3000 Euro!! Is this Going Overboard?

Marky Mark

Hi Guys,

I'm kinda average on the PC side of things, and everyone here seems to know quite alot. I am thinking of getting a really powerful PC for games, memory hungry apps ... , found this one but is it a bit overkill !! I mean thats alot of money. Any advice?(Evolution)

koneko

I wouldn't pay that much for that system, but to each his own.

If you're up for building your own (with guides from the web, or help from people here) Komplett do some great packages that include most of the parts you need.

I know the prices on AMD CPUs have gone up, but this seems a little steep indeed!

Also for that price, you'd want a Radeon 9700Pro, not a 9500.

halfab

Why not go for Alienware
http://www.alienware.co.uk/gaming_main.aspx
Select Ireland in the drop down menu (on the right)


I dont think it includes monitor
Price: €2,888 inc VAT and delivery

If you have that kinda money to spend why not get the best

koneko

Actually I have to admit, even though Alienware rigs have a reputation for being pricey, they do tend to include little extras, like better fans, better cooling on the graphics (and supply them overclocked?). Voodoo rigs are meant to be better, but also very very pricey.

By the way, who are Elara (ie) anyways? I haven't heard of them before, has anyone bought a system from them before?

Marky Mark

Yea the alienware one is pretty cool, whats the diff between DDR and RDRAM? Ehich would be faster? when I pick the same components alienware, they are come up to around the same price but I suppose alienware give you a choice

Never heard of Elara either, thay came up when I searched for Shuttle XPC in google.ie

PiE

Ye, I was gonna say if you've got 3 grand to blow... blow it on an AW rig.

That Elara one looks good, but not €3000-good.

CivilServant

whats the diff between DDR and RDRAM?

DDR is Double Data Ram and RD is RamBus (I just remembered). RDRAM is a good bit more expensive than DDR ram depening on which type you get. I haven't master what RAM is all about yet. There's stats like CAS timings, all sorts of different timings to get max performance.

€3000 euro is way tooooo much to spend on that elara system. I suggest building a pc for yourself or getting a geeky friend to help you out. You'll probably save yourself €1000 if you know what to buy and where to buy. But if you have money to burn then ready made systems are fine. Like Koneko said to each his own.

halfab

Without going into too much detail, here is a graph using Sisoft Sandra comparing memory performance from PC133 SDRAM to DDR and RDRAM.
The top is graph is showing PC3200 DDR memory (still cheaper than PC800)

This graph as always is only a guide. How PCs perform depends on more than just memory speed.

marauder

Build if you can. Its WAY cheaper, its more fun and if you buy good quality components you can reuse them when you upgrade in the future.
For example ...if you are going Intel then an 845PE board can support HyperThreading, Serial ATA etc . Even if you dont get a HT processor or a serial ATA drive now you will have the option in the future.....

Marky Mark

Yeah, after a bit of thought, maybe 3000 is too much, could almost get a cheap car with that
Maybe I should send this thread to the guys in Elara and they might drop the price Give them a bit of competition with AW
I'm going to check around for the parts and see how much I could save building it myself.....

steve-hosting36

Wow - for 3200 euro you could get this:

Dual Intel Xeon Power Workstation CoolerMaster ATC-201 Mini Tower
CoolerMaster 420W Silent PSU
Asustek PR-DLSW Motherboard
2 x Intel Xeon 2GHz 512K L2 400MHz FSB
2 x 256Mb DDR RAM ECC REG
1 x Western Digital 200GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache
On Board 10/100
Philips DVDRW228K DVD & Internal CD Re-writer
3.5" 1.44Mb Standard Floppy Drive
ATI Radeon 9700 128Mb Dual Monitor
1 x Iiyama 19" FST VM 1451 (LS902UT)
Logitech Internet Deluxe Keyboard
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical
Windows XP Home Ed. OEM
2 Year on site Corporate

As you can see, thats a dual Xeon box with 200Gb hd, dvd cd rewriter, 19" monitor, etc, etc.

Check out www.encom.ie for above

HTH, #
Stephen

Marky Mark

Just tried out the encom site, and i couldn't get that price then i realized that you meant 3200 ex VAT, the Evolution and AW are includng VAT.

