What PC for £400?
Discussion
Got £400 to spend on a new pc but unsure of what sort of spec to go for. Have been looking on Ebuyer at various barbones systems with a view to speccing them up. Its gonna be used for general windows/office stuff but also games and music production (so some sort of dedicated soundcard is a must)
Any Suggestions?
Any Suggestions?
annodomini2 said:
Always better to self build.
Not for everyone I grant you but if you've got the skillz [sic] then its the best way.
You'll get more for your money.
Not necessarily - you'll not get the volume discount on parts that dedicated manufacturers get.
annodomini2 said:
And given its for music, the sound card you want.
This is probably the killer, though; you'll want to carefully spec the soundcard and depending on what you want from it, could end up blowing your entire budget (and more) on that one component all by itself!
Volume discounts arent that great.
With careful specification I reckon you can beat Dell on a feature functionality basis all day long.
The very very very bottom end of the market is tricky granted but they arent making a penny (nor are any of their suppliers mind you) but they are making cash on the money, which at that end they invariably lend to a good percentage.
With careful specification I reckon you can beat Dell on a feature functionality basis all day long.
The very very very bottom end of the market is tricky granted but they arent making a penny (nor are any of their suppliers mind you) but they are making cash on the money, which at that end they invariably lend to a good percentage.
www.pcindex.co.uk
Gives the best prices on the standard stuff like boards, discs etc.
For the soundcard I would highly recommend an M-Audio product, something like the Audiophile 2496.
Gives the best prices on the standard stuff like boards, discs etc.
For the soundcard I would highly recommend an M-Audio product, something like the Audiophile 2496.
pdV6 said:
Always better to self build.
Not for everyone I grant you but if you've got the skillz [sic] then its the best way.
You'll get more for your money.
Not necessarily - you'll not get the volume discount on parts that dedicated manufacturers get.
Yeah but the volume stuff in general is the bottom of the range, speccing up a machine from a retailer to get exactly what you want generally results in a significantly higher price, at which point you may aswell have built your own. Especially the likes of Dell.
If you want a basic machine and the retailers have something that suits your needs off the shelf, then it can be cheaper, but if you're fussy (like me) and want something specific then you're better off building your own.
Got absolutely everything bar the actual box! the new one is replacing an absolutely knackered old laptop so unfortunatly i dont have a tower case which i could just plumb stuff into.
Was thinking of this for the tower and motherboard.
[url]www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=95028[/url]
Was thinking of this for the tower and motherboard.
[url]www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=95028[/url]
Was gonna supplement it with 1 gig of ddr400 ram, a 120gb sata HD and probably a ATI Radeon, not sure which one yet though, plus an OEM audigy card.
Do you think that because the motherboard only has AGP 8x rather than PCI Express this will be particularly limiting? Bearing in mind that I am not after amazing graphics. Just looking to play a bit of battlefield 2 and half life 2.
Do you think that because the motherboard only has AGP 8x rather than PCI Express this will be particularly limiting? Bearing in mind that I am not after amazing graphics. Just looking to play a bit of battlefield 2 and half life 2.
When I spec'd up my current PC a while back I went for the latest and greatest of everything - I dont play many games or do oodles of video editing - but I do a bit of everything so I wanted my PC to fly. I would recommend getting a PCI Express m/b and if you can go for DDR2 rather than DDR memory - it all helps.
It doesnt cost much more to go for the 'current' sockets and memory and you'll be kicking yourself if you spend all that dosh then sit there thinking ' if only I had gone for PCI-E this game would be some much better....'
It doesnt cost much more to go for the 'current' sockets and memory and you'll be kicking yourself if you spend all that dosh then sit there thinking ' if only I had gone for PCI-E this game would be some much better....'
mallone said:My current PC plays HL2 with a bit of slowdown at times but basically it looks great (1280x1024). That is AGP Radeon 9800Pro. (I am upgrading this weekend so I MAY have a spare 9800.)
Was gonna supplement it with 1 gig of ddr400 ram, a 120gb sata HD and probably a ATI Radeon, not sure which one yet though, plus an OEM audigy card.
Do you think that because the motherboard only has AGP 8x rather than PCI Express this will be particularly limiting? Bearing in mind that I am not after amazing graphics. Just looking to play a bit of battlefield 2 and half life 2.
AGP will limit your upgrade path and the cards are becoming less available.
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff