Viewing Thread:
"PC buying advice....."

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.

An X850XT will last him way more than a year, especially if Tilta nabs a decent processor, some decent RAM with room for further expansion.

I know with my righ everything runs flawlessly with everything on full settings and stupidly high frame rates and I can't see anything over the next 18-24 months that is going to stop it from continuing that way, possibly further.

Excellent choice of card. Is it the official ATI X850 or is it by Sapphire etc?

Tiltawhirl wrote:
> I've decided to go for a 256 Raddeon X850XT instead.
>
> It's damn expensive but it should last me....hopefully.

For a year :P
Really with a PCI-X slot you should be fine for the next year along with that card actually. I'll be waiting till September at least till I get a new computer as I'll probably be able to get something slightly more powerful than now for cheaper then.

I've decided to go for a 256 Raddeon X850XT instead.

It's damn expensive but it should last me....hopefully.

9600XT for six months so far, not run into any troubles in running games on high (not highest obviously, 1280x1024 with 2xAA and 2xAF).

Current spec:

P4 3.2
1.25 GB RAM (3200 - just bought 2x 512 in dual, then stuck in the only other PC3200 stick I had... 256 + 1024... A lot of power :D.)
9600XT

Other stuff.

SHEEPY wrote:
> I would suggest the x800 if you wanted to future proof but it's not
> really that important.
>
> Things change so much anyway, 3 months time all the computer people
> will be saying their previous suggestion is now crap.

And then 6 months on another card will come out...

I pressed twice

Also, for WoW that card should be fine.
If you remember Goatboy's screenshots were with the 9800Pro which as Biggles said is GeForce's comparison.

I'm surprised I know stuff

I would suggest the x800 if you wanted to future proof but it's not really that important.

Things change so much anyway, 3 months time all the computer people will be saying their previous suggestion is now crap.

Coin wrote:
> Also - what's the point in blowing £300 on a graphics card?
> £300 buys you 10 games. And the whole point of upping your PC
> is to play games. So play more, and worry less.

So you can play games in all there glory.

On the graphics card side of things then the 6600 GT is a good card, at work we are demoing a 3.2Ghz P4, 512Mb RAM and the 6600 GT card and its playing Splinter Cell with nice graphics. If you have got a limit and your not a big gamer than that card will be fine. If you are building a machine for games than getting the top spec card is always worth it.

When I got my 9800 Pro it was £330, which is alot of money but it meant I could play games at top whack. If I had thought about spending just half that then a 9600 Pro would have got and by now I would have to upgrade to something like a 9800 Pro for £100 or so, so in fact I would have saved no money in getting a cheaper card and yet have not had the pleasure of running games on top graphical settings.

Pssh, generally it's fine.

However Realtek pish me off with their whole incopatibility issues with iTunes, which is why a cheap (<£20) card is a good bet for a music / multimedia machine.