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Post by gruntgruntson on Jun 5, 2007 14:17:51 GMT
My PC is dying! Multiple problems including Novelty Exploding Power Supply, Heart-Of-The-Sun CPU temperatures and Incredible Rattling Case have led to me looking to order a new base unit. This is what I have come up with: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.86Ghz 2Mb Cache, 1GB Kingston DDR 667, 80GB SATA Hard Drive, Nvidia PCI-EX - 256MB 7600GS, 18X DVD+/-RW (Samsung), Floppy Drive - BLACK, Integrated Sound Card, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Inc SP2,
Delivered to my door for £433
I can't really afford much more, but if people would like to comment on my choices before I order it, I would appreciate the advice. I am buying from Cougar Systems, in Nottingham, UK, and they offer a good customising service.
Thanks in advance, and hopefully see you all in-game before too long!
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Post by chainlink on Jun 5, 2007 16:03:09 GMT
Go to the Mesh page www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTCONFIGPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=204409 remove the monitor option (i'm guessing you don't need one?) and replace the onboard graphics with the 8500 GT for a total of £387.24. You'll get 2GB memory, 250GB hard drive, a better graphics card and Windows Vista. If it were me I'd build it myself but this is a pretty good deal for somebody who's not into building. An 80Gb hard drive is way too small, I just had to swap out my 160 for a 320 as it was getting full.
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Post by FunkySwerve on Jun 5, 2007 16:30:24 GMT
I think that, right now at least, getting Vista rather than xp is somewhat of a downside for a nwn'er. Funky
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Post by Ironfang on Jun 5, 2007 16:51:15 GMT
I am more used to Canadian and American Dollars but the original specs at £433 seemed a bit pricey.
Getting Vista right now may seem like a bad choice, but I wouldn't want to pay for a 6 year old O/S when the new one is available. Is there anyone here that can confirm they play NWN on Vista, even if you think the performance is not as good? The drivers for Vista will become more mature and you won't be forced to buy a Vista upgrade in future when you want it.
How do us US Keyboard users get the £ symbol without a copy and paste?
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Post by chainlink on Jun 5, 2007 17:26:16 GMT
I think that, right now at least, getting Vista rather than xp is somewhat of a downside for a nwn'er. Funky I agree but if you can get it with a new PC there's no point going with an older OS or you'll be forced to pay the upgrade cost at some time in the future. A new PC is not just for NWN
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Post by dodrudon on Jun 5, 2007 18:38:06 GMT
Yeah, the stuttering with NWN has been fixed now. I play NWN from Vista all the time. I don't know how it compares performance-wise to XP, but I know almost all games perform worse on Vista with the same hardware.
Also, I might recommend a better CPU. If I'm not mistaken, programs that aren't multithreaded can't take advantage of a dual core, so will run on a single core at the speed of the GHz listed there. Can somebody more techy confirm this? >.< However, you're computer will still run faster because two programs can run "simultaneously."
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Post by MurphysLawAgain on Jun 5, 2007 19:05:16 GMT
As a frequent rebuilder a few questions you might consider: 1) Can you re-use your existing DVD Rom and Floppy drive to save a few quid? Will they let you order a PC without so you can swap it in? Do you use a floppy drive at all? 2) Get another GB of ram if you want to be able to run Vista well in the future 3) If you have an XP license already ask Cougar to install Linux if that will be cheaper. You can install XP yourself later. Honestly installing XP from scratch aint hard if you have the disk and license key 4) Consider if a HD upgrade is in your budget - it might only be £10 more for a much larger disk. 5) Look at ATI graphics cards - if you don't install the catalyst rubbish I reckon they are a bit less troublesome. 6) Get a GOOD surge protector. Helps prevent that exploding power supply 7) Dont pay for a warranty over 1 year. Once your PC components are burned in they should last for a while. Hope your new shiny toy is lots of fun
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Post by Yomi on Jun 5, 2007 20:26:54 GMT
Caveat: I'm in the US so use newegg for most of my pricing, so it may not match yours.
1GB should be OK for now, just make sure you have open memory slots on the motherboard so you can add more without tossing modules. It also depends on your use -- if you're like my spouse and have Photoshop, 15 Firefox tabs, Thumbs Plus, Quicken, BOINC, and other programs all running at the same time then you may have issues. I don't have any problems with 1GB under XP Pro with BOINC climate prediction, and some Firefox windows open at the same time I run NWN. Oblivion is much more stressful on memory, and my main issue is if something is sucking up 80%+ of my download and/or upload bandwidth.
