Any advice on new PC purchase?

darque

Ok so I'm seriously considering buying a new pc because my current pc is well...it leaves a lot to be desired, but to be brutally honest I have no clue what I should be looking for? :rolleyes:

So I'm hoping some of you finely tuned computer genius types might be able to offer some much needed advice on what to look for in a new pc these days to be able to say you have a pretty decent pc???

Help greatly appreciated...thanks!

Col_Loki

Well firstly we need to know what budget you are thinking about??

Have you a preference for Intel or AMD (or does that matter)?
What would you be using it mainly for?

We will definetly be able to send you in the right direction.

Tiesto

well what do u want the pc for exactly?
playing games? internet? ....

Tiesto

Originally posted by COL_LOKI

We will definetly be able to send you in the right direction.

speak for urself

Raz

Here's two threads that you should read up on,

First is Stuiomgas thread. There's isn't too much in this but it'll help you get an idea on the prices you're looking.
Second is TimAys thread.
There's an awful lot in this thread with a lot of detail where I was explaing how different parts of the system work. It's far too much to write out again so have a read and ask any questions you have regarding things in it.
That should get you on the path to unfathomable knowledge

El_MUERkO

114488 AMD Athlon XP2600+ 2.083 GHz 333 MHz bus
- Socket A (Thoroughbred) prosessor. 113,54

117211 Corsair Value S. PC2700 DDR-DIMM 512MB
- Unbuffered, Non-parity, 64Megx64, CL2.5 109,04

119450 GlacialTech CPU-Vifte Socket A/370/FCPGA
- Igloo Silent Breeze 462 II XP3000+ 26,94

100727 Sony Floppy Drive 3,5" 1,44MB MPF-920
- Floppy Drive, Internal 15,39

114239 Asus A7N8X Deluxe/GD mainboard Socket A
- nForce2SPP/MCP-T/Ultra 400,1394,Dual LAN 123,66

115558 Maxtor S-ATA/150 80GB 7200RPM 8MB
- DiamondMax Plus 9, 8 MB cache 121,87 * 2 = 243,74

119437 Samsung CD-burner IDE 52x/24x/52x
- Bulk,SW-252BEN 42,00

114437 Pioneer DVD recorder IDE DVR-105, Bulk
- DVD-R/RW 4X/2X/16X/8X/12X/32X 180,51

118887 ADi 19" CRT MicroScan P900 TCO-99
- Screen 0.26 dot pitch (UK) 189,15

119436 Abit Siluro Geforce FX 5600DT 128MB
- AGP, DDR, TV-Out, DVI-I, Retail 142,61

119317 Q-Tec Midi tower ATX 6024MD, Black
- Pro Line, m/350W AMD/P4 (UK) 55,73

114743 Microsoft MultiMedia & Optical Val. Pack
- Mouse & Keyboard, PS/2, English 36,50

Surcharges: 0,00
Total: €1 278,81

From www.komplett.ie

Now obivously you wont end up buying exactly this rig, you may nt need all the parts or SATA raid... but its a good place to start from, you can then change it to fit your budget and needs.

darque

Ahem, um, did I mention my severe lack of any computer know how?!?

Raz; checked 'em out, did help a little but mostly gibberish!

and El_MUERkO ffs! Are you taking the piss or something? Most of that meant zilch to me...

Budget wise I'd like to keep it under E1,500.00 - ish if possible. But I need to know how much I need to expect to pay for a good machine without being ripped off and if anyone could give me a short list of basic requirements I should be looking for that'd be great.

I kinda have an idea of where to aim but if it was given to me up straight I'd be a bit happier 'bout the whole deal. Other than that thanks for the advice so far and thanks in advance for anything else anyone has to offer...

And I use it mostly for internet and graphics programs atm but with a better pc I'd probably broaden my usage ya know...to games and music etc...but atm thats just not possible. I'm kinda hoping to make better use of my pc and get a bit more pc friendly, I just need to know what I need to be able to enjoy my pc....blah blah...thanks

BigEejit

Go to elara.ie or some other people like that, they can make one to your specification, or you can pick one of their standard packages ...

[edit]
I just had a go at configuring up something on elara.ie and this configuration here comes in just under €1500 .. only thing is, it may be lacking in the graphics department ....
[/edit]

D'oh
[edit #2]
change the processor to a 2.6Ghz 800FSB
change ram to 512mb mushkin
change hard disk to 120GB
change OS to windows xp pro
[/edit #2]

swiss

I'm currently researching a system purchase for a friend of mine. The first question that needs to be answered is - do you want to go for AMD or Intel. In a nutshell, AMD offer a better bang for your buck, but if you want to go for all out performance, go for the Intel (as an aside, if anyone can point me a website that shows the benchmarks for Intel and AMD CPU's I'd be grateful - I just want a reference other than tomshardware).

A lot of newer systems and components that you can purchase are geared towards games playing. What I mean is that you would need a high end CPU/Graphics card to play the latest games, but you don't to run microsoft word. So what you should get for your system should be influenced by what you intend to do with that system. If internet/word processing is all you want, then a p2 with 128mb of ram is enough for you to do that, and you should be able to pick up a system like that for around 200 - 300 eur.

What exactly do you want to use your system to do?

Col_Loki

To be honest there is quite a bit to know, and i take it you dont really want to go down that road (more interested in end-user than building your own).

Intel is definetly the way to go with your budget, you should be expecting quite a powerfull machine.

Elara are the way to go in my opinion, they will build you a very powerfull system to your liking and spec.

BigEegit , i dont think theres much point in him going for the 800Mhz FSB edition - would go for a higher speed processor & as you said mabye better graphics card as the 9200 sucks and he will be using it for games.

The spec i would recomend is Here

Surround sound speakers, fast ram, 2.8Ghz Intel processor - fast, Seperate Dvd & cd re-writer drive, very good graphics card.......

Its €19 over but it definetly is a beast.

magick

when i got my current pc i mad the mistake of getting a Celeron cpu with my system, at the time i didnt know too much about how different parts of a cpu effect processing , its a 1.8 gig, its ok, but for really intense games it does have a bit of a bottle neck , hence ill be soon changing from a 1,8 gig celeron to a 2.6 gig Pentium 4, using the same mobo. It should improve things quiet a bit .

Tiesto

u shud check out dell.ie aswell
my mate bought a custom built pc from them 2 weeks ago
serious computer for 1300 euro
2.8 gigs processor
80 gig hard drive
256 DDr ram
dvd/cd writer...
flat screen...
check em out

darque

K thanks guys! The advice has been taken on board and I'm fairly satisfied with what I've heard so thanks and I'll be seein' ya, not set on what I'm gonna go with yet but at least I'm not goin' in blind now...thanks again

*oh and it's not majorly important but I'm a she not a he, I really need to make that clearer! Anyways, tty, tanx for your words of wisdom, 'preciate it!