New compy - yay or nay?

[Bad^Hat]

Been looking at getting a new computer for awhile but only just scratched up the cash. Found a system that seems pretty sweet and is right within my budget -

http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.asp?id=109749732

I'd be getting it without the monitor which brings it down to $1290 (about US$1000 or 500 pounds according to XE.com). I've looked around and that seems pretty competitive, and it has everything there I'd want. I guess I'm just looking for a second (and third!) opinion so I can avoid buyer's remorse if it turns out to be less than I was expecting.

Any questions I should be asking the seller before I go ahead with it? They don't tend to list brands of everything on this site but I didn't think that would be an issue. Besides that I can't think of anything.

Thanks for reading ^_^

 

[Kyorisu]

Video Card: GeForce 8600GTS 256M PCI-E

Super fast my arse.

 

[Nabobalis]

Also that person added up each core speed to a total speed of the CPU.

 

[Kyorisu]

Uh no he didn't.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz 4MB 1066MHz LGA775 65nm Conroe

Is quite correct.

 

[leib10]

Looks alright to me. Think about upgrading that video card to 512MB eventually and you should be fine.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Ah, I forgot about that. I can ask him to upgrade to a 512mb 8600, he has one going on another of his auctions. GTS isn't a budget card though, right? I can never keep track of all of nvidia's screwy suffixes.

Also that person added up each core speed to a total speed of the CPU.

Yeah I noticed that, in the list of specs at the top. Could be a mistake or he's trying to make it seem faster than it is. Either way, duly noted

 

[CptStern]

seems kind of expensive for what you get ..probably could get a bit better at the same price if you built it yourself ..the case and power supply look generic ..I'd stay away from generic power supplies, they have a tendency to burn out, sometimes taking some of your components with it

 

[Icarusintel]

seems kind of expensive for what you get ..probably could get a bit better at the same price if you built it yourself ..the case and power supply look generic ..I'd stay away from generic power supplies, they have a tendency to burn out, sometimes taking some of your components with it

I'm with Stern on this. You'd be better of building your own. Besides, you can get a quad core for the same price as a dual core these days. Or get a cheaper dual core and overclock the shit out of it.

And getting a generic power supply is asking for trouble.

 

[VictimOfScience]

Ah, I forgot about that. I can ask him to upgrade to a 512mb 8600, he has one going on another of his auctions. GTS isn't a budget card though, right? I can never keep track of all of nvidia's screwy suffixes.

The GTS is actually their budget card and you may end up regretting it in the near future (this Fall/Winter). Better to hold off on that and spend another $200 on an uber-card...the leaked specs for the G92 are out in this forum somewhere I believe (see below for the specs from that thread).

Also, you would want to consider a good sound card rather than what this system has to offer.

And after everything everyone else has said, I would personally hold off altogether and wait until some really hardware-frying games come out and then look into what would run them smoothly at that time. Prices will have come down (at least a bit) and better things will likely be on the market anyway. Just my $02. :E

1. By Q4 2007 (Xmas) NVIDIA will be releasing their GeForce 9800 series GPUs.
Unlike previously expected the codename for nVidia's next generation GPU will NOT be "G90" but instead be "G92".

I have some info form NVIDIA insider about the upcoming G92 graphics processors.

G92 will be released in November 2007 timeframe in the form of "GeForce 9800" series.

"G92" GeForce 9800 GTX specs.

- 65nm process technology at TSMC.
- Over one billion transistors.
- Second Generation Unified Shader Architecture.
- Double precsion support (FP64).
- GPGPU native.
- Over one TeraFLOPS of shader processing power.
- MADD+ADD configuration for the shader untis (2+1 FLOPS=3 FLOPS per ALU)
- Fully Scalar design.
- 512-bit memory interface.
- 1024MB GDDR4 graphics memory.
- DirectX 10.1 support.
- OpenGL 3.0 Support.
- eDRAM die for "FREE 4xAA".
- built in Audio Chip.
- built in tesselation unit (in the graphics core"
- Improved AA and AF quality levels

Pros.

65nm process will allow for better yields and better power consumption. power consumption will be lower than that of a GeForce 8800 GTX.

