Woohoo! New Computer

[Callum]

Mirac: OK, I figured it would be something like that. So would the fact that the 3700+ has 1GHz, while the 3500+ has 2 GHz make much of a difference?

Ross: At the moment I don't really play anything. I used to, but then games overtook my computer... and when my Dad replaced the computer, it wasn't really an upgrade. But I want to play a lot. Everything

As for the case, I was planning on just seeing what I could get here, and choosing from the shop's selection, figuring that of all the parts list, the case is the least likely they will have specifically what I want.

[Zink Whistlefly]

As others have suggested, the Tagan 480W is a great PSU. However, I will still at least suggest that you look at the Hiper Type R PSU's - I've used 2 in 2 different systems and they really are stable, reliable, cheap and quiet. The Modular version (currently using in my main rig - 580W Type R) means you only need to connect the leads you will use which means less "spaghetti junction" with your wires, which means neater case, which means better airflow which means better temps, but either PSU will do nicely [img]smile.gif[/img]

The "FSB" on all of the latest A64 CPU's is 2GHz (which is HTT*5, although the HTT multiplier is set in the motherboards BIOS), so a 3700+ is 2.2GHz (11*200, 11 being the multiplier, 200 being the HTT (HyperTransport is literally just a number which determines how fast the FSB runs based on the HTT Multiplier - the actual frequency of the HTT has VERY LITTLE impact on performance with these A64's), so 200*5 is where the 2GHz comes from. The frequency of the FSB should never exceed 2000MHz, so if you were to overclock, and raise your HTT speed to 250 (giving you 250*11=2750MHz for example), you would need to lower the HTT multiplier to *4 to keep the FSB at 2GHz.

The 3700+ San Diego is a nice chip, and a good choice. The jump to 1MB cache is easily worth the extra cache.

Since you're running at stock speeds, any nforce 4 board will do you just fine, and ASUS boards tend to be packed with features.

The X800GTO is an excellent budget card. It uses the same core as the X850XT with 4 pipelines disabled and lower clocks, but still has colossal amounts of memory bandwidth. It's a good choice for the money. The link you sent me lists it in the $170-$200 range though, and for that money you could get an Nvidia 6800GS which will be the better choice by a long way

As for UK prices, www.cclonline.com and www.microdirect.co.uk are 2 retailers worth checking out. I also recommend www.cpucity.co.uk who really do look after their customers. Just stay away from Overclockers UK since they have pissed off a lot of people.

[Callum]

Originally posted by Zink Whistlefly: As others have suggested, the Tagan 480W is a great PSU. However, I will still at least suggest that you look at the Hiper Type R PSU's - I've used 2 in 2 different systems and they really are stable, reliable, cheap and quiet. The Modular version (currently using in my main rig - 580W Type R) means you only need to connect the leads you will use which means less "spaghetti junction" with your wires, which means neater case, which means better airflow which means better temps, but either PSU will do nicely [img]smile.gif[/img]

I find myself changing with almost every suggestion that comes my way, I'm still new to this [img]tongue.gif[/img] , but that sounds a handy feature. I'm looking forward to maybe putting a window in, and the nicer it looks inside, the better.

Originally posted by Zink Whistlefly: Since you're running at stock speeds, any nforce 4 board will do you just fine, and ASUS boards tend to be packed with features.

I want to leave myself open. I expect to learn a lot in uni, and who's to say I won't be overclocking within a few months or a year? Just 'cos I don't trust myself now... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Originally posted by Zink Whistlefly: The X800GTO is an excellent budget card. It uses the same core as the X850XT with 4 pipelines disabled and lower clocks, but still has colossal amounts of memory bandwidth. It's a good choice for the money. The link you sent me lists it in the $170-$200 range though, and for that money you could get an Nvidia 6800GS which will be the better choice by a long way

Throwing words like budget around makes me go right off it haha [img]tongue.gif[/img] But the somewhat sensible side of me nods sagely.
But you mentioned the X850XT, and the 6800GS.

