[geek]nerd[/geek]

[Salamurhaaja]

I've never had that problem with ADSL or cable, only with modems.
Come on, Telia ADSL is cheap now, 339kr/month upgrade already
Bostream is even cheaper, like 300kr/month for a 512k connection.
I have a 8MB connection for 450kr/month

 

[Northern Lights]

I have no choice, I'm currently in the forest Where only a 56k modem works

 

[Rusty]

I've never had that problem with ADSL or cable, only with modems.
Come on, Telia ADSL is cheap now, 339kr/month upgrade already
Bostream is even cheaper, like 300kr/month for a 512k connection.
I have a 8MB connection for 450kr/month

Damn you. I'm not sure how much 450kr is in pounds, but I don't imagine it's all that expensive. We (by we, I mean my parents of course) pay about £15/month for a 512k connection, but since both me and dad use it, it runs slower for both of us. My DC++ downloads really suffer. :/

EDIT: Actually ignore that, I can never remember if it's £14 or £40.

 

[Salamurhaaja]

@NL
Really?
I live in Sveg, remember? No more forest than this, I'm sure.
What's the name of the place?
Hmm, than again, we do have the company I work for, which
might be a reason why we have the fast pipes to begin with.

@Rusty
1€ = ~9kr.
£15/month really isn't bad for a 512, cheaper than here anyway.
1£= ~13kr if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Child of Time]

I'm about to buy a new computer 'cause I guess my family wants to keep this one, so I wonder if anyone could give my a few tips about which sort of stuff that's recommended. Especially when it comes to graphic cards. How much does it differ from different manufacturers and such...

 

[Malaclypse]

buy a board that supports pci express, because all the new cards are based on that standard. right now nvidia seems to have an edge above ati, as seen in Doom3 for example, but i don't know how they compare in noise levels, which always had been an nvidia issue.
if you've decided for a manufacturer, it's basically a choice of what you can afford.

 

[Misanthrope]

buy a board that supports pci express, because all the new cards are based on that standard. right now nvidia seems to have an edge above ati, as seen in Doom3 for example, but i don't know how they compare in noise levels, which always had been an nvidia issue.
if you've decided for a manufacturer, it's basically a choice of what you can afford.

But thats just one game, im not defeding ati but i gotta say on direct 3d they are damn good fucking cards but on opengl, nvidia just catches them with their pants down. Still i got pretty fucking respectable framerates and detail on doom 3, and that will only improve with future drivers methinks.

Anyway, if you wanna play all this new games like doom 3 or farcry you are looking at at LEAST 512mb of ddf ram as a minimum, but if you are getting a decent videocard ( anything above 200 bucks or above a 9800 pro ) you should get 1gb of ram. Also any processor bellow the 2800 mark ( athlon 2800 or pv 3.0ghz ) wont do for this games.

As for cards depends on how much money you wanna spend. Bellow 150 is just not worth it for any serious gaming, you'll be stock with old games or crap framerates. For us $150 you should get 9600xt. For 200 or 250 get a 9800 pro or xt. At the 280 to 350 mark you cant miss with the nvidia 6800nu. Seriously thats currently the best bang for your buck. For 400 bucks i would probably get a 6800gt and flash it to an Ultra, but for 500 bucks ithink i would place my bets on the x800xt, but then again who the fuck can afford that?

 

[Child of Time]

500 bucks? That's a third of my computer budget!
You hardcore guys probably thinks that I'm doing teh bad thing, but I think I'll buy a Dell.

Setup like this:
Pentium4 2.8 Ghz
512 Dual Channel DDR RAM
120 GB hard drive
128MB GeForce FX5200 8x AGP graphic card
A 17" LCD screen
Soundblaster Audigy II sound card

Total cost, including shipping: 11478 SEK, about 1500 USD. A few 'special offers' too.

 

[TheFourthHorseman]

The parts don't seem too bad, but you know...a Dell. The look of things.
Nah, I think you'll do fine with that, but I'd buy an AMD processor and an ATI graphics card anyhow.
I'd like a screen like that, but I'll rather just wait till I can get a 19" for a reasonable price.
You'll probably have to get some more RAM sometime soon if you intend to play games.

 

[Child of Time]

Yeah, I figured that it would be a little weak for the newest shooters, but I'm kept calm as long as Civilisation3 and Morrowind runs smoothly on it. The pro's with this one is that it's relatively cheap and I know that I'll work without problems. And the screen... I'm moving to an appartment that's 19 square meters, I must have a small screen.

