I need PC Buyng advice

[sunteam_paul]

As I type (on my netbook) my XP desktop machine is in what are most likely it's death throws. I am hoping it doesn't take all my data down with it.

I need a replacement rig fast, capable of decent gaming for a few years. I'm looking at THIS one with Win7 64bit Home Premium. I'm open to suggestions to upgrade the graphics card from one of the available options (but don't want to push it over about £1200).

Any opinions on this spec, potential problems, suggestions?

Most appreciated.

[Arkhan]

That looks good, but I am an AMD man myself.   I have a Phenom X6 1065T black edition, and I overclocked its balls off.  It may turn out to be cheaper if you go the AMD route... but that machine is pretty nice.  It all depends on if you have preference or not.  I go AMD + NVidia.  Always.

I have similar RAM.  Same brand, but a bit better.  The XMS3 stuff is great though.  My non-obnoxious gaming PC,and my music making PC use that RAM.  Its solid.

The video cards a bit pisspoor.  It is not really for gaming.  I have a GTX 480.  If you want gaming to go nicely, you'd probably want at least a GTX 460.


If you're set on that one, my only suggestion would be a better video card.

[sunteam_paul]

I could probably go up to the Radeon 6950 on that one.

[sunteam_paul]

I've been given this bit of advice:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-176-OE&groupid=43&catid=1444&subcat=

Change the options as follows -

Graphics card - ATI 6950.

SSD drive ocz vertex 60GB

Windows Home 64bit.


Total price - £1089

The i7 950 is old architecture so don't buy it. It will be replaced around xmas time.

The 2500K - is the new sandybridge architecture so go with that - Quad CPU overclocked for you at 4.6ghz.  Beats the 950's 4ghz hands down and then some.

Only has 4GB of ram so look to get another 4 or better still give them a ring to say you want 8GB in it should only cost another £40.

Ask them to install your operating system on to the SSD drive.

[sunteam_paul]

AH! I think it's my external HD causing my PC to slow to a crawl. This is both good news and bad news as I have a ton of stuff on there I don't want to lose.

It also means no excuse to buy a new PC.

[SignOfZeta]

AH! I think it's my external HD causing my PC to slow to a crawl. This is both good news and bad news as I have a ton of stuff on there I don't want to lose.

Why do people not back shit up? Its just...baffling to me. They know it can be done, some people even know how to do it, but basically nobody does, ever. Its really strange to me.

Surely Windows must have some clone of Apple's Time Machine built into it by now. Just buy a big external drive, plug it in, set it up to auto back-up, and don't ever touch it or use it for anything else but a mirror for your other drives.

[sunteam_paul]

I'm running recovery on it, I just hope I can get back all the PCE Gamer and wibble stuff.
Luckily I keep the website and game graphics that I do on the C drive and back that up to CD regularly...also I still have the old external that much of the stuff is still on, just not the most recent.

[Arkhan]

Windows has had "time machine" stuff since before Apple came up with that overpriced retardation.

[sunteam_paul]

Funny thing is I back a lot of stuff up ONTO the external, expecting my C drive to be the one that pops first.

[vestcoat]

AH! I think it's my external HD causing my PC to slow to a crawl.

Is it a USB 2.0 connection?  Are you running programs or system files off of it?  A esata, firewire, or USB 3.0 card and a compatible HD or enclosure may be your solution.

[Arkhan]

I don't use external drives.  I buy one of those SATA docks and shove internal drives on them. 

[sunteam_paul]

AH! I think it's my external HD causing my PC to slow to a crawl.

Is it a USB 2.0 connection?  Are you running programs or system files off of it?  A esata, firewire, or USB 3.0 card and a compatible HD or enclosure may be your solution.

I think a new HD will be the solution. When I say a crawl I mean 40 minutes between pressing a button and something happening. If I get a new PC I'll just use an external for backup I think.

I don't use external drives.  I buy one of those SATA docks and shove internal drives on them. 

That's more technical than I understand

[Arkhan]

They are neat docks that can hold multiple drives.  You just shove the drives that would normally go inside your computer onto these things instead.

That way you can put them in a PC too later if you want, or if you need to just recover data off of one.


External hard drives ARE internal drives, they're just stuck in a box with cables coming out.   You can pry them open and remove the drives and put them inside computers.  The commercial external hard drives are just hard to get open for a reason.  They don't want you in there touching stuff!

[sunteam_paul]

I have come to the conclusion that the only reason I am using an external is because I'm too lazy to save all the crap on my drives to CD/DVD. I have, however, learned my lesson.

(And thank the maker for data recovery software)

[Necromancer]

It's true that hard drives will fail eventually, but that's what RAID is for.  Hard drives (internal or external) are better for backups, as you can set 'em to backup automatically, meaning you'll never need to worry about forgetting, which is great for morons like me.