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.

Best cards on the market at the moment are the ATI X850 XT PE or Nvidia 6800 Ultra. So I'd go for a 6800 GT (not GTO) or an ATI X850 XT but you are looking at £300 ish for the XT and £280 for the GT. Both will run modern games for a long time.

What would you guys say are the best graphics cards available then?

This is the one are that I really don't understand what's good and what's not.

For that money, you should be getting a much better graphics card. Mine cost only slightly more then that about a year ago and my graphics card is better.

Opinions on this 'puter please..

[URL] http://www.tiny.com/packages.php?prodid=12874 [/URL]

Oh and ummmmm Maxx PC's rock baby! :D

The biggest difference about onboard sound is the amount of load it places on the CPU. If you have a sound card, it won't load the CPU anywhere near as much - ask Alastair or NB for more details on that front.

I use the Nvidia Soundstorm onboard sound with no problems, i might get a soundcard at some stage though.

Do you guys recommend getting a soundcard or do you reckon I'd be okay with the built in sound?

I'm not the sort of person who's gonna link up my PC to 7.1 speakers and blast the neighbours out with the sounds of gun fire. I want to have decent sound, but I'm quite happy with the quality I get out of my normal TV speakers so do you reckon I'd be okay without a soundcard?

Also anyone explain why the 256 Raddeon X850XT so much more expensive than other Graphics cards and is it actually worth the extra money?

Oh and one last question, what's the difference between XP Pro and XP Home?

Man this PC buying business is confusing.

The X800 Pro cards are poor to be honest. They cost too much for too little performance and the VIVO mod to XT is a lot of hassle. It gets quite complex due to some new technologies that have come in lately, but if you get a computer that has the most up to date motherboard, then it will likely use a type of graphics card connector called PCI-Express instead of the older AGP.

The best value for money gamers video card out there right now is the ATI X800XL. It costs the same but is a lot faster. However, I don't think any of them are available for motherboards that use AGP.

Since I imagine you want to play games and want best bang for buck, as opposed to the best for some types of video encoding, go for an AMD Athlon 64.

Put it this way, for your grand you shouldn't accept anything less than:

Athlon 64 3500
1GB of RAM
ATI X800XL
200GB hard drive

as that lot, along with fancy motherboard was around £700.

Hairy mu*f. Stick with the local dudes and see what they offer first.

If you do know of anyone who is more technically minded and may be able to build it for you, give them £50 or whatever and ask them nicely. You'll get a much better deal, and someone to call if it goes wrong.