PC parts advice please, from my hexusian buddys

[Ravens Nest]

Alright everyone , just some advice needed please, i am pricing up a new PC for my cousin just wondered what you all thought and how i could improve it..?

I dont think the budget can go over £800 though.

Ebuyer.com

FLOPPY Alps 1.44 Black Floppy Drive £4.48
DVDRW Toshiba 4x DVD-R/RW IDE Burner - OEM Black (No S/W) £46.99

MONITOR Relisys TE770(S) 17ins monitor Silver & Black CRT 0.27dpi 1280x1024 £77.67

FANS 8cm Internal Case Cooling Fan 0.71 each 2 Qty needed so £1.42
CASE Chieftec BX-02B-B-SL Black Case with Silver Panel USB/Audio?1394 No PSU £23.49

KEYBOARD Logitech OEM PS2 Black Internet Keyboard Internet Keys Are Silver £8.93
MOUSE Logitech MX500 2 Button USB/PS2 Optical Mouse £28.91

Price for parts £191.88
Shipping band £7.04
Surcharge?? £3.88

Total from www.ebuyer.com £202.80 as of 19/05/04


Komplett.co.uk

HD Samsung SpinPoint P80 160GB S-ATA 8MB cache 7200RPM £78.65

MB EPoX EP-8HDA3+ Mainboard for Socket 754 K8T800, ATA/SATA, LAN, ATX, SOUND £71.68
CPU AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 2.0 GHz Socket 754, 512 KB cache, BOXED £152.93

VIDEO Sapphire Radeon 9800 Atlantis PRO 128MB, AGP,ATI9800PRO, 128bit,DVI-I,TV-Out, Lite £133.95

MEM TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB CL2.5 Memory184-P (for DDR-PC400MHz) £65.80

Price for parts £503.01
Delivery charge £5
Total from www.Komplett.co.uk £508.01 as of 19/05/04


Scans

PSU XS Meridian 450W + SATA Quiet Dual Fan AMD/P4 App Active Fan Control Active PFC £34.65


Ebuyer, Scans & Komplett added together is £745.46 as of 19/05/04

[GreenPiggy]

A mobile Barton might free up money to do things elsewhere with not much of a performance hit (overclocked stupidly of course)

[Ravens Nest]

Thanks for the advice GreenPiggy, good idea about the bartons, im in two world really as 64 bit is the way forward but is most definetly more expensive.

Got to ask my cousin what he wants 64 bit and an empty wallet or 32 bit and a few quid left.

[GreenPiggy]

Yeah, personally i would use the money for a gig of ram.
There's also the issue with the 64s changing socket soon so i would prefer to wait and see how that develops.

[steve threlfall]

What the machine for? gaming

Still no need to go 64bit yet tbh- all that cash is better spent on other stuff like a gig of quality ram. 64 bit is definately the future but theres nothing that uses it yet and they are going to be chaging all the standards such as the socket anyway soon.

How about...

NF7-S
mobile barton 2500 overclocks to 2.2GHz withiut flinching and most people get a fair bit higher on air! both from cpucity (dont forget the AS5 )

A gig of Twinmoss 3200 winbond- winbond costs more but you'l want it if overclocking

9800pro cant argue with that though i advise getting the oem one from scan

this one... http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=60853 its got an r360 xt core so it can be flashed to xt for more power. Pick up an arctic cooler from scan aswell while your at it- if overclocking and/or flashing the 9800pro.

Top notch psu that

The monitor- its worth spending more cash on something decent as it will make all the difference tbh. I would be looking for a 17"flat screen at least crt probably. If desk space is of no concern then http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...nitors_66.html the 19" pure flat hyundai monitor on this page- awesome dont get it from them though it can be had cheaper elsewhere though admitedly i have forgotten where that is

oooh cooler get an slk800 with a papst fan on- quality

[GreenPiggy]

NF7-S
mobile barton 2500 overclocks to 2.2GHz withiut flinching and most people get a fair bit higher on air! both from cpucity (dont forget the AS5 )

Agreed, with any sort of decent air(£30odd) it'll walk 2.4-2.5 gig
Damn us NF7 & mobile fanboys

[Agent]

Ste's right.
There is no point going to 64bit at the moment. The future is 64bit, no questions about that. But the technology is immature (well, the software for it anyway), and the motherboards arnt the best in the world. The sockets for the 64bit chips are also due to change soon, which will leave you with a dated mobo and CPU before its even mainstream.
If you can, hold off. So many things are changing in computing right now, its a really bad time to upgrade !
If you need a new system, just get a cheap 32bit one !

[Ravens Nest]

GreenPiggy
Good point aren't they changing from 64 to FX socket 754 to 939? You're right about using the money for a gig (What i havent wrote is he already has a lump of Twinmos 3200 512mb ram, iwas just adding the other half to what i have listed (Dont worry, he's not getting any less than a gigabyte, no way!)

steve threlfall
Gaming it sure is!

Looks like 64bit will have to wait then was getting excited about seeing Farcry with 64bit

Looks like i'd probably get him to go with a mobile barton then, i am a little worried about the ram as he already has 512mb of twinmos 3200 ram but it isnt winbond and the original plan was to order another 512, if i overclock will the slightly inferior ram still work o.k.?

CWT PSU's rock!!

