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March 29, 2024, 01:27:52 AM

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[TECHY] buying a computer

Started by Rats, August 15, 2004, 08:27:46 PM

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Rats

Hello, I'm thinking of getting a new computer. I'm just wondering if all this will go together and wether or not it's worth the cash, if anyone can tell me.

hard drive
graphics card
mother board
processor
RAM (x2)
case
sound card

Total cost £485

Is there anything which won't go together and is there anything else I'll need. I suppose I'll need a fan as well. Cheers.

Marcus Or Relius

I need a new machine too. I'd be happy with that lot, Rats, assuming it works. In fact, as my budget is a bit limited I might just buy the bits and knock it together as seen as it's cheaper than buying it ready made from PCWorld with pile of worthless crappy printers, scanners and balsa-wood workstations that are stated as 'free' but add a chunk to the price. The only bit of PCs I'd be worried about mucking about with is the power-supply, the big bit at the back with 'Warranty Void if you open this up, don't touch, get away with your grubby fingers you unqualified git!' stamped on it

Actually, it's only the motherboard and processor that I need to upgrade, and perhaps some more RAM. I might just get them.

Oh, and remember you'll need an operating system Rats. And a plug.

mr rou-rou

seeing as you are in Manchester Marcus,

http://www.aria.co.uk/

&

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/

looks like a speedy system Rats, I don't imagine you are a games player so maybe the money you are saving could be put towards making a silent(ish) PC, especially if it's going to live in your bedroom.

Marcus Or Relius

Quote from: "mr rou-rou"http://www.microdirect.co.uk/

Cor, cheers for that Mr Rou-Rou, I've never heard of them. Well, actually, by an odd coincidence someone at work suggested them on Friday, but they were under the impression they might have only dealt with business customers which is obviously not the case.

I've already seen some base-units there that I might be able to stretch my budget to, and my current three-year-old Fujitsu Siemens whirring beige lump is visibly cowering at the idea of being replaced (although I would keep it, just like I've kept my previous two computers, all in a row, and all networked...and I wonder my electricity bill is £250-a-quarter.)

gazzyk1ns

Not that Rats' case isn't fine, but if anyone was interested, then www.thermaltake.com do some really nice looking cases.

A Passing Turk Slipper

Quote from: "mr rou-rou"
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/
That site's great. I got my computer from there fairly recently and it's given me absolutely no problems at all. It's dead cheap too.

lildevil

The only diference I'd make is go for an Nvidia graphics card and an AMD processor.  Probably down to personal preference though. Have a look at  http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/index.html   I got a few bits from there no probs, got them a day early too. I can recomend the chenbro game bomb case. Its top notch lots of good features i got mine form   http://www.xcase.co.uk/  The only other things are  cables an  case fans as u say. ebuyer 50p i think for a 8 cm fan but bigger is better is slower is quieter.

Rats

Cheers all, so this won't explode when I've stuck it together? Now I'll just have to save the money up.

weekender

Your proposed computer will probably be obsolete by the time you've saved the money up, and you'll have to change all your hardware configuration options around again to get the best deal.  I just thought I'd point this out to be helpful.

I'm typing this on a Spectrum.

Marcus Or Relius

I got round to ordering a PC from Microdirect the other day. It was supposed to be delivered on Tuesday evening but it didn't fucking show up (I checked via the website to see that they have my correct address, which they do.)

This morning a guy there told me that it was an error on behalf of their delivery guys and that he promised me it would be delivered tonight. I took down the number of the delivery depot and rang them when I got home this evening, just to check they would, indeed, turn up this evening.

"I've not heard anything about this mate," the grouchy rectum I spoked to grunted at me, "No-one told us about this at all. We're not scheduled to deliver to you today."
"Can you deliver this evening though, as opposed to not delivering to me, which was the case last night?"
"Hey, I don't know what happened last night okay?"
"Fair enough. But can you deliver tonight?"
"Probably not, I 'aint got no drivers have I? <tut> Leave with it me I'll see what I can do." <click>

No sign of the fuckers, as I expected. Fucking Microfuckingdirect. Fair enough, everyone else seems to have had no problems with them, but they've got lots of my cash and have failed to deliver twice (I s'pose it's the delivery company's fault really, but fuck it, it's Microdirect's responsibility to see that goods actually get to customers.)

And I have to wait until tomorrow morning to phone up and vent my homicidal rage at the lobotomized chimps.

weekender

Quote from: "Marcus Or Relius"Fucking Microfuckingdirect.

It's probably not their fault.  As far as MicroDirect go, my experience is that they sort their stuff out ready for delivery pretty quick smartish.  The problem is the courier service they use.

Quote(I s'pose it's the delivery company's fault really, but fuck it, it's Microdirect's responsibility to see that goods actually get to customers.)

I don't think that MicroDirect actually have a responsibilty to ensure that the courier company they use delivers their products - that's the courier's responsibility.  My experience is that the courier service that MicroDirect use is a fucking shit one.  Incidentally, I've also had dealings with this courier service before, and they've been fucking shit then as well.

