How's my build?

fdfed

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Hey all, I'm in need of a new PC and I was thinking about ordering one from Dell (ooh, getting a new PC is also so exciting, lol :p).
I was wondering if you could let me know what you think of my build please?
What I'm going to be using it for is online usage, art (Photoshop etc), gaming, CG modeling, general multimedia such as music, videofiles, DVDs etc, and burning music CDs, file CDs and DVDs.

Dell Dimension 3100
Intel Pentium 4 Processor 640 with HT technology
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
RAM - 2048MB Duel Channel DDR 400MHz (2x 1024MB DIMM)
HDD - 320GB (2x 160GB) 7200rpm
CD/DVD Drives - 48X CD ROM + 16 X DVD +/- RW
Video Card - Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900

- £903 including VAT & shipping

Anyway, let me know what you think please! :)

- Morgan
 
It will be OK for most of what you want to do. The only sticking points will be gaming (especially with on board graphics :eek:) and possibly video playing (especially if you want o playback HD clips) as all the work will fall upon the procesor.

Dell are great for backup and businesses but not as gaming machines. You would be better looking at places like Evesham.com or alienware for machines. Some will even let you build the machine with the bits you want, build it for you and then send it to you.
 
Okies, thanks for the advice, Dfour, much appreciated :) I'll look into those now.
 
fdfed said:
Hey all, I'm in need of a new PC and I was thinking about ordering one from Dell (ooh, getting a new PC is also so exciting, lol :p).
I was wondering if you could let me know what you think of my build please?
What I'm going to be using it for is online usage, art (Photoshop etc), gaming, CG modeling, general multimedia such as music, videofiles, DVDs etc, and burning music CDs, file CDs and DVDs.

Dell Dimension 3100
Intel Pentium 4 Processor 640 with HT technology
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
RAM - 2048MB Duel Channel DDR 400MHz (2x 1024MB DIMM)
HDD - 320GB (2x 160GB) 7200rpm
CD/DVD Drives - 48X CD ROM + 16 X DVD +/- RW
Video Card - Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900

- £903 including VAT & shipping

Anyway, let me know what you think please! :)

- Morgan

Is it really a 3100, if it its you are been ripped off, dell or not.
 
very expenisve, I suggest you build it yourself,

Intel 945G chipset Motherboard £80
Pentium D 920 £180
4*512MB Crucial DDR2 667 £220
300GB Hard Drive £80
Radeon X1600 Graphics Card £100
480Watt Tagan PSU £60
LG DVD RW £35
Media Center 2005 OS £75
Case £60

£890

If you subtract components you won't need like the grahics card then it will be cheaper...you can get most of the parts from www.overclockers.co.uk, and the memory from www.crucial.com
 
hello people ive ordered a new pc and wanna top it off with a wicked 19-inch monitor ,its going to be mainly for games so was hoping for your expert advice.Ive heard the viewsonic vx922,AG Neovo M-19 and the samsung syncmaster 930 bf are very good.whats your views??
The PC is :
[1] Aurora 7500

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Processor with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
AlienIce 2.0 Video Cooling System with Acoustic Dampening
Power Supply: Alienware® 650 Watt ATX 2.0 Power Supply with Active PFC
Motherboard: Alienware® nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard PCI Express
Memory: 2GB Low-Latency DDR PC-3200 at 400MHz - 4 x 512MB
Video Card: 512MB PCI-Express x16 NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX
System Drive: 500 GB Serial ATA-II 7,200 rpm w/16MB Cache (2x250GB) - RAID 0
Optical Drive One: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Recorder
Optical Drive Two: 16/48x IDE DVD-ROM Drive - Black - w/Software MPEG-2 Decoder
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 4

Also whats your views on the PC ?
 
joeteds said:
hello people ive ordered a new pc and wanna top it off with a wicked 19-inch monitor ,its going to be mainly for games so was hoping for your expert advice.Ive heard the viewsonic vx922,AG Neovo M-19 and the samsung syncmaster 930 bf are very good.whats your views??
The PC is :
[1] Aurora 7500

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Processor with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
AlienIce 2.0 Video Cooling System with Acoustic Dampening
Power Supply: Alienware® 650 Watt ATX 2.0 Power Supply with Active PFC
Motherboard: Alienware® nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard PCI Express
Memory: 2GB Low-Latency DDR PC-3200 at 400MHz - 4 x 512MB
Video Card: 512MB PCI-Express x16 NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX
System Drive: 500 GB Serial ATA-II 7,200 rpm w/16MB Cache (2x250GB) - RAID 0
Optical Drive One: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Recorder
Optical Drive Two: 16/48x IDE DVD-ROM Drive - Black - w/Software MPEG-2 Decoder
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 4

Also whats your views on the PC ?

