getting a new pc

joe123

Im getting a new pc decided id leave putting one together myself untill another time. But i want a really good pc that would easily handle the upcoming games as ill be using it mostly for gaming half life 2, total war that sort of thing.

So does anyone know any good deals going on out there, is pcworld or a store like that the best place to go? Compaq, HP or what company? Should i get of Dell?

Any advice would be great thanks.

ARGINITE

If you dont want to build one yourself than dell is a good option, look at the Dimension XPS Gen 5.
You should look at alienware as well.
I would stay away from pcworld or a store like that.

joe123

Thanks. What price should I be looking at?

K.O.Kiki

joe123 wrote:

Thanks. What price should I be looking at?

How much you got?

I would strongly recommend customizing an AMD64 rig here on Komplett, or somewhere else, as AMD CPUs are better for gaming (Dell only do Intel ¬_¬ ).
And post your chosen specs for recommendations/changes

Ri_Nollaig

alienware are expensive but the quality is amazing and any problems u will get fix and fast
also there wouldnt b much difference between an highend dell xps and a alienware...

K.O.Kiki

Ri_Nollaig wrote:

alienware are expensive but the quality is amazing and any problems u will get fix and fast

I'm hoping you're not implying that the PC is guaranteed to break down...

Ri_Nollaig wrote:

also there wouldnt b much difference between an highend dell xps and a alienware...

Yes there would be. Although it's hard to get totally similar specs, a Dell system works out approx €200 cheaper than a similar Alienware.
Of course, those are Intel systems; gamers should go with AMD.

Really Joe, you should build your own PC though. It will make tweaking it for performance easier & more fun (cos you know what components it has); and you can then pick your EXACT spec.

axel90

ignore dell xps guy, alienware makes more sense but you'll be paying out your **** get on komplett and buy yourself an fx-55 or 56 or just a nice sized 64bit eg 4000+ Don't get an intel chip after all these are the people who were advertising p4 with ht technology (hyper threading) a feature which you'll find as standard on most if not all athlon64, and they don't brag bout it.
Really stay away from dell, the amount of complaints I hear on a daily basis is unreal.

steveland?

Building a computer really is ridiculously easy... I'd barely ever even opened a PC before but I got mine put together first try... hardest part you'll come accross is hooking the case buttons to the motherboard but the manual for the mobo/case should clear that up no bother...

Some of the bundle deals on Komplett are really good and definitly go for an AMD if you're gaming

Kare Bear

Stay well away from alienware there really overpriced.They just charge a lot more because of the brand name.

HungryJoey

A m8 of mine just got one built on Komplett, Got a sweet 3200+ System Built for not too much, A few over 1000. Great system it is, Good quality component's.

Hj

Ri_Nollaig

u can save anywhere up to a 1000eur by doing a selfbuild over buying off of dell or alienware
but if dont want to do a selfbuild then i personaly think alienware are good, heard alot of horror stories about dell

Johnny Storm

joe123, if your interested in building a pc yourself, I found the build-it guides at extremetech to be a good place to start. There are similar ones at anandtech and many other sites. They are a bit US-centric but IMHO still very useful

joe123

Well i was planning on putting one together myself but was put of the idea at the thought of messing it up and costing me alot in the process...ive never opened a pc before and I only have one so i cant really test myself out....

Would it be to hard for someone who is a bit of a novice really?

I dont really know anything about AMD all I can understand is intel specs ( ya see i am a novice ) What is a good amd processor etc like 3.6ghz with intel would be really good but whats the deal with amds 3000+ 1.8ghz sort of thing?

Endurance Man

Well i was planning on putting one together myself but was put of the idea at the thought of messing it up and costing me alot in the process...ive never opened a pc before and I only have one so i cant really test myself out....

Would it be to hard for someone who is a bit of a novice really?

I dont really know anything about AMD all I can understand is intel specs ( ya see i am a novice ) What is a good amd processor etc like 3.6ghz with intel would be really good but whats the deal with amds 3000+ 1.8ghz sort of thing?

I was a junior the first time i got a pc. Over the years i have taught myself everything i no . An idea would be to get hold of a really old crappy hunk of junk, sumting that sum1 is throwing away. Then just pop open the hood and dismantel everything. It will give u a good idea on where everything goes. Things have not changed that much, they have just gotten smaller .
Really is simple, like lego, unless u use extreme force those pieces can only go in 1 way .
Another option would be to just pick out all your pieces, and have komplett put it together for you . Much better than going to Alienware of something similar.

Johnny Storm

joe123 wrote:

Well i was planning on putting one together myself but was put of the idea at the thought of messing it up and costing me alot in the process...ive never opened a pc before and I only have one so i cant really test myself out....

