Page 1 of New PC reccomendations please!

Hi all, I currently have a Compaq Presario thats about 3 years old now, only 8GB hard-disk, slow processor etc etc... so I am looking to upgrade to a brand new shiny system. I have seen an ad in papers today and on Time`s website for their S3809 Powerstation 256...

Processor : AMD Athlon XP2600+ processor

Memory : 1024mb DDR

Hard Disk : 160Gb hard disk

Graphics : ATI Radeon 9200SE 256MB graphics

Motherboard : KT400

DVD-Writer : DVD / CD Multi-writer

DVD : 16x DVD-ROM Drive

Firewire : 2xFirewire

TV-Out : S-Video

Sound : 6 channel built in

Ethernet : 10/100 for networking and ADSL

Operating System : Windows XP Home Edition Verify

USB : 5x USB

Ports : Standard Serial and Parallel

Modem : 56k V92

Case : Full ATX case with 7 drive bays

Keyboard : Multi-media keyboard

Mouse : Logitech wheel mouse

Floppy : 1.44mb

Other Features : ConnectPro Memory Card Reader


Thing is, I know people always tell me you can get custom-built PC`s for much cheaper thatn high-street stores... I am looking for about 120 GB hard-disk, high-speed processor, DVD RW, as the Time PC above includes all these.

Does anyone know of any websites or companies that can custom build me a PC? I am quite technical but could not build my own, so they would need to assemble it for me. Any help or advice at all would be fantastic, so thank you in advance to anyone who replies.

Thanks all,

James

Don`t buy from Time. I`m not being funny, just ask anyone "in the know". Time, PC World, Tiny et al are crap, and they use substandard components. Looking at the spec above the motherboard looks crap. They haven`t specified the speed of the RAM. The graphics aren`t that hot. It has onboard sound (of the crap variety - some onboard sound is good).

It`s a common mistake that self building or buying from a custom build place is vastly cheaper. In fact, the cost is roughtly the same. The big difference is that you can choose the components, and therefore you`re guaranteed to get a better system in the long run.

As some of the forum regulars will know I work for a small company in Bristol that does pretty much what you`re after. I can`t pimp the company on the forum as it breaks the rules, but if you want advice on a system I`ll be glad to help. Just post the specs you`re thinking about getting. As with most things, it`s best to start with a good foundation, i.e. the motherboard. Get an ASUS nForce 2 board and you won`t go far wrong.

Hey Chris thanks for the swift reply buddy. As for specs... ummm... lol... fast-ish processor, large (120-ish GB) HD, high speed RAM etc.. I am not 100% techy about PC`s. Basically as fast as possible for £700-£800. Preferably to include DVD RW if possible. Sorry for being so dense.

Have a look at Mesh or Evesham - about the best at the moment - avoid Time. Also have a look at the PCPro A list
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/ will gave you some ideas.

Regards,
Peter

Right, how about an Athlon based system as follows:

[*]AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (333MHz FSB, 256K Cache) with approved HS/Fan
[*]ASUS A7N8X Deluxe nForce 2 mainboard
- nVidia nForce 2 APU (Audio Processing Unit)
- Dual LAN
- Firewire
- Serial ATA
- 6x USB 2.0
[*]512MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM
[*]GeForce 4 Ti4800SE
[*]120GB 7200rpm ATA133 HDD
[*]Pioneer 105 4x DVD-R/RW
[*]Liteon 52x24x52 CDRW
[*]1.44MB Floppy (for legacy support)
[*]56K V.92 Hardware Modem
[*]ATX Midi Tower Case with 300Watt PSU
[*]Microsoft Windows X Home/Professional

Basically this will be a very qiuck system indeed. It`s not the abosolute top of the range, but cutting edge hardware is disproportionately expensive in terms of speed increases etc.

The 2600+ runs on a 333MHz FSB, which the excellent ASUS board can support. The RAM also runs at the same frequency. The motherboard itself has a brilliant APu onboard, which recently came top in a group test for acceleration (above the Audigy 2).

The video card, while not as fast as the high end ATI cards, is considerable cheaper and will run pretty much anything you throw at it. It also has video in/out. If you want DX9 compatibility, then go for an ATI card (as the GeForce FX cards aren`t that great by all accounts).

Half a gig of RAM should be enough for most, but if you want a gig then RAM is fairly cheap at present, although not as cheap as it weas a month ago). Make sure you get two DIMMS, not one, to make up your total megabytes, as the ASUS board has a dual-channel RAM feature that speeds things up.

I`ve recommended a DVD-R/RW and CD-R/RW because I don`t see the point of having two DVD drives. The CD-R/RW writing speed of the DVD-R/RW drives isn`t as high as a dedicated CD-R/RW drive, and the Pioneer 105 can be made milti region for DVD playback via an RPC1 firmware update.

A nice big, 120GB Maxtor drive will also be plenty for most users, although it`s handy to have two seperate volumes if you`re goign to be making your own DVDs as it speeds up the process.

XP Home or Pro is a personal choice (I have Pro). You may even want 2000. A 300Watt PSU will be fien for what you have in the box, but you may feel safer with a bigger supply. Keyboard/mouse and speakers are all personal choice.

Not a bad system there, at least im my opinion.

This item was edited on Sunday, 29th June 2003, 16:50

Avoid Time - I got my laptop from there and it`s s***. The build quality is poop.

Quote:
"Life is like oral sex, one slip of the tongue and you`re in the s***" - Roy Chubby Brown

Chris, that build of PC you were describing sounds exactly the kind of system I need. What kind of price are we talking for that? And how can I contact you to talk about your business?

Erm, I`d have to check the price list tomorrow to see what the updated pricing is. I don`t handle the financial side of the business, I`m the techie (or so I try to convince people!). The guy work for/with has a far better memory for prices than me. Forum rules prohibit me from naming the company etc, but I`ll send you an email through the site (if that doesn`t work try sending me one). Can`t promise to be the cheapest out there (usually someone who`ll undercut), but even if you decide against us you`ll at least have a better idea of what you want. See, I`d never make a good salesman - I`m not pushy enough! ;)

any1 know anything about this cybermaxx PC sold here:
http://www.toysrus.co.uk/product_detail.jsp?lp_uid=TX639&bos_uid=2670&sid=1645748969&kick=888478880&nextpage=search_display.jsp

Always Outnumbered.......Never Outgunned

This item was edited on Monday, 30th June 2003, 09:57

Yeah, don`t use Time - I`d agree wholeheartedly with that. Apart from their machines being only average (not crap, but not exactly top of the range for the money), they usually get slated for service and support whenever any of the trade rags do a survey.

Mesh are pretty good at the moment, as are Carrera. Have a look at PC-Pro`s website (www.pcpro.co.uk) - they have an `A-list of best reccommended machines, peripherals etc. One of the categories is `PC for under £800`.