Any advice for a new build PC?

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martindtanderson
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue 23 Dec, 2003 04.03
Location: London, UK
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Ok, I will start off with listing my current spec...

AMD Athlon XP 1900+ - 1.4 GHz

MSI-6590 - Main Board

1536 MB Ram - 133.6 MHz

Sapphire RADEON X700 Graphics Card - 8xAGP - 256MB On-Board Ram
I am currently contemplating this spec...

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - 2.4 GHz
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... uid=124869

Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2 iG33 Socket 775 - Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... uid=132268

1x Corsair 512MB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-12) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... _uid=98709

3x Corsair 1GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-12) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... _uid=93557

Antec Nine Hundred - Gaming Case with 200mm Top Fan - No PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... uid=118268

Antec TruePower Trio 650W PSU - With 3x 12v Rails and 120mm Fan
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... uid=114933

1x Seagate ST3250410AS 250GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... uid=131301

1x Seagate FreeAgent 500GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive 8MB Cache - Retail (for Backup Use)
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... uid=128603

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium x32Bit OEM 1PK DVD
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... uid=123052


TOTAL= £711.75


Firstly I want to know if its worth the price, I really can't afford to spend much more than £700 on the components, and will be using my existing Optical Drives, Monitors, Keyboard, Mouse etc I also have 3 HDDs 2x 80GB and 1x 300GB which I may re-use or not...

Secondly, I am aware the motherboard and processor work in 64bit, but I use a lot of Adobe products, and have heard a lot of problems involving compatibility, so will this processor and main board work with my 32bit software, and importantly my Vista Home Premium 32x Edition, and maybe my current Windows XP Pro (which I may duel boot with for compatibility with software which didn't work when I was running the Public Beta of Vista)

Also, as this will be my 3rd ever building of a PC (my first burnt out during the 2004 hot UK summer, as I didn't have enough fans), if anyone can offer some specific advice regarding this group of components, or suggestions on good and cheaper suppliers, as well as what I may expect to see regarding performance boosts, and if it will be enough to satisfy the endlessly hungry beast that is Vista!
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Sput
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Why have you gone for precisely 3.5GB of ram instead of 3 or 4? 32bit software works fine on 64bit processors. Ebuyer's returns dept is excellent in my experience having gotten through 4 antec cases (it was the PSU every time). They had turnaround within a few days.

Are you using the built-in graphics of the motherboard (debatable decision) or buying a new one? The motherboard doesn't have AGP, it's PCIE.

To save on the external hard drive I'd use the existing 300GB drive you have and get a NAS/USB enclosure to use it externally.
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cdd
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All Adobe software now officially works on Vista, with the exception of Adobe Audition which may or may not work, depending on your luck.
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martindtanderson
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Location: London, UK
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I hadn't noticed the lack of AGP thanks for that :) , I will have to re-think that then. My 80GB HDDs are about 5 years old, and my 300GB drive is about 3 years old, so I'd like a new Big one for backing up my media content, I am scared my drives will crap out any day soon, so I want to start anew.

I have always gone with ebuyer in the past, and have been very happy with their delivery and refund options.


cdd = will i need to get the newer versions, or do they have patches?
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Jamez
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Never get an Acer.

Seriously, they're shit and noisy.
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martindtanderson
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Jamez wrote:Never get an Acer.

Seriously, they're shit and noisy.
Thanks, will take that on board when updating the shopping list.
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cdd
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Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 14.05

martindtanderson wrote:= will i need to get the newer versions, or do they have patches?
Newer versions - however, some old Adobe products continue to work on Vista despite not being officially supported, Photoshop CS2 being a good example.
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martindtanderson
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue 23 Dec, 2003 04.03
Location: London, UK
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Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair)) Retail Boxed Processor
£146.01

Antec Nine Hundred - Gaming Case with 200mm Top Fan - No PSU
£59.98

Antec TruePower Trio 650W PSU - With 3x 12v Rails and 120mm Fan
£68.04

Seagate FreeAgent 500GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive 8MB Cache - Retail
£72.27

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium x32Bit OEM 1PK DVD
£52.34

3x Corsair 1GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-12) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty
£89.34

Sapphire X1550 512MB DDR2 VGA TV Out DVI-I PCI-E Graphics Card
£28.92

Asus P5N-E SLI 650i Socket 775 PCI-E Onboard Audio ATX
£59.74

Seagate ST3160211AS 160GB SATAII 2MB Cache 7200RPM - OEM
£27.14



£709.48


Removing the 512MB Ram changing the Hard Drive, and adding in a graphics card which uses PCI Express instead of my current one which supports AGP
(Finding a Quad Core compatible motherboard which supports AGP is impossible!!!)

I am hoping this should be without issue...
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Sput
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Joined: Wed 20 Aug, 2003 19.57

You can probably get away with a less powerful PSU too. You're not really running masses of hardware - maybe 500 or 550
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Adders
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Joined: Fri 22 Aug, 2003 14.38

cdd wrote:All Adobe software now officially works on Vista, with the exception of Adobe Audition which may or may not work, depending on your luck.
It works here, but disables the Aero fabness.
Neil Jones
Posts: 661
Joined: Thu 11 Sep, 2003 20.03
Location: West Midlands

Sput wrote:You can probably get away with a less powerful PSU too. You're not really running masses of hardware - maybe 500 or 550
These days its not the output of the PSU you need to worry about as such, its more the brand and its output on certain rails. You can never have too much output though so a 650w provides upgrade routes later on - the computer just won't use the extra power until its needed.

Antec produce nice PSU which are worth the money. Bestec power supplies are always avoided. You're lucky if they last 18 months but they find their way into eMachines, HPs, Compaqs and some old Time/Tiny units that are still going. They use them because Bestec power supplies are so cheap they don't even have voltage protection.

Normally in a PSU if a rail malfunctions and sends too much voltage down, the unit effectively shuts itself off. All Bestec power supplies will fry any mainboard you feed them, normally within three years and this is caused because they malfunction and send voltages well over the safety limit that slowly cook the board until it packs up altogether. Every eMachine I've seen that's dead has been killed in this fashion.

Regarding the comment on Acers, I was fortunate enough to see an Acer machine recently running Vista. They'd only put 512Mb of memory in it take out 64Mb for graphics and the machine was crawling already. Acers tend to be cheap machines that can be hit or miss in the performance department. eMachines are the cheapest pieces of shit you can buy. Buying an eMachines is literally throwing money down the drain for a computer that runs like treacle, will always run like treacle and has bugger all upgradeable later on. Plus because of the Bestec power supplies you find in them, the machine will only last three years tops.

If you must buy branded machines, Fujitsu-Siemens tend to make nice looking machines that have some oomph behind them. Packard Bells are hit and miss - some run beautifully, some run like treacle. HP and Compaq tend to pre-install all kinds of crap that you never use BUT the machines do fly performance wise if you wipe the machine first and use a standard Windows CD. Gateway used to be a big known brand and still make some half-decent machines. Dell, for all their advertising, sell what is effectively the same machine with a different model name, again its cheap and you're lucky if it lasts three years, plus its not all that upgradeable anyway. Anything bought from Dixons which is sold as a Philips machine, a DSG Retail machine or any other obscure brand that came out of Currys/Dixons will be an under performing piece of garbage that will either pack up after 18 months or develop some obscure problem that you'll never see on any other brand, ever. Medion computers are also crap, but they do perform better than eMachines.
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