Would it be to hard for someone who is a bit of a novice really?

I dont really know anything about AMD all I can understand is intel specs ( ya see i am a novice ) What is a good amd processor etc like 3.6ghz with intel would be really good but whats the deal with amds 3000+ 1.8ghz sort of thing?

I built one last year for the first time. NO problem. If you can read and can use a screw-driver then you can build a computer. The components essentially go together in a fool-proof way. EDITas per Endurance Man's post above
Read a few how-to-build-it guides on the internet. AMD have videos on their website on how to install their CPUs
As regards what's a good processor as so on, I have not been keeping in touch. If I was you I would look at some of the guides on extremetech etc and see what suits your needs - ie bang-for-the-buck PC, ultimate gaming PC etc and then buy the parts from Komplett.ie or similar. I found I could get all the components I was interested in from Irish suppliers except for the cases where the range is more limited.
Once you have decided what you are going to buy, list the components on here and people will give you lots of advice (much of it good )

K.O.Kiki

joe123 wrote:

I dont really know anything about AMD all I can understand is intel specs ( ya see i am a novice ) What is a good amd processor etc like 3.6ghz with intel would be really good but whats the deal with amds 3000+ 1.8ghz sort of thing?

Without going all techy, AMD's processors can calculate better than Intel's @ the same frequency because of the way they're built. Their "performance rating" (?) system was devised back in the early days, when AMD's chips performed as well as Intel chips of higher frequencies.
Anyway, an Athlon 3000+ is superior to an Intel 3.0Ghz, and even a 3.2Ghz, due to superior engineering. It'll also run quieter (less speed=less heat=less cooling needed).

Think of it like the difference between a 3-litre petrol engine from a few years ago, and a modern 2-litre diesel. While old prejudices would dictate that the petrol is a surefire bet, the diesel will outperform it in every test that matters, and give you better fuel consumption & lower noise every day :cool:

As for which to get, checking Komplett:

• Basic: Athlon 64 3000+ €158
• Intermediate: Athlon64 3700+ €280
• Tops: Athlon64 4000+ €395

Always make sure it's Socket 939, not 754.

Of course, budget will determine what you buy :rolleyes: ; and dual-core X2's possibly shouldn't be used in a pure gaming rig.

Mr. CooL ICE

Joe123, look at my sig for the specs of the pc i built last week. Years ago, when i was big into messing around with PCs (5 years and back), i could have designed a kickass pc if i had the money, but i tuned out and when i started pricing PCs, i knew nothing. But after asking friends (asking people in this forum will do) my knowledge skyrocketed again.

Basic guides:
Get an AMD 64 (socket 939). Whether you get a 3000+, 3500+ etc, is up to you. With that processor, get a socket 939 motherboard, which also has PCI-Express (not same as PCI). With that motherboard, get DDR RAM (not DDR2), and get at least 1024Mb of it, and make sure its PC3200. And make sure your case has at least a 350W PSU, nothing lower. Mine is 400W.

Intermediate guide:
A good option for expandability is to get a motherboard with two PCI-E slots. This basically means that you can use 2 graphics card in whats known as SLI-mode for almost twice the graphics processing power. Motherboards with the nVidia nForce4 chipset support this. Support for SATA2 drives is also handy, but not essential. A Radeon X800 based graphics card isnt the fastest out there, but is good value for money at the moment. But these graphics cards will not run in SLI mode.

I just did a quick run through komplett, and i came up with this:
Asus A8N-E €102
AMD 64 1.8GHz Socket 939, 512KB, BOXED w/fan €158
Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 DDR-DIMM 1024MB €145
Western Digital Caviar 200GB IDE €92
Club3D Radeon X800RX 256MB €189
NEC DVD recorder ND-3540A IDE Black OEM €47
- And these internals will cost you €732 (+€10 p&p)

You could also get these:
Antec SLK1650B Miditower, Black w/350W PSU €79
Creative Wireless mouse and keyboard €56
Samsung 17" CRT Syncmaster 793S TCO99 Monitor €99
- And these at €234 if you dont have old ones lying around the place.

All in all, that would be a gaming system perfectly capable of playing Half Life 2, FarCry and Doom3 at high resolutions, all for just under a grand. As for putting it all together, like someone said, ask people on this forum or friends with knowledge. It really isnt that difficult.

K.O.Kiki

Since when has there been an x800RX?
And why does the marketing bull advertise Shader Model 3.0 (when we all know ATi's current cards only go up to SM2.0!)??

Weird...

Failing the BS, the x800GT has similar specs. Either an x800GT 256mb DDR3 or nVidia GeForce 6600GT 128mb DDR3 will do most people.

