Buying a new pc thread

[Ritwik]

Hi all,

I am going to be buy a new PC sometime soon and am currently involved in market research. This is to be a home PC, and I envision using it for games as well as for running web design software, photoshop and also Maya 3D, as well as for programming, mainly using Visual Studio .Net

Since I am currently a bit out of the loop as far as hardware is concerned, could all the experts out there point me in the right direction as regards motherboard/cpu, memory, graphics card and optical drives ? Some help on selecting a good printer (probably an HP) would also be appreciated.
What sort of cabinet and power supply should I consider. Also, what are the merits and demerits of dual core vs single core processing ?

I am going to salvage some components from my current PC - the display, keyboard, mouse, ups and speakers are just fine. It is just the "inner" things that need to change. I am not thinking of a budget just now, wanting to get a general idea of the whole picture before coming to that stage. However, I do not right now have the resources to really splurge, but I am ready to pay a decent amount considering that expenditure on display, speakers etc. is not to be considered.

Thanks for all help.

Ritwik

 

[siddharth2002]

Ok, this is what I sent my friend in Delhi when he asked my advice on PCs. Get the two word files. The name describes all.
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~wensid/ProfilicGamer.doc
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~wensid/Value4Money.doc

On Dual core vs Single core, Atm Single core rules we don't have enough applications to make use of Dual cores. But since Visat is coming out soon and multi-core being the new matra of Intel and AMD, Dual core is the right choice imo. Also I got my laptop yesterday which is an Intel Duo core 2x 1.83 GHz and it kicks ass in all aspects.

 

[Ritwik]

Thanks for that. Will read through those now!

 

[aussie1st]

Definitely go for the duo core. If I could get a new comp thats the way I would go. Ram I would get 2GB-3GB again thinking about Vista. HD 200GB should do for you.

 

[siddharth2002]

Definitely go for the duo core. If I could get a new comp thats the way I would go. Ram I would get 2GB-3GB again thinking about Vista. HD 200GB should do for you.

Yeah for a desktop thats quite achievable for about $NZ1800, I hope to have 4 GB RAM in my next comp and a healthy 1 TB Hard-drive, they are quite cheap these days.

 

[Ritwik]

Definitely go for the duo core. If I could get a new comp thats the way I would go. Ram I would get 2GB-3GB again thinking about Vista. HD 200GB should do for you.

I'll salvage my 40 gb hard drive from the present system. I was thinking of getting a 120 gb hard drive with a higher RPM, as it delivers much better performance than a behemoth 200 gb thing with lower speeds. Isn't 2 gb of ram overkill ? I could always expand it when/if I want to upgrade to Vista.

Yeah for a desktop thats quite achievable for about $NZ1800, I hope to have 4 GB RAM in my next comp and a healthy 1 TB Hard-drive, they are quite cheap these days.

Although that news about the price is heartening, don't forget that we still have archaic excise duties on computer products in India. That pushes up the price a bit. I want to save a bit on HDD and RAM so that I can splurge on a good graphics card.

What sort of dual core processor I should look at? And how many/what expansion slots on the motherboard ?

 

[aussie1st]

Yeah for a desktop thats quite achievable for about $NZ1800, I hope to have 4 GB RAM in my next comp and a healthy 1 TB Hard-drive, they are quite cheap these days.

How much do you think that will cost all out? I wish I could get my Dad to buy me a amazing comp lol. Maybe he will once Vista comes along.

 

[siddharth2002]

I'll salvage my 40 gb hard drive from the present system. I was thinking of getting a 120 gb hard drive with a higher RPM, as it delivers much better performance than a behemoth 200 gb thing with lower speeds. Isn't 2 gb of ram overkill ? I could always expand it when/if I want to upgrade to Vista.



Although that news about the price is heartening, don't forget that we still have archaic excise duties on computer products in India. That pushes up the price a bit. I want to save a bit on HDD and RAM so that I can splurge on a good graphics card.

What sort of dual core processor I should look at? And how many/what expansion slots on the motherboard ?

I actually bought a 120 GB hard-drive and believe me when I filled it till about 105 Gb it really slowed down despite being 7200 RPM. So I can't actually say anything about 200 GB Hard-drives.

