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Posted this in the gaming forum and then realised this place existed, so ummm here's the same post again.
Looking into getting a PC and to be honest I know jack all about computers these days. So I'd be greatful of any advice you can give me on specs to be looking for. I want a good PC that won't need to be upgraded for a while, doesn't have to be top of the range though.
Oh and also where's a good place to look for one? I'm the sort of idiot who buys the first one he sets eyes on when he walks into PC world so I really could do with some advice.
Oh and please don't tell me I'd be best off making it myself. I know it'd probably work out a lot cheaper but I have neither the time or the L337 skills for something like that.
Cheers for the help...if you helped.
Looking into getting a PC and to be honest I know jack all about computers these days. So I'd be greatful of any advice you can give me on specs to be looking for. I want a good PC that won't need to be upgraded for a while, doesn't have to be top of the range though.
Oh and also where's a good place to look for one? I'm the sort of idiot who buys the first one he sets eyes on when he walks into PC world so I really could do with some advice.
Oh and please don't tell me I'd be best off making it myself. I know it'd probably work out a lot cheaper but I have neither the time or the L337 skills for something like that.
Cheers for the help...if you helped.
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If you wouldn't feel comfortable with or wouldn't know how to replace something like a DVD drive, sound card or memory stick then definetly definetly definetly do not consider building your own PC. What most of the guys on this thread are forgetting is that during builds things often go wrong, and if you don't have the expertise required to diagnose the problem then at best it's going to cause a lot of frustration, at worst it'll be an expensive disaster. My advice to you would be to go pick up one of those massively-fat PC magazines from your local newsagent - these are crammed with adverts for practically every known computer brand, and flicking through these will give you a good idea of what you might want and what you don't. Also the magazines often do roundups of current computers which are interesting reads if you're in the market.
True, I think the bootbale XP CD's actually take you through the fdisk commands before formatting.
Piece of pish.
Piece of pish.
If you're using XP, I don't think there are any DOS commands. Simply put in the disk and turn on the PC (assuming BIOS is set to boot from CD Drive). Windows tutorial will guide you through partitioning etc.
Yeah I have Tthe Sapphire X800 XT PE, excellent card so I am sure the Pro will be decent. Go to google and put in X800 Pro benchtes**ts. It will basically show you what frame rate you will get with different processors etc at different settings. If you are going to scrap console gaming altogether then it is worth going all out on a PC that will run s**tuff at decent settings.
Seriously, you could build it yourself. There is nothing to it. The only tricky part is making sure you don't have deathmonkey hands when applying some thermal pas**te to your CPU. The res**t is like someone has already pointed out, like expensive lego.
Brand names are jus**t sh*t to be hones**t. If you wander into PC World and have a look at their bench mark £1500 PC's, they have £40-50 graphics cards in them with really crap generic RAM, a crap case, no possibility of future upgrades due to no expansion slots etc. Not only is it cheaper but you can cus**tomise it completely and get better s**tuff for your dosh. Tis a bit of a myth why more people don't do it as it really isn't that difficult. Ins**talling Windows is pish and only involves a couple of DOS commands and a couple of mouse clicks and the res**t is done automatically.
Providing you don't play Star Wars music whils**t trying to fit your daddy long schlong into the CD drive I am sure you will s**tay perfectly normal, completely un-geekified ;)
Seriously, you could build it yourself. There is nothing to it. The only tricky part is making sure you don't have deathmonkey hands when applying some thermal pas**te to your CPU. The res**t is like someone has already pointed out, like expensive lego.
Brand names are jus**t sh*t to be hones**t. If you wander into PC World and have a look at their bench mark £1500 PC's, they have £40-50 graphics cards in them with really crap generic RAM, a crap case, no possibility of future upgrades due to no expansion slots etc. Not only is it cheaper but you can cus**tomise it completely and get better s**tuff for your dosh. Tis a bit of a myth why more people don't do it as it really isn't that difficult. Ins**talling Windows is pish and only involves a couple of DOS commands and a couple of mouse clicks and the res**t is done automatically.
Providing you don't play Star Wars music whils**t trying to fit your daddy long schlong into the CD drive I am sure you will s**tay perfectly normal, completely un-geekified ;)
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> Out of intrest what do you guys think of the Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro
> 256 mb graphics card?
I want it, that's for sure :D
If you can get the VIVO version, it's possible to get it to perform close to an X800 XT.
> Out of intrest what do you guys think of the Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro
> 256 mb graphics card?
I want it, that's for sure :D
If you can get the VIVO version, it's possible to get it to perform close to an X800 XT.
Cheers for the posts, definetly muchos helpful to me. I'm slowly getting the hang of all the different specs and what to look for but it'll take a while.
Still, I'm not gonna rush into buying the 'puter. I'll wait till after E3 just to make sure Microsoft aren't gonna do anything amazing with Xbox 2, by then I should have tired of Chaos Theory so I'll sell my Xbox to help with the costs.
Out of intrest what do you guys think of the Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro 256 mb graphics card?
Still, I'm not gonna rush into buying the 'puter. I'll wait till after E3 just to make sure Microsoft aren't gonna do anything amazing with Xbox 2, by then I should have tired of Chaos Theory so I'll sell my Xbox to help with the costs.
Out of intrest what do you guys think of the Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro 256 mb graphics card?
Bear in mind what Alastair just said - that is some good info. EDIT - although I will slip in a suggestion for a Logitech MX1000 mouse - unbeatable in my opinion.
£1000? Do you know anyone who is good at PC-building? Ask them to build you a machine and save some cash. A few of us here could do it, but you'd really need someone local, for support etc.
Custom-built PCs > all this Dell/Mesh crap.
