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"New computer"

Well, I'm not buying one, but can someone tell me if this is good value

[URL]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52475&item=5205266423&rd=1[/URL]

I see a 256mb graphics card, but you get all sorts, and if I did splash out I'd want to be able to play BF2 :( I'm that selective.

I see 1gb RAM, but you get different types of that as well, don't you?

What other pros and cons do you see?

[S][S][S][S]Yes, I'm a total noob :(

PCI may still be "doing the rounds" but for the same price you get a far inferior product. AGP obviously won't be dying out that quick, but by the time he'd want to upgrade I'm guessing AGP cards would be toned down versions of the PCI-E cards for the same price, and lots of the newest cards won't even come in AGP (I'm talking 4 years down the line).

I just think it would be a mistake to go AGP, as it limits your options in the future (and also the AGP GFX cards aren't as good anyway)

AGP won't be dying out that quick. PCI cards are still doing the rounds, don't forget.

Yes, they will be slower than PCI-E, but it certainly wouldn't be a shot in the foot to go AGP at this time.

Yes yes sorry I didn't explain that. PCI-E and AGP are types of port, basically, to which you can attach things to your motherboard. PCI-E is the new one and AGP is the old one, so all the new cards are PCI-E, and with equivalent costs, PCI-E cards can be up to 30% faster.

You don't need to know much except that getting AGP only would be sort of like buying a new VHS player instead of a DVD hard drive recorder. So you're future proofing. By the time you will need to upgrade again, you won't be able to get AGP cards anymore, so you'd basically have to get a whole new computer instead of just replacing your GFX card and adding more RAM, 5 or so years down the line.

PCI-E runs faster than the older AGP slots and more cards will be made for that type of slot in the future.

(I think).

PCI-E
AGP

What's the difference?

PCI-E can change graphics card?

It seems good, yeah, but the first thing I'd do is check to find out what sort of motherboard you've got on that. If you're wanting to play games myou'll want one that's PCI-E enabled (that one looks like it's AGP), because before long you'll be wanting to get rid of that 9600XT and replacing it with a PCI-E card (they're much, much, much faster). The RAM seems decent but you can get better (It's only DDR, whereas you can get DDR2 and GDDR3, for instance)

I'd be wary of buying ready made PCs from unknown companies, and remember that you can build a PC a lot cheaper than you can buy one for (ask a tech-savvy friend to give you a hand).

PS. MAXX COMPUTERS RULE

Well, I'm not buying one, but can someone tell me if this is good value

[URL]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=52475&item=5205266423&rd=1[/URL]

I see a 256mb graphics card, but you get all sorts, and if I did splash out I'd want to be able to play BF2 :( I'm that selective.

I see 1gb RAM, but you get different types of that as well, don't you?

What other pros and cons do you see?

[S][S][S][S]Yes, I'm a total noob :(