productcode=3365-5402&group=CSHP&pgroup=CS

Blinding "science" and playing the numbers game just don't cut it with me ... RAID 0 need 4 HDs to be implimented corectly ...if you do not know anything about RAID, leave it alone.

I can see all the regulars here lifting their eyebrows 'cos then know what I'm going to say next ...

MOTHERBOARD

Start from the ground up ... get the best MB and anything else can be added later.

Start with 1gig ram, nothing less is worth looking at.

SLI-E is another for any 'gamer' ... it will afford some future-proofing.

Sata II ((sata2) 300) Hard drives are quick ... if you then learn about RAID, then DIY

That's the basics ... and you can achieve this on £800 quite easily.



oh, and a 64bit CPU ... I prefer AMD.

 

[chelseafc2005]

unfortunately it does not mention which mb it is using i would contact them to see what one they are using before (if) YOU PURCHASE THAT COMP

 

[TriplexDread]

Out of curiosity what brand are the cards that are fitted?

 

[Lcd]

not sure to be honest, will have to e mail them i guess, im still no closer to finding a pc for that money, i can now go up to £900 but i just cant find one good enough, its always lacking something, usually a decent graphics card, anyone know how good http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/ are?? seems to be my best option so far


thankyou to everyone who has posted so far, your help is greatly appreciated , although im still no closer to a new pc,

 

[Lcd]

also does anyone know if www.ezcomputers.co.uk are any good? and do you know if you can buy from there on finance? as i couldnt see any mention on the site

 

[TriplexDread]

M8 for £900 u can build your own. And a really good one too.

I bet you have most of the parts already

 

[Lcd]

i dont, this pc is going to someone else, so im still not able 2 buy the parts myself on finance, hows this fom www.pcspecialist.co.uk £750, i dont know enough about graphics cards to know what to look for to be honest, im out of touch with the newer ones, if anyone is feeling kind enough, feel free to go on the website and see what build you can come up with, as higher spec gaming pc as pos for as close to £900 or less as possible, thanks hehe



AMD® ATHLON® 64BIT 3700 (San Diego) 1MB (Special Offer)
2048 MB DDR400 PC3200 WITH LIFETIME WARRANTY!
ASUS® A8V: DUAL DDR, S-ATA, 8X AGP, 5 PCI, ETC
SIX USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT)
SATA 160 GB HARD DISK @ 7200rpm 8mb cache (Special Offer)
16X DVD ROM WITH 48X CD ROM
52X 32X 52X CD WRITER
256MB RADEON 9600 PRO 8X AGP + DVI + TV-OUT
HIGH END ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL SOUND (RECOMMENDED)
10/100/1000 NETWORK CARD FOR BROADBAND
1.44MB FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
Stylish Silver X-Plode Case + 2 Front USB
500W (Peak) Silent Dual Rail PSU with 120mm fan
MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® XP HOME (inc. original CD & licence)
17 INCH SILVER/BLACK CRT MONITOR: 1280 X 1024 RES.

 

[TriplexDread]

Ok had a quick look thru that. I wouldnt get anAGP now they are well outdated Go for a PCI-E if possible m8

Also you can save money straight away by only have the one optical drive in there. You ahve CD-RW and DVD-RW Just have 1 Dual layer DVD-RW that will do everythign you need to and save you about £25 - £30