New system
 

I've given up trying to understand all the various makes and models and what goes with what :spin: I can't even find clear information on the web.

So - £500, what can I get with it? I don't need CD, soundcard or NIC, don't want a motherboard with everything built-in, and after that MSI thread I don't want MSI neither. Oh and I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse. If I could buy a ready-made system to my spec, I would, but I can't.

[edit] I favour AMD over Intel.

Re: New system
 

From Mike-o-soft in Swansea you'll get an AMD 2400XP with 512 RAM and 80Gb HD, on-board sound and gfx, DVD-ROM, CD-Wr plus 1 year warranty all for £399.

Re: New system
 

I have sound, NIC and CD re-writer in this PC, which I intend moving to any new system. I dunno - part of me likes the idea of building my own system, but everything usually goes wrong for me and with all the problem threads I've read it's off-putting :( I'm a FPS man, not that I have much time for pleasurable things these days.

[edit] Green reps available :)

Re: New system
 

Get yourself down to your local comp fair, talk to a couple of stalls ( usually go for the ones with shops as well ) tell them what you want ( bare-bones ) and ask for a price, then play them against each other untill you get what you want at a price you want to pay, have only ever had one thing faulty from a fair and that was repalcedfor me, same day as well ( ram )

Re: New system
 

It gets you the system in my sig. :cool:

Re: New system
 

What you want is a barebones machine then.
Check the big stores online and they offer some.
You get motherboard and ram and processor and a case most of the time.
Then you just transfer your own stuff.

Re: New system
 

I think he should go for your system, extremely fast, stylish, stable etc. Excellent for his "Half-Life" gaming thats for sure :D

Re: New system
 

Indeed, plus I need to sell it to pay my rent. :erm:

Re: New system
 

Whatever you do, avoid the major high street stores such as PC World, The Computer World etc.

Re: New system
 

Seconded on Rich's system.... seems like a perfect solution for both parties :)

Re: New system
 

I'd recommend Richard M's offer too, cause if it doesn't work you know where to go to break his legs ;)

Alternatively, you could check here if Richard's is already sold.

Re: New system
 

Richard's system is indeed nice but it's in Cardiff and I'm in Leeds, plus it'll take me a couple of months (maybe less) to reach the £500, by which time Richard will be homeless :D

I like the idea of a motherboard kit - less likely to bugger it up and I've some guarantee it'll work. I think I can manage with cases and PSUs, hard disks are confusing, and graphics cards are a mystery.

Re: New system
 

Howzabout -

# 113046 - Q-Tec Midi tower ATX 6024MD, Black Pro Line, w/350W AMD/P4

# 123709 - Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz Boxed PC800 Socket PGA478, 1MB cache,
Prescott

# 123081 - Abit IS7-E2 Mainboard for S478/800mhz

# 113518 - TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB CL2.5 Memory

# 121189 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB IDE ATA/100 8MB cache 7200RPM

# 120304 - PowerColor Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR AGP, ATI 9800PRO, DVI-I, TV-Out, Retail

# 300723 - NEC DVD recorder ND-2510A IDE White Bulk,DVD+R/+RW/DVD-R/-RW (Dual layer)

All for 502 quid from www.komplett.co.uk

Here...

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=301152&cks=PRL

Re: New system
 

That's more like it :D

Re: New system
 

What do you think to the packages here: http://www.cclcomputers.biz/acatalog...figurator.html

The motherboard is made by this lot: http://www.soltek.de/ Click on "Products" then "Mainboard" then look for the model number. It's a lovely shade of purple :erm:

Re: New system
 

Well, if its the one you link too - its - well - cheap... Not sure your link is right though.

Re: New system
 

It's an odd link :) It's a frame and the site is well written, so it opens, then opens again in its frameset. The core config is:

Motherboard: Soltek SLKT600-C1L
Case: Nokia Style Midi Tower (Blue)
Floppy Disk Drive
Keyboard: Genius Comfy KB10
Mouse: Genius Netscroll+
Modem: 56K Speedcom+ Rockwell Int PCI

The bits don't interest me - the motherboard is the important bit. I wonder what folks made of the various options? Good choice, load of rubbish...

Re: New system
 

Why that Mobo specifically then? If its that which you feel is the most important bit then i would recommend doing a bit of research on your choice of board.

I have heard some good things about Soltek, but if you want a good board, then apparently Abit and Asus are the best. Which specific one you get would then depend on what CPU you want - Speed / AMD / Intel etc...

Re: New system
 

CCL doesn't give you a choice of motherboards, so it Soltek (AMD) or Shuttle (Intel). My choices would be:

AMD INTEL
83.45 72.52 Core
96.14 103.76 Processor Athlon XP PR3000+ / P4 2.8
44.99 44.44 Memory 512Mb DDR
32.05 32.05 80GB Maxtor HDD
81.57 81.57 128MB ATI Radeon 9600XT
81.85 81.85 XP Pro
420.05 416.19 SUB TOTAL
73.51 72.83 VAT
493.56 489.02 TOTAL

Re: New system
 

Sorry still think the Komplett deal is better - for an extra 20 quid you get a far better case, better processor, DVD burner - PC3200 memory - and a 160 GIG drive... Oh and a 9800 Pro as opposed to a 9600 Pro.

And im willing to bet the motherboard is not to bad either...

Re: New system
 

OK :) The attractive thing with CCL is that they're only 20 mins away - I can sling it back at them if it doesn't work :D