Author Topic: New Computer (Read 887 times)

Choleric · « **on:** May 19, 2011, 02:00:07 PM »

So, I've decided to get a new PC. I want to get a pre-made unit (I wouldn't trust a wooden spoon I had made myself, let alone a PC), though with the option to customise the components (PC Specialist et al.). Trouble is, I don't really know enough about the brands of components to make an informed decision about what I am getting for my money.

If anyone can point me in the direction of a website that makes decent computers I'd appreciate it. Tried PC Specialist (finance plans are too long, want a 24 month plan ideally), Alienware (but, Dell, hmm) and Pallicomp (Not sure what to make of them) so far. The extent of gaming on this thing is going to be mainly WoW (would be nice to get one that can run it on full whack graphics but that might be "unpossible" for my budget) and probably The Old Republic in the future, not looking to run Crysis or anything silly but obviously upgradability is important, made the mistake in the past of not getting a decent PSU, fans, enough card slots etc so I want to make sure I get it right this time!

Budget is about £1200, any more would be too costly over the time I want to pay it off (don't want to be paying for this new machine when I have a new one in 2-3 years time), and also probably unnecessary for what I need it to do.

As always, any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.

Dar · « **Reply #1 on:** May 19, 2011, 02:56:22 PM »

For 1200 pounds you should be able to do Crysis on max settings too! I cannot help you with finding a shop, as I only know dutch ones, the only thing i can say is: don't do Alienware or Dell or anything like that, they overprice like hell. A local PC shop is usually better, esp if they are not a big brand. They tend to care more for your problems and less for their wallet. (had one a few years ago when i lived in Harderwijk, those guys gave me a new PSU and new router years after i bought them, without having a receipt, just because they agreed with me that those things should last alot longer)

Choleric · « **Reply #2 on:** May 19, 2011, 03:04:41 PM »

Cheers Dar, you've confirmed what I suspected about Dell

Been looking at some other sites, difficult to judge what is trustworthy. All I know is that the price for the sort of specs I've been toying with seems to work out around the same price (£1000-1200).

Splishy · « **Reply #3 on:** May 19, 2011, 04:50:09 PM »

I'd disagree about Dell - some of their offerings are very reasonably priced if you catch the offers at the right time and can bargain with the guys over the phone. The Alienware branded stuff is tosh though, I wouldn't touch them with yours.

Budget-wise could do with a little clarification: what are you expecting for the money? PC only? Keyboard/mouse/speakers? Monitor? If you can confirm that little lot I'll have a root around and see if I can find you any decent bargains.

Choleric · « **Reply #4 on:** May 19, 2011, 04:58:41 PM »

That would preferably include monitor, yes. The one I have isn't bad by any means, but it's from before the dawn of HDMI so would look for a new model. I'm sorted for speakers, mouse, keyboard, not interested in gaming peripherals, my Microsoft mouse and Saitek keyboard have served me well for the last 2 years

Cheers for the help guys, am still searching, Jim has found a few on Pallicomp that I missed that look pretty good too.

Choleric · « **Reply #5 on:** May 19, 2011, 05:20:20 PM »

http://www.palicomp.co.uk/pc-systems/excalibur-performance-pcs/excalibur-core6-thunderbolt/prod_277.html

One of the computers found on Palicomp, have upgraded the PSU a notch, cooling, GPU (Radeon 6850), extra fans and sound card. Also went for 2x500gb HDD due to recent data corruption issues

Splishy · « **Reply #6 on:** May 19, 2011, 05:21:45 PM »

Monitor-wise have you put any thought into what size and resolution you're looking at? Take a look at Scan while you're at it though - I've used them (as have a few others on here) for a number of years and their aftersales service is generally pretty hot.

Splishy · « **Reply #7 on:** May 19, 2011, 05:23:57 PM »

Quote from: Choleric on May 19, 2011, 05:20:20 PM

http://www.palicomp.co.uk/pc-systems/excalibur-performance-pcs/excalibur-core6-thunderbolt/prod_277.html

One of the computers found on Palicomp, have upgraded the PSU a notch, cooling, GPU (Radeon 6850), extra fans and sound card. Also went for 2x500gb HDD due to recent data corruption issues

If you're planning to mirror those disks you should be aware that it won't protect you from corruption - any corrupt data written to one stripe will be written to the other at the same time. Backups are what you need in a situation like that. Also if I were buying new and spending that kind of wedge I'd be looking at a 6950 (though you need to be picky about brands - get one with a dual BIOS and it'll unlock for nowt giving you a 6970)

Splishy · « **Reply #8 on:** May 19, 2011, 05:31:11 PM »

Just checked the spec on that box and they're suggesting that the 2 disks be RAID0. Usual caveats apply to RAID0 - keep good backups. Failure of one disk loses all data from both. I'd also be a little twitchy about the no-name nature of the PSU.

silverlance · « **Reply #9 on:** May 19, 2011, 05:51:37 PM »

I've bought mine from http://www.overclockers.co.uk, and it's working fine.

Choleric · « **Reply #10 on:** May 19, 2011, 06:01:44 PM »

Thought the same about the PSU, might give them a ring to see what brand it is. As I say I don't know much about hardware but those HDDs don't sound too clever then. Would be prepared to spring for the next GPU up if you think it would be worth it. Looking at my monitor, it's 21", has the white rectangular socket on it (DVI?) so it would probably support HD, potentially saving me money for other shizzle.

