Titanium-XP at ibuypower

[catattack]

Hey guys. I am thinking about getting this comp because its cheap and fast. It comes with everything and got really good reviews. If theres better ones you guys can find please tell me but as for this, what do you guys think would be the best selections for this comp? I got an ausome set-up for around $1850-$1900.

http://www.ibuypower.com/confirm/configurator-ti-xp.htm


Thanks.

[Axion]

for that money build it yourself

you will get much much more

[acidrainy]

Its worth looking in a self build, by buying wisely you could save yourself a packet!
Plus the satisfaction of building it yourself

If this site is the way for you though, it seems to be stocking fairly good items... The first worry though is the ram.. not sure what kind it is, could be dodgy.. :/

[Austin]

It will save you a packet self-building and you can choose from a vast array of options too, still not a (desirable) option for some.

In terms of the spec. 865(PE?) is very close to 875 and should save you a fair amount (usually). 2.4ghz 800FSB is very nice, esp for o/c'ing though the supplied HSF may not be up to it. If you aren't looking to o/c (or even if you are) I'd urge you to consider an AthlonXP system. 1GB of RAM is lovelly but 512MB is still easily more than adequate for almost all home users. I would suggest a 120GB HD, prices SHOULD be very small (120GB drives are as cheap as £70). 9800PRO is tops (FX5900ultra is no where near worth the extra cash) but a 9800 could save you a bunch and should happily o/c to PRO speeds, 256MB is a waste and unnecessary. Onboard sound has come a long way but only the nForce have truly good sound. All in al the choices are good and the system will be mighty fine. What do you plan to use the PC for?

[Axion]

With his budget id go p4c route:
btw austin.. hes in the USA

P4 2.4c 800fsb

abit IC7 or asus P4C800 (springdale and canterwood boards are not priced that differently... $15 at most)

2x256 pc4000 adata ram (would have to import... so consider buffalo pc3700 w/ windbond or of course ocz pc3700 gold)

120gb 8mb pata hdd - sata if you want small cabling.. no speed gain currently unless using raptors

bba/sapphire radeon9800np/pro 128mb

audigy 2 oem soundcard

antec truepower 550w psu

case:
coolermaster atc-111c
lianli pc65
etc.

could get a pioneer 106 dvd+/-rw
and a liteon 52x/32x/52x since dvd copying requires the dvd to be ripped to your hdd no need for 2nd dvd drive... burn those cds fast

use newegg.com & googlegear.com for this stuff - both are very well priced... and directron has the truepower for under $100

ah if only i could have bought from the usa....

[Austin]

I know he's in the US but if I go to a predominantly US based site I expect to translate US$ to UK£, price diffs tend to be similar anyway and quoting £ also helps the majority of UK'ers looking for similar advice.

Sure he has the budget for P4C but that doesn't mean it's necessarily worth him getting one (certainly if not o/c'ing). He would gain more gaming perf (generally) if he had an AthlonXP with FX5900ultra but again the 5900ultra simply isn't worth the extra $/£100 for the tiny perf gains.

SATA isn't needed true, but the Maxtor versions are faster than the PATA (ATA100/133) 7200-8MB from both Maxtor and WD. You also (generally) overcome the bandwidth & resource sharing inherent to PATA drives. As always check the price diff.

[Axion]

if i were him i would get a p4 2.4c and o/c it to 3.2ghz or more... it does have more performance than an athlonxp... less exagerrated in games maybe... but still a reasonable difference

maybe the 5900ultra gets better benchies but i prefer the ati range of cards due to picture quality and not being made by nvidia who im annoyed with.. they keep on making inept budget range cards (geforce4mx and fx5200... to name two...) - as you said get the 9800np/pro (NOT SE)

im suggesting a p4c system despite building an amd system myself! that should tell you something! (see P N 01)

[Austin]

Yeah the 800FSB P4C when o/c'ed (or 3ghz+ default) are beyond the AthlonXP and the top XP are over-priced. If you don;t mind o/c'ing then the AthlonXP easily win because they are unbelievably cheap but as said the P4C o/c'ed will easily kick their a$$. So as I said earlier, if you aren't o/c'ing that P4C then AthlonXP is a much better choice esp if you o/c them, if you simply want the best then P4C is where it's at but you really want to be 3ghz+.

I also prefer the ATI range of cards, simply because they're technically and practically better all round. I am annoyed with ATI more than nVidia though. ATI release the dire Rad9000-9200 which are often significantly inferior to the Rad8500 (and even 8500LE) and then they introduce the minorly inferior Rad9600PRO (vs 9500PRO) and Rad9800SE (128bitDDR slower than 9600PRO and 256bit slower than 9500PRO). As for nVidia, well GF4MX were pretty pathetic but then the GF4 line could be summarised as enhanced GF2 (GF4MX) and GF3 (GF4TI) with those enhancements being speed, '2D' image quality, standardised TVout, dual display, hw DVD playback (GF4MX) and slight improvements in AA+AF. So I can understand that naming scheme. The GF-FX5200 gets a bad rep, but it is easily better than the GF4MX, GF3 and Rad9200 so it certainly does it's job and for a cheap price to boot. I suppose marketing and model numbering is more important than ever ... at the end of the day that's deemed better for novice users and the techie's will buy what's best so I guess that's the bottom line.

[Axion]

luckily i havent had much to do with radeon yet.... just bought my first (9700np)

so im not angry with them... yet

the thing is they released the GF4MX @ around £120... the GF3Ti cost not much more than that at the time... and the GF2Ti was cheaper.... yet arguably better

so why?

yes ive noticed ATI are a bit mad with naming products... i too was a bit annoyed when the stopped 9500/9700 production as the 9600 isnt that great and the 9800 costs that bit too much!

the 9800se is a joke...

[catattack]

Sorry this is so confusing on ya guys lol, but how much of a difference would there be if I was to completely buy parts seperetly then doing Titanium-xp? I though that $1800-$1900 was a pretty cheap fair for the stuff that I had selected.

[Axion]

Originally posted by catattack
Sorry this is so confusing on ya guys lol, but how much of a difference would there be if I was to completely buy parts seperetly then doing Titanium-xp? I though that $1800-$1900 was a pretty cheap fair for the stuff that I had selected.

no it isnt

get yourself to googlegear.com and newegg.com

then "build" from parts there and see what it comes too