Requriements:

Maximum Spend: £500

Processor: Pentium 4 + or AMD Athlon 64 3000 +

Hard drive: 80GB +

Erm, sod the Pentium, all P4's suck, AMD's are better.

If you can build a PC yourself, i can help you find a pretty good PC for that price, can you?

(Hey, i built my first PC at 11, he is making a game, so he might be able to do it!)

Quote from Jakg :

Erm, sod the Pentium, all P4's suck, AMD's are better.

If you can build a PC yourself, i can help you find a pretty good PC for that price, can you?

(Hey, i built my first PC at 11, he is making a game, so he might be able to do it!)

i gave up the program wouldnt work is it legal to make a installation version of lfs

edit : i dont like pentiums either but my current computer (which i never use) is a pentium 1

Quote from shaun463 :

i gave up the program wouldnt work is it legal to make a installation version of lfs

wouldn't be allowed afaik - plus i can't see a point!

Now, to the question - Can you make a PC yourself? Have you actually done it before or not?

Quote from Jakg :

wouldn't be allowed afaik - plus i can't see a point!

Now, to the question - Can you make a PC yourself? Have you actually done it before or not?

i cant make a pc by myself
This computer :
Intel Celeron D (Pentium 3)

40GB Hard drive

5 years old
:lol

Right then, ill have a look...

Quote from Jakg :

Right then, ill have a look...

thanks

Do you already have a keyboard, mouse, speakers etc?

Intel sucks? lol maybe only because intel cpu are way more expensive then those from amd but on the performance side, intel was allways better then amd + theres no need for mega ultra killer fans like you have to use for amd.

I only had a intel pentium II and after that allways amd and only because they are cheap. I had the oportunity to compare two systems with simular hardware a while ago and it felt way better on the intel machine then on the amd. Windows loading was way quicker and at games like bf2 intel just went away, less hardware lag and so on. Anyway next one will be a intel again and im sure thats gone be a blast.

Quote from 510N3D :

Intel sucks? lol maybe only because intel cpu are way more expensive then those from amd but on the performance side, intel was allways better then amd + theres no need for mega ultra killer fans like you have to use for amd.

Intels cost more, but an AMD of similar price is usually (usually, as the Core 2 Duo's kick AMD's backside!) beats it, plus the big fans are there if you overclock, AMD 64's are notorious for running cool, so not sure what you mean!

Well, here is a PC that looks ok, not sure about the graphics card though (nVidia is my strong point!)

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING WITH INTEGRATED GRAPHICS!

EDIT - Wrong link, fixed!

Quote from Jakg :

Well, here is a PC that looks ok, not sure about the graphics card though (nVidia is my strong point!)

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING WITH INTEGRATED GRAPHICS!

And that PC has integrated graphics

No it doesn't, it had a 6100, which afaik is not integrated. But i linked to the wrong PC anyway! the one i was looking at was a 4000 AMD with a x1600 Pro gfx card, it's here

Can you get Dell in England? (I know everyone is going to flame me for this) I have 2 Dells and am getting my third, I have not had any problems with them that were not of my fault (viruses etc.). Just ordered a prebuilt Athlon x2 4600+ with keyboard, mouse, everything but monitor, and integrated graphics [PCIe] (soon to be replaced by maybe a mid 8xxx series when they come out) and 1GB of ram for $550 (that's £275?). With a good graphics card (7600GT for $130?), you could play most modern games maxed out easily with good fps.

Obviously you would be better off building your own but this is great for anyone who doesn't know how or is afraid of messing it up. I am only 15 as well so convincing my parents to let me build one was/is out of the question :P.

yup, ive got a dell, and im from england so yes you can

Yes, but he has to install a graphics card himself, which he doesnt want to do - we can get Dells in the UK, although they tend to come with inadequate power supply and integrated graphics

Quote from Jakg :

No it doesn't, it had a 6100, which afaik is not integrated. But i linked to the wrong PC anyway! the one i was looking at was a 4000 AMD with a x1600 Pro gfx card, it's here

It's a 6100 chipset, it's integrated graphics. I'm guessing it's the same motherboard as mine since mine has 6100 integrated too.

We use exclusively Dells at work. They are all pieces of junk. I also get a "Prefered Buyer's" discount through work. It's a great discount. I was in the market, so I did some looking. With my discount, I could get a nice (for dell) PC for.... $30 MORE than any Joe can from their internet sight, LOL. What a fabulous discount. I paid $550 usd for my off-the-shelf Compaq and the equivilent Dell would have been over $1100 but with a crap Intel processor.

I want to say that for £500, which is around $1000 usd, you could get one heck of a screaming PC. But do believe prices of consumer stuff is quite different in the UK than over here, just judging on the DFP being about twice what it would cost here in the US.

Quote from mrodgers :

I want to say that for £500, which is around $1000 usd, you could get one heck of a screaming PC. But do believe prices of consumer stuff is quite different in the UK than over here, just judging on the DFP being about twice what it would cost here in the US.

yup, i think i might price up a self build just to show how much your being raped!

Quote from Jakg :

Intels cost more, but an AMD of similar price is usually (usually, as the Core 2 Duo's kick AMD's backside!) beats it, plus the big fans are there if you overclock, AMD 64's are notorious for running cool, so not sure what you mean!

