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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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How good is onboard sound nowadays? Not much difference in peformance or quality unless you by a Audigy 2 ZS etc?
Malaktix wrote:
> Notorious Biggles wrote:
> There is no need for a seperate sound card. They are better yes, but
> the performance boost isn't worth the money.
>
> But the improved sound quality and EAX surround sound environments in
> games are very much worth the money.
>
> I got an Audigy 2zs new for £59 *cough*dabs.com*choke*
>
> Sound is often overlooked by some gamers, which is a shame because
> people are missing out on some real neat features in games.
> You'll need a good surround sound speaker setup to get the most out
> of a sound card, but you can pick up quality 7.1 setups for fairly
> cheap these days.
>
> Plus you have the advantage of using sound to play the game, such as
> knowing which direction the enemy is because you can hear them coming
> from that direction physically in the room.
But most people only have a 2 speaker set-up, so unless you actually have 7.1 speakers or 5.1 or whatever, no point.
I bought a SB Live! card, for £20 a looong time ago.
I still regret it... £20 could have gone on something excellent.
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.
And be happy.
Don't worry.
(Litte Marley plug there.)
> Notorious Biggles wrote:
> There is no need for a seperate sound card. They are better yes, but
> the performance boost isn't worth the money.
>
> But the improved sound quality and EAX surround sound environments in
> games are very much worth the money.
>
> I got an Audigy 2zs new for £59 *cough*dabs.com*choke*
>
> Sound is often overlooked by some gamers, which is a shame because
> people are missing out on some real neat features in games.
> You'll need a good surround sound speaker setup to get the most out
> of a sound card, but you can pick up quality 7.1 setups for fairly
> cheap these days.
>
> Plus you have the advantage of using sound to play the game, such as
> knowing which direction the enemy is because you can hear them coming
> from that direction physically in the room.
But most people only have a 2 speaker set-up, so unless you actually have 7.1 speakers or 5.1 or whatever, no point.
I bought a SB Live! card, for £20 a looong time ago.
I still regret it... £20 could have gone on something excellent.
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.
And be happy.
Don't worry.
(Litte Marley plug there.)
I would say the soundcard boos**t is definitley worth it. As has been pointed out as well, the advanced EAX is excellent.
For £50-60 the Audigy 2 ZS is well worth it.
Also the 6600 GT would be fine. Gathering from what you have said you couldn't give a sh*t about top top settings anyway. You are wrong about all cards dropping in price though. I have had people offering me £350 for my X800 XT PE. Some cards are in pretty high demand.
For £50-60 the Audigy 2 ZS is well worth it.
Also the 6600 GT would be fine. Gathering from what you have said you couldn't give a sh*t about top top settings anyway. You are wrong about all cards dropping in price though. I have had people offering me £350 for my X800 XT PE. Some cards are in pretty high demand.
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> I'm cool.
>
> I'm gonna take the soundcard off and get a 19" monitor instead
> of a 17" for the same price..
>
> I'm not willing to spend £200 - £300 on a graphics card
> that'll probably be half the price in a few months. The 6600Gt will
> do me fine for a long time yet.
They won't come down in price, at least substantially, for quite a while, if ever. The 6600 GT is about on a par with the 9800 Pro, which was the king of the last generation. It all depends on how much gaming you are likely to be doing.
As for the sound, meh. It's only worth having for the improved EAX if you have decent surround sound. That's all. Sound quality wise for anything other than games get something else like an Emu, considering they are far superior.
> I'm cool.
>
> I'm gonna take the soundcard off and get a 19" monitor instead
> of a 17" for the same price..
>
> I'm not willing to spend £200 - £300 on a graphics card
> that'll probably be half the price in a few months. The 6600Gt will
> do me fine for a long time yet.
They won't come down in price, at least substantially, for quite a while, if ever. The 6600 GT is about on a par with the 9800 Pro, which was the king of the last generation. It all depends on how much gaming you are likely to be doing.
As for the sound, meh. It's only worth having for the improved EAX if you have decent surround sound. That's all. Sound quality wise for anything other than games get something else like an Emu, considering they are far superior.
Notorious Biggles wrote:
> There is no need for a seperate sound card. They are better yes, but
> the performance boost isn't worth the money.
But the improved sound quality and EAX surround sound environments in games are very much worth the money.
I got an Audigy 2zs new for £59 *cough*dabs.com*choke*
Sound is often overlooked by some gamers, which is a shame because people are missing out on some real neat features in games.
You'll need a good surround sound speaker setup to get the most out of a sound card, but you can pick up quality 7.1 setups for fairly cheap these days.
Plus you have the advantage of using sound to play the game, such as knowing which direction the enemy is because you can hear them coming from that direction physically in the room.
> There is no need for a seperate sound card. They are better yes, but
> the performance boost isn't worth the money.
But the improved sound quality and EAX surround sound environments in games are very much worth the money.
I got an Audigy 2zs new for £59 *cough*dabs.com*choke*
Sound is often overlooked by some gamers, which is a shame because people are missing out on some real neat features in games.
You'll need a good surround sound speaker setup to get the most out of a sound card, but you can pick up quality 7.1 setups for fairly cheap these days.