Still trying to match the price by building it myself, it would br possible if i get everything from pricewatch but I know the delivery is going to slaughter me.:(

steve-hosting36

Good point:

1600 (inc VAT) gets you

Mini Tower ATX Case 230W PSU
Intel P4 D845WN with audio (No LAN)
Intel Pentium 4 2.53GHz 512k Cache CPU
2 x 512Mb PC133 SDRAM
1 x IBM 120Gb 7200RPM ATA 100 HDD
LG 4120B CD-RW / DVD Internal
3.5" 1.44Mb Standard Floppy Drive
ATI Radeon 7500 64MB Dual Monitor
Iiyama 19" FST VM 1451 (LS902UT)
Logitech Deluxe Keyboard
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Windows XP Home Ed. OEM

And 2400 (inc VAT) buys you

CoolerMaster ATC-201 Mini Tower
CoolerMaster 420W Silent PSU
Coolermaster AMD Silent CPU Fan
Asus A7N8X DeLuxe M'board
AMD XP 2200 1.8GHz + Fan
1 x 512Mb DDR RAM
1 x Western Digital 200GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache
Dual on-board 10/100 NIC
CD ROM 52 Speed LG
LG 4120B CD-RW / DVD Internal
3.5" 1.44Mb Standard Floppy Drive
ATI Radeon 9700 128Mb Dual Monitor
1 x Iiyama 19" FST VM 1451 (LS902UT)
Logitech Internet Deluxe Keyboard
Microsoft Mouse Ver 2.0


HTH, Steve

Marky Mark

wow, thats a 800 Euro saving could buy another computer with that. wonder why there is such a diff?, are the parts that much different?

CoolerMaster ATC-201 Mini Tower vs Antec PLUSVIEW 1000AMG Tower Case
CoolerMaster 420W Silent PSU vs Antec True Blue 480W PGB 12V AC 480W ATX with BLUE LED Fan
Asus A7N8X DeLuxe M'board vs Soyo KT400 DRAGON Ultra Platinum
AMD XP 2200 1.8GHz + Fan vs AMD Athlon™ XP Processor 2700+
1 x 512Mb DDR RAM vs OCZ PC-3500 EL DDR 512Mb 433Mhz CL2 Copper Heatspreader 1T
1 x Western Digital 200GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache vs Western Digital Caviar SE Hard Disk Drive 120Gb EIDE 8.9ms 7200rpm 8mb cache
LG 4120B CD-RW / DVD Internal vs Lite On 48 x 12 x 48 IDE CD-RW Internal+LG 16X DVD
ATI Radeon 9700 128Mb Dual Monitor vs ATI Radeon 9500 Pro 128 Mb DDR + DVI + TV 275 Mhz DDR 270 Mhz DVI-I
1 x Iiyama 19" FST VM 1451 (LS902UT) vs LG F900P 19" Monitor 18” VIS, 110KHz, Res.1600 x 1200@85Hz, TCO99, 15 Pin D-Sub&5BNC, USB hub.
Logitech Internet Deluxe Keyboard +Microsoft Mouse Ver 2.0 vs Logitech Cordless Desktop Optical

The one on the left is 800 euro cheaper!! but the one on the right also includes
Creative Inspire 5100 5.1 Black
Windows XP Pro
Sound Blaster® Audigy™ 2 Platinum
US Robotics V.92 56K internal PCI modem

Any comments guys?

steve-hosting36

To match them up a bit more closely then:

Win XP Pro - Add €150
Creative Labs 5300 Surround - add €75
USrobotics Modem - add €69
The encom motherboard has onboard 6 channel surround sound.

Bringing the price to about 2700, and you are still getting some better features.

Celt

AMD Athlon XP2700+ 2.2 GHz 333 MHz bus
GlobalWin CPU-Fan Socket A/7/370/FCPGA
EKL case fan 80x80x25mm * 2
Chieftec Dragon Aluminium, Tower
Crucial ATI Radeon 9700PRO 128MB DDR
Recom HDD Cable ATA100 "Round" 90cm * 2
Maxtor IDE ATA-133 80GB 7200RPM
Maxtor IDE ATA-133 120GB 7200RPM
Asus A7N8X Deluxe/GD mainboard Socket A
Corsair XMS3500 DDR-DIMM 512MB PC3200
Enermax PSU ATX 450W (P-4)
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum
Microsoft Intelli Mouse Explorer v. 3.0
Trust Internet Keyboard PS/2
Hansol 19" CRT 920D TCO-99 FLAT
Asus CD-brenner IDE 52x/24x/52x
Asus DVD drive IDE 16x/48x (DVD-E616)
Microsoft Windows XP Professional +

Total: 3 111,80 inc vat
DHL Over Night (Estimated Delivery: 2 days) EUR 109,22 inc. VAT

www.komplett.ie

Marky Mark

If I sent the spec's to Komplett, Elara, encom and AW, would they give me a quote for them or do they only deal with companies?

That way i can get an exact pricing including delivery and VAT .......
Any Other places I can try?

By the way thanks to everone for all the advice

steve-hosting36

Talk to George at www.encom.ie, tell him Stephen sent you and he'll beat any price

Marky Mark

Thanks steve!, I have decided on the following specs, kind of a mixture from all the PCs Going to email the companies now. Will give you the results in the next few days!

