[Jaffaholic]

(Original post by sr4470)
Does it come with a proper XP CD? Also, theres no warranty information and no returns policy..

Edit: its out of stock as well

It did have 1 year parts and labour and i doubt Staples will be using fake versions of XP.

But irrelevant since its out of stock.

edit: just noticed monitor wasnt included

[sr4470]

(Original post by ghost101)
It did have 1 year parts and labour and i doubt Staples will be using fake versions of XP.

But irrelevant since its out of stock.

edit: just noticed monitor wasnt included

Thought so

Also, my question was whether it had a full XP CD, most cheap systems only have a restore disk and partition...

[amo1]

(Original post by ghost101)
It did have 1 year parts and labour and i doubt Staples will be using fake versions of XP.

But irrelevant since its out of stock.

edit: just noticed monitor wasnt included

hey i knew about the monitor (already have one) but not about the out of stock bit- stich for me- but can any1 recommend something around this price range with similar specs

[sr4470]

(Original post by ghost101)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/7900_Series.html

Bottom of the page 7900gto, basically a £200 7900GTX with lower clocked memory. And since it is the same Samsung 1.4ns memory as the 7900GTX should overclock to 7900GTX levels easily. Brilliant value for money and should be the choice for system builders atm.

Interesting, I might get one myself later on.

[Chris12345]

does anyone know anything about Vantage Computers. i was going to get a mesh but they seem to have some very bad reviews about them. this company offers 5 year warranty and you can customise your computer really flexibily http://www.vantagecomputers.co.uk/ccc.php
any one had have any experiences with them?

[~style]

Hi everyone, this should prove to be a very useful thread.

Basicly I am planning to buy a desktop but I wasn't sure if I should wait for the vista release and buy a vista-based deskptop instead. So what are your opinions on this?

Also I was considering the Dell Dimension 5150c(D095C5): http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...bc=dimen_5150c . Any suggestions? And I wasn't sure if its a A Vista Premium Ready PC a Microsoft puts it. So I hope someone could clarify all this out for me!

Finally, thanks to everyone whos investing time and effort into lost guys like us.

[sr4470]

Dont bother with Vista. If it isnt workable for us IT professionals, the average user is going to have great difficulty getting anything done on it...

[Abdominal]

Hypothetically , if you were a relative computer novice, how could you tell whether the PC you ordered and which has now arrived, came with an in-built wireless card and router (ADSL) without taking off the back pannel?

[sr4470]

Use device manager in control panel?

[Chris12345]

ive customised my pc using vintage computers website to get the following spec:

System Case: Coolermaster Cavalier3 Silver Case
Power Supply: 400W Zoostorm PSU (26-32dB)
Motherboard: Asus M2N-E Motherboard (Skt AM2)
Processor: AMD 64-Bit Dual Core X2 3800+ (Skt AM2)
System Memory: 1Gb Corsair DDR2 667 Memory
Hard Drive One: 250Gb Serial ATA300 7200RPM
Hard Drive Two: Please Select
Removeable Storage Devices: FDD and Digital Card Reader
CD Device One: DVDRW Drive (16x +/- Dual Layer)
CD Device Two: Please Select
Video Card: Radeon X1300PRO 256Mb DDR +DVI/TV PCI-X
Audio Device: 8 Channel Audio Integrated
PCI Devices: Please Select
PCI Devices: Please Select
Keyboard & Mouse Set: Please Select
Speakers: Please Select
Monitor: Please Select
Operating System: Windows XP Home SP/2 - OEM
Office Software: Please Select
AntiVirus Software: Please Select
Utilities Software: Please Select
Additional Services: Please Select
System Warranty: Ad-Vantage 5 Years Return to Base Warranty
Additional Support Services: One Week Trial 24/7 Unlimited Telephone Software Support
Build Services: Standard 7 to 10 Working Day Build

price is nearlly £600 including delivery, no monitor.

firstly, is the X2 amd processers worth paying extra for, are they more future proof.

is the 7300 gs a better graphics card then what i have selected

cheers

[sr4470]

Thats clearly overpriced. Look elsewhere.

[Chris12345]

i thought that as well

[DrCube]

Howdy. Currently looking at getting something along the following lines from Overclockers:

BFG GeForce 7900 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £124.99
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU £54.99
OCZ 1GB (2 x 512MB) PC5400 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC Series EL-DDR2 £59.95
Asus P5NSLI nForce 570 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £74.99
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £107.99
Subtotal £422.91
VAT £74.01
Total £496.92

Your thoughts / criticism / whatever?

[flyingpig]

Ok, I'll start off by being totally honest- i know jack about computers. i need one for uni though that basically i can word process, use the internet and listen to music on. i want something as cheap as poss as im already eating into my student loan which i havent got yet. having said that, i don't want something rubbish, i do want a nice fast computer! preferably a package so i have to buy as little extras as possible. can anyone (without getting too technical) suggest a good computer/website/shop?

[sr4470]

(Original post by DrCube)
Howdy. Currently looking at getting something along the following lines from Overclockers:

BFG GeForce 7900 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £124.99
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU £54.99
OCZ 1GB (2 x 512MB) PC5400 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC Series EL-DDR2 £59.95
Asus P5NSLI nForce 570 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £74.99
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £107.99
Subtotal £422.91
VAT £74.01
Total £496.92

Your thoughts / criticism / whatever?

You'll need a heatsink\fan for the processor. Consider a better case (Lian-Li PC7 maybe?) and buy the PSU seperately (Seasonic).

[Dwimm]

hi there, does ayone know the best tried and tested place to buy a reay built pc for £800 or under?

[DrCube]

(Original post by sr4470)
You'll need a heatsink\fan for the processor. Consider a better case (Lian-Li PC7 maybe?) and buy the PSU seperately (Seasonic).

Oh ok, I presumed the processors came with a heatsink / fan (do the retail ones?).

I'm currently not too bothered about the case except I'd like it to be black if possible. Why exactly should I consider a better one? Would the 430w Seasonic be good enough? (I still really don't 'get' PSU's...)

[PieMaster]

(Original post by DrCube)
Oh ok, I presumed the processors came with a heatsink / fan (do the retail ones?).

Retail CPU's do yeah, but theyre usually pretty poor - especially the new Intel ones.

(Original post by DrCube)
Would the 430w Seasonic be good enough? (I still really don't 'get' PSU's...)

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=256325

A decent 430W will provide more power then a cheap 600W power supply, and won't nuke all your componenets when it blows up.

[DrCube]

(Original post by PieMaster)
Retail CPU's do yeah, but theyre usually pretty poor - especially the new Intel ones.

Aha, thanks for the clarification. Will look into this a bit more.

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=256325

A decent 430W will provide more power then a cheap 600W power supply, and won't nuke all your componenets when it blows up.

Thanks for the link. Sigh, decent and cheap shouldn't be mutually exclusive all I want is good value (though the seasonic looks good). The PSU I originally listed was a 400w Antec Smartpower, I thought they were supposed to be ok?

[PieMaster]

The Antecs which come with cases arent as good as the Antec's you buy seperatly. As far as I remeber, that one has about 18A on the +12v rails which is the minimum I am recommending for new builds.

It should be fine, as long as youre not planning on stacking a load of hard disks in there, filling every PCI slot and overlocking the thing to hell.