On newegg I can get a 80GB SATA drive for $49, while a 160GB drive costs $60. I'm hard-pressed to come up with good reasons to save the $11 for halving the size. The sweet spot for pricing seems to be around 320GB if you're looking at $/GB -- looks like a Seagate 320GB SATA drive runs $80 shipped.
You may want to scratch the floppy drive, though it's probably very little money. Also look into what you can salvage from your old computer such as floppy drive, DVD drive, speakers, KB, mouse, O/S, etc.
Graphics card seems reasonable for the price range, either 7600GS or 7300GT. I'm quite happy with my X1950Pro for NWN but that would run about 1.4 to 2x more money than the other two. An ATI 9600Pro runs NWN acceptably, though it's not up the X1950Pro.
I assume they're handling the motherboard, case, and power supply. I was intrigued by how quickly a very efficient power supply like a Seasonic S12 (85%+) broke even with a cheaper power supply (~73%) even at 4x the initial price and very low electricity prices here, though this is partly because our machines run 24/7.
Edit, a few more comments. As illandius says below, consider a UPS if you can swing it. They offer some surge protection as well as keep your machine running during small power fluctuations. Even the cheap UPS's now come with USB ports and software to gracefully shut down your computer when the pwoer is low. This should be a good thing for your hardware. As for disk space, it does depend on your use, but I still think doing 160GB vs. 80GB is worth it unless you know you won't use it. I'm biased given I have more than 3TB of spinning disks in my house
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Post by illandous on Jun 5, 2007 20:34:31 GMT
So far all good sound advice coming from an advid builder.
NwN will run on Vista. No issues on new hardware. Make sure you set the proper .ini file when you play NwN. I still play on XP because vista is slower. You will not notice this on NwN but you will in other applications.
I would not recommend Linux to a novice user. Microsoft builds a Graphical User Interface that "anyone" can use. I'm sure there are nice linux installers out there. But unless you want to patch your kernal and check your version dependencys, your bayo wolf cluster will never come online. (Techy joke, please ignore)
If you don't plan on building, then it sounds like a deal. I don't fill up my harddrives with stuff but then again I have a pretty big Storage Area Network at the house. Most users can get away with 80 gigs unless your into music, or movies.
Get a good surge protector and a small UPS if you can (They are now around $50 in the state) It's the best protection that you can get for your computer.
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Post by gruntgruntson on Jun 6, 2007 7:48:16 GMT
Thanx for all the advice.
Although I spent 8 years as the main technician for a PC build/repair store, I have decided to buy pre-made. Costs are not that much different, and I get full warranty with no "you must have put it together wrong" problems. Also, due to PSU troubles, I will not be re-using any parts in this PC. I want a new, reliable system. I may save a few bits for secondary machines/playing. Our 1.5 terabyte file server will take the load of my local hard disk, but yes, a few £ for a 250gb may be worth it.
I'll be sticking with a GeForce. ATI have pissed me off in the past, and I may be putting Linux on it at times. (Using disk-cloning software for easy restore from file-server). Not that I have ever got NWN running properly under Linux ... separate thread needed for that ...
Talking of beowolf clusters ... I have 4 or 5 spare systems/parts, and may do something with them one day ...
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Post by dodrudon on Jun 6, 2007 7:53:03 GMT
You've got half a party right there, the minimum needed for Tia
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Post by gruntgruntson on Jun 6, 2007 8:03:58 GMT
You've got half a party right there, the minimum needed for Tia LOL But I don't have 4-5 copies of NWN (£100), or 5 sets of arms! I struggle enough with 1 mage, never mind 2 mages a cleric, a shifter ... Also, only 2 monitors.
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Post by chainlink on Jun 6, 2007 9:37:09 GMT
ATI = Pain in the bum from my experience (yes I know millions of happy users but none of them were me!). FYI you can get a copy of NWN (all expansions included) for about £10 from Amazon so if you got the Mesh instead of your original you could get four copies and load up some AAs on the other PCs
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Post by helbrax on Jun 6, 2007 15:26:55 GMT
Almost all distros(especially the main one, Mandriva, Ubuntu, etc) have auto-updaters that handle this sort of thing for you. They also have installers that rival and in some ways surpass(and in some ways fall short) of the Windows Installer. Heck I haven't had to build a program from source in AGES. Linux is fine for a new computer user, as long as the system is set up with linux in mind. If you get a bunch of hardware that isn't compatible with linux, it's going to be a lot more difficult. I have several friends that are not tech-savy, and they seem to pick up on Gnome just fine. Linux now is almost more about getting the hardware to work than anything else. If all the hardware you have is supported, it's just as easy as windows. If it isn't, dear God it's a pain in the butt.
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Post by illandous on Jun 6, 2007 16:02:34 GMT
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