Topic: New PC, please help me spec it out

[noideadude]

Hello all,

Am new here and please can you help me. Am after a new desktop and have a basic understanding of PCs. I have a generous budget 1.5-2.5 k to spend and am after a powerful pc. I am thinking of using some places where they build the PC for me if I can spec it out. Thats where I was hoping you guys would help. The PC will be used for primarily Surfing, some work stuff (Word and Excel) and some Movie playing (although will want to connect this to the TV). I initially thought of buying those gaming PCs as they are the most powerful thing around but thought that perhaps I may be paying for stuff that I don't need. Anyway, the stuff that I would want is

1) Intel 4 Core (Extreme?)
2) Lots of Hard drive 2TB?
3) Lots of Cache and memory
4) Also a good size moniter.

A have put together a list below (haven't got a clue but I am guessing the standard is not great). Let me know what you think? Thanks in advance.

ThermalTake Mambo VC2000BNS Black £  5.00
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 (4 x 3.2 GHZ) 1600FSB - 12 MB + £  235.00
 GEIL 8GB PC-6400 800 MHZ (4 x 2 GB) - Lifetime Warranty (DDR2)             + £  74.00
 NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS - 256 MB - VGA/DVI/HDMI (Palit)             + £  21.0
 ASUS STRIKER II FORMULA S/L 1333FSB (NVIDIA 780i)             + £  82.00
 ThermalTake W0132 1000W TOUGHPOWER CABLE MANAGEMENT             + £  134.50
 1.5 TB (1500 GB) SATA-II HDD UDMA 300 7200 32MB             + £  37.00
 1 TB (1000 GB) SATA-II HDD UDMA 300 7200 32MB             + £  19.00
 LG (GGW-H20L) Blu-Ray/DVD Disc Re-Writer & HD DVD-ROM - Black (SATA)             + £  136.00
 LG (GGC-H20L) Blu-Ray HD-DVD Reader & Dual Layer DVD +/- RW Writer - Black (SATA)             + £  65.00
 Creative X-FI Xtreme Music 7.1 (PCI)             + £  46.50
 4 Port Firewire IEEE 1394 & Free Cable (PCI)             + £  7.50
 10 X USB 2.0 Ports             + £  6.50
 Internal Card Reader 50-in-1             + £  10.00
 Cooler Master V8 - Ultimate Silent Cooler             + £  40.30
 Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3 - 32 BIT (Genuine CD & COA Included)             + £  58.00
 BenQ 24" (G2400W) TFT Monitor HDMI/DVI-D/VGA - 5MS             + £  245.00
 Standard Slim Keyboard (PS/2)             + £  3.25
 Standard Black Optical Mouse (USB)             + £  2.29
 Standard Black Speakers             + £  6.00
Total Price
£2,514.55

Have I gone really overboard on some stuff?  :crazy:The only final thing is that I wanted to download movies onto the PC and play it on the TV. Will I need to have any special connections on the back of my PC for the cabling? HDMI?

Thanks

[Simon]

Hi, and 

I wouldn't like to comment too much on the specs (someone else will), but they look pretty impressive to me.

If you want a recommendation for someone to put it together for you, check out Scan Computers, which you'll have to Google, as I can't do links from my phone.

[Rik]

http://www.scan.co.uk/

Highly recommended both for advice and build quality. A 3-year on-site warranty is available.

[Rik]

ThermalTake Mambo VC2000BNS Black £  5.00
 GEIL 8GB PC-6400 800 MHZ (4 x 2 GB) - Lifetime Warranty (DDR2)             + £  74.00
 LG (GGW-H20L) Blu-Ray/DVD Disc Re-Writer & HD DVD-ROM - Black (SATA)             + £  136.00
 Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3 - 32 BIT (Genuine CD & COA Included)             + £  58.00
 BenQ 24" (G2400W) TFT Monitor HDMI/DVI-D/VGA - 5MS             + £  245.00

You do realise that 32 bit Windows can only see about 3GB of RAM?

For the optical drive, I favour Optiarc.

Go for XP Pro rather than home.

I'd recommend an Eizo monitor, but they do come in at £1000! Consider a Dell or HP.

[Sandra]

For such a generally high spec PC you have picked a cheap graphics card and as Rok has said the 8 gig of ram is no use unless you are going to use a 64 bit OS.

Which type of TV and what are the connection options on it ?

Most of the Nvidia 8000 cards have at least a 7 pin connector and a short cable that allows Svid or component, some have HDMI and some have twin DVI so you can connect via DVI if your TV has that input or you can get a DVI to HDMI cable if it only has HDMI. You would have to use seperate audio out from the pc to the TV in that case.

[Rik]

as Rok has said

I'm a hard man.

[noideadude]

Hi

I basically went to a website called computerplanet.co.uk and upgarded one of their machines. As you can I see I have no clue.Will have to rethink or maybe leave it to the experts and just get an off the self package from Dell. Was thinking about those XPS 630 machines they have.

What do guys think about this package? http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsdt_630?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

In terms of TV, was going to go for a Pioneers 50 inch plasma in the future which I think should have DVI and HDMI.

[Sandra]

Doesnt say which mobo they use for some reason.

Seems a high price to me but thats probably because it includes the OS which PC builders often dont always think of when pricing a new build 

The specs look OK though.

[sam]

I'm a hard man.

tmi!

[Rik]

 

But I was talking about my head, Sam. 

[Reno]

The PC will be used for primarily Surfing, some work stuff (Word and Excel) and some Movie playing (although will want to connect this to the TV).

2TB of hard drive space is overkill for just doing what you listed up there. If you plan on bootlegging movies in high resolution then it could be justified, but otherwise stick to around 500gig. Same goes for the ram and the quadcore processor. Most of your specs are overkill for what you say you'll use it for. You will just be burning your money if you just use a machine like that for surfing and office work.

One thing i would spend more money on though is a mouse. Those little $5 mice tend to break after a few months. Spend 20-40 on a really nice mouse. You won't regret it.