What should i get??

[Black_Mamba]

i am planning on buying a new pc but not quite sure what to get.. would like an AMD processor n stuff but have a price range of about £350 ish just for the tower. i already have monitor n other stuff..
i found this at £298 but not sure.it is an AGP mobo tho no PCI-E

AMD64 Athlon 3200+ Socket-939
1.0GB DDR 400mhz
80GB IDE ATA133 8MB buffer
16x Sony DVD-ROM;
ATI Radeon 9600 pro 128MB DVI TV-OUT
400W PSU

also found this for £290

AMD ATHLON 64 3400+ Socket 754 - 64 BIT
ASUS Model K8V-MX
1024 MB RAM PC 3200 DDR 400 Memory
80 GB MAXTOR 7200 Hard Drive
16x SAMSUNG DVD+/- RW Dual Layer DVD Writer
Quality Metal Case & HI-END 300W Power Supply

this has a 754 socket the other 939...

which one would be better? or or there any other recommendations on what i should buy?

thanks

[hockey man]

Socket 939. . .btu it has a 9600Pro in it. . .that is interesting . . . .it is a AGP video card with a scoket 939 MOBO. . .you really want to find a PCIe pc these days. . .were did you find these pcs? Are they for sale at a local vendor? Or online?

[Black_Mamba]

local place, yer i no pci-e is better in the long run but i dont really want to be spending more than £350 ish. so i should go with the 939 then?

[Black_Mamba]

noo lol i got confused wrote them done on a piece of paper... they r from online 1 from goldenelectronics (top £298) and another online store sorry.

[saphalline]

What are you going to be using this new computer for? Just surfing the web? Gaming?

[Black_Mamba]

applications, web stuff and some light gaming.. i hope

[saphalline]

Are you looking for this to be a throw-away system, or something you can upgrade down the line?

If price is your main concern, I'd recommend a system based on certain chipsets, like the Radeon Xpress 200 or GeForce 6100/6150. These are going to be mostly for Socket 754 and have onboard video, but it's better to get a good quality system than a better CPU with 2-year old technology. PCIe has been around long enough that it should be standard by now - any new system that still has AGP is just surplus inventory that the shop/vendor is trying to get rid of.

[Black_Mamba]

well i suppose i could upgrade the system to a certain extent.. do u have any links to sites with pc deals with the PCI-E slot that i could have a look at? thanks

[saphalline]

I know a lot of the UK members prefer Dabs.com (www.dabs.com). Very good UK-based online computer vendor. You can peruse their selection and see what you come up with. Otherwise I'm a little out of the loop for overseas selections.

[Black_Mamba]

hey been looking around on the net and found this set up for £313....
just tht i would have to buy a PCI-E card which would be £100 + for one that will run games ok maybe?

Processor : AMD 64 Socket 939 Processor
Memory : 1024 DDR 400
Hard Disk : 80 GB (7200)
Optical Drive : 52 X CD Writer/DVD Combo Drive
Graphics : Nvidia 6100 128MB Integrated
Network : 10/100 Ethernet Connection
Sound : 5.1 Surround Sound Card
Ports etc. : USB2.0 Ports x6, Parallel & Standard Ports
Case : 400 Watt Silent Case With Neon Light
Warranty : 5 Years Return To Base (3 Day Turnaround)

what do u think anyone?

thanks

[saphalline]

Just make sure that it comes with a PCIe x16 slot. It probably does, but it never hurts to call and ask for certain. Other than that, it looks decent enough.

For the vid card, you can go as low as a Radeon X700 Pro and still get decent performance in most games, but something like a Radeon X800 GTO2 or GeForce 7600 GT would be a lot better. Again, I don't know how the prices of these vid cards compare overseas.

[Black_Mamba]

ok thanks for the advice.. looking at some x700 pros now lowest i have seen is about £95 wot about a 6600 GT? would that be ok?

[saphalline]

Yeah, a 6600 GT is also a good performer, but only up to a certain price (say £110). Any higher and you're getting robbed! The 7600 GT is still relatively expensive, but it's the new replacement for the 6600 GT.

[paul_]

For the vid card, you can go as low as a Radeon X700 Pro...

My old vid card... :rolleyes: Not bad, but not up to par for my gaming purposes. Well, sorta. My computer is SO GOOD that it keeps hitting the ~30FPS limit set on NFS:MW (console-based)! I have the graphics up all the way, and it won't stop hitting and going back to 0. LOL my computer is too good for the game :D

Anyway, good luck with your computer search, and please don't stoop to an AGP system.

-P

[Black_Mamba]

well here is the site http://www.pcoption.co.uk/home/
went onto base units and AMD 64 etc etc there are some interesting packages as well.. like SLI set up with two 6600 's. anyways have a look if u want up to you see if its a good deal.. thank you

[saphalline]

That site does look pretty good. The hard drive upgrade is well worth it. 80GB to 160GB is only £17. And the 6600 GT upgrade is only £96. Doubling the RAM costs about £29 - up to you if you want to spend that much with them or look for a better price elsewhere. I would definitely recommend 1GB of RAM for gaming, it's just a matter of where you want to buy it.