Buy now or later...?

MeesterKu

First post! If you're dissapointed with this, be prepared for more dissapointment.

Anyway, I plan to get a new PC relatively soon; this is because my old one is a hunk of a crap (P3-600 / Voodoo4 , anyone...?) and is about 4 years old. But, the pivotal question that remains now is whether I see about getting my new PC next month or wait it out. Obviously, you can argue 'Why wait? Your system will still become obsolete in 6 months time, you doofus!', but at the same time, I'll be able to look at exciting prospects such as the new AMD chip that's due out in October or something.

My budget is £1500, including a new monitor, as this old one likes to randomly display a blueish/redish/purpleish hue when it feels like it - as to be expected from a monitor that has lived for so many years now and a new soundcard... somehow, I feel that my trusty AWE64 just doesn't cut it no more, as MIDIs are well and truly dead. I'm sure most of you here will love coming up with system specs, so toss a few at me, so to speak!

That is, assuming you can reach the 'Post' button instead of laughing at my current PC. =P

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Meester Ku

Zardon

Well you dont say what you mainly do, whether its game playing, rendering, or **cough** office work.

but ill give a good value all round performing rig so you can keep some of your money.

Amd barton 2800 (price just dropped, nice overclocker). - Or barton 3000/3200 if you want to cut costs elsewhere
Abit Nforce2 Rev 2 mobo
512 meg of OCZ or Corsair 3500 ram 2x256 dual. (great for overclocking). or 2x512 if you do alot of intensive work.
ATI radeon 9700 pro or 9800 pro.
Illyama 19inch CRT monitor or TFT (your call, just watch refresh if you play games on TFT/LCD)
Audigy 2
Logitech MX500 or 700 mouse
Logitech or MS keyboard
Sparkle or Enermax PSU
Lian Li Case

JavaFox

Hey 'Ku!

This is one of my oldest pals! I hope you feel at home, mate!

MeesterKu

Firstly, thanks for the warm welcome! It's always nice to receive a 'welcome to the board' post as opposed to 'U R A N00B & U PROLLY DO STUFF WITH UR MOM', as has been the case on too many other boards.

Secondly, yes, I am something of an idiot for neglecting to mention what I intend to do: Firstly, in theory, I'm a gamer. However, you try getting UT2k3 to run on my box at more than 5fps... =P If a PC can run that, then I should be OK with using Word and Excel occasionally for any university stuff I'll be doing. Heck, even this PC can handle those; probably not at the same time though...

I'm not sure how much £1500 comes to - I'm guessing about $1900+?

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Meester Ku

Zardon

well if anyone treats newbies like that on this site, they dont last long. this place is founded on being friendly. after all just because a person is new to THIS board, doesnt mean they dont know what they are talking about.

and anyway, even if they dont. people can learn. we ALL learn something new, thats life.

ok, enough philosophy, im boring myself now.

Stick with an AMD processor, an ATI 9700/9800, some good corsair or OCZ ram, the abit rev 2 nforce 2 mobo and a strong high quality powersupply and you wont go far wrong.

shuki

GREAT advice Zardon!

Though I would skip the audigy and use the onboard soundstorm on the nf7-s v2.0 mobo
I would also definitely get the CRT if you game or with your extra $$'s get both LCD and CRT for dual monitor action
even skip that expensive case (though they certainly are sharp!) You are gonna be SOOO happy you upgraded now rather than later! it is definitely time to upgrade. no more waiting m8!

and meesterku, welcome to DriverHeaven!

kinetic

Welcome to DriverHeaven! You are gonna be blown away if you follow Zardons advice Get your running shoes on and get down to your nearest hardware store. A friendly word of caution though, if you're not building your own system make sure to employ someone who knows what they are doing. If you need any more advice on any aspect of your project don't be afraid to ask, as Zardon said, no-one is treated like a noob here!

MIG-31

although i have a few posts now.strangly enough i have to agree with the above about being welcome advice.i am a relativly a noobie to pc's,just over a year now(how time flies)i have found alot of advice from zardon(now he has released my soul)most exellent i would mention a few others but the names don't spring to mind at the mo!

i would also say now is the time to buy a faster machine due to specs are alot faster and graually getting cheaper if u shop around it will make a good investment for perhaps the next 4 years i would say.

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MIG-31

i would try and sell your old rig u never know somebody will want it

i also had a sililer fault with an old moniter of mine it were due to overheating.

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shuki

don't forget about a good hsf (heat sink fan) and some arctic silver 3 thermal paste to use when putting your hsf on your cpu.

Zardon

you know you could also keep that older machine for an email server, or for messing around with linux or something along those lines. or even a relative, parent.... some people dont need much hardware power to do what they wish!

tek

What Zardon posted for a comp is perfect, my exact choice.. I'd like to include a "Thermalright SLK-800(A) Heatsink, and some Artic Silver 3 Thermal Compound" -- I think thats about all you need... oh yeah, and a Laser Mouse and a nice keyboard

And for that old comp.. sh1t if I had it I'd keep it and run a server with those "zeraw" files on it

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mike2h

another option is the asus p4p 800 deluxe with the p4 2400. i do not know the cost of zardons mb/cpu combo, but wit this you get 800mhz bus, hyperthreading, support for next p4 generation, serial ata raid, parralel ata raid, usb2, firewire, gigbit lan(off the ide bus), a version of intels pat from the 875 chipset, & other goodies, should overclock very well. you should be able to get retail versions of these for about $340. oem cheaper. could probably find a mb/cpu combo for even cheaper. as far as everything else you have been given good advice here, do some research & have fun! a good place to get reference on total system prices is at - http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/home.htm

MeesterKu

Thanks for all the suggestions and websites. I'll be sure to check them out. The Area 51 system at Alienware looks pretty nice, although I could get it from just about anywhere for a lot less, but sadly without the cool looking case. You win some, you lose some, eh? However, Zardon's suggestion does like mighty tempting... and will probably leave me with a fair bit of cash to customise more.

