Need help choosing a computer

Ashok_2

For the extra £20, it's because apparantly £10 delivery form eBuyer and £10 from Scan (He's ordering processor and motherboard from Scan, I can't find same motherboard on ebuyer)

What do you think of system then, overall? And do you think it's fine to leave RAM as it is, or pay the extra £18?

GoofyGAT

For the extra £20, it's because apparantly £10 delivery form eBuyer and £10 from Scan (He's ordering processor and motherboard from Scan, I can't find same motherboard on ebuyer) - eBuyer £10 delivery is a fib, & he probably gets free delivery from Scan too. eBuyer delivery is free for anything £50 & over, & Scan's delivery is less for light items - see screenshot. eBuyer appear to have run out of the motherboard & CPU now!

Ask him to get the E6750 too from Scan/TodayOnly - it's £3 less & you get a free game too (see screenshot above). The only trouble is that TodayOnly offers keep changing on a daily basis.

What do you think of system then, overall? - It's not bad, but shame about all the fees, etc. For £160 you didn't have to spend on them you could have got a better system.

And do you think it's fine to leave RAM as it is, or pay the extra £18? - Yes, it's fine. Unless you can think of saving a little by leaving eBay out of the equation?

Can you please answer my question about why they thought the 8600 was better for movies. Ta, G

Ashok_2

I'll find out about cutting down fees, but thing is if I don't order through eBay, it'll be a direct PayPal payment, and that just doesn't seem as safe.. Not sure.

Regarding your question about 8600:

An 8500/8600 or HD 2400/2600 will playback HD video files better than an 8800 or X1950.

These new mid-low range cards have HD acceleration not found in the high-end cards...

GoofyGAT

Yeah, you're right about the safety of going through eBay, but I thought PayPal had its own fraud protection.

Thanks for info regarding the new mid-low range cards - who would've guessed a GPU that was so much cheaper would be better at watching videos! G

Ashok_2

Now I've decided on system, it's just time to raise money. Hopefully I get payment of £935 soon... But the person interested has told me that they're having some problem with Hotmail and PayPal, and can't pay at the moment... If worst comes to worst, I'll accept the offer of £850, but beggers can't be choosers..

I'll stilll have to raise about £320 to be able to pay for rest of the system and get a monitor, keyboard etc..

Ashok_2

I'm still getting confused by all the specs/numbers.. I've been recommended on another forum to go for faster RAM e.g. 1150Mhz and it's much more expensive.. Also now not sure whether I need to get 4GB RAM..

And still can't decide about graphics card..

Another worry - what's stopping them from putting it cheaper parts in the computer, even if I order through a reputable company? They could still put in 2GB of RAM but it could be the cheapest possible, and only way I'd realise is if I took it out of the case and checked, as on Windows it will only show 2GB.. Right?

Thanks guys.

Cerro

Ashok wrote: »

I'm still getting confused by all the specs/numbers.. I've been recommended on another forum to go for faster RAM e.g. 1150Mhz and it's much more expensive.. Also now not sure whether I need to get 4GB RAM..

And still can't decide about graphics card..

Another worry - what's stopping them from putting it cheaper parts in the computer, even if I order through a reputable company? They could still put in 2GB of RAM but it could be the cheapest possible, and only way I'd realise is if I took it out of the case and checked, as on Windows it will only show 2GB.. Right?

Thanks guys.

Hmmm, not sure why you are going for 32Bit vista - that a deliberate choice? Your processor is 64bit compatible and 32bit support for vista is abit likle 64bit support for XP Pro (that is, very little). I would recommend you got with 64Bit version of vista, they usually turn out £5 cheaper too...

If you are going with the 8800 - then i'd stick with the EVGA card.

Don't bother with the super fast ram, you don't need it. I personally would go with the original 800Mhz OCZ stuff, particularly with a P35 motherboard. 667Mhz is kinda low end on a brand new board and would be a limit on its potential. 4Gb of ram is always nice, you can never have too much but you have to ask if it is worth it? Is it in your budget? Checking the ram installed is not too hard, just download CPU-Z, it will tell you the chipset, cpu and ram installed and what the current timings are set at.

You are sticking with onboard sound I see? I would strongly recommend you get a soundcard (Creative X-FI I suggested earlier) because if its movies you want, this will have a bigger impact than the graphics card and ram options put together... you keep saying you want the best quality for movies and I'm telling you, sound is just as important as a gfx card (in fact more so) - it is something you will notice more than a cheap gfx card, poor sound will spoil the whole experience.

Other thing I'd question is the output of the PSU. 500W isn't alot, it will do for what you have but if you add more, I would expect problems.

GoofyGAT

Ashok, I've been doing some thinking....

You're not a hardcore gamer but more of a movie buff, so let's tailor your spec more to meet this need.

Going back to my very first post in this thread, & the Dell Dimension 9200 - it's £705 now btw. Add a few bits to this & you could save a lot over the eBay PC+monitor:

- Take the Dell 500Gb upgrade +£24
- Add 2Gb RAM separately +£52 (this gets you up to your original 4Gb spec)
- Add another DVD-RW drive separately +£20
- Add the Creative X-Fi separately +£30
- 4.5% Quidco -£27 (4.5% of £600)

Grand total = £804 - can you believe it!

In other words, you'll be getting more or less the same eBay+monitor spec for £300+ less! Save this for later upgrades.

OK some of the components are lower in quality/spec - most noteably the CPU, GPU & case+PSU, but you'll hardly tell the difference in most tasks except games possibly.

Of course, some are higher quality/spec too - you're doubling the RAM, getting a quality 22" Dell monitor (instead of a mere 20") & a system that more suit your needs. The 8600GTS (value of £111) is better for movies that the 8800s & will not be that much of a slouch for games (except possibly the latest DX10 ones).

Get a relative/friend to buy it for you using their credit card & repay them using PayPal (+£30 fee?). Or better still, if possible withdraw your PP balance to your bank account & pay with your credit card saving £30. G

Ashok_2

Thanks for that, but well paying by PayPal is essential for me, I won't bother explaining why unless you really want me to (nothing illegal). But anyway with that Dell system as soon as you addon a warranty the price rockets up and it basically costs the same if not more.

With this I get long warranties with parts so protected for a while.

I've had 2 Dell PCs in the past and each time I've really needed the warranties.. Had several hardware problems, a lot after the first year.

Ashok_2

Okay for the PSU, I had already upgraded it to the 650W anyway.

RAM is what is confusing me.. The person making the PC is telling me the basic Corsair 667MHz is fine, but others are saying more. I don't know if it matters whether I go for Corsair or another make like OCZ. Right now I will have to go for 2GB to stick with budget, but in a year or so I'll most likely upgrade to 4GB, if not more.

Current RAM he's put in is 2xEbuyer 1GB DDR2 800MHz PC2-6400 240pin Extra Value Ram . Open to recommendations on that (ebuyer links please). I'm willing to spend up to about £80ish but only if it is going to make a performance difference and you think it's worth it. The person building also said this to me:

you seriously should leave RAM alone when speeds go up, timings loosen. There is alot more to ram than speed or capacity and the performance gain and loss of the more expensive stuff literally cancels itself out.

The motherboard is MSI P35 Neo-F (I took your advice GoofyGat, and changed back to this), others (including GoofyGat said I wouldn't notice the difference between onboard sound and another card?!)

If I take your advice and get a new sound card, will a Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Soundcard that costs £30 really be any good?