Buying a new computer

[Dowly]

I finally got some extra money (not much, but some) and I´m seeking for a new PC.

I have my eyes on one, that looks good for me. But I need your help, as I know almost nothing about computers and the components it has.

This is the one I was looking:

Shuttle SN25
nVIDIA nForce4 chipset
PCI-E
Firewire
Processor
AMD Athlon 64-bit 3500+ Boxed
RAM
1024MB (1GB) DDR 400MHz PC-3200
Hard disk
Western Digital Caviar SE 200GB SATA II 8.9ms 7200rpm
CD/DVD
LG GSA-4167RB 16X DVD+/-R/RW/Double Layer
Graphics
Connect3D Radeon X800GTO 256MB/DVI/ViVo PCI-e
Sound
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX USB

Total price: 1295.80€

Is it worth it? I´m not seeking a 100000 fps on games. 30-50fps is fine for me. :up:

[bradclark1]

I marked buy it. It's a decent system.

[Gizzmoe]

It´s highly overpriced (at least compared to German prices) and some of the components suck.

The external Audigy 2 NX USB is not only more expensive than an internal Audigy 2 card, it´s also much slower, means you´ll see less FPS in games. Look here for a review of that USB sound card:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2003/11/14/usb_2/page15.html

The X800GTO is an outdated card, it only has 12 pixel pipelines, but it can be overclocked very well.

If you don´t actually need a Shuttle case (that barebone Shuttle alone costs about 400€) you could get a much more powerful PC for the same price, one with 2GB RAM and a faster sound and video card.

[Konovalov]

I agree with Gizzmoe. That system does seem priced on the high side. For that sort of price I would have expected an Athlon X2 3800+ processor and better graphics card at least!

[Dowly]

In Finland the prices are abit high. But what I need to know is, how good this will run the games. Cant be worse than what I got now. 10fps in SHIII. :)

I dont have to take the sound blaster. I can take the integraded too.

[The Noob]

In Finland the prices are abit high. But what I need to know is, how good this will run the games. Cant be worse than what I got now. 10fps in SHIII. :)


I'm feeling with ya!

My system:
1,8ghz
512mb ram
NVIDIA GeForce FX5200

My PC Really suck! :down: :damn:

[Konovalov]

In Finland the prices are abit high. But what I need to know is, how good this will run the games. Cant be worse than what I got now. 10fps in SHIII. :)

I dont have to take the sound blaster. I can take the integraded too.

This would run SHIII perfectly fine. But on the very latest games it may be a problem depending on the actual game or game genere in question.

[Gizzmoe]

Dowly, do you really, really want a Shuttle PC? Like I said, the case plus mainboard and PSU alone cost about 400€. A standard case+board+PSU would only cost about 150€, you could then invest the 250€ into a faster video card and more RAM!

[Dowly]

Well, I dont play many games. The game has to be really good for me to buy it.

The games I´ve found worth to buy:
SHIII
Freelancer
Obvilion (Any thoughts how it will run on that PC??)
Close Combat series

@Gizzmoe: I can take up to 1,5Gb of RAM off my current PC

[Gizzmoe]

Obvilion (Any thoughts how it will run on that PC??)

Not very good. Oblivion is a resource-hog and likes to have a powerful video card.

@Gizzmoe: I can take up to 1,5Gb of RAM off my current PC

What kind of RAM is it? DDR333? DDR400?

[tycho102]

The boxed AMD coolers are loud and aluminium. You are far better off getting an OEM and using one of the larger copper heatsinks. The Hyper48 (http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1921) is nearly silent, and cools well enough for a highly stable small overclock. For SH3, you want as much processing power as you can stuff in there, without question.

Think about getting PC3500 or PC3700. The chips these days are higher quality since the PC3200 plant lines (in Taiwan) have been stripped down to the most basic OEM specs. The failure rates are higher for PC3200 chips.

I'm partial to Seagate drives, and Raptors. Both come with a 5-year waranty.

Consider a BenQ 1655 burner. It's a lightscribe burner, and the burn quality is excellent.

I hate Creative Labs. I'd tell you to go with a Turtle Beach sound card (Catalina).

[Dowly]

The RAM is DDR400

The thing is, like I said above. I know nothing about the components, that´s why I cant assemble my own PC.

You guys can give me suggestions on PC´s worth up to 1200€, no more than that.

[Dowly]

What would be a good motherboard for a 64-bit Athlon socket 939 processor?

What RAM should I buy? DDR, DDR EEC or DDR2???
:huh:

This is hard! I would get a PC much cheaper, if I´d just knew more about PC´s. :damn:

Also I dont have a clue on which hard disk should I buy.

[Gizzmoe]

I´m just writing components list, should be ready in 10 minutes.

[Dowly]

Hey, thanks! I´ll take a look at it when I get back home. :up:

This is the reason, I love SubSim. :)

Edit: Let´s just hope that I can find the parts from Finland, as I dont have an credit card so cant order from other countries.

[Gizzmoe]

My recommendations...

Board (58€): Asrock 939DUAL-SATA2, Uli1695 Chipset
Inexpensive and very good.

