Advice on a new PC

[Juan]

Had a quote for the following PC of £883. Just wanted some advice on whether its a good machine for the money or not. It's from the link below but I asked them to change the hard disk from 120GB to 160GB 8mb cache and also downgrade the graphics card to a FX5200 as I don't play games, therefore I don't need a high spec card. They can also change the TFT to a LG L1710B, which has a DVI input for an extra £30.

http://www.microlandtechnology.com/p...?partno=cb1531

• AMD Athlonââ€Ã⠀¦Ã‚¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¢ XP 3000+ 333 FSB Processor
• Gigabyte GA VT600L VT600 Chipset Motherboard
• 512 MB DDR 400 PC 3200 Memory
• 160 GB Maxtor 7200rpm Hard Drive with 8 MB Buffer
• 128 MB MSI FX5200 video card: DVI and TV-out
• 16x Black DVD Drive with PowerDVD & Nero Express
• Nec ND 1300A Multi format 4x DVD Burner
• 3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Drive & 56K V92 Modem
• 10/100 RJ45 Realtek Ethernet Card
• Logitech Premium Desktop
  (Corded Keyboard/Wireless Optical Mouse)
• LG L1720B TFT Monitor with 3yrs onsite warranty
  (Please Note LG use a Class 2 Panel)
• Creative Labs Inspire P580 Speakers
• Genius Game Pad
• MicrosoftÂÂÂà ‚® Windows ® XP Home
• Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness
• Rainbow Six:3 Raven Shield
• Norton Internet Security Suite 2003
  (Included on the Motherboard Driver CD)
• One Year Collect & Return Warranty

[Bifta]

That's not bad, I'd personally not go for a KT600 motherboard (and I certainly wouldn't go for a Geforce FX 5200) but almost everything else looks good, the NEC DVDRW is an excellent bit of kit and I can't really fault anything else, haven't seen those particular creative speakers so can't really comment on them.

[ZrByte]

If you can afford it, it might be wrth your while to upgrade form XP home to XP pro, XP home is the most horrible OS I have ever used (including Windows ME )

I would also reccomend maybe changing the Mobo for an Nforce2 chipset (The A7N8X-U is the best I have used)

I can also reccomend the NEC drive, I use it myself and unlike Most drives it always writes at 4X (Obviously providing you use 4x or above media).

AS you say the FX5200 was requested because you dont play games so thats fine too, though if you really want to future-proof your machine it may be worth investing in a better one like a Radeon 9600 XT, I know with a lot of these cards the better ones can be had for about £30 more so it may be worth looking into (This is coming from someone still using a Ti4200 and has no intention of upgrading since its stll running strong).

[Xaccers]

Um, I have a 5200 and use it for games and have no problems...

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Um, I have a 5200 and use it for games and have no problems...

Yes, but watch it choke when all the next. gen games are released, such as Far Cry, Doom 3, UT2K4, Soldner, HL2, Battlefield Vietnam, S.T.A.L.K.E.R (and loads of others) are released. There is absolutely no argument that for most of today's current (and by current I mean recently released) and upcoming games the 5200 is vastly underpowered.

[Jon M]

Originally Posted by Juan

<snip>

I would definately spend that £30 to get the LG L1710B.. it's generally acknowledged to be one of the top three 17" panels.
On that basis.. the pricetag of £883 is not too bad considering you'd pay £330 on that monitor alone.

[MadGamer]

Why Norton Internet Security Suite 2003? Why not 2004?