Help pls.........Which pc is better?

[Nightf1yer]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

The speed of the hard drive is just as important as its capacity. Don't get a 400GB (or 300GB) hard drive if the speed is only 5200rpm. Look for something with 7200rpm or 10000rpm.

Personally, I favor Nvidia over ATI for graphics cards.

I would highly recommend going with AMD over Intel (CNET did a good comparison of the two a little bit ago).

Just out of curiousity, what manufacturer are these PC's from?

*edit* Just saw you were thinking of building your own. IMO that's the way to go. My specs are in my sig (and they're somewhere around your price range), but I'm not sure what the conversion rate is between US $ and pounds.

You are correct in what you are saying although..
A 200GB 5200rpm with 10GB used will be faster than a 300GB 7200rpm with 200GB used space. It all depends on what the hard drive is being used for :)
Im just being picky lol Go for the faster drive :laugh:

[dannyboy0492]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

i have found some products to build my own pc could u tell me if they are any good i left the ram and the graphics cards i was hoping u could recommend some from www.pcworld.co.uk that is the place where i can get it all from

jeantech-achilles gaming atx midi case black £50

jeantech 600w power supply (maybe too high lol) £70

athlon 64 3800 dual core processor £230

akasa as-913 athlon 64 cooler £20

nforce4 amd motherboard £55

samsung 250gb 7200rpm (noiseguard & silentseek technology) £85

sound blaster audigy 2 zs £90

samsung-internal dual layer dvd rewriter £40

Thank and what else do i need

i found some memory (ram)

1GB PC2-4300 DDR2 SODIMM Memory
533 mhz Bus Clock Rate
Non-ECC ECC/nonECC
200 pin Module Configuration

is this any good and can i put 2 of them in to get 2gb

Thanks

[mrclark299]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

the only branded memory available is PNY, so get (2x if possible) 1GB DDR PC3200. Stay away from the generic non-branded ram.

*edit
SODIMM is for notebooks, SDRAM is stone aged
DDR is the only one your motherboard slot will take

*edit2

PNY - GEFORCE 7 7600 GT 256MB PCI-EXPRESS GRAPHICS CARD £149.99
the best pci-e card you can get there

[dannyboy0492]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

so do i need to buy windows xp home edition or whatever?

will 2 x of this be any good?

PNY DDR Memory Module Upgrade
1GB Capacity
PC4300
240 pin Module Configuration DIMM
533 mhz Bus Clock Rate

[mrclark299]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

PC4300 is DDR2 and requires a different motherboard, amd's AM2 socket and several intel mobos. PC3200 400mhz will saturate the bus speeds for a non-overclocked cpu, especially for amds since they work best with bus to memory clocks synced 1:1

[FPS[VT_NERD]]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

You are correct in what you are saying although..
A 200GB 5200rpm with 10GB used will be faster than a 300GB 7200rpm with 200GB used space. It all depends on what the hard drive is being used for :)
Im just being picky lol Go for the faster drive :laugh:

True, true but I was just going for a "generally speaking..." kind of thing

As far as the memory types you listed. sodimm is the size of the memory with sodimm being for laptops. Check the motherboard you're thinking about getting and see what size the memory is (it will probably be 184 pin), what speed it can handle, and go from there for memory.

For the power supply you're going to be ok with 600W, but you could probably go lower. I think my motherboard and/or graphics card specifies that I need at least 450W to run it in SLI mode. I opted to go with 550W to have some "overhead", but 600W will definitely be ok. I don't have a 2nd card get, but its an upgrade I want to do when more games support it.

I also didn't see any kind of monitor in your list. If you go with an LCD, make sure you get one that has a native resolution you like looking at. What I mean is, LCD's always look best at a certain resolution, and while they can run at other resolutions the picture quality won't be ideal. I'd say 17" or 19" will be plenty and just make sure you read some reviews before you buy one and try to buy one with a decent replacement process (sometimes LCD's can arrive with pixels that won't work, and depending on the manufacturer or merchant, you may need 8 dead pixels or many more to qualify for a replacement).

You're also going to need Windows b/c none of those parts will come with it. You may or may not also need a mouse or keyboard depending on what you already have.

Last, but not least, you may or may not also need speakers depending on what you already have.

If the case comes with fans you can disregard this, but you might need some fans to keep everything cool (these will be cheap and shouldn't affect the bottomline much).

I can't think of anything else at the moment, but if you want to post model numbers to the major components (PSU, CPU, GPU, hard drive, memory....the stuff that goes inside the case) I wouldn't mind looking it over and making sure you have enough power cables and motherboard connections to make everything fit, but I honestly don't think this will be an issue for you.

[Talus]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

Moved to tech center

[dannyboy0492]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

jeantech-achilles gaming atx midi case black £50

jeantech 600w power supply (maybe too high lol) £70

athlon 64 3800 dual core processor £230

akasa as-913 athlon 64 cooler £20

nforce4 amd motherboard £55

samsung 250gb 7200rpm (noiseguard & silentseek technology) £85

sound blaster audigy 2 zs £90

samsung-internal dual layer dvd rewriter £40

2x 1gb ddr pc3200 memory 400mhz memory speed £130

windows xp home edition £90

graphics card i was thinking 7600gt or x800gt with dual dvi £150 (plus best ones pcworld got anyway) and i this sli compatible so i could buy another one?

total £1010

do i need any power cable to plug it in and power it up? and is the system ok

thanks

[mrclark299]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

power cable comes with the power supply unit. Also are you keeping your old monitor and does it have dvi input?

[dannyboy0492]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

this is my current monitor i only just bought it a 2 months ago also i have keyboard and mouse and speakers already

19" Monitor Tube Size
- 12msec Response Rate
- 250cd/m2 Brightness
- 500:1 Contrast Ratio
- 1280 x 1024 SXGA Maximum Resolution
- 16.2M Colours
- 421 mm Height
- 418 mm Width
- 219 mm Depth

do i need any usb ports or anything like that?

[mrclark299]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

looks like you're set to go, good luck building it and keep yourself grounded hehe

[dannyboy0492]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

thanks u have been a great

do u think that a 500w power supply i good enough i can save £20

also which graphics card 7600gt or x800gt dual dvi

and are both of these cards sli compatiable so i could get another one in the future

[mrclark299]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

500w should be more than enough, and get the 7600gt because it has shader model 3 support where as x800gt only has sm2

if you're really serious about sli for the future then you'll need the nf4 sli mobo with 2 pci-e slots

[dannyboy0492]

Re: Help pls.........Which pc is better?

thanks for ur help