buying on a budget :/

[MumboJumbo]

Hi guys, i was recommened by a friend to come here for advice on computer H/Ware, so here goes :

My current computer is by todays standards, quite out dated and is having a hard time running all these H/Ware hungry games. Giving me slow fps etc. So enoughs was enough, i'm going to build myself a better one, but i'm a semi-tech newbie, hence my arrival here 😉.

I'm on a budget of roughly £900 (soon to be £1000 😉) and am looking to buy a whole new computer apart from a monitor,keyboard, speakers and a mouse and i'm looking to get the fastest gaming machine for my money.

These are the basics of what i'm looking for:
Intel P4 2.0Ghz (maybe 2.4 or more)
Geforce 4 ti
60Gb HDD
512+ RAM

The rest like motherboard etc i have no clue what so ever about. Brands etc

Information on where to buy (any uk sites) and what to get within my budget would be much appreciated

Cheers in advance 🙂

 

[Alex]

Well i cant help ya with UK stores but here's some hardware advice:

- Memory: get Muskin PC2100 ram or if ya can afford it PC2700
- Motherboard: you may find this article useful
- Soundcard: SoundBlaster Audigy OEM (or "Player/X-Gamer") if you can afford it
- Graphics: Geforce4 Ti4200 64mb (i suggest Gainward, but not sure if they're available in the UK)
- HD: If you can afford it get a Western Digital 80GB "Special Edition" drive... they offer near-SCSI performance at a fraction of the price. If you really can't afford it then I recommend Western Digital, Maxtor or Seagate for your 60GB HD (and don't be fooled by ATA133 - its no performance gain in practice)

ok that's all i can remember for now... hope this gets ya started...

 

[apoppin]

Are you into Overclocking? You can usually get P4 2.4Ghz performance from a 1.6A or 1.8A P4 just by raising the FSB with decent RAM (with no penaltys).

Head over to CPU/Overclocking and do a quick "search". There are a lot of budget systems based on this and the Epox 4G4A MB.

You might also consider the Radeon 8500 (128MB) LE - it's around a hundred dollars here and a very good vidcard.

What's the dollar/pound exchange rate?

 

[Davegod]

GBP£1 gets you about USD$1.50, but we kind of get ripped off for computer hardware, often USD$ price is almost same numbers when over here in GBP£ :/

Gainward do good boards but they come with higher than spec clock rates and do charge extra for it... Leadtek also get my vote. I'd suggest a ti440 though 😀 Wait for the inevitable resulting price drop when ATI unleash their 9700 Pro boards. (Leadtek ti4200 £120, ti4400 £220, ti4600 £260 | Gainward ti4200 £120, ti4400 £235, ti4600 £320 | current overclockers.co.uk prices)

I dont even remember seeing Muskin in the UK. My choice is to get Crucial brand, and its very cheap when bought direct) Their webby is easy, shows you all their ram chips that are supported by your mobo. And no postage. PC2700 - make sure mobo supports it (it really should).

Audigy Player (called Gamer in USA) gets my vote too 🙂 But maybe wasted (£50) if youre speakers dont support 5.1. If you really want 5.1 support, and more and more games are starting to support it (not to mention DVD's) combine it with Creative 5300's (£80). Now play the Saving Private Ryan intro or Neo going rambo in the lobby and you know its worth it 🙂 If you want you can leave this choice until later as can upgrade soundcard (or speakers! xmas present option maybe) at any time. I suggest not to get a Audigy if you dont have windows XP.

I like franguinho's hard drive choice. IMO if not the WD special edition (£90@ Overclockers.co.uk, then the Seagate Baraccuda IV. I have the 40gb version, fast & so silent its worrying at first.

Your current CDROM should be fine. I suggest a CDRW though, and better yet one that also plays DVD's. My Ricoh is good for me.

Dont forget the "small" things:
Case - Midi or full tower; may or may not come with PSU (power supply), Better ones typically dont. Aluminium ones look good, are light yet strong but cost significantly extra.
PSU - 400w, good brand like Antec, Enermax, maybe Coolermaster.
HSF - Heatsink & fan for your CPU.
Thermal Grease/Paste - Artic Silver most reccomended, or "Alumina". You put a thin layer of this onto CPU to enhance heat transfer from it to the heatsink.
Case fan - get at least one, to act as an exhaust fan positioned on the case in an area provided a little under the PSU. may or may not come with your choice of case. Check the case supports 80x80mm fans, even better 120x120 ones - the larger they are the more air they can push at less noise.

The prices above are from first place I found, shop around. Places I buy from:
(I rate the top 4 most)
Crucial UK - get ram here!
Overclocking Store - free postage
Dabs - best overall range
Overclockers
Overclock
Simply

 

[xfactordomine]

hmm.. what exactly does 1000 pounds equal in US dollars? 🙂

Anyway.. it seems cost is an issue, so I wonder if there's any particular reason you're going the Intel route? AMD Athlon XP's cost a fraction of the price of a P4 and have very good performance. The chipset's on Athlon motherboards are also faster, e.g., Soyo SY-KT333, and DDR ram is cheaper than RAMBUS RAM (if you're going P4 with RAMBUS). You can save yourself a couple hundred bucks probably and invest that money into other components of your system, i.e., CD-RW, faster video card, etc.

However, if you're intent on a P4.. don't mind the mindless babbling i just spouted 🙂

-X