Quote from: Serious

Quote from: Eagle

Quote from: SeriousSimple really. And looking better on price too.

A lack of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Early today my main computer wouldnt work, no beeps or lights. Checked everything four times, nothing loose, all plugs in their sockets firmly. Then asked my brother to have a look. He plugged it in and the damn thing just started as if nothing had happened

 :rage:

Sometimes computers just hate you...

^ Yup.

That said, this rigs ran pretty much without a single hitch, crash, slowdown or hiccup for the last three-odd years.  Current XP install is two years old and its as fast now as it was the day it went in.



I just know my luckll run out sooner or later though...
 

Quote from: EagleTbvfh, my itchy trigger fingers hovering over the wreck wallet button on the DELL XPS 720 rig...

Couple o points though:

4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [4x1024] Is 800Mhz wurf the extra expense?

DDR2-800 RAM is pretty much the cheapest you can get. As mentioned before you can get Corsair stuff with heatspreaders for 75 quid, so its probably costing them next to nothing.

Quote1TB Serial ATA RAID 0 Stripe (2x500GB 7200rpm drives with DataBurst™ cache) Raid 0?... is this ok or is it easy to change (bearing in mind Ill be doing the XP64 thing)

RAID 0 is stripping, which means you use two drives to create one array. So in Windows you will see a single 1Tb drive. Gives you a speed boost but adds risk; if one drive goes down you loose everything.

Companies like Dell, Mesh, etc wont offer RAID 5 to consumers, thats only offered on business/server product lines. If you want to do RAID-5 youll need to do it yourself.

QuoteSINGLE 768MB nVidia® GeForce® 8800 GTX No option for 512 or plain ol GT - still ok? No mention that mobo is dual GC ready...

nVidia has stock issues with the 8800GT so you wont see them on Dells till January probably. Nothing wrong with the 8800GTX, its a fast card but a bit overpriced for you can get for the same performance.

QuoteIm assuming XP64 will be ok with this.  No details on mobo so unsure of upgradeability - do DELL screw you with this?

£1,449.06 - hmm... spensive but kinda trusted...

Will probably be a P35 chipset motherboard... maybe X38.

You do get the warranty with Dell... but if its put together well you shouldnt have any problems! I still dont believe youre too busy to build your own Youll be using better components thats for sure. (Especially for the case/PSU!).

Dont be lazy    

 

Quote from: KunalDDR2-800 RAM is pretty much the cheapest you can get. As mentioned before you can get Corsair stuff with heatspreaders for 75 quid, so its probably costing them next to nothing.

Me likes Corsair.

Ok, lets look into a self-build...

[size=24]Case[/size] first?  I cant find any I really like.

Lian-Li PC-G70 Aluminum Mid Tower - Silver £117.49

Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case £88.11

 :?
 

 
[size=24]Mobo[/size]...

Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £123.36

 :?
 

 
[size=24]CPU[/size]...

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) £166.84

Need a heatsink! :?:

 :?
 

 
[size=24]PSU...[/size]

Enermax Infiniti 720W EIN720AWT Modular PSU - Triple Quad £132.60
 

 
[size=24]Memoire...[/size]

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x1GB) £93.99 x2 (£187.98)


 

 
[size=24]Graphics Card...[/size]

Asus nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI/TV Out (PCI-E) £180.95


 

2 things, I thought the X38 boards where the ones to go for now, and personally i would say get an Asus board.  Mypersonal experience of Abit and These days Gigabyte isnt the best.  Asus usually seem to make a "Better" product.

Also, plenty of places have the 8800GT listed, but very few have stock.  it reminds me of the days the X800XT cards.

Im a bit clueless as you can see...

didnt like my selection?

Quote from: EagleIm a bit clueless as you can see...

hardly, youve made better choices than many others would.  Most of the specs in this thread are pretty good to be fair.  

Mobo - theres no point chucking loads at an expensive one if you dont youre doing or dont wanna tweak. Spend £70 tops.

PSU - Spend £40 tops - £132 is just silly - only a mug would pay that.

CPU - last time I checked retail cpus come with heatsinks which are reasonably quiet and efficient.

Case - it holds the bits together. A £10 case would do so spend however much to get the case you like the look of most.

Keyboard/Mouse/Speakers/Monitor - these will make a bigger diff than an extra xGb of memory so get nice stuff.

If you cant get a 8800GT the Ati 3870s for £150 are supposedly pretty sweet and next best thing.


tbh this topic is way too long, just buy something and stfu

Quote from: Eagle[size=24]CPU[/size]...

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) £166.84

Need a heatsink! :?:

 :?
 

Quote from: Eagles linky- Supplied with Intel referance heatsink & fan

 

Quote from: sdpMobo - theres no point chucking loads at an expensive one if.. dont wanna tweak.

Ah, but I do.  Mines tweaked now.

Quote from: sdptbh this topic is way too long, just buy something and stfu

Heh - youre probably right.  DELLs BNPL offer expired yesterday.  Arse!