LordChessington wrote:

A good option for expandability is to get a motherboard with two PCI-E slots. This basically means that you can use 2 graphics card in whats known as SLI-mode for almost twice the graphics processing power. Motherboards with the nVidia nForce4 chipset support this. Support for SATA2 drives is also handy, but not essential. A Radeon X800 based graphics card isnt the fastest out there, but is good value for money at the moment. But these graphics cards will not run in SLI mode.

IMHO, SLI (nVidia) / CrossFire (ATi) will never be needed by the average gamer.
And you could have maybe stated more clearly that only nVidia GeForce 6-&7-series cards can run in SLI.

And the X800 is way fast. Gigabyte's passively cooled x800 runs OC'd @450core/980memory clocks, AFAIK. Better than a GeForce 6800.

joe123

Ok ive gone along the line of what you put together on komplett which was under a grand but I can afford a little more so ive changed a few things but you can all feel free to tell me whats good and whats not or what i should switch etc...ANY oppinions would be great thanks.

Western Digital Caviar 200GBIDE ATA/100 8MB 7200RPM
Samsung 17" LCD Syncmaster 710V TCO99Monitor, Silver, 16ms
Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 DDR-DIMM 1024MBKit w/two matched CMX512-3200C2 DIMMs
Creative Desktop Wireless 8000, USBUSB, Keyboard/mouse, Retail
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz Socket 939,512KB, BOXED w/fan
Asus A8N-E, nForce4 Ultra, Socket-939,ATX, S-ATA, GbLAN, Sound, PCI-Ex16
NEC DVD recorder ND-3540A IDE Black OEM
Antec Sonata II Miditower, Blackw/450W PSU
Club3D Radeon X800RX 256MB GDDR3PCI-Express, Dual-DVI-I, Tv-Out, Retail

Its all from komplett for €1245. What do ye think??

btw would i be able to install my friends windows on the pc even though he got it from dell and it says on the disc for dell pcs only?? And what does ext. price mean on komplett as windows is down as 89 euros but then under ext.price it says 179???

Mr. CooL ICE

It should all work perfectly. I better tell you, i dont know much about the X800RX, so if you can afford a little more, maybe go up to a X800XL based card, or even an X850, you would be playing it safer.

Btw, go to the Shop->Interaction->Komplett and start up a thread with those specs, and McKomplett will confirm for definite that everything will work together.

And as for windows... Thats piracy! Dont talk about it

BopNiblets

LordChessington wrote:

With that motherboard, get DDR RAM (not DDR2)

Why's that?
Isn't DDR2 faster? I never bothered to read about it since my MSI Neo2 Plat only has DDR...

Mr. CooL ICE

Not necessarily. Its a compatibility issue, not speed.

Im not 100% sure, but i dont think a motherboard exists (yet) that is socket 939 and supports DDR2.

joe123

I was looking at this graphics card and its down as 315 euros but when i add it to the cart it doubles in price even though i change the quantity to 1 it still stays at 630 euros....and what does EXT.price stand for on Komplett???

PowerColor Radeon X850PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express, ViVo/DVI, HDTV, Retail

btw where is this shop interaction thing on komplett i cant find it...

DemonOfTheFall

I think youre better off with an X800XL than an X850 pro there joe. Same price afaik but i think the xl is a little better with AA and AF

joe123

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

I think youre better off with an X800XL than an X850 pro there joe. Same price afaik but i think the xl is a little better with AA and AF

Ok thanks. I typed in x800xl on komplett and it has listed a few options, I dont really want to go over 320 on the card so im not sure which one to pick. Whats the difference in the sapphire type and the powercolor etc??

I have changed some things and i have dropped the monitor for now. If any of you have any oppinions or advice it would be great thanks. And i still cant find this shop>interaction thing on komplett as it would be a good idea to make sure all this stuff is compatible before i get it :rolleyes:

CNET Modem 56k V90/92 Internal PCIwith voice/fax
Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 DDR-DIMM 1024MBKit w/two matched CMX512-3200C2 DIMMs
Sony Floppy Drive, 3,5" 1,44MB SilverFloppy Drive Internal
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 250GB SATA8MB 7200RPM NCQ
Creative Desktop Wireless 8000, USBUSB, Keyboard/mouse, Retail
Sapphire Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3PCI-Express,Tv-Out, DVI-I, Full-Retail
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz Socket 939,512KB, BOXED w/fan
Asus A8N-E, nForce4 Ultra, Socket-939,ATX, S-ATA, GbLAN, Sound, PCI-Ex16
NEC DVD recorder ND-3540A IDE Black OEM
Antec Sonata II Miditower, Blackw/450W PSU