And by the way, without the special offers, it had only 80 GB hard drive and 256 MB RAM.

 

[Malaclypse]

well you have to be careful how much ram your board supports, and if the 512mb ram are actually 1x512 or 2x256. if you want to upgrade later, you can probably throw away one of your 256 in order to have a free slot...

 

[TheFourthHorseman]

You know, I got a bit interested on that new Dell of yours. So, I scrapped together a comp (at verkkokauppa.com on those parts that you mentioned and got to about 1060 euros, without really caring about what components I chose, but rather getting the same (or at least a close equalent) components as you did. I'm telling you man, you're wasting so much money on that LCD screen. Anyhow, I suppose quality costs. Also, unless you plan to do really interesting things with your sound card, the latest Sound Blaster is a waste of at least 40 bucks.
Since you're not buying parts of course a mouse, keyboard, speakers and a box to shove everything into would have to be bought, but those would make 250 euros more at best...

Conclusion? Don't buy a Dell, buy parts and ask some geek to put it together for you (or the store you buy the stuff from, in other words some geek who'll get paid). Also, buy a 15" LCD monitor since it's close to 17" CRT monitor, and is sufficient seeing as you said that you have a small apartment.

 

[Malaclypse]

well but a monitor, apart from all the other parts, is a longtime investment, so i'd rather choose a rather big LCD, of brand, even if it costs way more than a standard crt. or buy 2 smaller lcds and 2 cheaper graphics cards and build a 2-monitor-desktop, but that's probably for geeks

 

[Child of Time]

TFH: I've been looking on the 'buy parts' alternative. I asked a geek friend of mine, and he recommended a site (www.komplett.se) which sometimes has special packages including all parts needed. The offer they have right now, gives about the same computer (there're some more alternatives there) starting at 11 995 SEK if you choose only basic stuff. I don't know if shipping is included in that price. I guess I could find every single component in that Dell for a lower price on various smaller computer store's mail order sites, but ordering one part here, one part there generates a lot of shipping fees.

And I do know that a 15'' LCD screen is more like an 17'' CRT screen, but when I mean that I want a small screen, I mean that I want one that doesn't occupies much desk space. Two inches more doesn't affect that, you know. And as Mal says, a good screen is an investment. When the computer have broken down beyond repair, I can still use my screen with next computer.

 

[TheFourthHorseman]

And I do know that a 15'' LCD screen is more like an 17'' CRT screen, but when I mean that I want a small screen, I mean that I want one that doesn't occupies much desk space. Two inches more doesn't affect that, you know. And as Mal says, a good screen is an investment. When the computer have broken down beyond repair, I can still use my screen with next computer.

Of course it (two inches more) doesn't affect that, but it's around 100 euros cheaper, that's what I'm saying. Anyway, I do agree that a 17" LCD is quite nice, seeing as I have a 19" CRT at the moment. Still, I would settle for a 17" if necessary. I don't see how the lasting quality lessens with the size of the thing. If you equal quality with size, then that's a whole another thing.

 

[DE]

Well a 19" CRT has the same viewable area as a 17" TFT. I can't have a CRT as my desk is so small, so I had to put up with a crap 15" TFT until I got this sexy 17" beast.

 

[DE]

In other news, Gentoo > Slack.

 

[Child of Time]

TFH: Ahh, now I see your point. I still think that this Dell computer will be relatively cheap. Let's use your figures above, just for the discussion's sake. 1310 (shipping included?)euro is, with today's exchange rate, 12 067 SEK.
It equals the Dell in price, but I would have to put it together myself (I know enough to do it myself, but not enough to make it go smoothly). And if I have bad luck some parts aren't compatible with each other.

 

[TheFourthHorseman]

so I had to put up with a crap 15" TFT until I got this sexy 17" beast.

If you equal quality with size, then that's a whole another thing.

Nerd.

True enough, CoT. I didn't remember the kronor had such a shitty exchange rate. Indeed the price isn't bad, but I'd still rather put the comp together myself.
What motherboard does your new Dell have?

 

[Child of Time]

Sure, If I had the knowledge about different brands and such, I would do that too. But now I have to think about keeping the price down (hello, 17'' LCD screen!) so I would mostly chose cheap and probably bad stuff, against better knowledge.

The mother board is a 'Intel 865 chipset'.