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**Rushy** · 01-11-2003, 12:38

AMD Athlon XP 2600 (333MHz) ?77.55
Abit KD7-G Skt A VIA KT-400 DDR400 8xAGP +SATA RAID +Gigabit LAN +USB2 + 6 ch audio ATX ? 57.58
256MB DDR400 PC3200 RAM ? 30.55
17" AOC 7F 0.25mm Flat screen ? 78.73
LG 48x24x48 IDE Burn-proof ? 22.33
Sony DVD Drive 16x IDE ? 24.68
Coolermaster CAC-T01 Centurion 1 aluminium + zinc case USB mic audio firewire ? 43.48
400W P3/P4/AMD quiet PSU with PFC ? 25.85
60 GB Seagate 7200rpm IDE ATA100 ? 49.35
ATI 256MB DDR Radeon 9600 DVI-I TV -Out ? 106.93

?517 and you have your self a PC which destroys any of those other PC's performance into the ground, just need to piece it together yourself.

Plus those PC's you mentioned won't run BF1942 to well tbh, or at least at any high level of detail.

Building PC's isn't difficult and with a even little PC knowledge there is enough info online to do it yourself.

**theheadcharge** · 01-11-2003, 12:47

I think i would do that, thing is im only at home for a week before going back off to uni, so i just wanted to get it all out the way ASAP. Also, if it broke down it would be a pain in the arse to get fixed, whereas if i buy the whole thing from pc world or somewhere like it i will have customer upport lines and 1 year insurance or warranty or whatever its called.

Are there any shops that let you tell them what you want and build it for you? Or is that just stupidly expensive?
Thanks for the help all the same.

**Super Stu** · 01-11-2003, 13:04

If it's for "general stuff which might include some games but a fair bit of other things too, on a budget", you might want to see what sort of deals Dell are doing this month. Perhaps you'll get a bit more for the same money, compared to PCworld.

edit - sorry, didn't see you wanted immediate fixing capabilities. I suspect Dell do on-site warranties.

edit 2 - hmm, seems closest Dell is ?579 delivered and matches the last package you've quoted (but it has a full P4 2.4 processor, not a Celeron). To be honest, you'll struggle with BF1942 as mentioned - it's a suprisingly hardware demanding game, I'd say you'd at the very least want a "proper" graphics card, not one of these integrated things. Also, I'd tend to avoid that top one... I've never heard of that graphics card, and it sounds like some really awful integrated ****e.

**theheadcharge** · 01-11-2003, 13:47

Some good points, i will have to find out if its possible to put in a new 3d card at a later date - wouldnt mind one with a TVout bit on it, so i could watch dvds through it on my tv.
If it would be possible to change the graphics card at some point would you agree that the top pc has the best specs...
Has most ram, i believe athlon is faster than celeron family of processors, has DVDr capabilities and would last me longest.

**Super Stu** · 01-11-2003, 13:54

Well, the various machines should have AGP slots, so you'd be able to put in a more beefy graphics card down the line, yeah. On that basis, aye, the top one seems the best. Even my old hunk-o-junk upstairs (p2 450 with an old 3dfx voodoo3 gfx card) plays DVDs fine, I'm sure that machine would cane it.

Would be worth asking if that 2600 is a Barton or a Tbred.. the Barton will be a bit nippier. When the time comes to upgrade the graphics card, ensure you put in at least another strip of 256meg.

**theheadcharge** · 01-11-2003, 15:27

Thanks again for all the advice, i think i will go for the top model. Looks that little bit beefier than the other models for ?50 more, plus it has the antivirus and works 7.
Im going to do a few searches and try to find out about the graphics card, the description reads a little weirdly "Up to 64Mb Graphics", have any idea what that means?
Just thought that i might finally be ableto play GTA3 under decent conditions (ie, with over 10fps which is what it felt like on the current family pc).
Thanks.

**mt50** · 01-11-2003, 16:14

the description reads a little weirdly "Up to 64Mb Graphics", have any idea what that means?

hi, that just means the ammout of memory that is dedicated to the graphics from the main memory IE. you have got 128mb ram in you your computer and you use 64mb for the graphics then your system will onlyhave 64mb to use.

also you can change the ammout of memory dedicatided to the graphices in the bios it will go from 8mb to 64mb.

hope that makes sense

.

