Another new computer thread...

[NemesisXposed]

I am upgrading my PC. I've decided my AMD Athlon XP 2400+ is no longer up to my standards and need a new PC. I have contemplated going Intel this time round, but after watching some comparisons between Intel & AMD, i'm thinking that AMD would be good also. The same thing goes for Nvidia & ATI. I've been impressed by both and just don't know which to choose.

What specs would you lot on here recommend?

It will be used mainly for gaming although I will be making music with it too. I want something that will last for a long time and something that performs very well. Price is not a big issue. I can save.

Thanks everyone :).

[Jimmy]

I'd personally go for an Intel if you're getting duel core, cause form what I've heard they are far better than AMD.

As with graphics, I wouldn't have a clue...

[The Mna]

Seconded about the Intel Core 2 Duo.

For graphics you might want to get a cheap, but mid-high performing card like the 8600 GT as the 8800s have been around for over 6 months and the 9000 series is probably coming out soon, so you could upgrade to that later. If you must have something now and you want something that'll perform, then get an 8800 GTX.

[NemesisXposed]

I'd personally go for an Intel if you're getting duel core, cause form what I've heard they are far better than AMD.

As with graphics, I wouldn't have a clue...

What did you hear? I watch Gear Live's video podcats and I saw a comparison between and AMD and an Intel. AMDs PC with an ATI graphics card wiped the floor with Intel's. It was probably biased so that's why I'm asking all of you guys (and girls, maybe?).

Seconded about the Intel Core 2 Duo.

For graphics you might want to get a cheap, but mid-high performing card like the 8600 GT as the 8800s have been around for over 6 months and the 9000 series is probably coming out soon, so you could upgrade to that later. If you must have something now and you want something that'll perform, then get an 8800 GTX.

Thanks for your opinion. I do have an Nvidia Gefore 5200 in my PC at the moment and It's quite reliable. Can Nvidia cards output in HD?

[The Mna]

Its true that amd's offerings used to outperform intel's, and ati's used to outperform nvidia's, but it's become the opposite recently.

The intel core 2 duo's are superior to amd's x2's, and the intel e6600 @ 2.4 ghz prices at about $250 CAD over here outperforms amds fastest FX processor that costs more than twice as much. You could even make the $130 CAD e4300 outperform it with a bit of overclocking (e4300 is 1.8 ghz stock, but many people run it at 3 ghz or more). Curruently my e6600 is overclocked to a very stable 3.2 ghz, and could probably be pushed past 3.4 with out much fuss, but the stability and speed of 3.2 is fine for now.

I think I had a GeForce 5500 before upgrading... it was reliable but it was loud, got hot, and it wasn't very good for performance. At that time ATI's 9000 series wiped the floor with nvidia's 5000 series. Right now Nvidia's taken the performance crown, and I've heard the quality of the effects it can render is superior to ATI's. As for HD output, most of, if not all of nvidia's current cards can output HDCP, but most monitors don't support HDCP yet.

[NemesisXposed]

Its true that amd's offerings used to outperform intel's, and ati's used to outperform nvidia's, but it's become the opposite recently.

The intel core 2 duo's are superior to amd's x2's, and the intel e6600 @ 2.4 ghz prices at about $250 CAD over here outperforms amds fastest FX processor that costs more than twice as much. You could even make the $130 CAD e4300 outperform it with a bit of overclocking (e4300 is 1.8 ghz stock, but many people run it at 3 ghz or more). Curruently my e6600 is overclocked to a very stable 3.2 ghz, and could probably be pushed past 3.4 with out much fuss, but the stability and speed of 3.2 is fine for now.

I think I had a GeForce 5500 before upgrading... it was reliable but it was loud, got hot, and it wasn't very good for performance. At that time ATI's 9000 series wiped the floor with nvidia's 5000 series. Right now Nvidia's taken the performance crown, and I've heard the quality of the effects it can render is superior to ATI's. As for HD output, most of, if not all of nvidia's current cards can output HDCP, but most monitors don't support HDCP yet.

Interesting. I think I should maybe look into that. Thanks.