CPU (130€): Athlon 64 3500+ Venice, Socket 939

CPU Cooler: No special brand, just look for one that costs 20-25€.

Computer case (about 35€): Basically any ATX case will do.

Power supply (about 65€): Look for a 450W PSU with at least 30 Ampere on the +12V line. Antec, Enermax and Thermaltake are good brands

Harddisk (83€): Seagate Barracuda 7200.9, 250GB, 8MB Cache, 7200rpm, SATA-II NCQ

Sound (55€): Soundblaster Audigy 4

Video card (460€): ATI Radeon X1900XT, 512MB, PCI-Express.

That system would cost about 910€ at my favorite computer dealer.

[Konovalov]

What Gizzmoe has written is an excellent mi-range PC on that sort of budget. He is also right in that a shuttle case is a waste of money. Any standard PC case is a better cost alterative.

[Gizzmoe]

By the way, if you don´t want to use your old RAM look for some Kingston PC3200/DDR400 CL2 RAM, you need 2x512MB to run your system in Dual Channel mode. 1GB costs about 110€.

Edit: Forgot the DVD writer. It costs about 45€, the brand doesn´t really matter...

Total system price including RAM and DVD writer: about 1050€.

[STEED]

At the end of the day it's your money Dowly. :yep:

[Dowly]

At the end of the day it's your money Dowly. :yep:

Yea, I know. I just need some help to choose the one for me. :)

[elite_hunter_sh3]

or u can save up 2000 $ and get my system

amd opteron 165 1.8ghz ( mines is 2.6ghz OC)
Asus A8R32-MVP mobo s939
Arctic cooling freezer 64 pro ( 6 heatpipes)
OCZ platinum editon 2gb dual channel 2-3-2-5
2 wd raptor 150gb raid 0
2 300 gb maxtor 7200 rpm (storage)
and last but definetly not least
ATI radeon x1900xtx crossfire
ATI radeon x1900xtx ( secondary card)

:rock: :rock:
pure ownage in sh3

[sonar732]

Something else to think of is this...

Are you buying the computer already assembled since you didn't give your experience in building your own? :hmm:

[Dowly]

My local store can build the PC, aswell as order the parts, if I just say what I want.

[kiwi_2005]

Not bad with the money your got to spend, i would miss out on the sound card just stick with the intergrated one and spend the extra money on another gig of ram. (2 gigs)

Can you build yourself, buy the parts and put together on a rainy day

[Dowly]

Can you build yourself, buy the parts and put together on a rainy day

Nope :nope:

Edit:

Oh and this thread can be closed/deleted/forget, as I already know what kind on PC I´l order.

Thanks Gizzmoe, it´s almost same, but with GeForce7900GTX. :up:

[Gizzmoe]

Thanks Gizzmoe, it´s almost same, but with GeForce7900GTX. :up:

You´re welcome! Good choice, it´s also a very good card. Your new system will make you very happy! :up:

[Dowly]

Yep, but costly too.... let´s just say that it doesn´t fit my 1200€ budget.

I´ll most likely buy the PC without graphics card first and use my x600. Then when I got the money, I´ll buy the GF7900.

[Gizzmoe]

Yep, but costly too.... let´s just say that it doesn´t fit my 1200€ budget.

How much does it cost?

Getting a system without a new video card defeats the purpose somehow... Or is the hardware like 30% more expensive in Finland than in Germany?

[Dowly]

First of all, there some changes to your list that up the price.. oh what the heck! It´s my money!

The total cost is 1400€ minus the Graphics card and the Sound Blaster audigy 4 7.1 ~900€ :roll:

[Gizzmoe]

1400€ without the video and sound card? What have you added? :)

[Dowly]

1400€ without the video and sound card? What have you added? :)

Hehe, no! ~900€ without the graphics and sound card. The motherboard had to be changed to ASUS A8N-SLI SE 939. They didnt have the Asrock.

[Gizzmoe]

Is your X600 a PCI-Express card? The A8N doesn´t have an AGP slot.

[Dowly]

Is your X600 a PCI-Express card? The A8N doesn´t have an AGP slot.

Sure it is. :)

[JScones]

FWIW I've got:

-Gigabyte GA-K8NPRO-SLI (nVIDIA nForce4 chipset)
-AMD Athlon 64-bit 3500+ Venice, Socket 939
-1024MB (1GB) DDR 400MHz
-Western Digital Caviar SE 200GB SATA II 8.9ms 7200rpm
-Pioneer 16x DVR-110BK
-nVIDIA 6600GT 128MB TDH PCIX
-Creative Sound Blaster Audigy
-450W standard miditower with USB ports everywhere!!

Cost me AUD$1200 (roughly 700€) back just before last Christmas.

Nice compromise I think. And really, apart from a few things, not *too* dissimilar to the one you listed, but near half the price!

[The Avon Lady]

While my once-in-3-years purchase of a new high performance notebook is coming up, I'm holding off until Windows Vista comes out. I expect there to be a slew of new systems to chose from once Vista is released.