Plus you have the advantage of using sound to play the game, such as knowing which direction the enemy is because you can hear them coming from that direction physically in the room.
I'm cool.
I'm gonna take the soundcard off and get a 19" monitor instead of a 17" for the same price..
I'm not willing to spend £200 - £300 on a graphics card that'll probably be half the price in a few months. The 6600Gt will do me fine for a long time yet.
I'm gonna take the soundcard off and get a 19" monitor instead of a 17" for the same price..
I'm not willing to spend £200 - £300 on a graphics card that'll probably be half the price in a few months. The 6600Gt will do me fine for a long time yet.
For that money tilta you're being ripped off.
There is no need for a seperate sound card. They are better yes, but the performance boost isn't worth the money.
I'll re-iterate what I said about graphics cards - get nothing less than an ATI X800XL, or nVidia GeForce 6800 GT. The difference in price between a 6600 GT and either of those is around £100. Drop the sound card to save £50, add an extra £50 and you'll get twice as much graphical power.
XP Home and XP Pro are pretty much identical other than XP Pro having proper network logons etc. It doesn't have anything a home user needs.
There is no need for a seperate sound card. They are better yes, but the performance boost isn't worth the money.
I'll re-iterate what I said about graphics cards - get nothing less than an ATI X800XL, or nVidia GeForce 6800 GT. The difference in price between a 6600 GT and either of those is around £100. Drop the sound card to save £50, add an extra £50 and you'll get twice as much graphical power.
XP Home and XP Pro are pretty much identical other than XP Pro having proper network logons etc. It doesn't have anything a home user needs.
How much for the 6600GT?
I've been chatting to a few peeps and it looks like I'll be going for....
Athlon 64 3500
200 Gig hardrive
1 gig DDR400
DVDRW Dual Layered
Geforce 6600GT
Soundblaster 7.1 Audigy
All for just over £1000
It's a midrange graphics card but it should do all I require of it and also I can buy another of the same kind and slot in the back if I need better performance at a later date.
Oh and it's got a really funky CPU case.
Athlon 64 3500
200 Gig hardrive
1 gig DDR400
DVDRW Dual Layered
Geforce 6600GT
Soundblaster 7.1 Audigy
All for just over £1000
It's a midrange graphics card but it should do all I require of it and also I can buy another of the same kind and slot in the back if I need better performance at a later date.
Oh and it's got a really funky CPU case.
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> Opinions on this 'puter please..
>
> [URL] http://www.tiny.com/packages.php?prodid=12874 [/URL]
>
> Oh and ummmmm Maxx PC's rock baby! :D
Seriously, don't buy anything with Tiny on it. It's like buying a broken condom.
As for the soundcard, onboard has a performance hit. Doesn't matter if it has audio inputs for 7.1 etc or even the fact that the Creative Audigy 2 cards output superior audio, it definitley improves performance in games.
You probably aren't interested now, but you can clock hardware further than stock speeds providing you have fairly decent air flow/cooling. This is pretty much what I was buy if I was in your rat ridden/homeless shoes:
AMD Athlon 64 3800
X800 XT/X850 XT (depending on which you can get hold of)
1GB RAM (if you buy from a shop you will get generic shiznit)
Ceative Audigy 2 ZS
As I said earlier, the more money you spend on RAM, the tighter the timings/lower access time etc. I wouldn't bother going above PC3200 (DDR400) which is dual channel as a lot of RAM will clock further than suggested speeds and to be honest I don't think you will bother with that side of it at all. You want a PC where you can bang a game in, install it, play it, etc etc without all the c*ck ridden problems.
If I could I would post a link to a PC but I can't as they pretty much don't exist like that without asking someone to build it/build it yourself.
Of course if you are willing to chuck some more dosh at it you could always have it built here [URL]http://www.alienware.co.uk/main.aspx[/URL]
> Opinions on this 'puter please..
>
> [URL] http://www.tiny.com/packages.php?prodid=12874 [/URL]
>
> Oh and ummmmm Maxx PC's rock baby! :D
Seriously, don't buy anything with Tiny on it. It's like buying a broken condom.
As for the soundcard, onboard has a performance hit. Doesn't matter if it has audio inputs for 7.1 etc or even the fact that the Creative Audigy 2 cards output superior audio, it definitley improves performance in games.
You probably aren't interested now, but you can clock hardware further than stock speeds providing you have fairly decent air flow/cooling. This is pretty much what I was buy if I was in your rat ridden/homeless shoes:
AMD Athlon 64 3800
X800 XT/X850 XT (depending on which you can get hold of)
1GB RAM (if you buy from a shop you will get generic shiznit)
Ceative Audigy 2 ZS
As I said earlier, the more money you spend on RAM, the tighter the timings/lower access time etc. I wouldn't bother going above PC3200 (DDR400) which is dual channel as a lot of RAM will clock further than suggested speeds and to be honest I don't think you will bother with that side of it at all. You want a PC where you can bang a game in, install it, play it, etc etc without all the c*ck ridden problems.
If I could I would post a link to a PC but I can't as they pretty much don't exist like that without asking someone to build it/build it yourself.
Of course if you are willing to chuck some more dosh at it you could always have it built here [URL]http://www.alienware.co.uk/main.aspx[/URL]
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