About the slots in the motherboard, I already have them mentioned in the word files, Still two PCIe-16 are a must along with 3 extra PCI slots. And not to forget bells and whistles like 5-8 USB 2.0 , firewire ports etc.
And atm AMD dual cores are way better than Intel DUO cores. But Intel are going to release some more procs based on latest 60 nm process which will perform even better.

How much do you think that will cost all out? I wish I could get my Dad to buy me a amazing comp lol. Maybe he will once Vista comes along.

I m actually happy to have a chat with u on the phone or on MSN when u decide to buy it. I'll let u know the places to get the components cheap.

 

[Ritwik]

Siddharth: The NZ $1800 price you quote is inclusive of components like keyboard, mouse, display, scanner and speakers ? If that is so, it is good news indeed since I don't have to spend on all these things.

About the two PCI express slots, does this include the slot for graphics ?

Ok, this is what I sent my friend in Delhi when he asked my advice on PCs. Get the two word files. The name describes all.
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~wensid/ProfilicGamer.doc
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~wensid/Value4Money.doc

In the "prolific gamer" file you mention that the high end motherboard has a 7.1 sound card built in ? Is this adequate for games, since I don't have a good experience with in-built sound cards --- I've one currently and the sound starts stuttering like hell when I am playing games like GTA. On the other hand, I had an Aurel Vortex sound card with my previous PC and it was superb in all respects.

 

[siddharth2002]

Siddharth: The NZ $1800 price you quote is inclusive of components like keyboard, mouse, display, scanner and speakers ? If that is so, it is good news indeed since I don't have to spend on all these things.

About the two PCI express slots, does this include the slot for graphics ?


In the "prolific gamer" file you mention that the high end motherboard has a 7.1 sound card built in ? Is this adequate for games, since I don't have a good experience with in-built sound cards --- I've one currently and the sound starts stuttering like hell when I am playing games like GTA. On the other hand, I had an Aurel Vortex sound card with my previous PC and it was superb in all respects.

Actually that $1800 price is a generalised price for which u can can a fairly good system like I mentioned in "Value4money" file. Otherwise a top of the line would cost to be about $4000+ here in NZ even if u build it urself.
And that motherboared does have 7.1 sound but there is a slight problem. Motherboards with multi-channel sound usually have 3-4 jacks with software switching enabled for microfone jacks, means that if u are connecting 5.1 system to it and than want to use your microfone, u will have to take out one speaker cable and switch it to act as an mic input jack. So having an extra peripheral card is the way to go, I never rely on motherboard in-built stuff.

 

[Brett_Lee]

There are heaps of ways to get good computers. If you get advice from all of us on what parts just go to your local computer dealer and get them to build u wat you need. You basically need an alround system if you are going to program, webdesign, play games.

I reckon go dual core and for your games by a 256mb or 512 mb video card

 

[puddleduck]

For myself I just used a DFI NForce4 Ultra motherboard with 2x1gb Dual Channel Ocz Ram. Coupled with my XFX geforce 7800, and 600W Enermax Psu, everything is running superbly. With a nice 80gb Sata Hd with my operating system, and a nice big 300gb Sata hd to use for storage. Most of these parts are however based around one day... roughly 30minutes after their warranties expire... overclocking the components. Currently everything runs nicely, but give it a year and most of these parts will be beginning to be a little out of date in regards the newest and heaviest games.

As with all things it always depends on what you want to be able to do with them, and what you want to spend. With my setup I can more than comfortably play any of Pro Evo 5, Ea Cricket, Blic, and things like Hl2 and Css. Price wise it wasn't massive, because I put it all together myself, I spent around ?750-900 Sterling.

Whatever you do, if you get high end components make sure you do not try and save money on the power supply. I shouldn't really be telling anyone this, as it is funnily enough an area I make a fair amount of my money fixing Pcs from People all too often spend all their money on high-end products, spend next to nothing on a power supply, and then are baffled as to why their Pc constantly crashes. Worst case scenario it can destroy components when it goes.

 

[Ritwik]

Yeah I know that about Power Supply. So what range of power supply should I be considering ? I think a minimum of 400W would be required to run an "all-round" system.

 

[Abhas]

yup, 400W would suffice...

 

[Brett_Lee]

Yeah I know that about Power Supply. So what range of power supply should I be considering ? I think a minimum of 400W would be required to run an "all-round" system.

Yeh 400 W minimum