Antec PLUSVIEW 1000AMG Tower Case
PSU/True Blue 480 PGB 12V AC 480W ATX with BLUE LED Fan
Soyo KT400 DRAGON Ultra Platinum
AMD Athlon™ XP Processor 2700+
OCZ PC-3500 EL DDR 512Mb 433Mhz CL2 Copper Heatspreader 1T
Asus CD-brenner IDE 52x/24x/52x
Asus DVD drive IDE 16x/48x (DVD-E616)
Sound Blaster® Audigy™ 2
Western Digital Caviar SE Hard Disk Drive 200Gb 7200rpm 8mb cache
Logitech Cordless Desktop Optical
US Robotics V.92 56K internal PCI modem
Good Quality 19" Monitor
Creative Inspire 5100 5.1
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128 Mb
Windows XP Home

leeroybrown

One very good thing I'll say looking at the encom site is that they give you a nice price on the 19" Ilyama monitors when you buy a system off them.

Lovely monitors

BigEejit

If youre looking for a mouse I might suggest the ones that Aldi sell (didn't buy one, but they looked good!)... wireless with five buttons (optical?) and a recharging cradle ... 36 of youre finest euros

[edit] Put down Lidl instead of Aldi by mistake ... [/edit]

Marky Mark

Managed to talk to the guys in Elara, supposedly they have just put the page up, told them about this thread and they actually lowered their price http://www.elara.ie/elaraevolution.asp

Amazing how user interaction can change a whole company's price policy.

Waiting on Encom and Komplett to reply, I don't think AW is going to reply. Hopefully I can get them to lower their prices too.;) Will keep you guys updated

TacT

Try these guys out, they only sell to businesses/trade only.

Marky Mark

Komplett

Upgrade Kit AMD XP2700+2.17Ghz 512mb DDR
Abit KT4 mobo, PC2700,Fan,USB 2.0
Chieftec Dragon Midi Tower (UK)
Asus DVD drive IDE 16x/48x (DVD-E616)
Asus CD recorder IDE 48x/16x/48x
Sapphire Radeon 9700PRO AIW 128MB DDR
Western Digital Caviar 120GB IDE 7200RPM Special Edition 8MB cache
Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse
Trust Numeric Keypad USB
Hansol 19" CRT 920D TCO-99 FLAT
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
CNET Modem 56k V90/92 Internal PCI
Creative Megaworks 250THX, 2.1
CNet 10/100 Mbps PCI w/Wake on Lan

Price: 2221.03

Elara

AMD XP 2700+ Processor
ASUS A7V8X KT400 SA ATX ATA 133 3XDDR
Antec PLUS660AMG
Antec True Power 330W
LG DVD drive 16x/48x
Lite-On 48X12X48 CD-RW
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128Mb DDR +DVI + TV
3.5" 1.44Mb Standard Floppy Drive
Western Digital Caviar 120GB IDE 7200RPM Special Edition 8MB cache
Logitech Cordless Desktop Optical
Iiyama 19" Monitor FST VM 1451
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
US Robotics 56k Internal FaxModem
Creative Inspire 5100 5.1
3Com 3C905C-TX Ethernet adaptor

Price: 2235.55

Encom

CoolerMaster ATC-201 Mini Tower
CoolerMaster 420W Silent PSU
Coolermaster AMD Silent CPU Fan
Asus A7N8X DeLuxe M'board
AMD XP 2700 1.8GHz + Fan
2 x 256Mb DDR RAM
1 x Western Digital 200GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache
Dual on-board 10/100 NIC
DVD ROM 16 Speed LG
LG 8400-B CD-RW Internal 24x, 10x, 40x
3.5" 1.44Mb Standard Floppy Drive
ATI Radeon 9700 128Mb Dual Monitor
1 x Iiyama 19" FST VM 1451 (LS902UT)
Logitech Cordless Desktop Optical
US Robotics 56k Internal FaxModem
Creative Labs Ins 5300 Surround S'nd
Windows XP Home Ed. OEM
2 Year on site Corporate warranty

Price: 2,567.00

Any last comments? Looks like its komplett, but it was pretty close:D i don,t know what their delivery charge is though...

