Thinking of building PC,advice appreciated.

Dcully

Ok guys im sorry for lots of posts about new sysyem.
Im thinking of going the route of building one from Komplett.
Ive only ever put in a gfx card and ram,am i up to the job?
Im no expert at all about components either,basically i have 1000-1200 to spend on a gaming rig ,this must include a monitor and keyboard as im selling old machine.Mouse and speaker system are looked after.
I appreciate any advice guys,Im bloody nrevous about building myself and Im not sure about getting one from Dell.

seamus

There are plenty of places out there that'll build and ship a custom system for you if you're not confident. Elara do, and Komplett may, but I'm not sure.

Most places are good about it, just give them a rough idea of the spec you'd like, your price limit, and what you'll sacrifice, and what you need. For example, for gaming, you may be willing to sacrifice a hardware soundcard for onboard sound (at least till you get money to buy one), if it means putting in a decent GFX card.

RAM is a little more important than processor-power, performance-wise, for gaming too, afaik. Most CPUs 1.5GHz and over shouldn't have issues running modern games, but if you've less than 256MB of RAM you could be seriously losing out. So get a Socket A motherboard and you can easily upgrade later.

That said, you can build an animal machine for that money these days. Especially if you can get a mate with a VAT no to put it through his books as a business machine

ozt9vdujny3srf

Have a look at the machine i am building here, thats a fairly high spec machine for 900€ or so, i am sure there is stuff there you don't want so you could make some space for a good gfx card.

I would recommend a p4 processor with 800mhz fsb.

DOn't get everyhting from komplett. Get your monitor and case from elara, they stock antec and elara, both of whom are excellent. Shipping cases and monitors from norway is very expensive, with elara you can pick the stuff up.

Below are some good links to tech review sites.

www.tomshardware.com
www.hardocp.com
www.techseekers.net (irish)

1200€ means you can get quite a sexy machine :P

Dcully

I read on Sharky extreme that an athlon xp 3200 2.2 ghz performs as good as a P4 3.0 ghz.
Is this true and how come ?
Is it fsb or what?

Col_Loki

Hey if your thinking of buying a system for around €1200 , you wont be getting a xp3200 or a p4 3.0ghz , €500+ !! The athlon chips generally do mork work per mhz and there fore use a "chip rating" ie xp1800 (1.53ghz) is suppose to perform to the intel 1.8ghz level. In fact it out performs the intel.

In general if your going for an amd processor go for the xp2500+ it has the newest core and in most cases out performs the xp2600 & intel 2.4 !! Its also pretty cheap and leaves u with extra money for the important gaming requirements like graphics card & ram!! Ohh and the xp2500+ is a great overclocker (mine running at a xp3200+ level completely stable - benchmarks over the p4 3.06ghz in the sandra test ).

Catalyst

ooooohh.... really close, I know I'm skimping on alot of stuff especially the GFX Card but I suppose if you really wanted to, you could get it for just under 1300 Just my 2 "biased" cents

Pentium IV 3Ghz 800MHz FSB

Not close enough on the AMD but have to get the guys to work on that one

AMD XP3200+ Barton 400MHz

Dcully

Catalyst, i was on Elara and couldnt really configure a killer system below 1300.
The P4 one really rattles my chains ,one question for this dumb who only ever installed a gfx card and ram,is this spec built and ready to go?
What gfx card would u recomend to bring price to 1350,thats my limit,CPU and ram seem fine its just i heard GF FX5200 under performs compared to my current GF4 ti 4200?

From DELL.ie
I can get a P4 2.8,256ddr,40gig hd,15"platpanel monitor ,KB,mouse,speakers,etc Radeon 9800 for 1337.
Now i dont know what mobo this includes nor would i know the difference TBH.

The Elara systems seem to be higher spec in all areas but GFX card ,ie to include radeon instead of GF FX 5200 would cost +400 or there abouts.

Col_Loki

Wow thats a pretty good try there cat !! Erm mite be a bit dodgy throwing in PC2100 ram with a 200mhz FSB . Ur really on the ball with your processor prices of late - P4 2.8ghz 800FSB - sweet.

Dcully

Catalist,what about P4 system u suggested only with P4 2.8 ghz 800mhz FSB and Radeon 9600 pro?

comes to1271

Catalyst

Hummm, yeah the RAM is a a bit unrealistic, if you go down to a 2.6 800MHz, you can get a 512 Mb dual channel 400MHz mushkin.
- 1276.55

2.6 version

Dcully

Guys sorry bout all the questions but i need to get this system right.

Catalyst about suggested P4 system,If i was to leave out a gfx card and get this one from ,[dare i say it] Komplett,will it work on that motherboard?

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=28779&t=278&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=24&GrpID=1&s=pl

The reason for asking is on tomshardware.com they say the Ti 4200 out shines the Radeon 9600 and GF FX 5600.Its 130 on Komplett and added to your suggested machine[ minus gfx card you mentioned] is 1300 approx and ideal for me.
Also i assume my PCI ISDN adapter will be fine in this machine?
How long does devivery take ?
I really appreciate feedback .

Catalyst

yup, it will work and will take advantage of the 8X AGP on the board as well. Going to check out this dell PC you were talking about..... and put the whole lot together

Dcully

Ive just seen reply about 2.6version,so you are saying this cpu and ram setup is better than the 3.0 ghz setup performance wise?
Are these systems assembled and ready to go?
Thanks for help .

Catalyst

OK, Here is a customized 2.8GHz 800MHz FSB with 512 MB 400MHz Dual Channel EL-DDR RAM @ 1068.43
+ Gainward Ti4200 from hardware section @ 128.93

bringing you to 1197.36 Incl. VAT.... whew, how does that sound?

Dcully

Thanks a lot Catalyst ,now that rattles my chains ,very nice

Please tell me that system is assembled and ready to go.
The Gf 4 is seperate i assume?
If so will that system be using integrated gfx until i install GF4?
It looking like we have a sale,thanks for all your effort.

Catalyst

We will install the GF4 as well(If thats what you want obviously). It usually takes about 1 week to assemble+test a cutomized PC, after that yup it will be ready to go, if ordered today, you should receive it by next friday and at latest monday week.

Dcully

I assume its ok if i go fo a 60 gig HD instead?
Also possibly the 19" monitor?

I dont see an operating system in there?

CuLT

OS will probly cost you an extra 300, 17" to 19" probly another 100, from a 40 to a 60 probly around 20-30 euro more.

(These are just estimates based in and around komplett prices).

MrPinK

Do ppl still actually pay for an OS when building a pc? Surely everyone has a copy of one lying around at home these days

Kevok

Surely since buying a full pc he could get an OEM version for about 100 euro?

Dcully

Elara are offering me XP home edition for 111 euro extra,i presume this is all i need for gaming?

Catalyst

Yeah, you can add an OS or upgrade to 19" /60Gb from the link on my last post cully