New Computer Just Came!

Yay, at last! My new computer just came! The specs are as follows; I'm rather pleased with it myself:

Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz

512 MB DDR SDRAM

160GB (7200 rpm) Hard Drive

NVIDIA GeForce™ FX 5500 256MB video card

DVD writer +R/+RW 8x DVD drive 16x max

Wireless Mouse and Keyboard

A really nice set of AE Aego2 speakers (check out the specs on this page if you're interested)

17" TFT Screen

Windows XP Home Edition and a rather helpful 8 in 1 Memory Card Reader

Anyway, I'm not too pleased with the graphics card myself so I'm getting a ATI Radeon 9600XT 256MB from ebuyer.com, so I can actally play my games at a higher resolution. Also, it's kinda noisy so I'm getting some quiet fans and some vibration-absorbing feet to stick on the bottom of the case. But more importantly is that, with this new computer all to myself, and the summer holidays coming up, we're talking StyleSuites-updating, SecretProject-lauching galore!

Anything you technical-minded people can reccomend? Anything else worth upgrading?

#184249

if i were you i'd save my money until the radeon x800's come out, then buy either the cheapest x800 or the top of the line 9800xt. but yeah, DO hold out. 9800xt beats 9600 out of the water!

oh and, good to hear you have a new comp. what speed is the ram? is it a hyperthreading processor?

#184256

When are the x800s coming out? Any time soon? It's not a hyperthreading processor, and I have no idea how fast the RAM is - is there any way to find out through Windows?

#184269

congratulations simon, glad it's finally arrived

#184380

Originally posted by Simon@Jun 30 2004, 12:40 PM

When are the x800s coming out? Any time soon? It's not a hyperthreading processor, and I have no idea how fast the RAM is - is there any way to find out through Windows? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

#184385

I WANT YOUR PC!

#184405

I eat computers like that for breakfast

jk

its about equivelent to mine, if not better.

congrads simon

#184447

did you buy your comp retail or build it?

oh and dont buy a new graphics card. leave it alone. when it utterly CANNOT play games, THEN buy a new one. but ur perfectly fine for now

that way, in the end, u end up with a pimper vid card. just save your money right now!

#184475

Hmmm, well you see noefexx; at the moment I am playing my games at a small fraction of the resolution that I could be playing them at. And I know that a 5200 isn't a paticuarly good card (because I had one in my crappy old PC ) So I don't see any real reason keeping it; the 9600XT is aorund £100, and comes with about £30-worth of software, and a voucher for a £30 game; so it really isn't that expensive. Anyway, thanks for you help

@GillBates. Cheers, that programs is really useful. I have 400Mhz ram, apparently

@Ji Eun, carbonfiber, BigB; thanks

And to answer your question, it was a retail computer; I got it through a deal from my dads workplace; it's brand new - should have cost me £1100, and it's only costing me £450! :woot:

#184489

The diffrence between a fx5500 and the 9600 xt is actualy very small, its like the difrence between like a 2.6ghz cpu and a 3.0, not worth the additional investment realy. You can notice the difrence, but not worth spending another 100$ on unless you can return the old card. I would recomend a 9800 pro, there realy cheap right now (about 200$us). Dont be concerned with how much RAM the graphics card has, no game out and not in the near future realy touches 128mb, and the limiting factor will be the GPU. It would be like saying a 400mhz computer will run great begause it has a gig of ram, of corse it wont. (make shure its not a 128bit one)

As far as not getting a HT P4, that was a realy dumb idea. The HT cpus are only a little more, and are the only reason to chose intel over a much more value priced AMD solution. I also hope you didnt buy a prescot core cpu, there slower then a northwood running at the same GHZ, and run hotter meaning you need more airflow (aka more noise)

The x800s are already out and cost like 500$ us, a little pricy to say the least. The 9800 pro is about 3/5 the preformance of the x800, the 9600xt about 3/5 the 9800 and the 5500 about 4/5 the 9600xt

Sound adsorbing feet dont realy do much. The best way to get rid of sound is to go and buy a realy nice heatsink for your CPU, one thats all coper. I recomend thermalright skl 9xx series (and for gods sake not thermaltake), and then put a big slow moving fan on it.

#184507

looks good!

but i agree with lostspyder. the 9600xt isn't much of an upgrade, and the feet won't do much. the quiet fans will help, though. rubber mounts may help, but i haven't tried them.

#184632

i guess you didnt listen. ok again, like i said, a 5500 to 9600xt isnt much of an improvement.

play your games on your current card and save your money until it is absolutely necessary.

im just lookin out for you, man. wouldnt you rather end up with a better video card in the end?

edit: try playing doom 3 on your awesome 9600xt and tell me how that works out.

#184634

OK, OK, yeesh; I won't get a 9600XT. My games will still run slowly, but hey; as long as the peeps at AS are happy

#184653