Getting a new PC

[Jazcash]

So I wanna get a new machine, and I think ima get it from my favorite computer retailer, MESH.

I have a max budget of about £800 but really want something around £700ish so I can pimp it out with new gfx or w/e after.

These is the models I'm looking at

I'd be using it for playing high end games like Crysis 2 and Far Cry or preferably Spring at max gfx whilst still retaining some decent FPS.

I was particularly caught by the 8GB RAM Models but I wasn't sure if a smaller amount of RAM but DDR3 would be better than a higher amount of DDR2 or not...

I want a decent gfx card and unfortunately, I only have knowledge of NVID cards as that's all I've really ever used.

It seems ATI is pushing the NVIDIA market backwards as I've seen an increase in ATI shipped models and a decrease in NVID but I don't know if I can trust ATI. Some advise on graphics would be nice.

Finally, I have next to nothing knowledge about processors so some direction as to which CPU to go for could help :)

I was going to go for either the XGS PII SE or the R2S - XGS PII 955BE units so if you could give your opinion on which is the best buy I'll be happy to share some of my lovely cookies with you once more.

[AF]

The contents of that webpage make me want to baw my eyes out

[Jazcash]

Is that a good baw or a bad baw?

[Master-Athmos]

Well I don't know how much you actually want to spend etc. but that seems to be one more "let's advertise high numbers" plus let's call everything we have "silent" shop...

In order to answer some of your questions: 8GB of ram currently are just for e-peen. 4GB is totally sufficent and if you're still using a 32Bit OS more than that would be in vain anyway...

Concerning the type of your Ram: In the end it's irrelevant if you're using DDR2 or DDR3 in terms of performance (if you're not buying some extremely expensive DDR3 stuff whose price is in no relation to the performance gain). In your price region I'd go for a Phenom II CPU and also would take DDR3 ram then. That has nothing to do with performance but you'll simply get the more recent AM3 socket then...

The decision which graphics card to choose is pretty much up to you. ATI just has some really decent price-performance ratios for e.g. their HD4870 buyable for like 120 Ôé¼. With that said dump the systems you chose with their 4770 to 4850...

Seriously go to a decent PC related store near you and select the parts you want to use together yourself. You also can continue using your current OS (I guess?) so you don't have to pay for a Windows Vista (or 7 for that manner)...

[Jazcash]

Well, MESH do better deals than I can find anywhere else. The PC I'm using atm I got from MESH and it's not really had any hardware problems since. I've upgraded the RAM, changed gfx cards multiple times but I think it's time I got a general upgrade now...

I'll install Windows 7 with it as they come with a "Free Upgrade to Windows 7 Option". I was mainly wondering whether those graphics cards would run things like Crysis or Spring at max gfx?

[Master-Athmos]

Well I know no graphics card that can run Crysis at max (even SLI / Crossfire systems don't accomplish that - at least not the dual ones ) and in Spring frames will go down because of your CPU...

And why do you think Mesh did a good job because your hardware had no defects? Not that I want to say they're bad or something but it really shouldn't be an accomplishment as long as all PCs you got before were assembled by newbies...

[REVENGE]

For RAM, I recommend you take 8GB. I've been getting out of mem errors trying to run Spring and Firefox with some image scripts at the same time. If you want to multitask, go for 8 gigs.

[Jazcash]

Yeh I've been running into a lot of memory errors with Photoshop work so I guess I could use some MOAR.

[AF]

80% of all windows installs are 'free' anyway

[REVENGE]

80% of all windows installs are 'free' anyway

Especially if you attend a nice university.

[Jazcash]

80% of all windows installs are 'free' anyway

Especially if you attend a nice university.

Or become a pirate.

[Neddie]

I would be hard pressed to buy a desktop rather than build it in this day and age. That is all I'm saying.

[Jazcash]

I would be hard pressed to buy a desktop rather than build it in this day and age. That is all I'm saying.

I'm not confident enough to do that yet. I'd probably blow all the components up after fitting them in the wrong place and not having a decent PSU ¬¬

[aegis]

Well I know no graphics card that can run Crysis at max

I could run it at max on 1680x1050, and I'm pretty sure dual 295s or tri 285s could run it at 1920x1200 w/ max

[Jazcash]

Any gfx card can run Crysis at max. It's just a matter of how well they run it in terms of FPS. I can run Crysis at max atm but I'd probably get 1 FPS...

[ralphie]

It's really hard to mess a PC build up. If it doesn't fit, it's not supposed to go there.

[evolvedix69]

I was decidedly bent by the 8GB RAM Models but I wasn't abiding if a abate bulk of RAM but DDR3 would be bigger than a college bulk of DDR2 or not.


_________________
offshore staffing solutions

[Jazcash]

After some Googling I found this: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/pag ... _12_0.html

Seems that there's not an awful lot of difference between the two so I suppose the 8GB DDR2 models would be better RAM wise than the more expensive 4GB DDR3's.

[Otherside]

BS about running firefox and spring at the same time and getting mem errors.

Ive run spring and firefox with like 50 tabs and scripts at the same time on 2gb ram.

anything more than 4 gigs is a bit overkill atm.

4gb of good quality ram is more than good enough.

I would also recommend a intel cpu over amd.(overclock it!)

and nvidia over ati especially for spring even tho ati are cheaper

[Beherith]

BS about running firefox and spring at the same time and getting mem errors.

Ive run spring and firefox with like 50 tabs and scripts at the same time on 2gb ram.

anything more than 4 gigs is a bit overkill atm.

4gb of good quality ram is more than good enough.

I would also recommend a intel cpu over amd.(overclock it!)

and nvidia over ati especially for spring even tho ati are cheaper

I agree 100%.
Especially the last 2 bits.