Building/Buying new PC

seanspokes

Hi everyone.
I'm hoping to build or buy a new computer by Christmas, or slightly after, and I am looking for some advice.


Firstly:
I'm hoping to get a 768mb GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card. Some people I've spoken to think I shouldn't, as it was hastily made to make use of DirectX10 as early as possible. Does anyone recommend this card? In terms of value for money, raw power etc. I'd be using it on a 19 inch screen initially, but may buy a larger one later.


Secondly:
I would like 2 or 4 Gb RAM, but I really want to steer clear of Vista for the time being. How easy is it to get a copy of XP64? I'm fairly sure the standard 32-bit version of XP can't handle 4 gigs.
The games that are only out for vista are not a problem, as I think there are work-arounds out for most of them.

Finally:
To buy or to build? I've priced a system from pcspecialist.co.uk at £1000 delivered. Thats with:
AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 6000+ (3.0GHz) 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (Socket AM2)
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
ASUS® M2N-E SLI: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, 2 x PCI-Ex, 2 x PCI
250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
WINDOWS® XP Home (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£59)
768MB GEFORCE 8800GTX PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer + Lightscribe (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE with 7.1 Surround Sound: £15
800W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£119)
Stylish Black Aluminium Trigon Case + 2 Front/Side USB

The total comes to £965, probably a bit more after delivery to Ireland is added on.

Is that a good deal? Or would I be better off buying the components separately and piecing it together myself? I'm about to start a computing course so I'd be able to get hands-on help from the teacher, so building shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for any help with the decision.

Mountjoy Mugger

No point in getting a DX10 card if you're just using XP as it's not supported. Only Vista supports it, as things stand right now with MS. I think a GTX is overkill on a 19" monitor. Something like a 640GTS or even a 320GTS should do you nicely.

Wrt 64bit Vista, you can get it off Komplett. 32-bit Vista can handle up to 3.2GB of memory.

8T8

Yup GTX is overkill on 19" get an 8800GTS 640 and your sorted.

However if it's at the end of the year by the time you are ordering this then NVIDIA are supposedly bringing out a refresh so you may get more bang per buck as the rumor is the G92 part will give GTX performance at GTS prices.

XP 64-bit is a dead end don't waste your time with it.

2GB is more than enough for average user, if you really want 4GB RAM then 64-bit Vista is the way to go (you'd be surprised in that it works reasonably well).

800W PSU is overkill just not needed get a good quality and quiet PSU from Seasonic like a M12 600W instead.

seanspokes

Is the 8800 GTX only for DX10? I thought it could handle both.
And I'd be sorely tempted to buy a larger screen around eastertime, so I'd end up making use out of it.

I really dont want to touch vista for a while, I've heard awful stories of old classic games being unable to run and all that. Even some not-so-old games.

seanspokes

8T8 wrote:

800W PSU is overkill just not needed get a good quality and quiet PSU from Seasonic like a M12 600W instead.

The 800W PSU was future-proofing for a two card configuration at a later date.

WellyJ

8T8 wrote:

Yup GTX is overkill on 19" get an 8800GTS 640 and your sorted.

However if it's at the end of the year by the time you are ordering this then NVIDIA are supposedly bringing out a refresh so you may get more bang per buck as the rumor is the G92 part will give GTX performance at GTS prices.

XP 64-bit is a dead end don't waste your time with it.

2GB is more than enough for average user, if you really want 4GB RAM then 64-bit Vista is the way to go (you'd be surprised in that it works reasonably well).

800W PSU is overkill just not needed get a good quality and quiet PSU from Seasonic like a M12 600W instead.

What is with people buying graphics cards based on the size of their monitor?

This makes very little sense,

What resolution does your 19" monitor display?

If you can do 1920x1200 then go ahead with the 8800GTX. Fantastic card.

And also, XP64 is a great operating system to use right now.

Very stable, good support, I have yet to find a component (that I use anyway) that doesnt have drivers for it.

It will allow the full use of you 4GB of ram if that's what you choose to get.

It is far from "dead".

I dual boot with it and 32 bit Vista and the only time I use Vista is for DX10 (Rarely)

seanspokes

Well at the minute 1280x1024 is the max, but I'll be getting about €400 a month more than I need for the next year at least so a new screen isn't unlikely.

WellyJ

Well I still say go with the 8800GTX then,

Then after that you can move to a 24" widescreen or something and really see what it can do.

seanspokes

How is Vista for gaming?

8T8

WellyJ wrote:

What is with people buying graphics cards based on the size of their monitor?

This makes very little sense,

What resolution does your 19" monitor display?

If you can do 1920x1200 then go ahead with the 8800GTX.

Because at the low end (19" or lower) monitor resolutions sizes will rarely ever be higher than 1280x1024 or 1440x900 and at that resolution a 8800GTX and 8800GTS perform the same with or without AA/AF.

If you go higher than that in resolution then the GTX will make a difference as it pulls away, the only major benefit for getting the GTX and running at such a low resolution is that you can use more exotic levels of AA like 8x or 12x or hold onto the card till you get a higher resolution display.

How is Vista for gaming?

For the most part fine now no major problems & most of the kinks have been worked out.

seanspokes

Im intending to keep this computer for a few years, so surely going a little overkill now will result in a longer service life from the computer?

WellyJ

seanspokes wrote:

Im intending to keep this computer for a few years, so surely going a little overkill now will result in a longer service life from the computer?

It absolutely will yes,

However you should be wary about the 8800 series because apparently DirectX 10 is as far as it is going to support.

DX 10.1 is going to need a whole new GPU.

Anti

Oh noes, not another excuse to upgrade

seanspokes

WellyJ wrote:

DX 10.1 is going to need a whole new GPU.

Well which would be the most advisable graphics card to get this side of christmas? Budget is around €300-€400. I'm hoping to spend around €1500 on the computer.

Anti

seanspokes wrote:

Well which would be the most advisable graphics card to get this side of christmas? Budget is around €300-€400. I'm hoping to spend around €1500 on the computer.

keep your money till after xmas, you will get a quad core AMD/INTEL with cro..missfire/SLI with 4gb of ram.

seanspokes

Do computer component prices really drop that much after the holidays?

Anti

Yep, there are price drops 4 times a year, one every 3 months, although the big drops are around june, and just after xmas

seanspokes

Anti wrote:

Yep, there are price drops 4 times a year, one every 3 months, although the big drops are around june, and just after xmas

Big price drops? How much could a €1100 system hope to drop by?

Anti

maybe 100-200€ as the cpu and gpu will deffo drop, same with motherboards. But all it takes is one fire or a earthquake in tiawan and ram prices skyrocket.