New PC - recommendations

DuncanMiller

Hi all,

My current PC is getting a bit old and long in the tooth - I have upgraded several components over time (HD / RAM / dvd writer / capture cards etc...) to get it to do what I want but I think the time is coming to replace the whole thing.


I have built pcs in the past so not adverse to doing this again but I have also noticed the price of pre-built pcs are coming down so it might be more cost effective to go that way? I'm not a big lover of dell and especially not PC World!

Currently have an Athlon XP 2600+ with 128 Radeon AGP graphics card and 2GB RAM and its starting to feel old (even after recent reinstall)


Main wants/needs of a new PC apart from your general office apps and internet are:

• Capturing and editing video from a DV camera (have pci firewire card already)
• Video conversion from various formats to MPEG2 for DVD
• Quiet runnning if poss (current one makes a racket)
• Large Harddisk - not sure what current specs are good
• Decent quality / flexible case for opening/adding new drives or cards - I dont' like having to fiddle around in the case for hourse because of bad design.
• A few expansion slots i.e. to accommodate the fireware etc..
• Games not so important as I never have time but would be nice if it can hold its own (possible future upgrade capacity as well?)
• Possible dedicate video hardrive
• Plenty of USB ports - I had to buy an expansion card for the current machine
• Guessing it will need a good power supply but not sure what is good anymore
• Good DVD writer
• Probably will use this as an excuse to move to vista home premium

Overall I'd say I reckon I am looking at a mid speced machine but have no idea what represents good value for money any more.

Thoughts and advice will be much appreciated.

Duncan

jswaminathanuk

Try this not sure if it will meet all ur req but it is a good spec and a good value for money

DuncanMiller wrote: »

Hi all,

My current PC is getting a bit old and long in the tooth - I have upgraded several components over time (HD / RAM / dvd writer / capture cards etc...) to get it to do what I want but I think the time is coming to replace the whole thing.


I have built pcs in the past so not adverse to doing this again but I have also noticed the price of pre-built pcs are coming down so it might be more cost effective to go that way? I'm not a big lover of dell and especially not PC World!

Currently have an Athlon XP 2600+ with 128 Radeon AGP graphics card and 2GB RAM and its starting to feel old (even after recent reinstall)


Main wants/needs of a new PC apart from your general office apps and internet are:

• Capturing and editing video from a DV camera (have pci firewire card already)
• Video conversion from various formats to MPEG2 for DVD
• Quiet runnning if poss (current one makes a racket)
• Large Harddisk - not sure what current specs are good
• Decent quality / flexible case for opening/adding new drives or cards - I dont' like having to fiddle around in the case for hourse because of bad design.
• A few expansion slots i.e. to accommodate the fireware etc..
• Games not so important as I never have time but would be nice if it can hold its own (possible future upgrade capacity as well?)
• Possible dedicate video hardrive
• Plenty of USB ports - I had to buy an expansion card for the current machine
• Guessing it will need a good power supply but not sure what is good anymore
• Good DVD writer
• Probably will use this as an excuse to move to vista home premium

Overall I'd say I reckon I am looking at a mid speced machine but have no idea what represents good value for money any more.

Thoughts and advice will be much appreciated.

Duncan

DuncanMiller

Thanks for your post - unfortunately I can't see the link though

As an addition the above I did recently buy a new Western Digital 260GB hard drive but it is IDE not SATA - can these still be used in newr machines?

BillScarab

I bought a new machine in Jan from komplett. They allow you to spec what you want from a selection of parts so you don't just get a bog standard box, you can spend the money on the bits that are important to you.

Very nice it is too and not too expensive. Personally I'd recommend a core 2 duo processor or core 2 quad if you're flush. I'd always preferred Athlon processors before but the core 2 processors are superb.


If you started with their Intel Gamer and then altered the spec to get what you want you should get a good machine. Getting a system for £667 with Core 2 Quad is pretty good (although that is just the tower, no monitor etc.)

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/cc.aspx?bn=10306


Most modern motherboards still come with an IDE connector as most optical drives are still IDE. They usually only have one though. I know you can get adaptors to fit SATA drives to IDE connectors, not sure about the other way round though.

DuncanMiller

Thanks BillScarab,

Having a look through there now and its very customisable

Can anyone give any recommendations on specific components to look out for and what processors / motherboards offer good value/speed for their money? As I said its been a while since I looked at any of this stuff its all changed so much I barely notice any of the models etc...

BillScarab

My motherboard is a gigabyte one with the intel 965 chipset, however the latest intel chipset is the P35 which supports the latest FSB speeds and also supports DDR2 and DDR3 memory so I would look for one of those.

The core 2 processors are very overclockable, if you're into that sort of thing. I've got the cheapest C2D, the E4300, currently it's only overclocked by about 11% but if you google you'll find people who have overclocked them by 80% using air cooling.

Your best bet is to look at sites like tomshardware, legionhardware and anandtech for reviews on specific components.

For quietness look for large 12 cm case fans, they're quieter than the smaller ones. Maybe look for a passively cooled Video card if you're not into games.

Tomshardware have a montly roundup of the best graphics cards at various price points so that may help. They also have charts showing the relative performance of the cards and also CPUs.

DuncanMiller

Thanks and your comments fully taken on board!

Will check out tomshardware as well

DuncanMiller

Right I have had a good read up and compiled the following PC Spec which I think will suit me and my needs:

• Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo - E6750 - £119
• Motherboard - Gigabyte - GA P35 DS3 - £92
• Video Card - ATI Sapphire X1950 - £90
• Case - Antec P180 - £70
• RAM - Corsair - 2x 1GB DDR2 PC 6400 800mhz - £70
• Hard Drive - Western Digital - WD5000 (500GB SATAII) - £64
• DVD Writer - Samsung - SH-S183 Sata DVD 18x - £18
• OS - Windows Vista Premium OEM - £71
• Power - no idea what i need!?!

Total = £601 + power supply

Some of the above components i.e. Case I have taken from other recommendations but I don't know if I have gone overkill on anything - I think I can get a cheaper motherboard but not sure which ones do the 1333 bus needed for the processor.

Can anyone recommend a power supply which will work well with all the above and not sound like a jet taking off? Really confused on this point!

Any comments or recommendation to get a similar spec cheaper than this would be greatly appreciated! Also if any of the components "let the side" down that would be handy to know!

Cheers

D