Help Prevent a Fool & Money being Parted!

Toxteth_OGrady

Always build my own but these guys appear to be highly rated, flexible and use top notch components.

Why not e-mail them, enquires@vadim.co.uk, with the spec from here and see if they'll give you a quote??

:cool:

TOG

msdl28712

What wolfie recommended was nearly the same as i had got lined up for when i come around to build my machine. I also have a few questions.

Im not really a big gamer but what would be the benefits of going for the SLI Platinum other than having the ability to run 2 graphics cards. Or would you suggest as im not a big gamer to go for the MSI K8N Neo4.

Also what id like to do is use as much from the PC that im using at the moment so would these items i wish to swap be compatable and ok to use.


Pioneer DVD 113 (dvd Rom)
Sony dw-d22a (Dvd Writer)

Maxtor 6Y160P0 (160gb Hard Drive)
IBM Deskstar ic35l120avv207-0 (120gb Hard Drive

Then i just to sort my PSU and a case out

Cheers
Marc

wolfman

I don't know of any other benefits from SLI other than running two cards. And, I believe, they have to be identical, and don't give you twice the performance, more a 70% increase or so.

Personally, I think it's an expensive technology and still not fully supported by every game and/or hardware. If you're not a big gamer I wouldn't worry about it, unless anyone else has any light to shed on it.

All those components should be fine. I'm assuming by the models that those hard drives are IDE? Just makes sure the K8N Neo4 has enough IDE connection points (I'm not sure if it's fully SATA or not).

Actually just checked, the K8N Neo4 Platinum can support 4 IDE devices, which'll be fine for you. Any new hard drives you get, just make sure they are SATA.

Toodlepip

Hi all
I have now got the funds together (£1000 max) and am a little clearer on what I want (I think!) I am not so fussed about the online gaming aspect but obviously want the best all round spec I can get for my money, bearing in mind I don't want to splash out again for a long time! It has to facilitate music recording software (sonar 5) and need a separate hard drive to store music files.
I have been considering this www.gladiatorcomputers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?StockCode=PSCJUP6600GT
with the following up grades
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 4 7.1 OEM £39.95
Upgrade to 320Gb HDDs (2 x 160GB Hard Drives) £64.95

What do you reckon? Any good? Is there a better deal? Do you suggest any other upgrades? Any help welcome!!! :beer:

Hillfly

That's great looking machine. It might be worth considering going for a dual processor as this will help future proof your machine further. Current games don't use it but it is the future i believe.

I understand the AMD AThlon 64 3800 x2 is a good processor as you can 'overclock' it very easily.

Toodlepip

Thanks for that.....
am now thinking maybe this is the better buy www.gladiatorcomputers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?StockCode=PSCJUP6600GTX2 again with
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 4 7.1 OEM £39.95 and
Upgrade to 500GB HDDs (2 x 250GB Hard Drives) £79.95

I'm also tempted to go for a 19" monitor....but the price is starting to rise and I just don't know when to stop!!!! Is there a significant difference between 19" (16m/s) and 19" (8m/s)? What's m/s??? and does size really matter? :rotfl:

Little_John

the 16 and 9 m/s ratings are the equivilant of the refresh rate on a CRT monitor/TV the smaller the number the better, alot of the super low refresh rates usually are BS, they calcualate the number slightly diferently so it is proberly more like 10 or 12ms than the 8 quoted. some calculate it 1 way others another giving lower numbres.

25 ms used to be the slowest you would buy for gameing so I would say the 16ms will be fine

maybe this monitor posted earlier in the week would be ok for you if you can knock the monitor of the pc.

SLi is mainly for those wanting to brag about their benchmark scores. very few games make full use of it.

Dual processors are good but can make things expensive and agian programs that make use of them are limited. Dual core CPU's are the future but are very expensive.

Saying you want to play games then arnt bothered clouds the water slightly as if you want games spend the money on memory and graphics card and a fast CPU, making a reasonably expensive PC. if you dont want games then save a fortune and buy a more basic pc. there is a huge gap between a good games pc and a good general use pc audio and video editing PCs benifit from memory CPU an fast storage the graphics card doesnt really matter.

Toodlepip

Thanks Little John
I understand now about the monitor spec, unfortunately no option to lose the monitor on the package deal but I think it looks ok so that shouldn't be a problem.
I can see I have confused things about the gaming aspect...originally thought I wanted top end gaming...now am thinking that I tend to only play basic stuff , I won't be rushing out to buy the latest title at present , but would like to think I can get a PC that can cope with most things I can throw at it. I have around £1000 to spend and want the best all round system for that....if that means good potential for online gaming I'd like to have that option as I may get into it before long but it's not the be all and end all.
The music recording software is the biggest thing at the mo...but I'm trying to think of what else it will be used for in the future and am thinking probably gaming but I'm just not sure to what extent really. I'd like to get the best spec long lasting system for my money if that makes sense.
Can't make my mind up between the two deals I've highlighted in the above posts...if I have the 1st option with the dual processor upgrade I might as well go for the 2nd option as it comes out roughly same price but with better graphics and hard drive I think...or should I just stick with 1st option
Sorry about the rambling.....

T4i

If you just play basic games and want the occasional newer game to play I would opt for the 6600GT or 6800GT.

I'm a gamer and still use a 6600GT. Its not the latest technology by any means but it does what I need it to do.

T4i

Didnt dual CPU machines turn out to be a complete waste of time? I'm sure I read reviews and they got a right hammering.

The 64-bit world is still really new and not all the IT world supports it yet, so this is gonna be well future proof.