Hardware What Hardware Should I Buy? - Oct 2008

The other thing you could consider doing would be to benchmark each system so you can realistically see what a jump form one category to the next would bring you in terms of gaming performance etc. (altho I realise you probably don't actually have the systems you proposed... but hey...)

 

Aslong as it is updated monthly, then I see this becoming a great resource to the newbie and the seasoned pro

 

My month old build is almost exactly the same as the £1500. Cosmos S, HX1000W PSU, 4870X2 etc. But I bought cheaper RAM (useless water cooling rubbish on the ones in this article!) and only bought one 500GB HDD (for £40) and bought a nice big 22" 1680x1050 Sammy LCD screen with the money saved.

Good to see I chose some good components though!

 

nice one, thanks a lot for this.
What fan would you recommend for the TRUE?

 

Noctua or Nexus personally - something quiet with a high static pressure.

 

Great article guys, a friend of mine asked me about upgrading/making a computer for him and since I'd been ignoring the market a bit due to how many new products hit the shelves I was a bit behind. This was a great help

 

You could have an other category, which includes; sound cards, peripherals, monitor etc, for the low, med and high end.

 

cheers, adding 120mm/80mm etc recommended fans to the next article would be a sweet IMO

 

yep, that's something we're already thinking about!

 

+1

 

I would like to leave comment on case Coolermaster Elite 330 - it's king of "value cases"! We're building PC's and we see a lot of foxconns, KMEs, noname cases here. And Coolermaster, while being slightly more expensive, is of much much better quality.

 

Nice one guys!
- As per other comments, I'd suggest moving away from the fixed price ranges - they don't make all that much sense if you're not including monitors and therefore a target resolution.
Though it would entail more hard work, I think it'd be better to start from target resolutions / monitor sizes and establish the cheapest / best components for each target.
- That should make it easier for those who have a monitor already, and those planning to upgrade as well.

The suggestion of having a final spec page for each setup would also be nice, especially if linked to pricegrabber (though it's scope of retailers is still limited).
- Perhaps even have a shopping basket-type setup where readers could choose from the alternatives you give and come out with a final price.

Anyways - all good stuff!

 

Whilst I see your point here (especially about the HD4850 being best bang for buck) the last comment is technically incorrect if talking about the 192 stream version of the GTX260. These can be had for <£180. The 216 stream versions however are going on twice the price of the HD4850.

 

A nice selection of tech you guys chose there. Good job once again.

 

I'll second an earlier comment.

Low, Medium and High budget ranges are good but not necessarily indicative of what the system is for. A gaming rig is different from a HTPC which is different from a general purpose machine which is different from a server which is different from a graphic (photoshop, etc.) station which is different from a digital video editing station which is different from a productive/business type station which is different from an internet surfing station, etc. I think you get the idea.

And then you could have various budget levels in each category too... but that makes for a lot of combinations. Perhaps the approach of a given configuration with a few parts of the config having different recommendations based on the purpose of the system. i.e. "We recommend a xxxxx card for gaming, however for a HTPC we recommend yyyyyy card instead, and for a..."

Or one month offer HTPC configs. Next month Gaming configs. 3rd month graphic stations, 4th month an internet surfing machine. Over the course of a year you could cover up to 12 different types of systems, although I could probably group all the different types of systems into maybe 6 categories which would allow for 2 updates each year of each type.

 

How about a monthly thread for each system where we can propose components that fit each budget for the next month's update? It allows more alternatives to be listed with constructive criticism of them. These threads would be distinct from this feedback thread and located in Hardware.

 

nvm, misread something.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions - be assured we're writing them ALL down and debating what the best way to continue it is. Obviously this is our first attempt so improving with suggestions is all good for the future

 

Wait a minute....i just added up the cost of the so called £450 system using the suggested parts and it came to £508.87.

When you add in delivery charges for all the seperate components from different sites, its closer to £520.

Hmmmm..

 

That's the V1100 not 1110 I'm almost certain the latter is longer.


Hustler - I make it £421.40 ex Delivery.