Splishy · « **Reply #11 on:** May 19, 2011, 06:25:07 PM »

the RAID0 will give you slightly improved performance (don't let them oversell you on that though, you'd be better off with a single slow-ish (think the 4200RPM green disks) 1Tb storage disk and a small (80/90Gb-ish) SSD for Windows and a few games. 64Gb would be cutting it a little fine for my liking, so it might be worth seeing if they can customise slightly more for you. Also if you're going to go for the 6950 (and you're already planning to call them) it's definitely worth asking exactly which make/model they use: Google it and check it's a twin BIOS unit. Essentially this allows you to flash the 6970 BIOS onto it pretty much risk free, as if things start to get a tad warm you can just revert to the original BIOS.

Monitor-wise I couldn't really go back to something as small as a 21", but most people seem to think that my Dell 272 widescreen was a tad extravagant. It *is* freaking awesome, mind.

Daffyd · « **Reply #12 on:** May 19, 2011, 06:36:15 PM »

Quote from: Splishy on May 19, 2011, 06:25:07 PM

most people seem to think that my Dell 272 widescreen was a tad extravagant.

/wave

My 2408WFP feels huge, yours is just ridiculous

Altrurian · « **Reply #13 on:** May 19, 2011, 08:00:01 PM »

Seconded on Kevs monitor being massive although it fits well with his Massive Telly! I'm currently running a 120gig SSD as my main OS drive and have found that with windows, office, Wow and random incidental stuff like Vent that space can get a little tight if I don't stay on top of housekeeping so I'm with Kev on the 65gig probably cutting it a little fine as you will probably be constantly shuffling stuff about for space. As for your monitor if it's big enough for your current needs and has a DVI connector then I wouldn't worry too much about it having a HDMI port unless you want something you can hook a console up to as well at some point. I can't honestly see PC use moving exclusively to a new display connectivity method any time soon cosidering that most monotors still have standard vga connectors for compatibility.

Choleric · « **Reply #14 on:** May 20, 2011, 12:13:48 PM »

Ok, called Palicomp and the PSU is a brand I can't even find info on, PowerCore. The GPU is a VTX. I suppose I could look to replace the PSU straight away, although it would be covered for hardware failure, the question is how good the VTX cards are. In doubt now about the SSD, sadly Palicomp only sell the 64gb ones, not sure whether to forego the idea of getting a SSD altogether to avoid the messing about with data storage or to just start my search anew elsewhere.

Dar · « **Reply #15 on:** May 20, 2011, 01:57:57 PM »

About SSD's... I still don't find them worth the money. You just really should decide if those few seconds / a minute of speed increase is worth the extra money. Currently 2TB HDD's cost 0,03 euro's (0,026 pounds) / gigabyte, the cheapest SSD (which is also one of the slower ones, with SSD's, the more you pay, the faster they go) around 120 gb's (actually a 128 gb, which is cheaper then the cheapest 120 gb) is 0,92 euro (0,8121526875 pounds)/gig. That is 30 times the price.

For me personally, 30 times the price for just a bit quicker acces to my data is just not worth it, but it is a personal decision you have to make.

for reference, the disks I looked up:

Corsair S128 128GB
SATA-300
€ 117,81

Samsung EcoGreen F4EG HD204UI, 2TB
2TB HDD (Retail) met SATA-300-aansluiting
€ 60,-

Choleric · « **Reply #16 on:** May 20, 2011, 02:29:22 PM »

You make a persuasive argument, at least the SSD has no bearing on the power of the computer. I am tempted to go for this computer, if the VTX card performs poorer than the XTX one I won't know but it is easily upgradable in the future. The PSU is the only sticking point for me right now, my decision pretty much hinges on whether to trust it. I am leaning towards getting it and upgrading it shortly after purchase, and if it melts horribly in the mean time they can pick it straight back up and replace it

Going to give it a bit more thought and await anyone crying "don't be a fool!" before deciding, but I can't find anything with the same components with a better price.

rox0r · « **Reply #17 on:** May 20, 2011, 05:11:05 PM »

I have to admit, price be damned, I just love the kick up the arse an SSD made to my rig. I just did the missus' laptop with one as well and that was a noticeable improvement.

I say; if you're feeling flush, do it. You won't regret it.

Daffyd · « **Reply #18 on:** May 20, 2011, 05:18:20 PM »

Quote from: rox0r on May 20, 2011, 05:11:05 PM

I have to admit, price be damned, I just love the kick up the arse an SSD made to my rig. I just did the missus' laptop with one as well and that was a noticeable improvement.

I say; if you're feeling flush, do it. You won't regret it.

^^^ This, seriously.

Dar · « **Reply #19 on:** May 20, 2011, 05:42:18 PM »

Quote from: Choleric on May 20, 2011, 02:29:22 PM

Going to give it a bit more thought and await anyone crying "don't be a fool!" before deciding, but I can't find anything with the same components with a better price.

I tried, it is hard to remake that pc for the same price and I barely managed it at my favourite dutch shop, which is slightly under average in price. (had to replace some stuff 'cause stuff like the casing weren't available.)

just for your reference, so you can see you are not ripped off completely if you buy that system

(826,03 pounds)

replaced the 2x500 gb's with a 1tb to save 20 euro's, also gives extra room to get more hdd's

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Author Topic: New Computer (Read 887 times)