[tomc_020]

Hello forum members.

I need a new base unit. I have had a Dell Dimension 2400 for 4 years I think, and I need something better because it is very slow. I would prefer not to go over £600.

I use the computer for the internet, music recording and everything, but I suppose the main issue is gaming. The games I play / want to play are Warcraft 3, to Call of Duty 2 and the Sims 2 etc., and maybe Battlefield, which I know is quite demanding. Is there a big difference between CoD 2 and Battlefield in terms of their running requirements?

Keep in mind I know nothing about computer hardware / technical language. If someone could put me together a computer from one of the companies like Komplett, Mad Kad, MESH etc. or point me to a prebuilt it would be really helpful.

Sorry if I was quite vague there. Thanks very much for any help

Tom

[Wolfeymole]

Hello Tom

Welcome to TCF

If you would kindly bear with us until Alex comes online, he will give you the full monty on what you need.
Alex is our resident Hardware expert.

[alex]

Hi Tom, apologies for not replying sooner. A barbecue and lots of beer does that.

Prior to me having a nosey, can i assume you'll be using the monitor from your current pc?

[tomc_020]

Hi Alex

Yep, that's right

[alex]

Hi Tom, considering the games you've quoted (and the dearth of DX10 capable games) and the distinct lack of prowess in mid-range DX10 capable graphics cards I've gone for XP/DX9 systems, which also saves some money.

If you want me to quote Vista/DX10 gpu's give me a shout.

Have a look at this one:
here

At the low end of the market, a do-it-all pc (music/gaming etc) can be a little difficult to obtain considering some of the built-in sound on cheaper motherboards from a connections point of view. But i think i've achieved a balance on the one above with the soundcard i've spec'd.

Don't be worried about the fact it's an AMD chip, the 5000 has enough oomph to match or even outpace an Intel E6300 in most things.

The X1950 is an awesome card for the money, it'll eat any game you throw at it at 1280x1024. Just consider the fact it was ATI's top end DX9 card. This is the pro version which is basically a cutdown version of the X1950XT.

Or you could try this one:
here

It's a bit more money, it's over your budget actually, but not by much.

The only major difference is this has a E6300, 7900GS and no sound-card. But the psu is much better.

Personally, out of the two, I'd be going for the first, and not just on cost.

I've only spec'd from companies that i've used myself and can testify to their service/pricing being good.

Just a quick question, but have you thought of building it yourself? Many advantages to doing so, not least getting more for your money.

Hope this is helpful, any questions shout up. :)

[tomc_020]

Hi, thanks for you time. Sorry, I probably should have mentioned that I have an Edirol UR-80 external sound card that was bought mostly for recording needs, but probably means I don't need a sound card to come with the computer becuase I can use the Edirol.

I hear what you say about the advantages of just staying with XP, but is it likely I will want / need to upgrade to Vista a few years in the future ?

The links you posted aren't right / working (at least for me). The 1st says ' Here is your chosen specification... ', and there is nothing there, and a price of £90 which I'm not sure what is for. The second link just isn't working.

Lastly I haven't thought about building the computer myself, since I wouldn't know where to start (or what is what), so it's not a great idea for me.

[alex]

You may or may not want to upgrade to Vista, as it stands now there's a plethora of compatibility problems from apps to hardware (Will your external sound card work? will the software you use work?). And if you go by how long it took between DX9 capable cards being released to having a good sized list of DX9 games on the market as a measuring stick for DX10 then you've got a very long wait.

Besides, graphics don't make a game, playability does that.

But going forward, Vista is the way to go. Just maybe not yet.

I've re-spec'd as below, apologies for the cock up before.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 5000+ (2.6GHz) 2 x 512K L2 Cache (Socket AM2)
Memory (RAM)
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® M2N-E SLI: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, 2 x PCI-Ex, 2 x PCI
Operating System
WINDOWS® XP Home (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£59)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
320GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
RAID (HDD 1 & 2)
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer + Lightscribe (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
256MB GEFORCE 7600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
8 Channel C-Media Superior Quality Audio 7.1 (M2N-E SLI)
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
2 x 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORTS (1 PORT ON M2N-E SLI)
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
NONE
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
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Firewire & Video Editing
2 x ONBOARD 1394 FIREWIRE PORTS (1 PORT ON M2N- E SLI)



The above is 540.00.