Celt

Originally posted by Marky Mark
snip

The AIW(All In Wonder) komplett card is €100 more then the Elara card

pickarooney

Originally posted by BigEejit
If youre looking for a mouse I might suggest the ones that Aldi sell (didn't buy one, but they looked good!)... wireless with five buttons (optical?) and a recharging cradle ... 36 of youre finest euros

[edit] Put down Lidl instead of Aldi by mistake ... [/edit]

I bought one a few months back, and I hate the farking thing. Wireless me bollix, there's three times as many cables, it needs batteries, the autonomous range is less than a metre and it always runs out of juice at critical moments.

halfab

If it was the choice between those .. Encom is a top notch system. Everything they have chosen oozes quality.. (except for the burner 24x ?? come on now lads.. 48x liteon would go nicely there )
Good stuff.. nForce2 rules !! as well as 200G whoo hoo.. :cool:

Nice to see them all respond this way tho..

steve-hosting36

I would recommend the encom option, is the best of the three in terms of quality kit, and you get a local builder, so plenty of comeback if issues...



Steve

Celt

Encom

CoolerMaster ATC-201 Mini Tower
CoolerMaster 420W Silent PSU
Coolermaster AMD Silent CPU Fan
Asus A7N8X DeLuxe M'board
AMD XP 2700 1.8GHz + Fan
2 x 256Mb DDR RAM
1 x Western Digital 200GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache €405
Dual on-board 10/100 NIC
DVD ROM 16 Speed LG
LG 8400-B CD-RW Internal 24x, 10x, 40x
3.5" 1.44Mb Standard Floppy Drive
ATI Radeon 9700 128Mb Dual Monitor €384
1 x Iiyama 19" FST VM 1451 (LS902UT)
Logitech Cordless Desktop Optical
US Robotics 56k Internal FaxModem
Creative Labs Ins 5300 Surround S'nd
Windows XP Home Ed. OEM
2 Year on site Corporate warranty
Price
EUR 2,567.00 (excl. VAT)
EUR 3,106.07 (incl. VAT)

You can claim the vat back?
The komplett and elara are quoted inc vat I think.

Patman

I'd go for Komplett too. Of course; my view is slightly biased though...

Gerry

Have you taken delivery into account marky mark? I'm quite sure elara will be able to deliver for less than the 80+ euro it will take from komplett. The components in the elara machine look a bit better on balance, and they are an Irish company, so I think you should give them your business. Since they make the effort to get their prices in line they deserve it.

Celt

Delivery for komplett will be €150(and I was wrong, the komplett price is excl vat)

Patman

Note that the motherboard listed on Komplett's list is not necessary to include as it is already included in the upgrade kit.

Marky Mark; if you'd like to get this from Komplett; let me know and I'll give you an even better price on this.

Marky Mark

Thanks for that patman, didn't realize there was a komplett section here the motherboard there is the one included in the kit.

I think im going for the elara one though, they are upgrading me to the A7N8V and delivery is free....woohoo, and the guy was saying something about using OCZ memory, is that good? I suppose they are an Irish company as well

thanks alot for all the input guys, just saved myself 400 euro!!

Marky Mark

I know this a stupid reason but i kinda prefer the case as well:D

Patman

Well, at least now you know we're around! And congratulations on your new PC btw!

Praetorian

Id build such a mega machine with 3k

BabyEater

techseekers.net have a review of ocz memory its not bad stuff better than the generic if you want faster timings or are overclocking

Marky Mark

OK I've finally made my order with Elara, and this is what im getting

Antec PLUS660AMG
Antec True Power 330W
ASUS A7N8X MBPC SA ATX 3xDDR ATA133 AUD LAN 6xUSB1
AMD XP 2700+ Processor
Iiyama 19" Monitor FST VM 1451
OCZ 512Mb PC-3200 400Mhz CL2.5 Black Heatspreader 2T
Western Digital Caviar 120GB IDE 7200RPM SE 8MB cache
LG DVD drive 16x/48x
Lite-On 48X12X48 CD-RW
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128Mb DDR +DVI + TV
Creative Inspire 5100 5.1
3.5" 1.44Mb Standard Floppy Drive
Logitech Cordless Desktop Optical
US Robotics 56k Internal FaxModem
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

2697.00 Incl VAT and Delivery

The techie in Elara thinks I should lower to an Athlon 2400+ and get a Sound Blaster audigy 2 Sound Card instead,for a total of 2685.33 Incl VAT and Delivery, he thinks the price for the 2700+ is too high at the moment, is it worth the swap?

Praetorian

For most people the faster processor would be the better option.

Since your spending that much money (almost as much as me!) you should probably go for 1GB of ram.

Also that mouse is a no no if your going to be online gaming.

Windows XP Home is naff IMO. WIN2k or WINXP IMO

halfab

If that motherboard is the A7N8X Deluxe then forget any extra audio cards.. the Deluxe has excellent onboard sound and will send any creative card running.. and if its the deluxe board it also has firewire ..

Audigy 2 would be a waste in my opinion..

If its not the deluxe board, then a downgrade to the 2400+ and get the Deluxe, it would be better.

steve-hosting36

The ASN8X Deluxe is a great board, the onboard 6 channel shound will give any sound card a run for its money