Page 1 of I need a new CPU and need your expert advice!

I have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, scanner, printer etc but I want to buy a new CPU ( I think this is what is called - you know the shell that contains disk drives and so forth). I will use it to play top games like Doom 3 so it needs to be future proof for games. I would also use it to backup DVDs. I need advice on the following. I would be prepared to spend between 600 and 1000 pounds.

Which manufacturer? Dell, HP, ACER etc...

What specs do I need? - (be specific please)

Best Wishes

Dan

What you actually need is a "base unit" (the CPU is a specific part of the innards of a computer, the processor, or "brains of the operation", made by either Pentium or AMD).

What some folks here would probably say is you can build one for less than £600 and they`d probably be right. However, you may also be able to buy a decent spec PC for less than £600 which would meet your criteria.

My advice - buy a stack of PC magazines : the current edition of Personal Computer World (May 2005) has some excellent reviews of £500 PCs, although these may not meet the demands of a high intensity games machine.

Try to avoid mainstream brand names - there are plenty of companies who seriously undercut the PC Worlds and Tinys of this world, and don`t have the crap customer service associated with those two organisations. Shop around, read up your material, make sure that all the specs of the base unit you fancy meet up to your expectations.

Two key things to look out for at present are PCs that (1) have PCI Express compatible motherboards - this is a relatively new concept but ensures maximum power for graphics cards and (2) use processors which have hyper threading (Intel Pentium) or 64 bit (AMD) capability - incidentally, the two are not directly comparable, by the way, due to different technology. I`d also be insisting on a DVD writer capable of burning to DVD+R/DVD+RW/DVD-R/DVD-RW media, and also future-proofed with dual layer writing compatibility. You should also be getting a 160GB hard drive at least, for the price bracket you want.

My personal recommendation would be a motherboard labelled as Socket 939, PCI Express and AMD 64-bit processor compatible, but I`m sure many Pentium fans would try and counter that AMD 64-bit is no faster than Intel Pentium 4 hyper-threading processors - that may be the case, but AMD 64-bit technology is future-proofed for faster applications in the years ahead : Intel are barely out of the blocks on this yet. The AMD 64 3700+ or AMD 64 4000+ should be the CPU processors you`re looking at having installed in your PC of choice.

One thing - do not rush your purchase. Similarly, expect that exactly one minute after you`ve handed over the cash, your PC will be out of date : the depreciation value of PCs is very swift, sadly, but they are upgradeable.

I started off knowing absolutely nothing about PCs four years ago - I bided my time, researched countless reviews, and went for one that still runs perfectly today, but has had countless hardware upgrades. It wasn`t until New Year`s Eve that I finally bought a new PC, and that was only because it was a clearance offer at Staples that was simply too good to miss.

===========================

Clayts, Moderator, DVD Reviewer
UK webmaster for Area 450 the independent Sampo/Maxent DVD site

This item was edited on Thursday, 31st March 2005, 01:02

In addition to Clayts sage words, dont bother saving all your old bits and pieces. Its a false economy.

If you are calling a base unit a CPU, the chances are you will have a crap 15" CRT monitor, an old sludgy mouse and a low res scanner. Bin the lot or sell them with the original PC.

For the uses you say you want your PC for you will want a good, quick response ball-less mouse and a big fat 17" (ideally 19") TFT monitor. If you scrimp on the basics you will kick yourself, and its much cheaper to get them as part of a package. In all honesty, theres not really a great deal of difference in price between DIYing and buying a preconfigured set up. Try Carrera or Evesham who do some good quality packages. You will also probably get some decent 5.1 speakers thrown in too.

Try picking up a copy of computer buyer or micro mart to see what kind of bang you can get for your buck.

This item was edited on Thursday, 31st March 2005, 08:51

Based on the above-if you`ve got an Aldi nearby, then take a look in there-a couple of weeks ago, they had some high-specced, well built base units. Chances are, they will have sold out but some branches haven`t-I was in two in Liverpool on Tuesday that were still offering them for sale.

