Ok guys, Did I overpay, or do a good job?

[tomclowes]

Ok guys time for opinions.

This PC was meant to be a budget PC. I only wanted to spend £500, but I forgot about the monitor, keyboard, mouse etc

Stupidly I also wasted £45 getting the PC built when actually I had built it correctly but just had a dud motherboard.

So, the breadown

Please note MISC HDS refers to a batch of untested hard drives that I bought, and if they work will most likely sell on.

The total price for the rig is thus £686

Question is did I get a good price? I keep reading in magazines etc in the ads all these sweet PCs, some which on paper at least look better, but are cheaper. Have I been ripped?

Id appreciate honest answers. This is my first and hopefully last for a long time build, and Id like to learn from it.

Also anyone got any suggestions for immediate, cheap improvements And future long term improvements.

Many Thanks

 

[llwyd]

Umm those prices dont add up in the slightest mate

27 pounds for 2GBs of PC6400?

 

[tomclowes]

Those are the prices, just base your opinion on the overall price please (I dunno why I posted the breakdown). It is too complicated to explain the list.

 

[Azreil_2]

Honestly, from what i can tell i think you have paid over the mark for that build aside from the cost of the montior, keyboard, building cost and hdds, the PC cost you £606. From a quick look over the price of each part, i think you have paid around £40-50 More than you could have.

Also the OCZ 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 Gold GX XTC 5-5-5-12 Dual Channel Kit costs £72 from tekheads so maybe its a typing error? and if it is that inceases the cost of the pc to £651.

May i ask which retailer/s did you use? I'd suggest in any future upgrades you have a little look around diffrent retailers, or atleast the inhouse ones, take advatage of special offers, and low prices from other retailers, somtimes an item can cost less even with the p&p on its own.

For my current build, i have spent around 2-4 weeks just reading reviews, checking diffrent stores and pricing up components from them, and doing this has saved me around £60-80 (including some nice special offers).

 

[Ham]

Those prices look fine.

Only bad point is the £45 you payed too get it done.

And as for the 'better speced' ones in magazines, they cut corners using crappy motherboards and cases made by people working for 2p a day. The ram is el generic'o and the cooling is generally dreadful.

They may be cheaper but they're are no way better.

 

[Azreil_2]

Ham makes a good point ^^, i forgot about that, one of the main reasons i dont like prebuilt pcs

 

[Mr. Smith]

Seems fine mate, good processor, decent ram, i don't know about gigabyte mobos - something about them I don't like!

Future upgrades? I imagine in November you can get a good 2nd hand 8800gts 320mb, also a decent cpu cooler such as thermalright 120 ultra (£40) or as previously recommended the arctic freezer (£20).

So a quick cheap upgrade would be the cpu cooler, which will enable you to clock that cpu of yours over 3.0ghz - probably 3.6ghz.

Then it will fly.

Also, OC the gfx card and ram.

Overclocking is free and gets you the most bang for buck

 

[tomclowes]

I am more awake so ill explain the RAM.

I bought 4gb, but decided to keep 2gb only so I sold the other 2gb.

I bought 4gb for £95, then sold 2gb for £68 meaning my net cost for 2gb is £27

I realise my worst mistake was paying £45 to get it done. However the bloke said if i didnt have a dud mobo I would have fried my processor because I had a lose heatsink. Thus in some respects it was worth it, and I can learn.

Regarding Mr Smiths suggestion of upgrading to a 2nd hand 8800 gts, could you elaborate as to why? My x1950 set me back £105, seems pointless to only use it for 3 months. Also from playing Call of Juarez it roduces sweet graphics, and has a Vista experience score of 5.6....

I will most likely venture into OCing. Will the artic freezer allow me to overclock to max settings or what not? What is the benefit of buying a more expensive cooler?

Finally the point about computers in magazines seems fair.

Thanks for all the help

 

[nrage]

Regarding Mr Smiths suggestion of upgrading to a 2nd hand 8800 gts, could you elaborate as to why? My x1950 set me back £105, seems pointless to only use it for 3 months. Also from playing Call of Juarez it roduces sweet graphics, and has a Vista experience score of 5.6....

Oblivion has to be about the toughest game for any graphics card

Use "Add a product" to add the x1950 pro (check the specs match your card) and compare that to the 8800GTS and OC version (320mb). I paid £188.00 incl VAT for my XFX OC version.

EDIT: I was suggesting you compare the two cards to see how much difference it makes. If you found you needed more performance you could sell your card and buy another. If you did that you could check the difference in frames per second and divide by the cost to figure out how much you're paying for each frame of improvement. It's a cost benefit analysis.

 

[tomclowes]

Oblivion has to be about the toughest game for any graphics card

Use "Add a product" to add the x1950 pro (check the specs match your card) and compare that to the 8800GTS and OC version (320mb). I paid £188.00 incl VAT for my XFX OC version.

Dont really understand the second part of your post.

 

[Mr. Smith]

I think he is suggesting compare the two cards...

You said long term upgrades and I guess I was being a bit short sighted, not everyone has the same disposable income.

In that case you could buy a new graphics card in say March/when you want. Bear in mind nvidia refresh their line up in November. Graphics cards give huge performance boosts in games. That is the weakest part of your rig as the 6750 is pretty decent etc.

Going to 4gb or ram is another future upgrade.