Thanks again!

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Meester Ku

JavaFox

Well, £1500 is almost $2500! You can do pretty much whatever the hell you want with that kind of cash!

Most of us are AMD-ers here, but Intel's recent processors are worthy contenders as well. I am a loyalist, though, so I gotta stick with AMD. Here's what I'd get:

AMD "Barton" 3000+
The 3200+ is basically double the price...

Asus A7N8X Deluxe
This isn't the best board for overclocking, but ASUS' stability and quality are second to none. You aren't going ta overclock anyway.

OCZ PC3200 512MB x 2
I don't know too much about which stick of OCZ to reccommend specifically (I'm sure someone else does, though), but this is very reputably good RAM. Normally I'd say go with Corsair, but I've heard that Corsair and nForce2 don't really get along.

NEC ND-1300A MultiSpin DVD+/-RW
I know that you want a DVD-RW drive, and this one supports both the DVD-RW and the DVD+RW standards, so it seems like the drive to go with. Again, I'm not all that familiar with DVD-RW drives, but NEC makes good stuff. Anyone else know more about DVD drives?

Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM
No system is complete with at least two optical drives!

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
If you're getting a new PC and got this much cash to blow, there is no reason not to go with best of breed. This is, bar none, the fastest card you can get. My favorite quote regarding the 9700+ series is "so fast it will make you laugh."

Western Digital Caviar 200GB (8MB Cache)
Curiously enough, the 200GB is cheaper than the 180GB. At any rate, these drives are sooper fast and have received widespread acclaim. And, besides, 200GB ought to be enough for anybody.

Thermalright SLK-900
That toasty 3000+ needs to be cooled, and right now this is the cooler to beat. It doesn't come with a fan, so buy a (9CM) fan according to your cooling/noisiness preferences.

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I don't really know what monitor to reccomend. I picked out the above system at Overclockers.co.uk and it comes out to be £1,350.80 (including VAT), which doesn't give you a lot cash to spend on a monitor, keyboard/mouse, and case, but it gives you an idea of what you can look forward to getting. Just tweak the above (less RAM, 9700 instead of a 9800, slightly smaller HDD, etc) and you should be able to get one crazy system.

Cheers!



Postscript: The Logitech MX500 (mouse) is awesome.

mike2h

one other site to check out if you want prebuilt. i have 3 freinds that have computers from these guys and they flat rock! awsome support to. wether you go for a prebuilt talon or configure a mach5 they are very good. - http://www.falcon-nw.com/ .

shuki

don't go prebuilt! really, build your own. you'll never look back!

Zardon

I guess not everyone wants to build their own pc, and falcon, although ive never used them as I live in Ireland are meant to be very good, as are alienware.

WyreTheWolf

This would be my suggestion:
-=all prices are in USD=-
-=all prices include shipping=-

Chieftec X-Pider aluminum case - $73
Enermax 460watt PSU - $93
Epox 8RDA+ - $85
two 256MB Kingston value PC2700 (333DDR) - $33 per stick
AMD Athlon XP 2700+ (OEM) - $135
Thermalright SLK-900U - $54
Thermaltake 92mm fan (for above) - $12
Sapphire Radeon 9700 128MB - $245
onboard nvidia Sound Storm audio - $0
two 80GB Western Digital 8MB cache - $83 each
HighPoint RAID Controller Card RocketRAID100 (Raid0 above drives) - $53
LiteON 52x24X52 CD-RW - $53
LiteON 16x DVD-ROM - $39
Teac 3.25" floppy drive - $7
add $100 for misc stuff

TOTAL - $1181

I think that this covers just about everything, and would make for one damn fine system... anyone that wants to add, subtract, or change... please do so...

just click quote and make changes... I just used www.newegg.com for everything.

shuki

I'd not spend more than $30 on a case (yeah I'm a cheapie that just cuts and mods them anyhow )
I'd get a sparkle 400W for $63 over the $93 enermax
I'd get the nf7-s v2.0 over the epox
think I'd go with a barton if he is not going to OC
if he is not going to OC then no need on spending more than $25 or so on hsf. maybe he can find a good ol ax-7
rest looks great! either way, he is going to be ONE HAPPY CAMPER in a few weeks time !!

WyreTheWolf

The reason why I picked that case... it has places for 6 (including PSU) 80mm fans ... so he can use very slow spinning, and quiet 80mm fans and still have a crap load of air flow.....

MeesterKu

I'd forgotten about trying to have a quiet system - it's always annoying when you leave your PC - situated in your room - on overnight to download files and have trouble getting to sleep. Mind you, I'll look into that - you can easily buy sound asorption for your case, which seems to help a bit and is about like, £10/$15. I seriously doubt that'd be as effective as 6 very quiet fans.

More thanks, etc.

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Meester Ku