£1000? Do you know anyone who is good at PC-building? Ask them to build you a machine and save some cash. A few of us here could do it, but you'd really need someone local, for support etc.
Custom-built PCs > all this Dell/Mesh crap.
If you definitely aren't going to build one then...
Make sure you avoid PC World, Dixon's, Currys, Comet etc. If you can find a small business who will also be able to help you on site without going for a tumble with the manager in the back office then that would be your best bet.
CPU wise, go AMD, preferably Athlon 64, I wouldn't go nay less than an AMD 64 3000, also worth noting is that AMD processors don't run at their said speed. Where as a Pentium 3.0GHZ will run at 3000mhz, an AMD 3000 will run at around 2200mhz, this is normal. Performance wise the AMD in this case will out perform the Pentium providing it is an Athlon 64. I would avoid Intel if I were you.
RAM - at least 1GB, you can never have enough RAM and for smooth gaming the more the better. If you want to be able to run games for a few years to come I would grab the 1GB now. Get the best you can afford. RAM timings, latency etc do matter but I don't suppose you give a rats aid infested peni about this so for now just grab the 1GB - dual channel has very little performance gain but if you are buying it will most likely be Dual Channel DDR400 which is all you need to know.
Sound card wise, onboard sound has a pretty big performance hit. Try to grab one with either an Audigy 2 or Audigy 2 ZS. The only difference between the two is the gold plated connectors on the back where you insert the speakers etc, gold plated = less signal loss which = better sound. Again, you won't notice anything different.
Monitor wise, look for a TFT with either 17ms or 16ms delay time, lower the better. As a benchmark look for one that can handle 1280 x 1024 at 75hz. If you ask/look for both the delay time and refresh rate at higher resolutions that’s all that really matters. No point in buying a fairly decent rig if your monitor can only display 60hz signals as you won't get the benefit of the better hardware.
Keyboard, grab a Zboard, both Bullet and myself have one and I think I can say on behalf of both, it is far better than a standard keyboard. It comes with a standard layout and gaming layout, the gaming one you will find is much less bearded to use, far more user friendly.
Mouse wise I recommend the Razer Viper. Means nothing to you but it is smoother to use than a standard optical mouse due to the higher DPI, again you don't need to know/care but it is a decent mouse.
Graphics card wise. Personally, ATI due to the better picture quality over Nvidia cards in general. Some will say go for Nvidia. Either way, make sure if you go ATI get on of the X800 cards, if you go for Nvidia one of the 6800 cards and also make sure it has 256mb rather than 128mb, again purely for smoother gaming. Nvidia cards are more widely available, either way make sure you get one of their latest range cards.
The rest doesn't matter if you are buying as the motherboard, PSU, hard drive etc will be standard and will be compatible with your chosen hardware. One thing you may want to make sure if that the board has 4 RAM slots in case you want to upgrade in the future.
Make sure you avoid PC World, Dixon's, Currys, Comet etc. If you can find a small business who will also be able to help you on site without going for a tumble with the manager in the back office then that would be your best bet.
CPU wise, go AMD, preferably Athlon 64, I wouldn't go nay less than an AMD 64 3000, also worth noting is that AMD processors don't run at their said speed. Where as a Pentium 3.0GHZ will run at 3000mhz, an AMD 3000 will run at around 2200mhz, this is normal. Performance wise the AMD in this case will out perform the Pentium providing it is an Athlon 64. I would avoid Intel if I were you.
RAM - at least 1GB, you can never have enough RAM and for smooth gaming the more the better. If you want to be able to run games for a few years to come I would grab the 1GB now. Get the best you can afford. RAM timings, latency etc do matter but I don't suppose you give a rats aid infested peni about this so for now just grab the 1GB - dual channel has very little performance gain but if you are buying it will most likely be Dual Channel DDR400 which is all you need to know.
Sound card wise, onboard sound has a pretty big performance hit. Try to grab one with either an Audigy 2 or Audigy 2 ZS. The only difference between the two is the gold plated connectors on the back where you insert the speakers etc, gold plated = less signal loss which = better sound. Again, you won't notice anything different.
Monitor wise, look for a TFT with either 17ms or 16ms delay time, lower the better. As a benchmark look for one that can handle 1280 x 1024 at 75hz. If you ask/look for both the delay time and refresh rate at higher resolutions that’s all that really matters. No point in buying a fairly decent rig if your monitor can only display 60hz signals as you won't get the benefit of the better hardware.
Keyboard, grab a Zboard, both Bullet and myself have one and I think I can say on behalf of both, it is far better than a standard keyboard. It comes with a standard layout and gaming layout, the gaming one you will find is much less bearded to use, far more user friendly.
Mouse wise I recommend the Razer Viper. Means nothing to you but it is smoother to use than a standard optical mouse due to the higher DPI, again you don't need to know/care but it is a decent mouse.
Graphics card wise. Personally, ATI due to the better picture quality over Nvidia cards in general. Some will say go for Nvidia. Either way, make sure if you go ATI get on of the X800 cards, if you go for Nvidia one of the 6800 cards and also make sure it has 256mb rather than 128mb, again purely for smoother gaming. Nvidia cards are more widely available, either way make sure you get one of their latest range cards.
The rest doesn't matter if you are buying as the motherboard, PSU, hard drive etc will be standard and will be compatible with your chosen hardware. One thing you may want to make sure if that the board has 4 RAM slots in case you want to upgrade in the future.
Get a secondhand beast and save some money. :)
Tilta I paid £600 for mine and it's pretty much top of the range except for RAM. (Someone no doubt has a better one, pfft.) So with £1000 you can get a beast.
EDIT: And mine is one of the latest Dell deals/products and it's perfect(?)
EDIT: And mine is one of the latest Dell deals/products and it's perfect(?)
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