Or this from the same builder:

Processor (CPU)
INTEL® Core 2 Duo E6320 (2 X 1.86GHz) 1066MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM)
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® P5B: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, x16 VGA, 3 PCI etc
Operating System
WINDOWS® XP Home (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£59)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
320GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer + Lightscribe (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
512MB RADEON X1950 PRO PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
8 Channel ADI® High Definition Audio (Onboard)
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (ETHERNET)
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
NONE
Case
Stylish Black/Silver Trident case + 2 front USB
Power Supply & Case Cooling
500W (Peak) Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£25)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Firewire & Video Editing
NONE
TV Card
NONE
Monitor
NONE
2nd Monitor
NONE
DVI Cable
NONE
Keyboard & Mouse
NONE
Mouse
NONE
Speakers
NONE
Printer
NONE
Surge Protection
NONE
Webcam & VoIP
NONE
Media Center Kit
NONE
Anti-Virus
NONE
Office Software
NONE
Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1 Year Free Collect & Return: £5


The above is 581.00

Or there's the one below from www.wired2fire.co.uk

Case:Cooler Master Centurion
Power Supply:Thermaltake TR2 Power 420W
Processor:Core 2 Duo E6300 2MB cache
CPU Cooler:Standard CPU Cooler
Graphics Card 1:Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB PCI Express
Graphics Card 2 None
Memory:2GB Corsair DDR2 PC4200 Value Select
Motherboard:ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 Socket 775
Hard Disk Drive One:320GB Caviar SE16 SATA 300
Hard Disk Drive Two:NoneOptical
Drive One:BTC DVD-Rom x16
Optical Drive Two:None
Removable Storage:None
Sound Card:Onboard sound
Speakers and Headsets:None
Monitor:None Keyboard:None
Mouse:None
Miscellaneous Adapters (may require free PCI slots):None
Software:None
Operating System:Microsoft Windows XP Home
Warranty:Collect and Return Warranty (1 year + 1 year labour only)
Total: £629.00 (£535.32 ex VAT)

The cheapest Vista/decent DX10 card system I could find (Komplett, Overclockers, PowerC, Dell, Mesh etc) that was well balanced component wise, and halfway decent for gaming, was again from pcspecialist, detailed below:

Processor (CPU)
INTEL® Core 2 Duo E6320 (2 X 1.86GHz) 1066MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM)
2048 MB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® P5ND2 SE: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA, x16 VGA, 2 PCI/3 PCI-E
Operating System
WINDOWS® VISTA Home Premium (inc Genuine CD & License) (£70)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x DVD±RW/RAM/Dual Layer + Lightscribe (48 x CD-RW) (£16)
2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE
Graphics Card
256MB GEFORCE 8600GTS PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
6 Channel RealTek Azalia AD1986A Audio (Standard on P5ND2 SE)
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (ETHERNET)
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
NONE
Case
Stylish Black/Silver Trident case + 2 front USB
Power Supply & Case Cooling
500W (Peak) Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£25)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Firewire & Video Editing
NONE
TV Card
NONE
Monitor
NONE
2nd Monitor
NONE
DVI Cable
NONE
Keyboard & Mouse
NONE
Mouse
NONE
Speakers
NONE
Printer
NONE
Surge Protection
NONE
Webcam & VoIP
NONE
Media Center Kit
NONE
Anti-Virus
NONE
Office Software
NONE
Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1 Year Free Collect & Return: £5



Total for the above is 579.00

[tomc_020]

Thanks so much for your help

[alex]

Originally Posted by tomc_020

Thanks so much for your help

No problem Tom, if you need anymore help you know where to come.

Don't forget to factor a decent warranty into a purchase though, with a decent company. If you're not 'up' on stuff pc it's good to have the backup.

[tomc_020]

Alex, it now turns out I need a monitor, keyboard + mouse too. :o:) This is becuase all of the computer I'm using at the moment is now going to be used somewhere else in the house.

The computer will be ordered quite soon. pcspecialist.co.uk have 19" normal and widescreen monitors for about the same price - do you recommend either one for my purposes? My option from wired2fired.co.uk is the Viewsonic VA903M, the others are too costly.

Can you also recommend a mouse/keyboard combo that should do a fine job, since they vary in price so much? I'd prefer not to spend a fortune on these things.

Can I also ask, why would you go for the pcspecialist system, apart from the cheaper price, as you mentioned in an earlier post?

Thanks again