Considering a new PC

Booze Zombie · Jan 16, 2008

I'm considering buying a new PC, but I am not sure... so I'll ask you guys, the lovable nerds you are.

Okay, here's what I'm looking at right now on the PC website:

Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON? 64 X2 6000+ (3.0GHz) 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (Socket AM2)

Memory (RAM)
4GB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® M2N: DUAL DDR II, S-ATA, x16 VGA, 3 PCI

Operating System
WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£95)

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
NONE

RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
NONE

1st CD/DVD Drive
20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE

Graphics Card
1024MB GEFORCE 8600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

Sound Card
6 Channel Realtek ALC660 High Definition Audio (Onboard)

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities
WIRELESS 54Mbps NETWORK CARD (£12)

Floppy Disk Drive
1.44MB - 3.5 INCH FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case
Stylish Silver/Black Trident case + 2 front USB

Power Supply & Case Cooling
500W (Peak) Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£25)

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22 dBA AMD CPU COOLER (£14)

Price for this PC System:

£533.62 ex VAT.

£627 inc VAT and Delivery.

Would this PC run CS:S at 100 FPS? And would you guys say this was a good deal for what this PC is?

Kikosemmek · Jan 16, 2008

This computer will eat CS:S alive. The hardware is fine, though I'd have opted for an Intel processor rather than AMD, but that's a personal preference. I don't know anything particularly wrong with AMD.

Booze Zombie · Jan 16, 2008

Thanks man, I wasn't sure if this PC was a rip-off or not.

Xen Monkey · Jan 16, 2008

Where are you getting your GPU from, and how much is it? Considering that the whole build is fairly inexpensive (though admittedly more than mine) I'd ~£130. something doesn't sit well with me about the card MBs, though important aren't everything.

It looks pretty good, especially for the price. I'm not sure about CPU though. But that is my particular bias.

Hey I'll admit, I like Intel

Shadow Link · Jan 16, 2008

Please tell me you are not accepting Onboard sound!?!?!? Try getting a soundcard, I recently purchased a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer Fata1ity and have nothing bad to say about it, it really is the best sound quality you can get.

As for the processors, look at the Core 2 series of processors from Intel since they have some of the best value for performance.

Anniko · Jan 16, 2008

Also, you don't want PCI, you want PCI-E, typos are fun.
And unless you're going to be running 64 bit XP, you wont get more than 3 gig out of that 4 gig of ram you've got.
For CS:S, it's overkill.

Xen Monkey · Jan 16, 2008

Shadow Link said:
Please tell me you are not accepting Onboard sound!?!?!? Try getting a soundcard, I recently purchased a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer Fata1ity and have nothing bad to say about it, it really is the best sound quality you can get.

On board sound is fine. Especially with most speakers for computers.

I think most people wouldn't be able to tell difference unless they knew. Especially with most games.

(And realtek is pretty good for onboard sound).

Though I agree with the Core 2 point.

Booze Zombie · Jan 16, 2008

Really? I went on the site, and it said, basically "Intels for work and photos, AMDs for hardcore gaming".

daemonire · Jan 16, 2008

That's a good way to start an arguement. People have personal preferences on the matter of CPUs... I'd leave it at that.
But if you don't have a preference already, you're absolutely going to be fine either way.

Xen Monkey · Jan 16, 2008

Booze Zombie said:
Really? I went on the site, and it said, basically "Intels for work and photos, AMDs for hardcore gaming".

I feel they are being a bit disingenuous.* Unfortunately for them intel really has left in the multi core dust recently. But I would still go for a core 2 duo over anything else. (I'm still not convince 4 core offers a particuarly large advantage to justify the cost)

*It actually reminds me of the Mac vs. PC ads where the Mac did 'fun' stuff like movies and photos and PCs only did 'boring' stuff like spreadsheets and pie chars ;-)

Booze Zombie · Jan 16, 2008

Right, so after looking through the advice you guys had... I stuck with an AMD, but made some changes.

Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON? 64 X2 6000+ (3.0GHz) 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (Socket AM2)

Memory (RAM)
4GB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® M2N: DUAL DDR II, S-ATA, x16 VGA, 3 PCI

Operating System
WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£95)

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
NONE

RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
NONE

1st CD/DVD Drive
20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE

Graphics Card
1024MB GEFORCE 8600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

Sound Card
Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE with 7.1 Surround Sound: £15

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities
WIRELESS 54Mbps NETWORK CARD (£12)

Floppy Disk Drive
1.44MB - 3.5 INCH FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case
Stylish Silver/Black Sigma case + 2 front USB

Power Supply & Case Cooling
500W (Peak) Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£25)

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22 dBA AMD CPU COOLER (£14)

£546.38 ex VAT.