The problem, as I see it, is that MicroDirect use a cheap shit courier service which always fails to deliver what it promises.

Marcus Or Relius

I see what you mean about the couriers being at fault. However, I'm Microdirect's customer, not the courier's, so if the latter fucks up then it's former's responsibility to sort it out in my view. If I had paid these couriers seperately, then I'd be obliged to sort it out with them. However, I paid Microdirect the delivery charge at the rates they set, the money is in their account, so therefore, regardless of who physically does the delivering, Microdirect who are obliged to ensure delivery goes okay.

I used to work at a company where I had to arrange for hauliers to deliver the goods, and when they fucked up by being late or not delivering at all (which was often) the customer would moan at me and then I would then shout at the hauliers for making our company look shit. That's the chain-of-blame.

Besides, Microdirect told me that they had spoken to the haulage company this morning and the hauliers had promised to deliver tonight, and it's open to debate who's lying with regards to the haulage guy's claim that no-one spoke to him today and no delivery is scheduled. It was probably the couriers.

Mutter grumble whinge etc. Sorry, it's just annoying sitting around all evening, two-days in a row, waiting for some super-duper new toy to be delivered and it not appearing.

Still Not George

Quote from: "Marcus Or Relius""I've not heard anything about this mate," the grouchy rectum I spoked to grunted at me, "No-one told us about this at all. We're not scheduled to deliver to you today."
"Can you deliver this evening though, as opposed to not delivering to me, which was the case last night?"
"Hey, I don't know what happened last night okay?"
"Fair enough. But can you deliver tonight?"
"Probably not, I 'aint got no drivers have I? <tut> Leave with it me I'll see what I can do." <click>

I hate to say it, but the above is a bit of a cunty conversation from your end. Having been in the same position as the guy you were talking to, I can say that if I'd had the above conversation I'd be

a) About as irritated at the "can you deliver this evening? No? Then how about tonight? How about tomorrow morning? What? No, I know you said you don't have the order or any record of my existence at all, you already said that, but can you deliver tomorrow afternoon?" tone of the conversation as your counterpart was, and
b) A hell of a lot nicer about it. Because I was actually good at customer service, and not a fat useless cunt who can't get a better job, like most of my coworkers at the time.

I suspect you're quite right and years in tech support have just stained all customers for me forever. I do however suggest that if you email Microdirect, just give them a very long list of grievances against their courier and then the poor sap who has to read your email can just forward it in it's entirety to someone who can do something about it.

untitled_london

looks to me like you can do better on your GFX card.....

looking at the links on the bottom of the e-buyer page - you can get a 256 card for the same money as your aout to drop on the 128MB card.

that said - i dont know how you intend to use it, and wether the card you picked is best for your needs.

[edit: hope they sort it out for you MoR]


i'm looking at building a box on a £500 budget too - you guys may have saved me some research as i'm using both ebuyer & microdirect too
(unless i go a do something stupid lke go to auction again)

Marcus Or Relius

Quote from: "Still Not George"
I hate to say it, but the above is a bit of a cunty conversation from your end. Having been in the same position as the guy you were talking to, I can say that if I'd had the above conversation I'd be

a) About as irritated at the "can you deliver this evening? No? Then how about tonight? How about tomorrow morning? What? No, I know you said you don't have the order or any record of my existence at all, you already said that, but can you deliver tomorrow afternoon?" tone of the conversation as your counterpart was...

How do you manage to conclude I was being cuntish? After all, they did have a record of my existence, as seen as I'd spoken to them previously and they had confirmed my address to me and (falsely) promised it would be delivered on Tuesday evening, and furthermore, putting in the tracking the number of the consignment into their website produced all my details and the date of dispatch (I didn't mention that in my above post though, to be fair) Finally the guy found my details when I gave my address and they did indeed have a full record of me and the pending order. He accepted that they had failed to deliver yesterday - although without any excuse given - but this did not, in his mind, seem to make him feel at all compelled to make a second attempt at delivery.

I can understand you empathising with him though. Although not in IT, I have to speak to customers on the phone all the time too, and there's nothing worse than a total bastard who blames you for things outside of your control even when you're trying hard to be helpful. If this guy I'd spoken too had just been some helpless receptionist/call-centre person with no control over the actual logistics then I'd have been as heart-meltingly sweet as that rather nice blonde woman who hosts Milkshake on Channel Five. However, the heaving sack of short-tempered discourtesy I spoke to and his frequent references to "my drivers" made it evident he was someone higher up the ladder with more control over things, thus making him open to a matching level of grouchiness on my behalf. And he hung up on me without warning, the git.

If anything, I should have been cuntish (or more cuntish, if you wish) because - outside of Disney movies - nice people never get far in life. Except Jesus. Actually, no, wait, he got nailed to a plank didn't he? Daft git.

