Before buying PC please ask our advice first!

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Reply 2020

What's your budget?

Reply 2021

i was looking around the £400 mark but need printer and bits and bobs so might end up a little over.....i didnt really want to spend too much ....my budget probably seems a little tight lol

Reply 2022

v2006

Guys I can buy either of these 2 PC's. Which one shall i buy? (They are both of ebay)

q6600 overclocked to 3 ghz / 2 gigs 5300 ram/ 250 gb/ asus p5b / 8800 gts 320 - 867 pounds

or

e6600 stock / 2 gigs 5300 / 400 gb / asus p5b / 8800gtx - 900 pounds

Is it safe to buy a computer off ebay?

Reply 2023

omicronlyrae

personally I'd never buy a PC off eBay, but that's preference.

Reply 2024

PieMaster

v2006

Is it safe to buy a computer off ebay?

You'll never know quite what youre getting; most machines off eBay will have no-name cases and PSU's.

Reply 2025

v2006

Guys I have some other quotes (from proper websites)
e6600 / corsair xms 2 gb / 400 gb / xfx 8800 gts 320 - 708 + delivery
Or same as above but with a bfg 8800 gtx oc - 888 + delivery
Do you think I should save the 180 quid and get a new gfx next year or go for a gtx now? By the way I will be buying a 22 inch monitor

Reply 2026

PieMaster

Post the full specs, including links to the spec/parts and someone will be able to help you.

Reply 2027

omicronlyrae

personally i wouldn't spend the extra £180 for the GTX.

Reply 2028

sauce

Hey, I'm looking to buy a new laptop, seeing as my old one is pretty much desotryed thanks to my brother(won't be letting him use this one cus I'll be using solely MY money). Anyway, I literally just want one that is wireless enabled already and is good just for tsring,myspacing,ebaying and general internets :teeth:

.Maybe some essay writing but that's about it tbh. Never gaming or msning(well msning very rarely). What is the cheapest I can get? I don't mind if it's second hand either,^_^ .If you could leave the message here and quote me(so I know you've replied in the CP) or send me a PM I'd really appreciate it. Thank yoouuuu

Lilian

for uber basic tasks, such as those you described, a cheap Dell laptop would serve you well, and wouldn't be more than £400 at the absolute most.

Reply 2031

PieMaster

Lilian

A second hand laptop might be a good route. Have a look on eBay for some Dell or IBM Pentium 3 / M based ones, shouldnt be more than £250 for a very well specced one.

Reply 2032

sauce

ta!

I think I may be pushing it asking for good links :redface:

but I would give someone a sub for finding me an ideal one that is in my price range and I buy :love:

Reply 2033

omicronlyrae

*goes to look on dell website*

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/notebooks_good?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

there's the 1501
with 512MB RAM, a 14.1" monitor, and an 80 GB Hard drive for £350, or
with 1GB RAM, 15.4" monitor, and 120GB Hard drive for £400

If that's within budget, you'd get more out of the £400 one.

Reply 2034

sauce

olileauk

oooo thankyou! either that or play.com me thinks :redface:

Thanks, when I sell my DS on ebay(should be done in a few days) I'll buy you a sub for that :proud:

Overtime her I come, I want the most expensive one tbh :redface:

Reply 2035

esm

I've been looking around for new pc parts for a while now, before taking the plunge. Having read many many MANY websites and reviews I decided on the following:

Gigabyte S775 GA-965P-DS3P
Intel core 2 duo E4300
Corsair Memory TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2x1GB
Seagate barracuda 500gb 7200rpm 16mb cache SATA
8800 GTS 320mb version (about 5 different makes with the same spec)

The reason I chose the E4300 over other processors such as the E6600 is because it sounds much easier to overclock, and can easily surpass the speed of the E6600 and then some.
I've also read good reviews about the gigabyte motherboard, easy for overclocking and affordable.
In case anyone was wondering, i'm not overclocking enthusiast, infact i've never done it in my life. I would however recommend reading into what I said with the E4300 for anyone who is thinking of ugprading!

I'm also making the leap from CRT to LCD, and have a few models in mind. At the moment i'm edging towards a 22" widescreen, the Samsung SM226BW which has a great specification and from what i've seen is highly recommended. It costs around £200 btw!

The pc parts comes to around £500 which I think is pretty good, and will be purchasing this time next week!

Reply 2036

ghe.tom

esm

Thats the spec to go for atm in my opinion, I 100% agree on the E4300, as long as you are happy overclocking its a 3.6GHz wolf in sheeps clothing. Make sure you get some good cooling (probably air at that budget), and make sure you get a good enough power supply - I had no end of trouble last year with my useless atrix PSU, ID recommend the corsair HX 520W for that spec.

Reply 2037

omicronlyrae

as ghe.tom said, those are the spec to go for if you're an overclocker.

Reply 2038

BibbleJW

Hi, I am a confident computer user, but have recently fallen out of touch with the world of components. I am planning on getting a new PC, and getting one that will, with any luck, last me most of the way through University. I was browsing around on Overclockers, and saw an Intel Quad core processor going cheap, as was some Low Latency Geil Memory. My question is this: will there be much performance difference if the CPU has a max FSB of 1066MHz, and the Memory of 800? Oh, and yes, the plan is overclocking.

Reply 2039

ghe.tom

BibbleJW

Im not sure what your question is exactly, but as soon as you overclock your processor, you will be unable to run your ram at 800MHz - you'll have to pick a ratio. you are far better off putting at 1:1 with a core 2 processor, ie 533MHz when not overclocked. Obviously 533MHz RAM wont help you atall since you will be unable to overclock it. (according to most tests, having 667MHz ram on a stockspeed conroe, is actually LESS fast than with the RAM at 533MHz!). I cant quite get 800MHz at a 1:1 ratio with my processor (E6600 which I run at 2.7GHz normally, but is stable upto 3.4Ghz if i need/want it) but having better ram alows you to run at lower latency. I havent got a quad core so I couldnt tell you if you will be to overclock past 3GHz (which is where a Q6600 would be running at 1:1 with 667MHz memory) one thing about Geil Ultra RAM (I got 2Gb of 800MHz C4 from OCUK about a year ago), is that its designed for 2.1volts so make sure your mobo can provided that and preferably a bit more (if memory serves they are lifetime waranteed up to 2.3v, which annoys me since my P5B maxes out at 2.1v).
Inshort, unless you are going to fork out alot of money for 1066MHz+ RAM, what youve put down is fine.
On a side note, If you want a computer for uni, Id wait till the end of the summer and see whatelse comes up - Id expect at least a few developments.