Well im talking about the Situation we had Years ago. Im not sure how the Status is with the newest AMD CPUs but lets say, 3-5 Years ago, if you overclocked a AMD and the FAN wasnt able to exhaust the extra heat that comes along, or the FAN just died (with or without overclocking), the CPU just blow up. Not so with Intel CPU which simple turned off at a specific temprature Point controlled by a Unit (cant remember the Name) on-Chip. Well these Days you can also set these Tempratures up in your Bios but i never had the Possibility to check if that works as it should. Anyway i dont know for sure if AMD has such a Unit now as well but i assume a No. Also im pretty much sure AMD CPU needs more Power to get rid of the Heat then Intel CPU but im just guessing here. Anyway, Intel with its Hyper-Threading has a big Advantage but on the other Side, AMD would rock with its 64 Bit Architecture but as long as Hardware Drivers are a rare Piece of a kind and mostly Alpha or Betha Status and as long as the Sofware Industry is program mostly still for 32 Bit this Advantage is not really useful for the Public. Both are great Producers thats for sure and at the End of the Road, the price will make the Decision.

"Integrated Nvidia GeForce 6100 Graphics" - ouch!

Not sure if you could drop something proper in there though!

Quote from Dommo :

I signed up to the forum specifically to answer to this topic

Look here, my uncle recently bought a PC from them, and it ran the GTL demo at full graphics/resolution/shader level etc at about 40 odd FPS...

http://www.ginger6.co.uk/

And this is the one my uncle bought:
http://www.ginger6.co.uk/detail_3.php?prodID=26

As you can see, you can upgrade the "bad" bits, I'm not sure how good the best card is on there, but if it's that bad you can just not upgrade it, and buy another good one from a shop and plonk it in yourself.

My uncle recommends that site, although we're not sure how the motherboard rates?

Well its not the newest card but also its not a bad one at all. Problem is its onboard. I have got a 7800 gtx and my frames are around 50-70 with everything on so 40 for you isnt bad at all. Just turn off useless thing or reduce them to middle or just "high" not ultra or whatever its called. Get a pci express graphic card if youre a hardcore gamer I think another 512 mb ram would do it as well because the graphic card uses the ram as well "shared memory" but im not sure because i dont know that board.

Quote from 510N3D :

Well its not the newest card but also its not a bad one at all. Problem is its onboard. I have got a 7800 gtx and my frames are around 50-70 with everything on so 40 for you isnt bad at all. Just turn off useless thing or reduce them to middle or just "high" not ultra or whatever its called. Get a pci express graphic card if youre a hardcore gamer I think another 512 mb ram would do it as well because the graphic card uses the ram as well "shared memory" but im not sure because i dont know that board.

i wrote a huge (500 word!) reply. But i the stupid School PC crashed, so ill summarize....

most modern CPU's and GPU's thermal throttle, and turn off if the temperature gets too high - and most mobos will warn you if the fan isn;t running or things get hot, but if you have an A64 with the fan not running and dont load it too much you might just be ok - although the same with the Core 2 Duo, a P4 would probably run a bit hotter

Yes, your wrong about alot im afraid - its a well known fact that P4's run hotter than AMD Athlons, which are in turn about similar to Core 2 Duo's temps.

64 Bit helps a bit, So does Hyper Threading - but HT is a cheap version of Dual Core that doesn't work that well, and for benchmarking disabling it speeds it up! 64 Bit and HT are mostly gimmicks tbh

Quote from JakG :

i wrote a huge (500 word!) reply. But i the stupid School PC crashed, so ill summarize....

most modern CPU's and GPU's thermal throttle, and turn off if the temperature gets too high - and most mobos will warn you if the fan isn;t running or things get hot, but if you have an A64 with the fan not running and dont load it too much you might just be ok - although the same with the Core 2 Duo, a P4 would probably run a bit hotter

Yes, your wrong about alot im afraid - its a well known fact that P4's run hotter than AMD Athlons, which are in turn about similar to Core 2 Duo's temps.

64 Bit helps a bit, So does Hyper Threading - but HT is a cheap version of Dual Core that doesn't work that well, and for benchmarking disabling it speeds it up! 64 Bit and HT are mostly gimmicks tbh

Im affraid you have no clue at all because its a well know fact that amd allways had more problems with overheating compared to intel cpu´s.
If you have any cpu running without a fan it will either blow up or the bios will shut down, depends on the settings. And a dual core cpu (2 cores at one unit) without a fan? yeah dude maybe with watercooling or slowed down to 10 mhz. 64bit helps a bit? lol probably now with a 32 bit OS (useless) or with a buggy 64 bit OS. Its a technology build for the future because hard & software producers are not ready for it yet. But dude you dont know how much performance you would gain when this shit is running smoothly. HT wont slow down anything but the opposite of that. 64 bit & HT are Gimmicks haahah thats the a good one...i better stop now before the force gets me...

Quote from Dommo :

I forgot to add that my uncle bought the 1gb ram upgrade, 160gb drive upgrade and a better GFX card (not sure which though), but even if the best one on there is rubbish, just don't "upgrade" it off the list, and whack in a good PCI Express card...


And he bought some aftermarket Zalmann coolers as the standard ones are noisy, and you can't control the fan speed (well, can't use that cool n quiet thing?).

you forgot? so this thread is almost useless anyway nice to hear youre having a better pc then.