[kiwi_2005]

I wouldn't buy vista until at least a yr after it comes out, this is so microsoft smooth out all the bugs. My point of view Vista will be simular to a beta until the patches are released.

[JScones]

I wouldn't buy vista until at least a yr after it comes out, this is so microsoft smooth out all the bugs. My point of view Vista will be simular to a beta until the patches are released.
I tend to agree. I won't be in any hurry to get it. For some reason I don't feel confident that the first release will be as stable as it could be (from what I've read and seen so far). But there's still at least six months for Microsoft to "polish" it up...

BTW, official site if anyone wants to suss out more about Vista... http://www.microsoft.com/Windowsvista/

[Dowly]

FWIW I've got:

-Gigabyte GA-K8NPRO-SLI (nVIDIA nForce4 chipset)
-AMD Athlon 64-bit 3500+ Venice, Socket 939
-1024MB (1GB) DDR 400MHz
-Western Digital Caviar SE 200GB SATA II 8.9ms 7200rpm
-Pioneer 16x DVR-110BK
-nVIDIA 6600GT 128MB TDH PCIX
-Creative Sound Blaster Audigy
-450W standard miditower with USB ports everywhere!!

Cost me AUD$1200 (roughly 700€) back just before last Christmas.

Nice compromise I think. And really, apart from a few things, not *too* dissimilar to the one you listed, but near half the price!

Seems like our PC´s are mostly the same. :)

[Linton]

What would you recommend if you were buying a laptop to game on?I spend a lot of time travelling and it is a great time to do some gaming.I would not recommend Evesham as my old laptop has been back to them about ten times now.

[The Avon Lady]

What would you recommend if you were buying a laptop to game on?
Dell XPS.

[kiwi_2005]

What would you recommend if you were buying a laptop to game on?I spend a lot of time travelling and it is a great time to do some gaming.I would not recommend Evesham as my old laptop has been back to them about ten times now.

Yes never owned a Dell but have heard there laps are great compared to there desktops. If i was going to buy a lap i would look for Alienware Gaming laptops although they aren't cheap. Alienware Laps & desktops also look very cool.

Alienware
http://news.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39029680,49267533,00.htm

http://www.techweb.com/wire/mobile/187201463;jsessionid=DK4GTCU3BEIYYQSNDBGCKH0CJUMEK JVN

[Type941]

I actually own a Shuttle XPC (SN41G2) but I would advise you to get it only if you don't care about the fact that the machine will be noisy and might have cooling issues. The shuttle is sexy but small hence cooling is a problem. But it looks great, I love mine in black aluminum.

[Dowly]

I actually own a Shuttle XPC (SN41G2) but I would advise you to get it only if you don't care about the fact that the machine will be noisy and might have cooling issues. The shuttle is sexy but small hence cooling is a problem. But it looks great, I love mine in black aluminum.

I´m getting the black nexus breeze case with 500W nexus real silent power source.

[Linton]

Kiwi 2005,that sure looks like a fantastic laptop,the only thing I didnt like was the price!For that amount of money its got to have wheels so I can drive it to work as well!My kids have got a Dell.It was good value,a reasonable spec and pretty robust.My father in law bought a 6400 laptop from Dell.It is a nice machine and only £600.

[kiwi_2005]

For that amount of money its got to have wheels so I can drive it to work as well!

:rotfl: :rotfl:

I wonder what PC's will be like 10yrs from now, 1996 we were all out there spending $4 grand on a Pentium 100 with 8mb ram and 2gig hdd running windows95 with those genisis sound cards playing quake1 or AOTD.

2016 Windows Vista version 3 Virtual reality OS Professional. Running on a 30ghz cpu, 20gigs of ram, 2000gig HDD Windows will take up 100gigs of data to install, a 100" wall monitor , mouse and kb will be a thing of the past, now its all about head gear and eye movement to move the cursor, and games Silent hunter 8 will be virtual reality :D Man that would be cool imagine the depth charge attacks in virtual reality.... Ok im dreaming as you were. :P

[Dowly]

OK, I ordered it today. Gizz, you do know that I´m coming after you if the PC is a crappy?? :-j

[The Avon Lady]

Yes never owned a Dell but have heard there laps are great compared to there desktops. If i was going to buy a lap i would look for Alienware Gaming laptops although they aren't cheap. Alienware Laps & desktops also look very cool.
FYI (http://news.com.com/Dell+to+acquire+Alienware/2100-1003_3-6052842.html).

Also FYI, I never bought an Alienware machine because I heard that their support was awful. Dell's XPS support (USA) has been decent, though not perfect.

[kiwi_2005]

I think it would be a good combination if Dell went Alienware but i see what you mean, Dell would have to upp there prices as well. Did you know you can get alienware to custom paint your lap top will cost more but you could have your favourite Uboat picture imprinted on it :yep: :D

[kiwi_2005]

Sorry for hijacking ya thread Dowly! Good luck with ya new PC :yep:

[Dowly]

Sorry for hijacking ya thread Dowly! Good luck with ya new PC :yep:

Hehe, no problem! My question is already answered. :up: