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"Buying A New Computer Is A Little Harder Than Expected..."

Recently inspired by how easy and cheap it is to shop online from the States and an article in a PC mag, I've decided that it's too tempting just to get a new PC, with XP for my iTunes and A faster processor for my games. However, many queries arose after just a few minutes of investigation.

1) Win XP Pro

against

Win XP Home

What's the difference? I only skimmed over the specs of a couple of comps, but XP Pro seems to merit another 20 or so dollars. What makes it more pricey and would XP Home be perfectly good for my needs (see top of page)?

2) There's a manufacturer called Acer. Never heard of them myself, but do you guys know anything useful; reliability, etc. My current comp is an Evesham, although I would have prefered a Dell, and found out a treasure chest of problems. Like ME's inefficiency with system resources and how Eveshams over heat...

3) Anyone know the HMCE site better than me and can direct me to the import tax for computers or electricals in general.

Any help would be great!

:)

Clazon wrote:
> 8MB cache? Why!?

Bascially more cache = faster disk reads/writes (I think)

> What about all the internal extras, like wires, cooling fans, etc.?

Wires? :p

I'd suspect you'd get a CPU fan with the processor in that deal, the retail processors come with a stock cooler

Notorious Biggles wrote:

> AMD Athlon 64 3200 Newcastle 130nm (Socket 754) - Retail
> £114.95

Interesting to see you opted for the Athlon 64. Any particular reason why?

> GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5
> £89.95

I wouldn't need this much, more like 512mb would do I guess.

> AOpen GeForce 6800 LE 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) & DOOM 3 Bundle
> £134.95

Only need a 64mb graphics card really.

> Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6B160MO SATA 8MB Cache
> £49.95

8MB cache? Why!?


> Subtotal = £508.50
> VAT = £88.99
>
> Total = £597.49

What about all the internal extras, like wires, cooling fans, etc.?

>
> I admit this is far from complete. It lacks a monitor and keyboard
> and Windows.

Yeah, I'll keep my keyboard, monitor, etc.

> Ought to give you an idea though of what you could get for your
> money.

It did. Thanks. Helpful as always.
:)

Thanks, Mav.

Mav wrote:
> If you want a 3GHz system and a decent graphics card, expect to shell
> out around £1000.

3Gig- yes, graphics- no.

I'm not a big PC gamer, so a major graphics card isn't needed, but I do want to play DVDs (I think that means I just need a video card).

Using Overclockers UK I knocked up this:

Asus K8N (Socket 754) Motherboard £42.75
AMD Athlon 64 3200 Newcastle 130nm (Socket 754) - Retail £114.95
GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 £89.95
AOpen GeForce 6800 LE 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) & DOOM 3 Bundle £134.95
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6B160MO SATA 8MB Cache £49.95
Antec SLK1650B Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU £39.95
LiteOn SOHW-1653S Dual Layer 16x DVD±RW ReWriter - Retail £36.00

Subtotal = £508.50
VAT = £88.99

Total = £597.49

I admit this is far from complete. It lacks a monitor and keyboard and Windows. But see, I don't know if you planned to keep any bits or what you already had. I don't know if you plan to play games on it or what. What I do know is that covers most of the bases with a fair bit of power for not that much money. It can be trimmed down if need be - a slightly cheaper processor, getting the 3000+ and saving ten quid, or only 512 MB of RAM, or taking out the GeForce 6800 LE in favour of a 6600 etc.

Ought to give you an idea though of what you could get for your money.

Im going to try and get a job at Evesham.
Every time I phone I get the 'Please leave your phone number and Contact Details'

Eurgh.

Tyla wrote:
> DELL are cheap beacuse of the uge numbers of low specced, under
> powered machines they sell to businesses, as well as lower over
> heads. But DELL's have no room for expansion or upgrading as they're
> built to DELL's blueprints lust like Apple build Macs.

One thing I have learnt with Dell is that they offer cheap PCs but if you want to change the specs you pay alot. I work for Evesham computers and have done comparisons with Dell to basically have ammo for customers who come into us and say "Dell is cheaper" etc. Well in the 3 machines I have configured from our website and Dells I see that similar specs on Dell when you configure them are £100's more. In one case I did a top spec PC and ours came out at £3,000 and a similar Dell was £3,500, so cheap I do not think so. Same with the other 2 PCs I did, all were more expensive by a couple of £100.

Mav wrote:
> add to the price, such
> as the operating system and office app

Unless he goes open-source and uses Free BSD or Linux, which is free.

*runs*

Clazon, the best thing to do when building a computer is just take it slowly. It took me about 10 minutes to get my heatsink on because the clips are so tight, you worry about putting too much pressure on.

But once it's all done, it's a rewarding experience.

Clazon wrote:
> Nah. I fancy a 3.2 Pent 4.

If you really want to stick to your budget of £650, you should probably forget that.

What will you be using this machine for?

Clazon wrote:
> Also, anyone who has built a computer:
>
> -how long did it take?

If everything goes swimmingly, a few hours. If you run into a problem (not uncommon), you're looking at longer depending on how simple a problem it is, and how much perseverance you have.

> -how much did it cost?

How long is a piece of string? Custom builds can cost anything within a huge range of prices. What you've got to remember is that there are aspects beside the components that will add to the price, such as the operating system and office app. If you want a 3GHz system and a decent graphics card, expect to shell out around £1000.

> -what problems did you experience?

A few:

The graphics card was, first of all, broken (and was replaced with a new one), and then proved to be incompatible with the motherboard. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to get a new board. There's no real way to avoid this - in theory, the Abit IC7 that I originally bought should have supported my card, but it just wasn't having it. My advice would be to get a board from a respected manufacturer - you generally can't go wrong with someone like ASUS.

The heatsink wouldn't fit into the motherboard. To solve this, I needed to remove the retention bracket. Tricky and annoying, but that was the way to do it. If you want to bypass this hassle, check around to see if the installation procedures are mentioned. When I bought my ThermalRight XP90, they weren't, so I couldn't have known, but I think it's now noted that the new XP120 should fit in without any trouble.

I bought 2-pin case fans for a 3-pin motherboard. Annoying, but simply solved by clipping some of the surrounding plastic away from the fan connectors and bending a third pin away on the motherboard. 3-pin is today's standard, so to save yourself this hassle, make sure this is the type of fan you choose.

The hard drive, floppy drive and CD-ROM drive weren't fixed to the case properly. This was simply a matter of lack of experience and lack of knowledge of the case itself - only when I was lucky enough to talk to someone who'd had lots of experience with different cases was this sorted out. Cases don't often come with comprehensive instructions, so I suggest you buy a fairly common one (the Chieftec Dragon is excellent) so if you do run into trouble, there's likely to be someone who could help you out.

The hard drives were amazingly cheap!

Nowhere near what they're seemingly worth in a package. I also assumed that a motherboard would cost alot more. Same with the CD drives.