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New pc, good option?

Japhir
polycounter lvl 16
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Japhir polycounter lvl 16
Hey guys!
Sometime soon I'll be buying me a new pc, I have budgeted around 800-900 euros.
Obviously I wanted to buy all the parts separately and then box it all together (cheaper) but my dad just came across THIS PC. It sounded nice because I can get it with windows vista premium, and it gets updated to windows 7 for free for €495.76. I was wondering: is it any good for working with 3dsmax, photoshop, zbrush and all the usual crap? And I might want to catch up in playing computer games (which I haven't done at all so far, just Half Life 1/2 and Portal :))
I won't immediately buy it because I first need to compare to buying separate peaces so any ideas are most welcome right now! (and no, I don't think I'll make the lightweight pc Per has just built).
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  • Ark
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    Ark polycounter lvl 11
    Id go with the separate parts option personally. It's normally cheap and you know exactly what parts are going in your system.

    The one you linked to seems decent, has a quad-core and 4gb of RAM, although the graphics card doesn't look too good. But id go with a 64bit system and more RAM if you manage a lot of heavy scenes.
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  • EarthQuake
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    EarthQuake mod
    IF you threw in a new video card it would probably be fine. But i would seriously look into what you can get by building it yourself.
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  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    building a computer is only cheaper when you have lots of old/spare parts to use from your last computer. From scratch computers cost more than pre made a lot of times unless you want something specific.
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  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    aesir wrote: »
    building a computer is only cheaper when you have lots of old/spare parts to use from your last computer. From scratch computers cost more than pre made a lot of times unless you want something specific.

    I beg to differ, I've never ever seen that happen. Unless you count the prebuilts from the local hardware shop under that as well, and not just Dell, HP, etc...
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  • [Deleted User]
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    [Deleted User]
    Yeah I wouldn't say it ever costs more to do it yourself.

    There is something to be said for reusing parts though, definitely. If you don't need a new DVD drive, monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. that's a lot of saved money. Especially on the monitor.
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  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    Kaskad wrote: »
    Yeah I wouldn't say it ever costs more to do it yourself.

    There is something to be said for reusing parts though, definitely. If you don't need a new DVD drive, monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. that's a lot of saved money. Especially on the monitor.

    If you just need the PC and have all that jazz, you could get a low end i7 and a decent video card for that price range
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  • firestarter
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    firestarter polycounter lvl 18
    If you were to spend 800-900 euros on a pre-build or build it yourself, it would storm all over that Packard Bell. And the windows it comes with is likely to be "Packard Bell Windows", atleast that's how it used to be, and likely cause trouble.

    http://www.komplett.nl/k/k.aspx
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  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 16
    Unfortunately I don't have stuff to re-use since this old computer is going to stay at my parent's place (where I am now) and the new one is going to my new room in Utrecht. And this monitor is still a 17 inch massive brainfryer.
    I guess I'm gonna go see my brother soon and browse this website together with him. (It's delivery point is close to my parent's house).

    So I guess I'm gonna go with seperate parts then :).
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  • SimonT
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    SimonT interpolator
    I asked this question also to myself because i also plan to buy a pc in the near future. The advantage of a non-self-build pc is, that you know that it will work (sometimes hardware won't work together an then it's on yours to find out where the problem is). Also i think big computer dealer can get better prices from the big traders...so my hope is that i get a better price when i buy it as a box.
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  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    Alternate.nl might be more interesting in terms of prices, Japhier; Lots of Belgians order from there even.
    And I'd advise to save up until about 1100 or so, you can get something really powerfull for that, while now you'll have to do a few concessions (which you might regret later).
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  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 16
    woww thanks!
    my brother is going to be the one helping me assemble (I have no understanding of computers AT ALL) and he said he didn like making the small pc's. And I don't really mind sound, I just want it to do what I want fast :). (and beautifully).
    I tried entering all of that into an online shop where I can pick it up myself (no send costs) and it came down a bit cheaper, but I couldn't find all the components.
    which website did you use? (and good to see you managed handling a dutch website! :D)

    one more silly question: what's the difference between a Gainward GeForce 9500GT and a Club3D GeForce 9500GT?
    Thanks a lot man! This information will definately help me out!
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  • Ark
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    Ark polycounter lvl 11
    Japhir wrote: »
    one more silly question: what's the difference between a Gainward GeForce 9500GT and a Club3D GeForce 9500GT?
    Thanks a lot man! This information will definately help me out!

    There just different companies that sometimes modify the the coolers, add overclocks and package them with different games.