Thanks for the advice on the 9800 pro oem from scans, is that sapphire, powercolor or another manufactorer? i dont think i'd have the guts (or wallet) to replace the videocard fan and overclock it.. i'd use omegas drivers and ATItools to find the highest it can run at without artifacting though.

Very nice monitor there, space is a premium was looking at a TFT monitors 17" but they are very expensive (£260-£300) 19" CRT is far to large but thanks for the link

Austin,
Just wondering if my cousin can wait that long, he likes his games but his pc just cant hack it anymore..
he has a ecs K7S5A mb, 2100 768mb ram, ti4200 128mb, XP 1500+ cpu.

I'll just break the news to him that either he waits another couple of months or has a mobile barton based PC (32bit) for now.

Thanks for all the replys everyone

[steve threlfall]

GreenPiggy


Looks like i'd probably get him to go with a mobile barton then, i am a little worried about the ram as he already has 512mb of twinmos 3200 ram but it isnt winbond and the original plan was to order another 512, if i overclock will the slightly inferior ram still work o.k.?

It should be fine. Most people manage quite nicely with the normal twinmos

CWT PSU's rock!! amen brother

Thanks for the advice on the 9800 pro oem from scans, is that sapphire, powercolor or another manufactorer? i dont think i'd have the guts (or wallet) to replace the videocard fan and overclock it.. i'd use omegas drivers and ATItools to find the highest it can run at without artifacting though.

Its an ATI card- scan buy these from ati direct- they told me on the phone . Swapping the fan is very easy- the tricky bit was removing the old fans plug from its socket . You could then flash the bios to xt and/or overclock the card in the way you describe.

Very nice monitor there, space is a premium was looking at a TFT monitors 17" but they are very expensive (£260-£300) 19" CRT is far to large but thanks for the link

17 should be enough for any man tft's are great but way too pricey when you conider the crt you can get for the cash

Austin,
Just wondering if my cousin can wait that long, he likes his games but his pc just cant hack it anymore..
he has a ecs K7S5A mb, 2100 768mb ram, ti4200 128mb, XP 1500+ cpu.

I'll just break the news to him that either he waits another couple of months or has a mobile barton based PC (32bit) for now.

Thanks for all the replys everyone

Austin

[MD]

personally I would not go to s many places to buy, I mean you will end up paying like £30 postage just to get these to you when you buy them....

m@

[Ravens Nest]

It should be fine. Most people manage quite nicely with the normal twinmos

CWT PSU's rock!! amen brother



Its an ATI card- scan buy these from ati direct- they told me on the phone . Swapping the fan is very easy- the tricky bit was removing the old fans plug from its socket . You could then flash the bios to xt and/or overclock the card in the way you describe.

17 should be enough for any man tft's are great but way too pricey when you conider the crt you can get for the cash



Austin

ops: Sorry agent, typed my reply too quick, i do miss talking to austin though

steve threlfall, So do's buying ATI cards direct mean they are better at overclocking and have faster ram on them??, still not sure about changing the fan though..

Yeah i agree TFT's are way too pricy at the moment, the Relisys 17" CRT monitor i put down because of previous experience with relisys being very good, but i might convince my cousin to spend a bit more and get a good brand name, hyundai do you know of any review sites for them and comparisons with other makes?

Thanks again for your help.

[Ravens Nest]

personally I would not go to s many places to buy, I mean you will end up paying like £30 postage just to get these to you when you buy them....

m@

Hard to say really, i saved about £35 by going to komplett for some parts and lost £5 in delivery charges so £30 saving over ebuyer.

Saved about £50 by using Ebuyer for some parts and delivery works out about £12 so real saving of £38 over buying from komplett.

Going to scans was only because of how good the PSU is for the money

XS Meridian 450W + SATA Quiet Dual Fan AMD/P4 App Active Fan Control Active PFC £34.65

It is supposed to be equivalent to an Antec 450W PSU so i am saving a lot of money even with delivery for just one item.

It sure is a headache dealing with so many companys at once though

[blockers]

Id say dont go with ebuyer, i have had very bad experiences everytime i have brought from them. Other people seem to havent had any bad problems, id rather go with someone who was more repuetable that ebuyer.....just my 2p

[Ravens Nest]

Id say dont go with ebuyer, i have had very bad experiences everytime i have brought from them. Other people seem to havent had any bad problems, id rather go with someone who was more repuetable that ebuyer.....just my 2p

I've used them a a huge amount and personally haven't had too many problems. had a cheap GF4 mx440 die on me less than two months later and once had the wrong product sent to me but it was worth more so kept it .

The only other problem was it takes a long time to get them to take back faulty products.

I just keep away from anything which is not a well-known brand or manufacterer.

[Ashen]

I noticed you're throwing in an NF7-S. Hesitate a moment and consider a DFI Nforce2 Infinity. It hits very nice FSB speeds, overclocks like a champ, and has more voltage options then you can shake a stick at. If you're going to go this way, consider buying some PC3500.

[BUFF]

I noticed you're throwing in an NF7-S. Hesitate a moment and consider a DFI Nforce2 Infinity. It hits very nice FSB speeds, overclocks like a champ, and has more voltage options then you can shake a stick at.

but the chances of hassle factor are way higher.
Plus the 450CWT & Infinity aren't a good combo (been there, got the T-shirt etc. Tagan is far better)

Ravens Nest , you do realise that a black 8xDVD/RW will only add a tenner over the 4x don't you?