Still Not George

Quote from: "Marcus Or Relius"How do you manage to conclude I was being cuntish? After all, they did have a record of my existence, as seen as I'd spoken to them previously and they had confirmed my address to me and (falsely) promised it would be delivered on Tuesday evening, and furthermore, putting in the tracking the number of the consignment into their website produced all my details and the date of dispatch (I didn't mention that in my above post though, to be fair) Finally the guy found my details when I gave my address and they did indeed have a full record of me and the pending order. He accepted that they had failed to deliver yesterday - although without any excuse given - but this did not, in his mind, seem to make him feel at all compelled to make a second attempt at delivery.

I can understand you empathising with him though. Although not in IT, I have to speak to customers on the phone all the time too, and there's nothing worse than a total bastard who blames you for things outside of your control even when you're trying hard to be helpful. If this guy I'd spoken too had just been some helpless receptionist/call-centre person with no control over the actual logistics then I'd have been as heart-meltingly sweet as that rather nice blonde woman who hosts Milkshake on Channel Five. However, the heaving sack of short-tempered discourtesy I spoke to and his frequent references to "my drivers" made it evident he was someone higher up the ladder with more control over things, thus making him open to a matching level of grouchiness on my behalf. And he hung up on me without warning, the git.

Ah, right. Having reviewed the situation, you were right, and he needs beating with a stick. Cunting managers. Remember, a fat worthless sack of shit with authority is still just a fat worthless sack of shit.

(sorry, it just seems through my caffeine-addled memory that everyone I ever worked with in TS has been a fat, worthless sack of shit. There were probably some nice people with lives and children and everything, but I never got to meet any of them, because my vision was obscured by the crowds of fat worthless people trying to make my life a misery. Did I mention I hated working there?)

Marcus Or Relius

Well hurrah, it arrived at last! The rude gentleman I spoke to yesterday obviously wasn't representitive of the company because the delivery guy was jolly pleasant and apologised for the previous couple of no-shows, mentioning something about the boss not hiring enough drivers. I told him not to worry, that it was not a problem really, and that any blame was warrented by no-one but the lazy arses back at his HQ and not to the poor truck-driving truck-drivers.

Having thanked both the delivery guy and his truck most graciously for their respective roles in computer-delivering activities, I bid them good evening and scampered inside, so happy that I'd forgotten that I'd had a really really really shit day at work, all thanks to my new toy. Threepointtwogigahertztastic!

(I guess I'd better formally retract any nasty things said or implied about Microdirect previously, as t'was not their fault in anyway. Although if I buy anything else from there I might bully a mate into giving me a lift down there to pick it up myself.)

Hey, Heartbeat is on TV at the moment, instead of, say, something good. Even that hasn't dampened my mood. :)

mook

Did you bother to tip him? A fiver wouldn't hurt surely.

Marcus Or Relius

Yup, I gave him a fiver, and not the old out-of-date-no-longer-accepted-in-shops note that's lying around either. I'll try and spend that in the fish 'n chip shop that cheekily gave me it as change last week when I was in too much of a rush to notice this fraud. If they refuse to accept it back I shall thump the counter and angrily demand to see the Managing Director.

Rats

Quote from: "untitled_london"looks to me like you can do better on your GFX card.....

looking at the links on the bottom of the e-buyer page - you can get a 256 card for the same money as your aout to drop on the 128MB card.

Cheers mr london, I missed that, I'll have that one instead then
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=1322304665&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=62209
or that one
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=1322395358&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51532

Do you know if there's any difference between those? I'm totally out of my depth here.

Timmay

I don't know much about ATI shite, but I'd say the 9600 card would be a smidge better than the 9550 card.

fanny splendid


Timmay


untitled_london

Quote from: "MoR"Except Jesus. Actually, no, wait, he got nailed to a plank didn't he? Daft git.

fucking superb, that one almost had coffee on the screen. thank you for that, i shall be using it again soon.


Quote from: "rats"Cheers mr london, I missed that, I'll have that one instead then
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=1322304665&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=62209
or that one
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=1322395358&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51532

your welcome pal.

i'm sure you appreciate that newer = better in the tech field. as such those two you pointed out, are by simple definition of the series number supposed to be better.

looking at your mo-bo it has an 8x AGP slot, so any of those gfx puppies will be okay on it, and obviously the more RAM on you GX card the better for games and quick on screen renders.

tbh, the rest of the differences between those cards is neglible, whats more likely is that you will benefit from te better drivers etc that the newer cards will support.

tbh, have you looked into an AMD solution yet??? - you will get a much better bang/buck ratio by going AMD...it takes a little effort to get up to speed, but its the solution i am (god willing i'll get my insurance through soon) gonna be going with.

sorry to throw in a big spanner like that when you seem as good as ready to go, but, i just had to mention it.

----

[added edit]
my limited experiance @ c&b has told me that you're a bit of a graphics master rats, have you looked into dual cpu's yet.

the new photoshop does take advantage of dual cpus, and in all honesty whilst the p4 does hyperthreading, 2 actual CPUs outperform a 2nd virtual one everytime and in every situation.

i'd say before you drop the coin have a quick look at somewhere like 2cpu.com and a few review sites. if you think its tempting, then hold back a while, and get yourself up to speed and then go for it when you've taken it into consideration.

its your tool, and if you spend a long time with it, you owe it to yourself to get the most for your money.


</2p>