Please do not hijack threads especially as you have a thread of your own asking exactly the same question

Dfour
Moderator
 
Dfour said:
Please do not hijack threads especially as you have a thread of your own asking exactly the same question

Dfour
Moderator

What's wirng with hijacking thread?...I mean if people had any common sence then they would simply reply to both questions/problems, it just makes it easier to group everyones problems together, sometimes I have trouble getting one person to answer my threads, so I don't see what's wrong with thread hijacking if it's related to the same thing, in this case the guy who hijacked has his own thread so i guess he is at fault...
 
meansizzler said:
What's wirng with hijacking thread?...I mean if people had any common sence then they would simply reply to both questions/problems, it just makes it easier to group everyones problems together, sometimes I have trouble getting one person to answer my threads, so I don't see what's wrong with thread hijacking if it's related to the same thing, in this case the guy who hijacked has his own thread so i guess he is at fault...

Normally its OK but this time he started his thread before this posting where he just cut and pateded his thread in.

I agree sometimes it hard to get people to answer your threads but isnt it better that no one answers because they dont know than someon just posts rubbish?
 
I really wouldn't buy that system, I could build you a system that would wipe the floor with that for about £750. Or try doing it yourself. Go to http://www.scan.co.uk , very good service, cheap prices and the components will be of higher quality of that in a Dell. We use Dell for work (I am an IT tech at a school in Kent) and they are perfect for that as we get next day swap out etc, etc. But as a home machine I really wouldn't go near them. The cases mean that expandability is very limited and usually means binning the machine if you want a serious upgrade.
 
Fdfed, I think the consensus is think again. If you are going to use it for graphics and gaming, then, the graphics card needs to be a top quality one. Most pre built machines give you a fastish processor ( everybody needs the fastest, yes?) but the quality of the other components ( especially the motherboard) is usually only mediocre.
Build your own. That way ( with a bit of research) you get the best of everything, designed for exactly what you want. It will be easily upgradeable and last longer than a Dell or whatever.
And, the sense of acheivement :clap:
Its not hard, there are plenty of people here that will give encouragement and advice. Plan it, take your time and have fun.
It may cost more than the Dell, but it will be ten times better.
Go on, you know it makes sense.
Allan
 
Hey, thanks for all of the advice everyone. This is all so stressful to someone who doesn't have the best hardware knowledge, a £1000 limit and especially preferably having it before the end of this month :blush:

Out of curiosity, how would this be? (Keep in mind that I don't need anything truly mind-blowing)

Dell Dimension 9150 (D03915)
Intel Pentium 4 640 (3.2GHz, 800FSB, 2MB Cache)
Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2
Dell Media Experience 3.1 Basic
1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz (2x512) Memory
250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst cache
16x DVD+/-RW and 48-32x CDRW
Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader
256MB nVidia GeForce 6800 (DVI/VGA/TV-out)
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audi

I'm really not going to be able to build one from scratch myself obviously, it's way too complicated for me! Even going to the sites people have recommended is really complicated when choosing parts :blush: (Speaking of which, if anyone did that for me, I definitely wouldn't mind ;))
 
You probably live to far away or I would offer for you.

It looks Ok really also depends what version 6800 the machine has. The only problem with Dell is they are very hard to make upgrades to. They use custom kit and drivers at times :eek:
 
Hi all,

After extensive research I think I've got my final list together, just thought I'd throw it open to debate/approval/ridicule...

Silverstone LC17 case w/ Hiper R Type 550w PSU
Asus A8N-Sli Premium mobo
AMD X2 4400 cpu w/ Zalman 9500 cooler
Crucial 1GB PC3200 DDR [ECC]
Leadtek WinFast PX6800 gfx
Maxtor 300GB SATA hdd
LG-GSA-4167 DVD-R/W DL
Maxtor OneTouch III 300GB FireWire ext hdd [for moving media from 'net PC to HTPC]

Nice amount of storage, blends with my A/V setup [Pioneer 436XDE, Pioneer 575 silver DVD and Sony STR-DB940 silver amp] aesthetically and should have no trouble with HD, so on paper I'm happy.

My concerns are noise and cooling [what else?!] - does anyone have any thoughts on these issues in particular?

Cheers in advance :thumbsup:
 
If you have noise problems, replace the case fans with something quieter. Alternatively, if heat is causing the fans to ramp up in speed and thus creating noise that way, add an extra side fan so the main ones don't have to work so hard (better 4 quiet fans than 2 having to work their guts off).

I've found these are really good:
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=10271&GroupID=0

Relatively cheap for top-end fans, as near silent as you get, yet still good airflow. If your cooling turns out to be no problem, there's a 1000rpm model that really is silent (although obviously only half the airflow).
 
FDFED,if your looking for someone to choose parts or build your pc ,register with the official pc format forum,go into the technical help section and look under the thread "If your buying a new pc" the author is FLATLEY.it'll be a great help to u .Plus CMBERRY20 and SMILER2505 sound very clued up and offering to build a PC to the bloke who started the thread. Your prayers could be answered. :thumbsup: forum.pcformat.co.uk/index.php
 
FDFED, I am quite happy to come up with a spec for you, I can even build it and post it on if you want. Really not a problem, have been doing this for well over 10 years now and it is of little or no effort for me. Just thought you might like the offer.
 

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