Regarding the air coolers - no, they will not let you acheive your 'max' OC, for this you need ln2/dice/phase! A decent air cooler will allow you a respectable overclock, but no cooler guarantees a big stable OC, it simply removes heat as the debilitating factor. It all depends on your processor.

You could spend hundreds on cooling only to discover your max stable OC was 3.3 (wonder who did that lol)

Oh, watercooling your cpu/gfx is another future upgrade...

 

[tomclowes]

Graphics card: I was led to believe my Graphics card was a good one. It looks very good... I mean I wouldnt have a problem running games with the x1950pro for the next 5 years.. You say it is the worst part of my rig, maybe... but it is still very good IMO. Please comment...

4gb ram, Yeh i bought 4gb but sold 2gb because of cost. May invest in more if I need it.

Cooling.. what is ln2/dice/phase?

As for watercooling I may invest here, but from what I can see it is very expensive and requires a lot of skill/knowledge to set up. Is this correct?

Sorry about your OCin troubles.

Thanks

 

[Azreil_2]

There is Nothing wrong with the 1950, i just recommended it to my mate whos upgrading (AGP slot), but the 1950 is on par with the 7950 GX2 or 7800 GTX 512, not 8800.

 

[mVp24]

Graphics card: I was led to believe my Graphics card was a good one. It looks very good... I mean I wouldnt have a problem running games with the x1950pro for the next 5 years.. You say it is the worst part of my rig, maybe... but it is still very good IMO. Please comment...

4gb ram, Yeh i bought 4gb but sold 2gb because of cost. May invest in more if I need it.

Cooling.. what is ln2/dice/phase?

As for watercooling I may invest here, but from what I can see it is very expensive and requires a lot of skill/knowledge to set up. Is this correct?

Sorry about your OCin troubles.

Thanks

Nothing in the tech industry will last 5 years and perform on par with all latest games/programs. Especially graphics. The only exception maybe a HDD but still those get outdated too.

 

[tomclowes]

Ok well maybe to change the context of this thread slightly...

One reason I invested in this desktop was becausse my laptop is so depressingly slow loading up etc. I dont really play games LOADS, but my laptop handles stuff like farcry fine, and it looks good.

If i were to never upgrade a thing how long do you think the setup I listed would last for gaming, and for general use (internet, photos etc)

 

[Azreil_2]

General use - till somone breaks,

Gaming my last pc has been able to play games since i 1st got it 4 years ago, but obviously over time the graphic level will drop.

 

[Mr. Smith]

Graphics card: I was led to believe my Graphics card was a good one. It looks very good... I mean I wouldnt have a problem running games with the x1950pro for the next 5 years.. You say it is the worst part of my rig, maybe... but it is still very good IMO. Please comment...

4gb ram, Yeh i bought 4gb but sold 2gb because of cost. May invest in more if I need it.

Cooling.. what is ln2/dice/phase?

As for watercooling I may invest here, but from what I can see it is very expensive and requires a lot of skill/knowledge to set up. Is this correct?

Sorry about your OCin troubles.

Thanks

Gfx - it is a good card but it is older tech. Sure your gfx card will play games in 5 years - at the lowest settings. It is all relative, I game at high res at settings maxed/very high. That is how I want my gaming experience to be.

Cooling - All all forms of sub zero cooling - read the stickies to learn more here Briefly, ln2 = liquid nitrogen (i'll assume you've heard of that). dice = dry ice (again i'm sure you did gcse science). Phase Cooling involves using a refrigeration compressor to compress a gas till it changes phases to a liquid...

Water - it's easy. Just cooling your cpu could be achieved for just over £100. There is a whole section on watercooling, read the stickies in there

My OC'in - don't worry mate, I do just fine

Nothing in the tech industry will last 5 years and perform on par with all latest games/programs. Especially graphics. The only exception maybe a HDD but still those get outdated too.

Agreed.

General use - till somone breaks,

Gaming my last pc has been able to play games since i 1st got it 4 years ago, but obviously over time the graphic level will drop.

Agreed. Day to day stuff your pc will last a loooooong time. Playing games depends on how much eye candy you like but I imagine in 2 year you will struggle...

 

[Pat123]

My last rig i had for 4 years and i got it for gaming, 9800pro was top of the line at the time and it played games for 4 years but after 2 i was down to low/medium settings pretty much.. Then again with DX10 hitting the market im sure the card will outdate much quicker as we are now seeing huge graphical improvements.. maybe looking at upgrading it in 1 and a half 2 years.. Its by no means a bad card that you have, its just 'last-gen' im not meaning to sound snobby or anything. Upgrading next year might be a decent option for you Prices on current hardware will drop.

For watercooling.. show around find the best deals on good parts.. mine all cost me around £200 and im well happy with it

 

[tomclowes]

Suggestions appreciated. Thing is this PC was built to last a long time. The graphics card cost £105, which is a ridiculously large amount of money for me (being a student). I love my PC atm but doubt i can really afford any £100+ upgrades for at least 3 years..

As for gaming, again a bit off original topic but what are the best games you guys play?

Thx

 

[Pat123]

Atm erm.. counterstrike.. company of heroes.. supreme commander.. and alot of people like bioshock.. the medal of honour airborne demo is pretty good aswell (Y)..

No just wait until next year then spend maybe £120 on a card then.. it will keep you running ur games on high lol..