Spec me a...er...shop! Bitches!

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » February 5th, 2007, 14:12

Lateralus wrote:LOL PWNED etc.

I'm bored at work. Incidentally Berk, you weren't on a train from Grantham to Newcastle last night were you? Reading Dune Messiah? I was sat next to someone who looked fairly similar to you.

J00 shud h@ve t33bagg3d h1m LOLLORIFFICZORZSSS111!!!!eleventynine!

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 5th, 2007, 14:14

Lateralus wrote:LOL PWNED etc.

I'm bored at work. Incidentally Berk, you weren't on a train from Grantham to Newcastle last night were you? Reading Dune Messiah? I was sat next to someone who looked fairly similar to you.

fairly sure I wasn't, but I do have a lot of doppelgängers

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » February 5th, 2007, 15:31

I still think finding a system on a site, and then trying to find similar specs for cheaper monies is a good idea, whether you like the system or not.
In principle it makes sense as you "should" find a better shop to buy your system from.

Of course, it all depends on how much you want to spend and what your requirements are.

The main thing when considering any new PC is whether you are going to upgrade the graphics card or not, as that is alsmot always the main performance gain when it comes to PC gaming.

At a guess I'd say CPU second, and memory third (providing you have atleast 1GB of fast memory in your machine)

Other than that the rest if down to personal preference isn't it?

I'm not disagreeing with you Berk, you know far more than me on hardware, but I'd be interested in you finding something else for the same money that's prebuilt and a lot cheaper so as I know where I went wrong when looking around for Joose.

To be honest there was tonnes to choose from with the amount of money Joose intends on spending, but I quoted the £350 spec for my own amusement as this is what I plan on spending myself later this year, and I'd love you to find me another system with higher specs for that money, so that I know where I went wrong, plus I can then keep an eye on the system and see if the price drops

pixie pie · Post by **pixie pie** » February 5th, 2007, 18:17

I know I suggest them every time, but: http://www.evesham.com

Well, they're good. Have a look, cos they're worth it.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 5th, 2007, 22:22

Woo Elephant Yeah wrote:Stuff

I think this really just comes down to the 2 ways of doing it.

You seem to look at what you can get for the money.

I actually think about what someone needs, then work out a spec to suit the needs. (where it comes from and in how many pieces doesn't really figure into it for me)

In this case, i'd look at:

C2D 6300
Mid range mobo from a reliable manf.
2 gb matched ram. (non-generic)
Mid range graphics (~£200 budget)
320-400gb hd.
Mid range PSU, probably a 4-500W enermax, something nice and efficient.
Case (whatever the buyer likes)

Which should come to £700-ish if you were to DIY (obviously, depending on OS choice you might have to add £100 to that)

Also, that is the spec i'd look for in a bought machine, mainly because that'll last a fair while and allow for upgrades without too much work.

Nickface · Post by **Nickface** » February 6th, 2007, 6:21

How about a Tesco <a href="http://direct.tesco.com/q/N.1999034/Nr.99.aspx">Value Computer</a>?

Post by **tandino** » February 6th, 2007, 9:40

<a href="http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/">ebuyer</a> have been really good for me in the past but I've not used them for a good while (no reason other than me not needing any bits for my machine at the moment). From what I can tell after having a quick look though, their range of pre-build machines isn't exactly expansive. More of a good site for cheap, quality components.

Like *insert name here* said, there are no doubt lots of us here that'll happily put one together for you. Also for significantly cheaper than a pre-build (and no doubt with better customer service/support) for the price of 6 fish fingers...

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 12th, 2007, 16:20

Also for cheapy new machines, the 8800GTS 320mb has landed now. ~£200 for dx10 joy.

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.p ... =GX-039-BG

Reviews in the usual places.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.h ... VzaWFzdA==
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7840
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7842

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » February 12th, 2007, 16:44

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:Also for cheapy new machines, the 8800GTS 320mb has landed now. ~£200 for dx10 joy.

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.p ... =GX-039-BG

Reviews in the usual places.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.h ... VzaWFzdA==
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7840
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7842

I was checking this out earlier, looks like a winner, considering the price difference between this and the 640mb version I'm thinking this might be the card for me come new PC time, barring an explosion of awesomeness from ATI of course

This says enough to me:

BF 2142 @ 2048x1536 2X TR MSAA, 16 X AF

Average FPS: 49.9

640mb version = 52.3

Are 2.4 fps worth an extra £70?

Wiggy · Post by **Wiggy** » February 13th, 2007, 12:11

tandino wrote:<a href="http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/">ebuyer</a> have been really good for me in the past but I've not used them for a good while (no reason other than me not needing any bits for my machine at the moment). From what I can tell after having a quick look though, their range of pre-build machines isn't exactly expansive. More of a good site for cheap, quality components.

Like *insert name here* said, there are no doubt lots of us here that'll happily put one together for you. Also for significantly cheaper than a pre-build (and no doubt with better customer service/support) for the price of 6 fish fingers...

I'll agree on the eBuyer thing, I've bought things recently that have arrived next day (and they deliver to your work address as well!).
Also Joose, I only live about 15 miles from you, I'm sure I could knock you a PC together if you get the bits.

Post by **FatherJack** » February 13th, 2007, 13:07

mrbobbins wrote:Are 2.4 fps worth an extra £70?

If I'm reading it right, they actually have a higher core speed than the 640MB versions (at least the BFG XXX ones the Hexus ppl tested did) which means it'll outperform them in most current applications.

That's current applications of course, (in which a sub-£200 7950 would do better in some cases) - future games (apart from needing DX10) are touted to need ~500M to run well.

But that's the future, and by then something else will be out. They look a good buy at the moment, considering that whatever you buy will go out of date fast, at least you're not throwing quite as much cash away.

Post by **deject** » February 13th, 2007, 14:33

The reference design has the same clock speeds for the 320MB and 640MB versions. Still, the list price for the overclocked versions (which are roughly $20 more street price) makes them definitely worth the speed increase from the benchmarks I've seen.