£642 inc VAT and Delivery.

A small increase in price and I get a proper sound system... Heh!

Xen Monkey · Jan 16, 2008

Well good like. Tell us how it runs when it is built.

mwjw696 · Jan 16, 2008

looks preaty nice for the price, id have to say its not furture proof. Other than that id buy it if I did not have my $1,500 PC comming in today from UPS. But you should be very happy and hope you enjoy if you get it.

PS: core 2 duo/quad FTW

jaisimar_chelsea · Jan 16, 2008

Kikosemmek said:
This computer will eat CS:S alive. The hardware is fine, though I'd have opted for an Intel processor rather than AMD, but that's a personal preference. I don't know anything particularly wrong with AMD.

i personally think amd is better for gaming

mwjw696 · Jan 16, 2008

AMD is better for certain games name with AMD in mind, but the new intel line just kills what ever AMD can produce. Till the new AMD's come out later this year maybe...

GrowlersAtSea · Jan 16, 2008

Intel's Core2Duo's really are a great series, particularly if you're into overclocking. I've been using an E6600 for about a year now and it's been great to me. Although I can't say some of the Quad Cores with the price dropping haven't been tempting, most games still don't even fully utilize dual cores, so I can wait. AMD's aren't as good a deal in my eyes, but they are cheaper.

Anyway, if you can squeeze it into your budget, I would say look into an 8800GT over the 8600GT. The 8800GT is a great value and should afford noticeable performance increase in new games (the difference in Counterstrike Source will probably not be noticeable, the machine you're looking at will tear through CS). Although if you're not looking to run the newest games on high, the 8600GT will probably do fine.

And I use onboard sound with my gaming PC (Asus board). Personally I don't hear a difference that justifies the cost of most soundcards, but that's a matter of preference, I guess.

the_carrot · Jan 16, 2008

Booze Zombie said:
I'm considering buying a new PC, but I am not sure... so I'll ask you guys, the lovable nerds you are.

Okay, here's what I'm looking at right now on the PC website:

Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON? 64 X2 6000+ (3.0GHz) 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (Socket AM2)

Memory (RAM)
4GB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® M2N: DUAL DDR II, S-ATA, x16 VGA, 3 PCI

Operating System
WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£95)

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
NONE

RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
NONE

1st CD/DVD Drive
20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE

Graphics Card
1024MB GEFORCE 8600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

Sound Card
6 Channel Realtek ALC660 High Definition Audio (Onboard)

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities
WIRELESS 54Mbps NETWORK CARD (£12)

Floppy Disk Drive
1.44MB - 3.5 INCH FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case
Stylish Silver/Black Trident case + 2 front USB

Power Supply & Case Cooling
500W (Peak) Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£25)

Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22 dBA AMD CPU COOLER (£14)

Price for this PC System:

£533.62 ex VAT.

£627 inc VAT and Delivery.

Would this PC run CS:S at 100 FPS? And would you guys say this was a good deal for what this PC is?

Do you have a link to the site?

TheHound · Jan 16, 2008

Dude dont get 4gig ram with XP it only supports up to 3gigs
2ndly dont get an 8600gt try and get a 8800gt your has more memory but is slower so the memory wont count unless ur playing at huge resolutions. I.e. crysis at 1280x1024 is only using 400mb of vram.

Lightbulb · Jan 16, 2008

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

Have a read of this its good advice and pretty up to date...

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=33897

-------------------

Personally if i was going to buy a new PC right now it would be based around a Q6600, 8800GT and 3 gig of DDR3 ram... However 4 gig is probably more sensible even under a 32 bit OS (2 sticks of 2 gig or 4 sticks of 1 would not be alot more and would run in dual channel mode...)

neems · Jan 16, 2008

Ditto on the graphics card - go with the 8800 gt. Not much more than the 8600, but more than twice as powerful. You can probably cover the extra cost by dropping some RAM (like everybody says, 32 bit Windows won't use more than about 3 gigs).

Considering a new PC

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