Computer Jargon

[scandyflick]

hey guys, tax man might be buying me a new computer (generous sob that tax man), but, i dont know what to look for. probably going to be spending between 13 and 1800, any recomendations?

found this one at radio rentals;

Acer Aspire L320 Vista Home Premium Desktop S

Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition, Intel® Core 2 Duo® E4300 Processor (1.80GHz, 2MB Cache, 800MHz FSB), 1GB DDRII 533 SODIMM Dual Channel, 320GB S-ATA hard drive 7 (7200 RPM), 16x Dual Layer DVD SATA Burner

opinions?

[Madaz]

opinions?

if you dont know what your doing with PC's FOR THE LOVE OF GOD dont go and buy ANYTHING

that PC is a pos get one of us here to build you one and youll get alot better PC than radio rentals, myers or harvey normans

[scandyflick]

LOL, fair enough then.

[Whyallapunk]

Definately get someone else to build a system for you. Don't bother settling for a 3grand computer from a retailer which you could build for 1grand. Check the trading post for build systems, there are some very cheap ones. Other then that, work out a budget and get someone who can order in the cheap parts and build it for ya.

[scandyflick]

in that case, who wants to build me a computer?

[Cubes]

You would have to outline your usage.

What games if any do you play?

Video Editing?

and most importantly.. What would you feel comfortable spending? Its easy to fiddle with part specs to adjust price.

You could get away with a really nice gaming system for a little over $1700ish with OS, 20" WS etc.

It can be done for $1500 but obviously skimping a little on cpu speed, possibly gfx speed also. All depends on your needs.

[scandyflick]

well, id use it for some games, im not a big computer gamer, but then, i dont have a computer fast enough to play anything really.

mostly use mine for music, movies, and some image editing and such.

use to do some video stuff, not so much anymore cause i got sick of slow computers.

$1700 seems pretty good though.

[Cubes]

Here's a system that I've quickly chosen parts for...

To give you an idea of specs....

Its quite a bit more impressive than the Acer. $1720

It is possibly a little overkill for what you may use the system for. You may want to look at......

Slightly slower ram (not noticable), 20" lcd instead of 22", slower vid card that is great bang for buck but still very quick. $1386

Load side by side you will see where I've made the changes. Your saving ~$330 with the lesser spec system, not a great deal.

I'd go around a few computer shops and have a look at the 20" ws and 22" ws (widescreen) lcd's and see if you think its worth the extra $70 or so for the larger lcd.

Then weigh up if you need the faster DX10 videocard for another ~$200. Do you have the time for games?

[Madaz]

i concur cubes is on the money

2 parts i would personly change (not that anything is wrong with the 8800 or 7900) i would put a 2900pro in

and a AOC22"ws for around $330

you might want to check the price youve put on that CPU cubes MSY is actually $298

ITestate has some very comparable prices like:

CPU E6600 $290 E6600

Motherboard DS3P $136 Gigabyte DS3P

Seagate 400gb $159 Seagate 400gb

Western Digital 400gb $139 Western Digital 400gb

22" WS $319 conditions apply 22" LCD

leadteck 8800gts $297 Leadteck 8800gts

GeIL 667mhz 2gb $110 GeIL 2gb

Pioneer DVD bunrer $39 with purchase of 50dvd @ $35 Pioneer

Vista Home Premium $132 Vista

Keyboard/Mouse $22 Logiteck Cheapy

Ezcool gaming case $110 inc PSU Case

Subtotal ________$1629 including conditions met (allow $60-80 for AAE shipping)

[scandyflick]

heh, seems like im spoilt for choice. :sorcerer:

id definitely go for the bigger screen, im so sick of these tiny ass screens that all of my computers have, absolute pain if im using photoshop, and the extra 70 odd bucks, meh, big deal.

same again for the 'lower spec' system cubes has put up, if im only going to be saving a few hundred with that, i dont much see the point, i may not have much time for games, but when i do, i like em running properly.

id probably go for a 4/500gb hdd as id run out of space pretty quickly with all the music i ehm.. backup.

thanks for that guys, gives me some nice options

wait to see what the tax man says, and ill start shopping.

[Cubes]

lol yer it was late.. I stuffed the price.

I origionally had a E4400 in there and erm forgot to update the price with the E6600.

E4400 is great if you wish to clock it up; clocking up on these C2D's is easy and safe.

The only issue with itelestate is they are interstate.. scandyflick being not so cluey it would be best he buys within SA for warranty issues. Absolute pain in the arse sending items back via post should it be DOA and waiting to receive.

I steer clear of WD drives; they are quick but I've found they are not so reliable in warm conditions.

A cool airconditioned house is a must if you want one to live longer than 1-2years. The dreaded WD click of death.

If your not into downloading heaps via file sharing stick with the smaller single 320gb drive. I run more software on my computer than the average user and find around the 320gb mark is plenty. If you are then by all means get close to that 1tb.

[Cubes]

heh, seems like im spoilt for choice. :sorcerer:

id definitely go for the bigger screen, im so sick of these tiny ass screens that all of my computers have, absolute pain if im using photoshop, and the extra 70 odd bucks, meh, big deal.

same again for the 'lower spec' system cubes has put up, if im only going to be saving a few hundred with that, i dont much see the point, i may not have much time for games, but when i do, i like em running properly.

id probably go for a 4/500gb hdd as id run out of space pretty quickly with all the music i ehm.. backup.

thanks for that guys, gives me some nice options

wait to see what the tax man says, and ill start shopping.

scandy.... Would you consider clocking it up a little?