    Just buy the cheapest, most of them are still based on the reference GPU, unless you want one with a better fan.
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  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 16
    Ok I'll post the link to the shopping list here:

    I wasn't sure what the difference is between the
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (R0) 2.33 GHz, 1333 MHz, 4 MB , Trayand the
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (M1) 2.33 GHz, 1333 MHz, 4 MB , Tray
    other than the price...

    well somehow I can't post a link to the shopping list so that's unfortunate... so here's an image of the parts I could find:
    sallandeu.jpg
    I didn't include all the cooling 30ml stuff because I have no idea how that works and I guess it doesn't cost as much anyway ;).

    again thanks a lot for the help! really appreciated!
    (especially since my brother can't help me untill next tuesday and I want to buy it soon!)
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  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 16
    I'm actually waiting for my bank to tell me I can have a debit of 1000 euros, so that I can use my current 900-or-so euros to buy a good computer and then live the rest of the month of borrowed money. (great start for the student life right ;)).
    Oh yeah, and I want to use this pc for study work (just writing e-mails+documents and simple stuff) and in my spare time do 3d work and maybe play some good games. (I didn't really play computer games up untill now because my pc would already crash every other hour when running half life 2 ;))
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  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 16
    I forgot about this, but about a month a go my brother had made a pc for someone else and then adjusted it for me quickly.
    this is what he came up with, do you think it would work for my needs?

    Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750 GB, 7200 Rpm, 32 MB, S-ATA II/300 €61,00
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (C1) 2.83 GHz, 1333 MHz, 12 MB, Boxed €186,00
    Antec Sonata III 500 Zwart, 500 Watt €114,00
    Kingston KHX8500AD2K2/4G 4 GB, PC8500, 1066 MHz, 7, Kit Of 2 €55,00
    Asus P5Q SE PLUS €77,0
    Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE S-ATA, Bulk, Zwart €19,49
    Arctic Freezer 7 Pro €19,00
    LG LCD Monitor W2261VP 21.5 Inch / 54.61 Cm, 2 Ms, Zwart €180,95
    Asus Radeon HD 4870 1GD5 1024 MB €112,61

    totalling €846,44
    (still without keyboard or boxes.

    So what could be improved/optimised for 3d game art/game playing or general better configuration?

    Thanks again everyone for your input.
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  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    dont forget to add on the price of any software you intend on installing, windows isnt cheap :(.

    Im going to go against the trend here and say I dont think its worth building your own pc, this is mainly because Ive had a really bad time with my pc. Building the pc box was fine, getting all the hardware to work as it should in windows was terrible and I still cant get my graphics card to work properly. Maybe I was just unlucky but I have to say I dont think it was worth it building my own pc in any way whatsoever, its just been a huge pain in the ass.

    branded premade pc with preinstalled software and hardware drivers and support from the suppliers = win

    building a pc yourself that might not even work properly once everthing is built and installed properly, support is very difficult to get from seperate hardware manufacturers = lose
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  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    perna wrote: »
    Yep. My advice is also, if you're no good at putting together PCs, then don't do it.. but you can say that about anything in life.. don't drive a car if you can't drive, for example :)

    this is true but its also worth noting that you dont know wether your good at it until you try it...

    and trying it can be an expensive waste of time and money, thats just my experience. I do believe I would be in the same position I am now even If I was very good at building pcs. Most people are probably fine and not so unlucky but thats not how it was for me so I cant recommend building your own pc.
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  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 16
    Haha when I saw you had posted Ged, I was quite sure you where going to advise me not to do it because of your recent "adventure" with building a pc ;). Well I'm new to building a pc, but my brother isn't and he'll be doing all the building for me :)

    Per: I didn't know ATI/AMD cards where bad for 3d apps? So what video card could I be using instead? Don't want to risk spending too much money either... will have to try this setup on different sites as well.

    Thanks for your input!
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  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    Japhir wrote: »
    Haha when I saw you had posted Ged, I was quite sure you where going to advise me not to do it because of your recent "adventure" with building a pc ;). Well I'm new to building a pc, but my brother isn't and he'll be doing all the building for me :)

    haha yeah, after all Ive been through its no surprise Im well aware of the risks, best of luck to you and your brother then. The build looks decent, maybe a 9800GT or better would be a nice graphics card.
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  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 16
    So how about this?
    mijnpc.jpg

    I didn't really know the difference between the stuff here: (picked them up from different sources and have no idea what would be better).
    http://www.salland.eu/content/productcompare.php?pid1=47061&pid12=174441 (memory)
    http://www.salland.eu/content/productcompare.php?pid1=129208&pid12=139457 (processor)
    http://www.salland.eu/content/productcompare.php?pid1=25759&pid12=34619 (housing)
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  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 16
    so any thoughts on this?
    I thought about taking a better video card like a Sparkle GeForce GTX 260 896 MB
    oh, and is it better to get a seperate powersupply or one that is integrated in the case?

    waah so close to hitting the purchase button! but I have no idea how all of this stuff is going to work together, and i'm still open to any kind of suggestions!
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  • Japhir
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    Japhir polycounter lvl 16
    yeah that's the problem, he's busy ;).
    and I asked here because he doesn't know what's good for 3d modeling apps and such. (he reccomended me an ATI card because he said they cost less and where better).

    guess I'm gonna have to wait for some more help.
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