**theheadcharge** · 02-11-2003, 15:51

Yep i think i get that. Does that mean that the up to 64Mb Unichrome card is actually not as good as those 64Mb Intel Extreme Graphics Cards? Because those dedicated Intel Cards arent using up any of the RAM from the main system. Am i understanding that right? Which system would you recommend?
Thanks.

**mt50** · 02-11-2003, 16:16

hi, yeah you got that right but even them intel graphics are shared memory ones heres a link to the intel site with info about them-LINK

out of the 3 you've shown i would go for the AMD system even though it's a bit more money but you do get more for you'r money with that system than any of the others

**mt50** · 02-11-2003, 16:29

hi, if you could afford to up your budget to 600quid then you could get this one from pcworld-
Intel Celeron 2.7MHz Processor
512Mb DDR RAM
80Gb Hard drive
CDRW/DVD Combo Drives
64Mb nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Graphics
17" CRT Monitor

ok so it's 50--100 quid more than the others but it's way better than the others for starters theres at least double the memory, bigger hard drive and a dedicatided graphics card which will allow you to play games at a decent level

.

for 600 quid i would say it's a bargin( ok so you would get it cheaper if you built it your self but not every body wants to do that

)

so i would say if you can afford it go and get it

oh heres a link for you-LINK

EDIT it even says it's got a TV tuner

, which is is nice

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT

have a look on dells outlet site and you can get this pc for just under 500quid -
2.66GHz Pentium? 4 Processor with 533MHz
256MB (2x128) Dual Channel DDR333
Floppy Drive: No Floppy Drive
Hard Disk Drive: 120GB (7200rpm) 8MB Cache IDE Hard Drive
Video: 128MB nVidia GeForce4 FX5200 with DVI
Modem: Dell 56k Data/Fax/Voice Modem
DVD Drive: 4x DVD+R\+RW
Software: Dell Paint Shop Pro Standard Edition
Microsoft? Works? 7.0
IMAGE EXPERT STD ENG EMEA
AOL, Dellnet + Tiscali UK ISP Combo
Norton AntiVirus 2003 (90 Day Trial

which is a very good spec for the price which includes delivery then that leaves you with 50-100 quid for a monitor which you can get a second hand 17 or 19inch one for under 80delivered.

it's up to you which you go for but i would get the one from dell as it's a very good system that will play the latest games and it'd got a dvd rewriter and microst works
the only downside is the fact that theres no monitor

**theheadcharge** · 02-11-2003, 20:49

That other pc worl one you mentioned does seem pretty good, but it doesnt have the dvd writer which although i dont have any plans for copying any dvds would be useful for transferring files from one pc to another at some point. I would think about the dell one, but i dont really want to get it delivered as im at uni at the moment meaning im not always in.
I think im going to just head into pc world as the place is sure to have a huge selection of pcs to buy, Ill look for the AMD one and any other cheap ones they may have. Problem is i've heard some people online complaining about the quality of advice given from pc world staff when trying to buy pcs. But i think i do have the basic knowledge required to ignore any bull****. Hope so anyway.
Thanks
for the advice and help chaps.

**Montaver** · 02-11-2003, 22:42

Dont mean to sound condescending, but if after all this advice your still buying from PC world, your making a big mistake. The muppets in there know as much about PC's as George bush knows about politics.

**replicant** · 02-11-2003, 22:53

While studying IT at uni I had a part time job at PC World. Trust me when I say - DO NOT BUY A PC UNIT from the Dixons group.

How does it work? Sales people have certain targets to make on certain units. Therefore those certain units will always satisfy their customer's needs.

You will get stuck with an under performing machine, full of propriety hardware which can't be upgraded. You will get stuck with a high end CPU which has the bottle neck of slow cheap memory, and a GF4MX or a GF FX 5200 chipset which are based on GF2 tech. An out dated non universal DVDr, and a slow HDD. Yet you will pay a premium.

Avoid PC world, and avoid time. If you ignore the advice, then don't come crying when doom2 or hl2 wont run!

**replicant** · 02-11-2003, 22:56

and to the people recommended the celeron 2 - please stop right there!

Bloody hell guys, come on! At least recommend decent, current technology.

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