Discussion
Any recommendations? Looking for a high spec system in a price range of £1000 - 1500. Monitor needs to be good though, at least 19" with decent resolution. I had thought of bulding my own but if there are any companies that do good custom systems then I'd like to check them out first.
I'm about to build my own new PC for home-use.
I chosed the 2nd oldest generation components, as they are best value; ie AMD XP2000+ instead of XP2800+ - it's only a third the price.
I'm using DDR333 RAM; it's not as fast as Rambus, but it is by far better value. For harddrives, I chose two 80GB ATA-133 in a RAID stripe; however this is only needed, when you're handling large files.
For the monitor, do your eyes a favour, and spend €1100ish on a 19" tft; the Samsung 191T seems to me best value. Remember, the monitor will not outdate as fast as the components, and it plays a big role in your PC's ergonomy.
I chosed the 2nd oldest generation components, as they are best value; ie AMD XP2000+ instead of XP2800+ - it's only a third the price.
I'm using DDR333 RAM; it's not as fast as Rambus, but it is by far better value. For harddrives, I chose two 80GB ATA-133 in a RAID stripe; however this is only needed, when you're handling large files.
For the monitor, do your eyes a favour, and spend €1100ish on a 19" tft; the Samsung 191T seems to me best value. Remember, the monitor will not outdate as fast as the components, and it plays a big role in your PC's ergonomy.
Buy a 17" TFT - as good as big as a 19" crt and not a ludicrous price like a 19" tft 
Novatech blueprint systems are good value for money if you know what you want but don't want to build it (www.novatech.co.uk) - fairly limited choice but for your budget your not gonna be buying all cutting edge stuff.
Novatech blueprint systems are good value for money if you know what you want but don't want to build it (www.novatech.co.uk) - fairly limited choice but for your budget your not gonna be buying all cutting edge stuff.
The scaling of modern tfts is actually pretty good (except in a windows environment - fine for games / vids etc). A 17" tft should be 1280 by 1024 which is surely the only really useable resolution for the spec of pc that this budget will allow. I have 2 samsung 17"ers and they are the fantastic. Also one is designed by Porsche, and looks the mutts
From dabs...
SM151P TFT Porsche designed
Mfr code: SM151P
Quicklinx: 21QPWS
2 now
30 1-3 days £339.00
£398.32
SM171P TFT Porsche designed
Mfr code: SM171P
Quicklinx: 21QXWS
2 now
£499.00
£586.32
I got the 17 inch one and it is a lovely bit of kit - and goes portrait mode for documents...now try and do that with a 19" crt
But it does blow over a third of your max budhet - but providing you don't do 24 hours a day it will outlive any cpu...
SM151P TFT Porsche designed
Mfr code: SM151P
Quicklinx: 21QPWS
2 now
30 1-3 days £339.00
£398.32
SM171P TFT Porsche designed
Mfr code: SM171P
Quicklinx: 21QXWS
2 now
£499.00
£586.32
I got the 17 inch one and it is a lovely bit of kit - and goes portrait mode for documents...now try and do that with a 19" crt
But it does blow over a third of your max budhet - but providing you don't do 24 hours a day it will outlive any cpu... Bear in mind, TFT screens are not perfect and sometimes have shagged pixels that you can do nothing about and are within "acceptable" limits and will not be replaced on warranty. Also, you still get shit variations of light from different angles. BTW, I have 2 TFT screens running on dual head graphics card, but thought I'd point out that they are not great just yet. Also, 17" TFT is viewable area, comparable with 18" clumpy monitors.
Regarding RAMBUS, remember that they are serial RAM, which is a bit of a paradox as RAM is supposed to be random access. Why the f**k is it serial, and as such you need to have a continuity module to connect empty banks. Plus, the 400mhz is not always there, you can only get that throughput in certain circumstances, so just consider it a maximum rather thant the average. I still think RDRAM is in its infancy and the fact that the newer P4 motherboards now take on DDR ram is proof. It was why I built my previous pc with a P3 rather than the P4.
To be honest, unless you are really going for it and want something that is very specific don't bother with a self build. Remember that RDRAM should be mated with a system that will really benefit from it, from both a software and hardware point of view.
A certain direct computer company, name beginning with D and having 4 letters are cheap for self spec, but I refuse to buy off them as if there is a problem, it will never be resolved. And bits are regularly missing from PCs that have been specced up. Be warned.
Just bought an NEC P4 2.5GHZ, 60GB RAM, 64MB Nvidia graphics, 512MBRAM, 40x Rewriter and separate DVD 17" monitor for £799inc VAT, mate bought the same thing with 17" TFT monitor and Printer for £1050. PC World. Add a firewire port for £50 and you are set for anything. Shame I had to move my dual screen. I'm off home now. Really crap weather and business was bad, ho hum. Sorry just thought I'd release some anger. Love pistonheads!!!!
Regarding RAMBUS, remember that they are serial RAM, which is a bit of a paradox as RAM is supposed to be random access. Why the f**k is it serial, and as such you need to have a continuity module to connect empty banks. Plus, the 400mhz is not always there, you can only get that throughput in certain circumstances, so just consider it a maximum rather thant the average. I still think RDRAM is in its infancy and the fact that the newer P4 motherboards now take on DDR ram is proof. It was why I built my previous pc with a P3 rather than the P4.
To be honest, unless you are really going for it and want something that is very specific don't bother with a self build. Remember that RDRAM should be mated with a system that will really benefit from it, from both a software and hardware point of view.
A certain direct computer company, name beginning with D and having 4 letters are cheap for self spec, but I refuse to buy off them as if there is a problem, it will never be resolved. And bits are regularly missing from PCs that have been specced up. Be warned.
Just bought an NEC P4 2.5GHZ, 60GB RAM, 64MB Nvidia graphics, 512MBRAM, 40x Rewriter and separate DVD 17" monitor for £799inc VAT, mate bought the same thing with 17" TFT monitor and Printer for £1050. PC World. Add a firewire port for £50 and you are set for anything. Shame I had to move my dual screen. I'm off home now. Really crap weather and business was bad, ho hum. Sorry just thought I'd release some anger. Love pistonheads!!!!
Thanks for all the advice guys Yes I have been very tempted by Dell but I know that buying from them would have its limitations (nice looking cases though!)
The Novatech site looks promising - I spent a while on the custom pc thing and the prices looked quite good value. Not sure what monitor to get though, are flat screens suitable for games? they didn't used to be. Maybe a decent 19" flat screen CRT would be better. I've lost touch with all the latest developments in cpu's, graphics cards etc since I got my car a few months ago! Its taken over a bit from my interest in pc games and I seem to spend all my time on Pistonheads instead of games/hardware sites
Yes I have been very tempted by Dell but I know that buying from them would have its limitations (nice looking cases though!) The Novatech site looks promising - I spent a while on the custom pc thing and the prices looked quite good value. Not sure what monitor to get though, are flat screens suitable for games? they didn't used to be. Maybe a decent 19" flat screen CRT would be better. I've lost touch with all the latest developments in cpu's, graphics cards etc since I got my car a few months ago! Its taken over a bit from my interest in pc games and I seem to spend all my time on Pistonheads instead of games/hardware sites
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