help my choose a new pc

[kingalibenarbia]

Hi,
I was wondering if you could help me choose a new pc - one that will last me 3 or 4 years before I have to upgrade! I was thinking something like this -

Dell dimension 8300
2.8Ghz P4 Processor, 800Mhz FSB, Hyper Threading Technology
512MB DDR RAM
128MB ATI Radeon Pro graphics
Soundblaster Audigy soundcard
4.1 speaker system
CDRW and DVD ROM
18inch flat panel digital monitor
windows xp

for under £1500.

What do u think? I want it for playing and downloading music, playing counterstrike, c and c generals, CM4, half life 2, hidden and dangerous 2, etc plus some old games on full detail like Falcon 4.

Is this a good deal or can I do better?

thanx

[Kalleth]

get an amd chip.
radeon 9800 pro.
get a GOOD motherboard from Abit/Asus or something. Don't get a pre-packaged system, build your own.
HDD; western digital or seagate makes are good. Got a 20 and 60 from each of them respectively and neither have given me trouble [touchwood].
18inch flat panel i love, is good deal for that, but.. for gaming which is what you use your system for you can get a GOOD CRT monitor for alot cheaper, which is more use for gamers/anything you're going to use on a desk and not move much. Brandwise i recommend IIyama, highly. RAM, it can only be Crucial. Soundcard, audigy is fine. 4.1 is fine too, is good set of speakers (sort of a waste of money tho, i'm fine with my 2.1)

If possible get a CDRW/DVDRW combo drive, tis expensive as F**K but its the future.
If you build your PC yourself btw from scratch you dont need to buy winxp..you can..er...well, obviously i can't sanction anything to do with not getting it legitimately, as thats bad. get it?

[kingalibenarbia]

is the amd chips similar in performance to the p4 ht tech?

[Albert The Destroyer]

I like the system your going for, I highly recomment the hyperthreading technology. Go for a dual memory if possible to get the best out the 800mhz fsb. And depending on how much space you need, either go for the stupidly fast WD raptor drives (only come in about 33GB sizes), or WD cavear (spin slower but come in huge sizes). Put a couple of the hard drives you decide in raid and your laughing. The radeon pro is a great card. Go for a crt monitor if you like gaming more.

If you can get a set up like that then I'll hate you due to pure jealousy :)

Hyperthreading is very, very good for multitasking, ie you can be be doing a virus scan in the background, archiving files with win rar and using photoshop and you wont notice much slowdown at all. This i feel is a much more real world situation than a synthetic benchmark concerning flat out speed. So yeah, err as soon as I can I'll be getting myself a hyperthreader. Also intel chips have larger caches and the ALU runs at twice the clock speed. Only thing is they are hugle expensive.

EDIT: here's a few good guides to intel/amd performance Tom's Hardware stuff (http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/index.html)

[kingalibenarbia]

wow thanks for ur help guys. yep the card i was referring to was the 9800 pro. its that dell havee 10% offf and free delivery at the minute, so it seems not bad a deal. my current system is this -

p3 450
256mb ram
16mb Voodoo 3

so, i should see a bit of a difference if i get it :)

[kingalibenarbia]

i just dont want to spend loadsof money and find a massive fast new thing for alf the price 2 weeks later

[Albert The Destroyer]

In that case I think if you could stretch to it then an 800mhz fsbhyperthreader would serve you very well, and hopefully would hold its value well. But unfortunately in this game some smart arse company always brings out something more shiny and faster, damn them all!

[kingalibenarbia]

damn right. always shinier. and i like shiny things. everyone does. and they know it.

[Diablos0]

You like the lining...

[communal toilet]

magpies do :)

apparently... altho this one time,
I wrapped tin foil around Mister666 to see if the magpies
would come and take him aweh....
didnt happen, he just felt warm

:(

[kingalibenarbia]

magpies r evil im tellin u. they will attack us all one day. they talk to each other. they cover each other. they do recon missions. watch your back.

[communal toilet]

/me ducks