GeForce 9800 GTX will be over two times faster than a GeForce 8800 Ultra in real world games and applcations.

Release date : November 2007. There will be TWO products at launch: The flagship GeForce 9800 GTX and the second fastest GeForce 9800 GTS.

price for the GeForce 9800 GTX will be 549-649 USD.

price for the GeForce 9800 GTS will be 399-449 USD.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Damnit, I was afraid you all were gonna say that

I'll look into some prices and see what I can fish up. Wish I weren't so clueless about this...

 

[CptStern]

we will help you decide what's best

 

[Bad^Hat]

Well, I slept on it, and I had a bit of a look around, and I got to thinking about what I really want out of a PC at the moment. Really I'd be happy with something mid-range that played all my current games and left me with a bit of coin in pocket. Then, come the new year, I can put some more down on a much beefier upgrade if I see fit - I'm pretty much covered for all my gaming needs this year with consoles anyway (I know, sacrelige, I probably would've slapped myself a couple years ago).

At this stage I think I'm just going to work with some older parts I had lying around and supplement in whatever I don't have, then I can just replace them when I feel the need. I just have a few more questions if you'll bear with me -

# Hard drives - IDE or SATA? IDE has done me fine until now, and I'd always heard dodgy things about SATA drives. All said and done, the motherboard I have supports either, and they're both around the same price - any advantages to either?

# Can anyone recommend a good gaming mouse? I likes me lots of buttons and a comfortable size and weight - no preference as to corded or non. I'm currently using this, but it's showing it's age and really needs to be replaced (the mousewheel, it DISOBEYS me :frown.

# Ram. I'm completely clueless about this. Could anyone give some basic guidelines as to which speeds/types/brands to look out for? I figure I may as well go for some fairly speedy stuff and save upgrading later since it's pretty much the cheapest component, but nothing that's gonna break the bank.

# Power supplies - same deal, brands to look out for/avoid like the plaque? (mispelling intended, lol @ me)

Sorry for the long post. Thanks again if you've read this far.

 

[Tyguy]

I would suggest getting a bigger power supply, and like stern said, something not so generic. Check out the reviews on Newegg. Im almost at the point where I need to upgrade as well however I have to buy a new Mobo, damn 939 pin!

 

[DEATHMASTER]

- SATA (II) is what I recommend, it's what I use (also have one IDE, so I know that it's a lot faster!)
- I got my MX518 from ebay super cheap, I recommend doing the same, I got it for $17 refurbished.
-PSU I would go with Antec, they're worth the price-performance. I recommend at least mine which is 550W for future proofage.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Okay, looked around, and I think I'm mostly sorted. Here are the parts I'm working with. Any or all of the owned stuff can be replaced and upgraded, but I'm trying to keep cost to a minimum and would rather hang on to as much as I can.

Owned:

CPU: AMD Athlon64 3200+ Socket 939
RAM: 2x512mb DDR-400 (or some such)
Gfx card: Nvidia 6800 128MB AGP 8X
Mobo: Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 ULi M1695
PSU: Enermax FMA 350W
(And a 19" wide LCD monitor - HP or something)

Buying:

Case: Gigabyte GZ-X1
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 320GB 7200RPM 16M SATA II

Also - Keyboard and Mouse.

Look alright? As far as I can see it should all go together well (or atleast well enough), and I can hang onto the new stuff and upgrade the old at my leisure. The only gripe I have is whether or not the power supply will still be good to run it, but I don't see there'd be a problem considering it's only a minor upgrade from what I used to have.

Comments/considerations?

 

[Asus]

Enermax are good units. Looks like that one has 26 amps on the 12V+ rail which I think would be good enough.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Awesome, I thought so. It was a great unit back when I bought it (I looked into it... one before that got fried) so I'm glad it's still kicking to some extent

I think I'm gonna go ahead and order those parts. I don't see how there'd be any problems, and I'm kind of anxious to have it all put together and up and running. I've had that CPU sitting around for more than a year now, lol...

Thanks for all the advice fellas. Don't be afraid to post if you think of anything I'm forgetting

 

[Barney Fife]

How much the system costs? I can't seem to find the price tag.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

ebay them all.