Other than that, my suggestion would differ slightly from the one above in that I would not rush out to get the very latest cpu in whatever system you used. The cpu manufacturers these days are on a never ending rush to bring out the next model before the current has barely got on the shelves-As such, if you go for the very latest thing, you are going to be paying a HUGE premium for the pleasure with very little `actual benefit` to yourself. My policy has always to buy three or four back from the laest model-these chips are tons cheaper than the latest ones, because they are heavily discounted by the manufacturers, and that then trickles down to us. I`m just looking at the websiter of the store I often use - The very latest AMD Athlon 64 4000 32/64Bit Socket 939 processor is almost 500 QUID!! Drop down to the 3500 version and you are down to under £200, and then drop to the 3000 and it`s under £1000-Would you notice ANY difference at all between the top and bottom of those ? I really doubt it!!

If you are going to buy magazines, be very careful-it`s easy to be blinded by pie charts and graphs that show how `this` out performs `that`. 99.9% of users would probably notice no difference and the .1% that do are lying!!!

Computer fairs are a good place to buy already built base units- most of the vendors will offer several different specs `off the shelf` and some will be happy to change over parts you want changing (i.e. adding more memory.. changing video card..). Alternatively,
If you have a local computer shop, then pay them a visit and talk to them about a custom built PC.

Or, if you are confident enough-build your own!! The are not hard to put together-if my fat, un-coordinated fingers can do it, then ANYONE can.That way , YOU get to decide exactly what goes in.

This item was edited on Thursday, 31st March 2005, 23:17

Cheers for the advice guys. I never even considered an AMD chipset and am wondering if any of you think my 17`` monitor should stay as part of my system. In addition does anyone know if there is a website stating dates for computer fairs. Is there any advice on buying a base unit from such fairs.

Best Wishes

Dan

Your 17 inch CRT is fine for the moment - CRTs have many benefits over TFTs and if it`s in perfect working order don`t feel obliged to change it.

Re : Computer fairs - buy the latest copy of MicroMart magazine - comes out every Thursday and has a list - only costs about £1.80 and it`s full of adverts for cheap PCs...

Glad I opened your eyes to AMD :)

===========================

Clayts, Moderator, DVD Reviewer
UK webmaster for Area 450 the independent Sampo/Maxent DVD site

Quote:
CRTs have many benefits over TFT

I call shennanigans on that. There isnt a single reason I can think of that why you would choose a CRT over reasonably priced TFT. Its a total computing urban myth.

Have you actually used a CRT recently? Apart from chronic fishbowling and being f***ing huge, they also look pretty s*** too. I used to have a 17" Samsung synchmaster, which set me back a fair bit, back in the day. Looks like a piece of crap compared to my 17" Neovo tft.

This item was edited on Thursday, 31st March 2005, 18:59

Chap at work picked this up this morning. Spec seems quite good for the money???? (no monitor though)

Never heard or `Targa` and the Hard Drive Cache is only 2Mb but seems very reasonable. Dell dont seem to get near for this spec. (although prepared to be proved wrong!)

http://www.lidl.co.uk/gb/index.nsf/pages/c.o.oow.20050331.p.Targa_NV_2600


17inch TFT can also be had for 149 odd quid.

Whereabouts are you? I`m lucky in that i`ve got the biggest one in the UK on my doorstep every Saturday (Bowlers, Manchester)- lots of vendors , many selling the same products so you an do some good bartering and `price matching`!!

One thing to be wary of at fairs though is to try and buy from a vendor close to you in case you run into problems with any purchase. At Bowlers, most are from in and around Manchester, but some are from the Midlands or even further afield. Not a major problem as they are all `regulars` but it could be a problem if the PC you buy on Saturday develops a fault on a Sunday and you are without it for a week

Do a Google search (UK only) on `Computer Fairs`- Northern computer Markets are the main player in the north and midlands, though there other smaller shows run by Abacus. Not sure who organises what `Dahrn Sahrf` but they ae all over the place.

On your monitor-it`s fine for now-I`ve just changed from 17" CRT to 17" TFT and it took some getting used to. I think I still prefer the old CRT picture-it`s less `harsh` , though hat seems to be the general thought on all flat panel screens-CRT is still offering the best picture quality ( though I like the space saving the TFT offers!!)

This item was edited on Thursday, 31st March 2005, 23:15

It`s not bad, good mid level PC--it only seems to have a 64mb graphics chip `on board`. Perfectly adequate for most things, but it would probably struggle with the latest games.

Shame there doesn`t seem to be any TV in or out-seems to be a norm these days.