Im planning on buying a new computer hopefully buy the end of this month (fingers cross), but im not that good with the Hardware side of things could someone tell me if this is a good machine please.
CPU: AMD Athlon 64bit 3200 (Venice) 512kb L2 chache (939 pin)
Memory: 2048 DDR400 PC 3200
Motherboard: ASUS A8V Deleuxe: SATA, Firewire, 8x AGP, 5 PCI etc
USB Options: Six USB 2.0 Ports
Hard Drive: SATA 300GB @ 7200rpm 16mb cashe
DVD ROM: 16x DVDROM With 48x CD ROM
Graphic Card: 128mb Gforce 6600GT AGP 8x
Network Facilities: 10/100/1000 Network Card for BroadBand
Floppy Drive: 1.44MB Floppy disk
Case: Stylish Black X-Plode Case + 2 Front USB
Power Supply & Cooling: Silent 600w PSU + 120mm Internal Fan
Operating System: Windows Service Pack 1 Pro
Firewire & Video Editing: 1 x Firewire Port Onboard
Cost: Pounds 541 inc VAT and Delivery
Thanks
The only thing I can see bad about it is that windows is service pack 1. It'd probably be worth getting SP2 if windows is your primary/only operating system. Other than that, the computer looks excellent as far as I can tell, much better than mine.
The only thing I can see bad about it is that windows is service pack 1. It'd probably be worth getting SP2 if windows is your primary/only operating system. Other than that, the computer looks excellent as far as I can tell, much better than mine.
This computer doesn't come with Windows (It drops the price ;) ) installed because i have already got XP Pro SP1 disk, and i can download updates to SP2.
Thanks for your input.
Looks like a good machine to me. As a long-time devotee to ATi, however, I would be remiss if I did not suggest that you swap out your Nvidia card (ie the Geforce) and get a Radeon. X800's are cheaper than ever and can still hit today's games with extremely respectable speeds and power.
However, to each their own and I don't want this to turn into a graphics war. I've personally had both sides of the war and have had far more good experiences with ATi than Nvidia, so that is where my allegiance lies. You may experience otherwise.
Looks good though the 600w PSU is way overkill for that sytem...
PC Power and Cooling is very expensive and 600 Watts would be more in league of an SLI system. I'd say between 400 Watts and 500 Watts will do good. Also, if you can do so, I recommend a mother board with an nForce4 chipset and get the Geforce 6600GT in PCI-E (PCI-Express) format. Now the difference between PCI-Express and AGP are small, however this would yield a better upgrade path for future video cards as both nVidia and ATi are moving to PCI-E, but not completely since the mid-range to lower end cards are still made for AGP (AGP still has a few years infact of use).
PC Power and Cooling is very expensive and 600 Watts would be more in league of an SLI system. I'd say between 400 Watts and 500 Watts will do good. Also, if you can do so, I recommend a mother board with an nForce4 chipset and get the Geforce 6600GT in PCI-E (PCI-Express) format. Now the difference between PCI-Express and AGP are small, however this would yield a better upgrade path for future video cards as both nVidia and ATi are moving to PCI-E, but not completely since the mid-range to lower end cards are still made for AGP (AGP still has a few years infact of use).
I would love to get a PCI-e computer but they all cost Between 700 and 1000 GBP (Great Brition Pounds) and i just carn't afford that at the moment.
Also in regards to the PSU, it comes with a 300w recommend but for an extra 18 GBP its upgraded to the 600w. So i thought yeah its over kill but if i can upgrade that computer in the future i don't need to worry about the power.
I would love to get a PCI-e computer but they all cost Between 700 and 1000 GBP (Great Brition Pounds) and i just carn't afford that at the moment.
At least in the states buying a new 6600GT in PCI-E flavor is the same price or cheaper than its AGP brothers. I assume you're not building this yourself, but take a close look at your options, you really shouldn't have to pay much more for the same thing in PCI-E. Granted your MoBo might be a little more expensive. Depending on what you're running now, you might want to consider saving your pennies (if you reall need to) and waiting til you can get a Motherboard with PCI-E support. Otherwise, when you decide to upgrade your video card to something else you're probably going need to buy another motherboard again. A solid PCi-E motherboard should be $100US or less, and is going to add a great deal to the lifespan of your PC.
At least in the states buying a new 6600GT in PCI-E flavor is the same price or cheaper than its AGP brothers. I assume you're not building this yourself, but take a close look at your options, you really shouldn't have to pay much more for the same thing in PCI-E. Granted your MoBo might be a little more expensive. Depending on what you're running now, you might want to consider saving your pennies (if you reall need to) and waiting til you can get a Motherboard with PCI-E support. Otherwise, when you decide to upgrade your video card to something else you're probably going need to buy another motherboard again. A solid PCi-E motherboard should be $100US or less, and is going to add a great deal to the lifespan of your PC.
Thanks, i'll have to see what i can afford in a couple of months.
Just one question what did you mean by "MoBo"? ?MotherBoard?
Yeah, "MoBo" or "mobo" is short for motherboard. Also, to help reinforce what other people have alluded too, I strongly suggest getting a PCI-E enabled motherboard if you're upgrading. The AGP slot is a dying one, and at most, the latest AGP card, the 6800 GTX, has a year or two of use left in it before AGP vanishes completely. PCI-E is cheaper and allows for the use of more powerful videocards and both NVidia and ATI have stopped supporting AGP for their latest series of cards (I already mentioned the highest NVidia AGP videocard, the 6800 GTX, I believe ATI's is the X800, not sure) -- so if you want to be able to upgrade your card in a few years, PCI-E is the way to go.
Its a very bad time to upgrade! Wait until Windows Vista is launched later this year, at the same time we'll see DX 10 launch with it and a new range of video cards that are designed with DX10 in mind to work with it's new features. Also the AMD have just seriously slashed there prices on Dual core CPUs, so we'll see the effect of this over the next few months.
I also agree with the others, not getting SLI/PCI-e will probably end up costing you more money in the long run, your system will become obsolete a lot quicker.
Ј1000 for a PCI-e setup? where the hell do you shop!?!?! ripoffcomputers.co.uk? you could get an SLi mobo, PSU and video card for the same price as AGP setup, then all you have to do is buy another video card in a few months after youve saved some money and hey presto youve nearly doubled your graphical out put and extended the life of your rig by another few years.
rofl wait until windows vista? windows vista SUCKS A.... just another bugged as hell flawed with ways to get you screwed with your security like XP. I rather use xp until i got no choice like i did with 98. Besides vista claims to have many idiotic anti blah blah stuffs on which i bet will cause many problems with many programs.
Vista is the way of the future, it's going to be a true 64 bit OS (Windows XP 64 bit edition is not really worth the trouble).
If you're going to ugprade, look for a dual core setup, you don't need Vista right away, but if you have a dual core rig in place, you can make the move to Vista later. (Of course, you'll be stuck on Windows XP 64 for a little bit).
To the person who's building the PC well done! Just use your current XP cd and wait untill vista is out for over a year or two, then you can buy vista(aka longhorn) much cheaper and mostly flaw free hoping theres a SP or 2 out alredy by that time.
Note to Darth Moeller : Thank you ;) it's better this way.