Gaming PC for £1200

[JM226]

Hi All,

I've read a few of the threads on here and you seem like a knowledgeable bunch so appreciate any advice you can give me . I'm looking for a new PC system mostly for playing the latest games but also would like to have the capability to burn DVD's and CD's. I've searched around the net and for my budget of £1200 I've come up with the following 2 options..

1) Matrix 64 3500+ BPC
(Base Price: £ 1020.43 ex VAT)
Case: MESH ATX MidiTower with tool free access
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Motherboard Features: ASUS A8V Deluxe Athlon 64 Mainboard - 2000MHz SB, Dual LAN, IEEE 1394, SATA
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (939PIN)
Memory: 1024Mb PC3200 DDR Memory 400MHz
Floppy + Portable Storage Options: 1.44MB Floppy Drive
Hard Drives: 250GB Serial ATA (150Mb/s) Ultra Fast Hard Drive
Video Card: 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - TV Out + DVI
Monitor 1: 19'' TFT Flat Panel Monitor - DVI & Analogue (DVI cable sold separately)
Optical Drives: SONY 16x Dual Layer DVD-Re-Writable +R/-R/RW + 52x CD-RW (2 Drives)
Sound: New - Creative Soundblaster AUDIGY 2 ZS
Speakers: New Creative Labs Inspire T7900 - 7.1 Surround
Modem: 56kbps V92 Modem, featuring data and fax.
Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop Keyboard & Mouse
Video Editing: Pinnacle Studio 9 SE (OEM)
Software: Microsoft® Works® 8.0
Wi-Fi: ASUS 54MBps 802.11G Wi-Fi PCI Card
Warranty: 3 years On Site Warranty (Mainland UK only - Terms Apply)
Delivery: Insured Del within Mainland UK (+ £39) at £39
Price Excluding VAT: £ 1059.43

Price Including VAT + DEL: £ 1244.83

20 PC Option gaming package - price £1233

Athlon 64 AMD3400
GE -Force Asus V9999 FX6800 Gamers Edition 256MB Graphics Card (TV-Out, DVI, 350core/1000-256bit memory, DDR3 On Board)
460 Watt X Blade Case With At least 8 Usb Ports
1024 MB (1 GIG) DDR 400 FSB Memory (With a 10 year Guarantee)
Pioneer 16x Speed Dual Layer DVD & CD Writer Combo
200 GB Hard Drive With 8MB Cache (Fast)
Soundcard-5.1 Dolby Surround Included
56k V90 Modem
17" AOC Brand Flat Screen Monitor (3 Year Warranty)
10/100 Network Card
3.5 " Floppy Drive
Trust Cordless Optical Keyboard & Mouse Set
Sub & Sat & 5.1 Surround Speakers With Built In Amp
5 year warranty
XP Installed With Service Pack 2

Queries...

a) Any comments/advice on the 2 systems above -advantages/disadvantges over each other
b) Anybody heard of PC Option - appear to be a mail order company based in Nottingham but I've not seen any mention of them anywhere else in any review sites or magazines
c) Graphics card - Nvidia FX6800 or ATI Radeon 9800Pro? Is the FX6800 a "vanilla" version?
d) The Mesh system has 2 separate DVD drives - the Pc option only one - is it necesarry to have separate drives to copy CD's and DVD's?
e) Mesh - read some horror strories on the net but this particular system has been voted PC Advisor Best buy - is it simply bigger company, more customers, more likelihood of complaints or is it more than that?

Appreciate any guidance/advice/comments as I can't afford to make a mistake with the £1200 available - and despite plenty of advice available on the net I'm not confident enough to build my own system so it has to be a pre-assembled system for me

Thanks in advance

John

[kushtibari]

Theres one or two don't fancy mesh. I bought one of theirs three or four years ago and had no hassle. Most retailers get horror stories from time to time. If going for Mesh I'd go for this deal.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/dealoftheweek/

More or less the same for a lot less. All you need to do is decide on a monitor and speakers from elsewhere. You've got £500 to play with before you get up to the price of your system.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/dealoftheweek/

[Gunbuster]

Not being funny, but check out http://uk.aldi.com/ £699.99 :

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 550 with HT Technology 3.40 GHz. * DVB-T Digital TV & FM Radio Tuner card * Dual Layer Multi Format DVD/CD Writer * Bluetooth * Graphics card with new PCI-Express x16 bus architecture * 250 GB Hard disc * WLAN 54 MBit/s * 9 in 1 Memory Card Reader * 512 MB Memory * 6x USB 2.0 * 2x FireWire * 8-channel Intel® High Definition Audio * LAN Network Controller * 56K V.9x PCI Data/Fax modem * Reddot Design Award * Microsoft Works Suite 2005

The GFX is based on a Nvidia 6600 I believe. It would leave you £500 for a 19" TFT of your choice and some extra memory to buy.
Just a thought.

[JM226]

Not being funny, but check out http://uk.aldi.com/ £699.99 :

The GFX is based on a Nvidia 6600 I believe. It would leave you £500 for a 19" TFT of your choice and some extra memory to buy.
Just a thought.

Thanks for both replies - does the Medion system sold by Aldi have a decent reputation - certainly seems good value for money

Cheers

John

[monkeyville]

I have 4 mates who bought the system they had on offer a while ago and they are an excellent machine. Never broke once or had anything go wrong and they've been trashed and dragged round quite a few lans.

[Gunbuster]

Next door allways used to buy Compaq's (eww) I was for ever fixing them, after a year of Medion I've hardly heard a peep out of them.

[JM226]

Next door allways used to buy Compaq's (eww) I was for ever fixing them, after a year of Medion I've hardly heard a peep out of them.

Thanks again - I assume its a simple task to upgrade the memory from 512 to 1GB in the Medion?

Appreciate all the advice given

Cheers

John

[Gunbuster]

Never had to open it, but by the case design it should be easy. Main thing is to identify the type of ram.
Medion is a big german firm, they produce some laptops for Dixons group as well.
The own brand GFX cards are made by MSI to Medion's specs.
I have the full brochure at home.

The main thing is to get in Aldi the minute it opens, other wise they will all be gone.

[kushtibari]

You need to be waiting outside a long time before they open, if the Aldi near me is anything to go by.

[JM226]

You need to be waiting outside a long time before they open, if the Aldi near me is anything to go by.

Do people really queue for these systems - it would never have occurred to me that Aldi even sold any electronic equpiment, let alone high spec PC's. Hmm, well I'm off work on Friday so might try to get one but not queueing at 6am.

What do you think of the PC Option system I listed in my original mail. It did appear to have everything I was looking for but they claim on their website that the system will not need to be updated for at least 10 years - seems a spurious and somewhat exagerrated claim to make the way technology is advancing

Cheers

John

[Gunbuster]

Did you get one in the end?

[JM226]

Did you get one in the end?

I did Gunbuster - thanks for the advice - bought it Thursday morning but been away with work so haven't set it up yet. Hoping to do it today. There were about 20 people in the queue when I got there but enough in stock to go around - amazing, would never have thought of Aldi so thanks again

Will report back further once 've got it set up

Cheers

John

[Gunbuster]

Cool, They are usually well made, but if you need support from medion their site is here: http://www.medion.co.uk/
They seem to be slowly expanding into the UK.