If so then by all means look at the E4400 and push it up to E6600 speeds which is very easily and safely done.

It would however require a little reading on your behalf.

Pull $100 off the price if you are willing to clock it up. You'd then buy the E4400 CPU instead of the E6600.

Especially if the tax man isn't so generous; $100 is $100 and you have to draw the line some where. It adds up quickly with the larger monitor and larger hard drive when retaining the top line gfx card.

As Madaz has shown you can get parts cheaper if you order online but thats up to you. DOA 'can' be an issue, with a part purchased locally you can simply swap it over.

I prefer Antec Cases they are nice looking, don't rattle and don't cut you. http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=96500

[Rolls]

www.msy.com.au have excellent prices and are local in Adelaide.

Edited June 10, 2007 by Rolls

[scandyflick]

scandy.... Would you consider clocking it up a little?

If so then by all means look at the E4400 and push it up to E6600 speeds which is very easily and safely done.

It would however require a little reading on your behalf.

Pull $100 off the price if you are willing to clock it up. You'd then buy the E4400 CPU instead of the E6600.

Especially if the tax man isn't so generous; $100 is $100 and you have to draw the line some where.

As Madaz has shown you can get parts cheaper if you order online but thats up to you. DOA 'can' be an issue, with a part purchased locally you can simply swap it over.

I prefer Antec Cases they are nice looking, don't rattle and don't cut you. http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=96500

uh, clocking...?

*starts reading*

[Cubes]

uh, clocking...?

*starts reading*

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&...clock&meta=

And if you read E4400 reviews you will see 'most' include a section of how it overclocks.

Its a lot like winding up the boost. lol

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=642

For example....

At the very bottom is the non-overclocked E4400... Once overclocked to 3ghz it takes out the top spot. They over clock extremely well but there's no need to really push it to 3ghz unless you have done plenty of reading, aftermarket cooling and feel comfortable doing so.

A nice over clock to 2.6ghz performs better than a E6600. On par with an E6700.

[Madaz]

wait to see what the tax man says, and ill start shopping.

you wont be finding systems like this in any shop @ a price that compares to what me and cubes have stated, this price doesn't even include installation formating and benchmarking

you can also take my shopping list to MSY and get them to price match

i don't mind the OC but prefer the bigger cache of the e6600 and clock the e6600 to 3.2ghz or something

i couldn't find a comparison card for the 8800 in ATI due to there only being a 2900XT the pro isn't available in aus yet

[Whiplash]

HELP!!!!

I am having some serious issues with my PC when i run a graphics heavy game, I played Supreme Commander a few weeks back at a LAN and it worked fine, At the LAN i had to turn off my firewall and since then when ever I have tried to play anything that has high graphical requirements my PC shits it self and shuts down.

At the moment it only happens in Supreme Commander and Call of Jaurez

I'm going to try and DL the latest Direct X and see if that helps,

any other ideas on what could be going wrong or how to fix it????

[Madaz]

check to see if your gfx drivers are current maybee uninstall old drivers and reinstall even if there is no update

[Madaz]

anyone have GRAW2 they wish to test if i can host

[Fishpaste~]

lol yer it was late.. I stuffed the price.

I origionally had a E4400 in there and erm forgot to update the price with the E6600.

E4400 is great if you wish to clock it up; clocking up on these C2D's is easy and safe.

The only issue with itelestate is they are interstate.. scandyflick being not so cluey it would be best he buys within SA for warranty issues. Absolute pain in the arse sending items back via post should it be DOA and waiting to receive.

I steer clear of WD drives; they are quick but I've found they are not so reliable in warm conditions.

A cool airconditioned house is a must if you want one to live longer than 1-2years. The dreaded WD click of death.

If your not into downloading heaps via file sharing stick with the smaller single 320gb drive. I run more software on my computer than the average user and find around the 320gb mark is plenty. If you are then by all means get close to that 1tb.

have you actually read MSYs warranty conditions???

1) if the product is "DOA" they charge you a 15% restocking fee, and if you want a refund, the dont refund and CC surcharges

2) all products, regardless of their real warrantys, have a 1 year return to manufacturer (ie. tiwan) warranty

just a personal observation that the current segate HDDs have about a 2 year expected life time, where as WD HDDs if corectly mounted/installed will go the distance... this is has a little bit to do with the amount of voltage that segate pump threw their heads to get the marginaly faster seak time

also if people are concerned about failures, the solution seriers PSU in the antec case (although being 10000000 times better than the one in Madaz's quote) will fail! the official Antec supplier to Australia (note, msy grey market import their parts) have told everyone who buys from them to stop selling any solution series PSU because they WILL fail within about 2 years. The contractor that Antec chose to make the PSUs for them deliberatly used under-spec parts without telling Antec and hence the almost 100% failure rate on them.

another example of grey importing is the fact that that gigabyte motherboard (i presume they are quoting the 965P-DS3P) has been discontinued, any official gigabyte distributor in australia has dropped it for the P35-DS3 range

Im not having a go at cubes and madaz here, what they are doing is fantastic... people that buy their computers from A&R, IT Wearhouse, Radio Rentals, Harvey Norman and the likes just shouldn't... and the world of custom computers is a tricky place to negotiate. So big ups to those guys for at least showing you the path, and in all fairness, it is the dollar that drives most consumers... but sometimes you have to wonder what it is your paying for (or not in the case of msy).

PS. sorry if i offended you guys (Cubes and Madaz) wasent my intention at all