All three seem to be priced approximately the same by geek.com, which would be recommended to be the best choice?

The X800 GTO2
The 6800 GS
The X850 XT

Also, the X1600 Pro seems to be priced lower than the others, yet with a faster clock speed and twice as much onboard memory. Why would that be?

And I decided against that moment of weakness in the wireless keyboard and mouse. The ones I have are fine. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 03-16-2006, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Callum ]

[RoSs_bg2_rox]

The 6800GS is by far the best budget card out of there, certainly out of the ones you listed.

The Hiper's are nice, but the 580W will set you back more than the Tagan.

As for Overclocking, it's simple enough really, and the chip you are getting (presuming the 3700) is a good overclocker, so yeah, keep it in mind.

www.scan.co.uk is also a very good UK based retailer, and if you do come over here for Uni, you should give them a look, I've bought thousands of pounds worth of stuff from them and never had troubles, as have thousands of other people.

((Zink, it's strange, opinions on Overclockers UK are so mixed - I mean I've dealt with them before and I have to say I was very impressed - I also love their site design, however a point to note is that I've never had to RMA / use their tech support. ))

[shamrock_uk]

Originally posted by RoSs_bg2_rox: ((Zink, it's strange, opinions on Overclockers UK are so mixed - I mean I've dealt with them before and I have to say I was very impressed - I also love their site design, however a point to note is that I've never had to RMA / use their tech support. ))

I've bought from them for the last 4 years (several computers, a monitor, blank media) and have been very impressed with both prices and quality. I have used their customer service on two occasions.

Firstly when I was stupid and made a mistaken placing my order. I rang them, got a message saying that lines are taken and to try back in five minutes. So nice not to get stuck in a %$&*ing queue! I rang back in five, was straight through to a friendly support guy, gave him the correct order number and my updated order was dispatched correctly that day.

The second time was when a power supply I ordered didn't work. Sent it back and had a replacement by return with no questions asked.

I couldn't be happier with them really and would never hesitate to recommend. My only gripes are that there's no log-in capabilities to store items of interest and their pages don't have easy-to-access html anchors (making it really hard to link to specific items)

[Callum]

Originally posted by RoSs_bg2_rox: The Hiper's are nice, but the 580W will set you back more than the Tagan.

But the 525 or 480 won't, it appears.

EDIT: (Yay! Red Wizard of Thay!)

I've decided that as I was hard on myself with the keyboard and mouse, I will bring the cost back up with an eVGA GeForce 7900 GT Video Card. Unless there is a better choice for $320? I've seen a lot of good comments about this one... How do the X800 XL and X1800 XL compare?

[ 03-16-2006, 08:11 PM: Message edited by: Callum ]

[Zink Whistlefly]

Ross and Shamrock - OCUK seem to be consistently good at taking peoples money and dispatching their goods extremely quickly (competitive pricing too!). If you do need to return items (glad to hear you've had no problems Shamrock [img]smile.gif[/img] ) it's completely touch and go what kind of service you will receive (some people get faultless service, other's get screwed over - read some retailer reviews, OCUK gets hundreds of accounts of people's nightmare experiences).

Personally, I have used them several times in the past but never needed to return an item. I had a friend at work however order something as simple as an OEM mouse, and when he decided he didn't like it (it was one of those smooth wheeled Microsoft ones - not very good for CS!) and wanted to return it for a refund (perfectly within his rights) he called them up and arranged the RMA. So far so good! However - after he packaged the item up and returned it, it came back a few days later with a note saying that the refund cannot be processed because the mouse isn't in its original packaging! It was an OEM mouse lol!

If you hunt around on Google you might also find a zip of the "Admin only" area of the OCUK Forums (which someone rather foolishly left in the webroot) - apparently containing racism, underhanded business tactics, expression of their disgust and hatred of other members, breaching of consumer laws etc etc. Not the kind of people I'd want to be dealing with!

