Help me choose: system with 7900GT (£998) or 7800gt (£908)

[bigblue]

Help !... again !

I'm currently in the process of trying to configure a system from Mesh. Thanks to some very good advice I received here I'd just about made my mind up. BUT...

The system I configured had a 7800GT and was £908. Theres now a different system on their site that has the 7900GT but works out at £998. So my dilemma is do I splash the extra pennies ?

Thanks to previous advice I'd made up my mind to get the 7800GT and save the £90 to put towards a dx10 card in a year or so's time. But the 7900's are here now and, well, they're just too shiny and new Only other thing is, will I regret having spent the extra on a 7900 when DX10 cards come out and I can't afford one 'cause I've spent all my dosh just now ?

The system will be getting used with a NEC 20" wide monitor and I'm a bit concerned I could do with the extra oomph the 7900 gives to play games at 1600x1050.

I know I should just choose something and get on with it, but this is a pretty big purchase for me !

Thaks VERY much for any advice you can give

[sawyen]

I could probably get cheaper than that.. 90 quid to swap a 7800GT for a 7900GT seems rather excessive..

But nonetheless, 7900GT for the win... perhaps even a X1800XT? They're crusty versions of the X1900XT, but retains 90% of its speed..

[bigblue]

It's not actually a straight upgrade, it's two different systems. All the other parts are pretty much the same though (x2 4200, 1024 mb, 250 gb hdd). I should have explained that.

In their configurator there isn't any way to replace 7800 with 7900. 7800's are available on some systems, 7900 on others. That's what makes it tricky !

[nvening]

post the exact specs here for us all to see!!

[bigblue]

Ok... !

£908 system
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ with HT Tech.
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 [upg £ 15.00]
Midi-Tower ATX Case +550W PSU -Black/Silver
ASUS A8N-SLI PCI-Express Mainboard - ATX
1024MB DDR400 Memory - PC3200 (2x512)
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
16x DVD-ROM Drive (40x CD-ROM)
SONY 16x Dual Layer DVD-Re-Writable +R/-R/RW
256MB nVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT - TV-Out + DVI - PCI-Express [upg £ 35.00]
Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Rechargeable Cordless Mouse
1.44MB - 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive

£998 system
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ with HT Tech.
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Midi-Tower ATX Case +550W PSU -Black/Silver
ASUS A8N-SLI PCI-Express Mainboard - ATX
1024MB DDR400 Memory - PC3200 (2x512)
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
SONY 16x Dual Layer DVD-Re-Writable +R/-R/RW
256MB nVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT - Dual DVI,HDTV & TV-Out + DVI - PCI-Express [upg £ 100.00]
Without Keyboard & Mouse [upg £ -15.00]

Both have a 2+1 warranty, onboard 7.1 sound, works 8.5 etc, carriage etc.

I really want to buy from Mesh as they've answered all correspondence quickly and helpfully unlike some other vendors I've had dealings with. Davey seems like a credit to the company too and it's good knowing he's on here regularly.

Cheers !

[Barkotron]

Is there a reason to get the media center edition of Windows rather than straight ahead XP? Seems fairly pointless to me if you've not got a TV tuner, remote in there. Are you planning to use this as a media PC, or games or what? Is it cheaper to get Media Center rather than XP Pro or Home?


Apart from that, those prices look a bit odd. They've charged an extra £35 for the 7800 on the first one, and an extra £100 for the 7900GT on the second, so £65 difference, but there's no mouse and keyboard with the second. There must be something else there to justify the extra money they're charging. Can you link to the two basic configurations?

[BUFF]

Is there a reason to get the media center edition of Windows rather than straight ahead XP?

Presumably because MS are getting ready to kill XP Home later this year.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060103-5891.html

[bigblue]

The reason I'm getting MCE is because I have an Xbox 360 sitting under the TV in the living room, with a wired connection and have a pile of HD content on my PC upstairs. As far as I know you can't stream video from an XP to X360 yet ?

The 7800GT is an upgrade from 6800GS and the 7900GT is an upgrade from 7600GT, hence the difference in upgrade charges. That's the problem, there's no systems where you can choose to upgrade to either 7800GT or 7900GT. 7800GT is an option on the majority of the systems and 7600/7900 cards are only available on 3 particular G71 systems.

System that I'm basing the £908 on: http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...DUCT&KEY=57300

And the £998: http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...DUCT&KEY=72745

Just noticed they have some new systems on their sit so I'm off to study. Hopefully they'll have something new that suits !

EDIT: Ah, bugger, they now have some systems with 7800, 7900 AND X1900. It's a £50 upcharge for 7900GT and £70 for x1900XT. Still no easier though, you can't remove the monitor in some of the new systems ! Aaaaarghh ! Think I'll just email them with a spec !

Thanks for the help !

[Merlin4458]

u can ring mesh and ask them not to put in a card.. then buy serperatly. Would that work out cheaper?

[bigblue]

It might be an idea actually. I could then take a bit longer making my mind up about the graphics card.

I'm going round the bend trying to work out which configuration is cheapest/best.

As the old saying goes... I used to be indecisive but now i'm not so sure

Kinda sums me up

[dave87]

I personally would go with the second system, though I can see why you are having difficulty making up your mind. The only thing I would say - and shoot me for this - is see if there are any systems with a x1900 in it, as they are currently faster.....


Dave

[bigblue]

Yup, Dave, I may have to shoot you.

Some systems do have the X1900XT for £20 upcharge over the 7900GT which seems like a damn good deal. But the systems they offer it on usually have other bits and bobs that I don't need, like speaker packages etc.

I've never had an ATI card and was playing safe sticking to nVidia but I think you have a very good point !

Thanks !

[dave87]

No worries, jus give me some advance warning before you start shooting

Have you considered looking at Scan's 3XS sytems? Sounds like they may well have what you want, and they are pretty competitively priced by all accounts

Dave

[bigblue]

Yup, I've had a look and the Scan stuff seems good but I'll need to have another look to see what their warranty is like.

Cyberpower seem to have a good selection on their website too but I've really not heard much about them.

Still think I'll probably go with Mesh, just need to stay away from reading their customer care forum on here or I'll end up scaring myself out of it. S'pose you only hear about the bad experiences though and I've had those aplenty with another major seller.

Ach, it's too confusing, think I'll just buy from Time...

[dave87]

Never heard about Cyberpower, but yea - have a look around. Have a look at the comments I made in the Mesh Again!! topic in Turnkey systems part of the forum, worth reading.

Mesh and Scan both have sections on here, so any problems and you have got decent people to deal with

Dave

BTW - I had a time once - 5 years ago - basic but good quality components - MSI mobo, Sony optical drives - but then they started using PCChips mobo - and went downhill from there...