Any more suggestions. I'm also open to suggestions on motherboards, sound cards etc... Keep them coming :).

[Tiggs]

Any idea on a budget. Just saying price isn't a big issue makes it really hard for us to give you any specific component advice. Intel AMD, Nvidia ATI all trade blows at different price segments, so general advice isn't always the best.

Also are you wanting to get a new monitor, keyboard, mouse etc with the new pc?

[NemesisXposed]

Alrighty then - I am looking to spend between £1000-£1600. And yes I am intending to replace everything.

Sorry for not being clearer.

[piemastermike]

run away from ATI. They have given me nothing but trouble.

[The Grim Reaper]

As for HD output, most of, if not all of nvidia's current cards can output HDCP, but most monitors don't support HDCP yet.
Hmmm well apparently they are meant to, but when it comes to crunch time...
(taken from here, worth reading) (http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html)
Similarly, component (YPbPr) video will be disabled by Vista's content protection, so the same applies to a high-end video setup fed from component video. But what if you're lucky enough to have bought a video card that supports HDMI digital video with HDCP content-protection? There's a good chance that you'll have to go out and buy another video card that really does support HDCP, because until quite recently no video card on the market actually supported it even if the vendor's advertising claimed that it did. As the site that first broke the story in their article The Great HDCP Fiasco puts it:

“None of the AGP or PCI-E graphics cards that you can buy today support HDCP […] If you've just spent $1000 on a pair of Radeon X1900 XT graphics cards expecting to be able to playback HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies at 1920×1080 resolution in the future, you've just wasted your money […] If you just spent $1500 on a pair of 7800GTX 512MB GPUs expecting to be able to play 1920×1080 HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies in the future, you've just wasted your money”.

Anyway, back on topic...
I'd go for Nvidia and Intel, just because they are the top performers atm. Nvidia also has good linux support :). Make sure you get a decent power supply to handle all the juice for the graphics card, and also because no brand ones are more likely to die and take everything with it (destiny bond anyone? ;))

For a sound card, personally i'd get a top quality motherboard with good onboard sound, i've found that unless you have expensive as headphones etc, you can't really tell the difference, and if the onboard is Audigy 2 or something, thats even better.

[NemesisXposed]

Alrighty then. I'm going to start drawing up some lists soon. I'll post them up when i am done :).

[Rook]

a supplier for a new laptop with modest specs, 2GHz CPU, 512 RAM, respectable HDD and uptodate video/sound cards. (figured I'd use this thread rather than start another)

As in, should I just go to Dell? Or is there anyone with particularly better prices/customer service? (I've heard CPC, but I'd like another opinion or two)

[piemastermike]

ebuyer.com

[The Grim Reaper]

If you can afford it - make the ram 1GB in the laptop. Its honestly worth it and it means you aren't as restricted. With the rubbish that is bundled on most laptops which most people don't remove (Norton and other craplets (http://craplets.org/)), they suck up the ram rather quickly, meaning you effectively have only 100-200mb free ram to work with.
Its pretty much essential if you are going to use things like photoshop, flash or games and you want them to run smoothly.

[Mellomeh]

Alrighty then - I am looking to spend between £1000-£1600. And yes I am intending to replace everything.

Sorry for not being clearer.
For that price you could get a quad-core PC with an Nvidia 8800GTX.

Play around with customising one of these (http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=52002) according to what you already have and what you need. From experience, Mesh have pretty much the best prices for high-end PCs (I got one of theirs for £1000 recently, 2.4 duo-core with 8800GTS, it's incredible).

Also cheap and customisable are Evesham PCs (http://www.evesham.com/products/info.asp?e=75483441-4C57-491F-AAE3-1A257EFEFD5C) and if you're into overclocking, give Chillblast (http://www.chillblast.com/home.php?cat=201) a shot. Don't use ebuyer.com, their PC range is pretty outdated and I've had some unreliable stuff from them before.

Alternatively, if you're willing to wait a while (which could be worthwhile, as there are few games which actually use DX10 right now) then wait for the Nvidia 9 series - as suggested. Also processors are just going to get cheaper and cheaper.