Here's a sample post:

"Hi there

Well it's been our intentions to improve our stance as the UK's no.1 showing no mercy to the competition and it looks like OCS are the first to feel our wrath.

As of today they have ceased trading and their forums have been closed!!

Now I wonder who will be next to fall, I am thinking Teeeckhead wankers.

Do I feel sorry for them? NO, if you get into the ring with the best you can only expect to leave bruised and battered.

H'onwards, H'upwards for the Mighty OcUK and it's forums and I will certainly be keeping up the hard work to make sure this happens."

You can see 10 pages worth of customer comments here

I also found this picture - LOL



Just be wary of them is all I ask, especially when there are other superior UK retailers about!

I've decided that as I was hard on myself with the keyboard and mouse, I will bring the cost back up with an eVGA GeForce 7900 GT Video Card. Unless there is a better choice for $320? I've seen a lot of good comments about this one... How do the X800 XL and X1800 XL compare?

The 7900GT is an EXCELLENT card - you won't be sorry if you get that The X1800XL (another good choice) is a fair bit quicker than the X800XL (the X800XL being slower than the X850XT cards) in terms of raw power, but most importantly it also has Shader Model 3.0 (the Radeon X8xx cards use SM2.0) - something that is becoming increasingly important with new games (especially Oblivion) that use features such as HDR. The Geforce 6600/6800/6900 and 7xxx cards all use SM 3.0.

[Callum]

Sheesh! I wouldn't buy from those ugly mugs

OK. Finally had a chance to look around a computer shop today, and am making some decisions. The RAM, hard drive, optical drive, case and monitor are all competitively priced here, and without shipping, will be much cheaper on the whole.

However, everything else I want is a lot more expensive. The processor is 975 ringgit, compared to just 800 online, and the graphics card is TWICE the price online [img]tongue.gif[/img] And the graphics card is the most expensive part anyway Ah well

My mum is visiting my grandad over the Easter holidays, coming back on the 18th of April, and so I think the best option would be to order the stuff I'm not getting here online, and send it to my grandad's. My mum can then bring it back with her. However, I'm wondering about how good an idea that is with regards to any problems. I'm guessing here, but I doubt it will be as easy to experience the full sutomer support from half a world away.

However, the alternative is finding a shop that will actually ship to Malaysia, and there seem to be precious few of those from past experience with online ordering.

EDIT: After checking on the British websites you guys recommended, it turns out I was completely wrong. Geek.com Gives me misleading impressions [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Everything seems about the same to slightly cheaper here. And there would be less hassle.

I only have prices for about half the items I wanted, because the guy, though helpful, was slightly difficult. Told me to get a standard case with a built in 350W power supply, and repeatedly brushing aside my comments about wanting the Hiper, or the Tagan. If I go back next time before five pm he can give me a quote for the fan, and I think the case and power supply as well.

[ 03-17-2006, 09:00 AM: Message edited by: Callum ]

[Callum]

A few more questions.

A) The OEM processor costs 13 pounds less. How much less am I getting in the package?

B) How much difference does the make of the graphics card matter? For example on this page, which would be the best choice of X1800 for the money? And on this page, which is the best 7900 GT?

[ 03-17-2006, 08:00 AM: Message edited by: Callum ]

[Callum]

And another question.

The guy also recommends going with an Intel Pentium D 3.2 GHz (which I assume is the Pentium D 840), as the warranty is much better, and also worldwide, which is a point I should consider, as I won't be in Malaysia much longer. But how would the performance compare with the 3700+? It'll mainly be for games and music, (and I like playing games with windows media player running at the same time) so would it be a good idea? The price is the same, once the change in motherboard is factored in, and I could also get DDR2 RAM this way... Worth it?

Or then again, how about the Athlon 64 X2 3800+?

[ 03-18-2006, 02:07 AM: Message edited by: Callum ]