advice for a new rig

[MaverickMike]

I have been thinking of buying a new gaming rig as the one i am using now is beginning to show its age and was wondering if anyone here has any suggestions. At the moment im looking into a dell xps 430. Specs are as follows:

 

intel core 2 quad q8200 (2.33ghz, 1333mhz, 4mb cache

vista home premium 64bit

21.5" hd widescreen monitor (1920 x 1800)

6144MB1066 MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM

640gb sata hard drive 7200 rpm

512mb ati radeon hd 4670

 

The price on this system is £759 which is around the mark im willing to spend. If anyone knows of a better system for under £800 or has any experience with the dell xps 430 systems any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Mike

[JediMaster]

Personally I'd opt for a faster dual core CPU for the equivalent price. A slower quad-core won't give you any benefit in most programs right now.

[Growler67]

HD monitor? Unless you will be piping in your tele signal for watching on your rig, and unnecessary expense. You could get a bigger LCD for the same price or less if you avoid those two letters. 512MB is the way to go on a vid/graphics card as the trend upwards will make the 256 cards obsolete shortly. Looks like your biggest expense (aside from the monitor) is going to be your RAM. DDR3 is certainly much better but you do end up paying for it. I wouldn't change the choice, I'm just commenting on it's relative cost at this time.

 

It'll be a while before I can/will build my next rig. Got some things going on that are just making it a non-essential project. It'll eventually be DDR3 and water cooled, but that's for another thread. Don't want to jack yours. Looks like you have a decent plan. Good Luck, and post picks when it's done

[+Dave]

I got 2 HP 2207w monitors and they are sweet. Great resolution. But again you can not go wrong with what Growler said. LCD will be cheaper and you can get great quality out of them. 512 on the vid card is a must and minimum of 4 GB of RAM.

[Stick]

If you play the Wings over Series then lean toward Nvidia in the graphics department.

[column5]

I agree with JM and Stick. Get a faster dual-core, and an nVidia card if ThirdWire games are your thing.

[MaverickMike]

Thanks for the replies. Pretty much only play the thridwire games on my pc at the mo so as long as it will be good enough to play them in high settings (my current rig can only manage medium at 800 x 600) then ill be happy.

 

Only problem is that on the dell website you cannot change the processor from quad core to dual core without changing the entire system . I would aslo prefer an nvidia card but again these are not in the system options.

[Growler67]

Not too sure about the Dell site, but have you considered one of those sites that'll allow "custimization" of your rig? I know it's more expensive (generally) but if building it yourself isn't an option you are kinda stuck paying what they ask. AlienWare and other siilar sites allow you to pick from a selections (based on use and general performance stats) and then "customize it" where you can make specific choices to adjust the performance/cost ratios to better suit your payment tolerance while not sacrificing too much on the performance end. Might want to look into the possibility if it's available in the UK. Just a suggestion.

[MaverickMike]

ye the dell site offers a certain degree of customisation. However they don't have the options I need. Do you know any sites that are uk based that allow the building of a system?

 

Thanks

 

Mike

[Growler67]

Sorry not right off hand as I'm in the States. I would suggest you grab a rag or two on PC Games or Computer Shopping as there are usually ads inside advertising sites that do just such things. Being local (UK) you would be more likely to find what you are looking or at least get some more info on available options.

[fallenphoenix1986]

might be worth a look at these guys, thinking of getting one from them soon myself

 

http://www.wired2fire.co.uk/ccc.php

 

Craig

[+hgbn]

Thanks for the replies. Pretty much only play the thridwire games on my pc at the mo so as long as it will be good enough to play them in high settings (my current rig can only manage medium at 800 x 600) then ill be happy.

 

Only problem is that on the dell website you cannot change the processor from quad core to dual core without changing the entire system . I would aslo prefer an nvidia card but again these are not in the system options.

 

 

If you are choosing a Package solution. Try and see what HP has to offer