Which PC? • Non-Gaming • PC Hardware • Eurogamer.net

Surferrosa 8 Jan 2005 15:53:23 471 posts
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Which of these two PC's (Nero Ati Pro 540 or the Nero Ati Pro 560) should I go for?
Is the difference between them very significant and if so in what way?
More importantly will they both play Rome Total War, Far Cry and Half Life Two competently?
Any advice/thoughts would be gratefully appreciated?

/Is dumb when it comes to PC buying
/Has been playing consoles for too long.

deem 8 Jan 2005 15:57:00 31,667 posts
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MikeD 8 Jan 2005 16:00:12 10,063 posts
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Does it have to be at this store?

Because both are good on the processor, the ram, everything really, except both have videocards that limit them. Not sure if there are better deals alsewhere, but it might be worth checking out.

If it has to be here the 560 has the better videocard. Or get the 540 and ask the store if they can put this card in instead:

6800

Surferrosa 8 Jan 2005 16:01:08 471 posts
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deem wrote:
neither are great games wise - for the money. For a grand you could get a gorgeous little shuttle with an AMD 64 3400+ and a 6800gt. I'll link in a bit if you are interested.

Yes please I would be very interested in a link to this, ta.

HoraceGoesSquiffy 8 Jan 2005 16:02:22 1,563 posts
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If it doesn't have to be Novatech, I'd recommend NetHighStreet. I just bought an Athlon 64 3400+, 1 gig ram, 6800 GT and all the trimmings (minus monitor) and it was pretty damn cheap. The service was excellent too.

MikeD 8 Jan 2005 16:03:47 10,063 posts
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For the same price (almost) as the 560 you can get the 'titan vantage' at the dons:

link

deem 8 Jan 2005 16:04:35 31,667 posts
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MikeD 8 Jan 2005 16:04:40 10,063 posts
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Or the titan pentium for that matter with x800xt, that's quite a deal at overclockers. (see link in previous post)

MikeD 8 Jan 2005 16:05:32 10,063 posts
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MikeD 8 Jan 2005 16:05:59 10,063 posts
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deem wrote:
great for games

Edited by deem at 16:04:57 08-01-2005

Also a good choice.

Surferrosa 8 Jan 2005 16:26:38 471 posts
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Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate it. I can go away and have a right good bout of decision anxiety now.

deem 8 Jan 2005 16:31:44 31,667 posts
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MikeD 8 Jan 2005 16:43:59 10,063 posts
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Do you have that SFF machine you linked to, deem?

deem 8 Jan 2005 16:46:18 31,667 posts
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Surferrosa 10 Jan 2005 10:23:15 471 posts
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Thought I'd bump this as I am now considering the
[link=http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/full_systems.html">Titan Vantage , ccl ID34-NV2 PRO and

deem 10 Jan 2005 10:29:56 31,667 posts
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Surferrosa 10 Jan 2005 10:47:32 471 posts
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deem wrote:
The first two machines are similar spec, so I suppose it depends on whether you want a tower or a shuttle. The third machine is a decent machine, but a 9800 isn't really comparable to the 6800gt at a similar overall price. As far as speakers are concerned, these are incredible for the money.

Edited by deem at 10:31:36 10-01-2005

I'd be going for the ATI Radeon x800 Pro on the third choice with 1 Gb of memory.
Is nVidia recommended over ATI or is it just down to personal preference?
I like the look of those speakers...
Hmmm, I do wonder if I really need food after all - they say you can survive on water alone for quite some time.

/slaps sense into self.

deem 10 Jan 2005 11:03:14 31,667 posts
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deem 10 Jan 2005 11:05:33 31,667 posts
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Surferrosa 10 Jan 2005 11:22:46 471 posts
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Are shuttles thought to be better than towers and if so for what reason?

The spec on the third system runs like this:-
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3400 (is this the equivalent of pentium 4 which has also been recommended to me, but then someone else said AMD was better for a games machine?)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GAK8NS PRO, 8xAGP, 6 USB 2.0 ports, firewire port.
Case: Chenbro black/silver gaming bomb case
Memory: 1 GB (2x512 mb PC 3200 ddr)
Hard drive: 250 GB, 7200 rpm, SATA, 8mb cache
CD/DVD ROM drive: 52x CD-rewriter and 16x DVD - ROM combo drive
Backup drive: 16x dual format, dual layer DVD - rewriter
Graphics card: ATI Radeon x800 Pro 8x, 256 mb DDR, TV OUT, DVI.
Sound card: 6 channel sound card
Modem/Lan: 10/100 ethernet card & 56k V.92 modem
Floppy drive: 3.5" 1.44mb floppy drive
Monitor: 17" silver/black TFT LCD colour monitor
Keyboard & Mouse: Microsoft multimedia and optical mouse
Speakers: Creative Inspire P580 5.1
Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP Pro

Total price including delivery and C.A.R = �1330 about 40 squids dearer than the other two systems.

MikeD 10 Jan 2005 11:39:39 10,063 posts
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Ati and Nvidia are reasonably similar, but if you want ATI I would recommend the 'Titan pentium 4' system with the x800xt.

A shuttle is not 'better' than a tower, just smaller. There are advantages and disadvantages. if you want to upgrade a lot (add hd's or optical drives, change videocard) a tower will be easier. But small amchine will take less space, of course, and if you never upgrade yourself it is no problem.

You just have to look which one looks better to you :-)

Yes, AMD wins in most games benchmarks, so it is the better choice. it also runs less hot and doesn't use as much power.

deem 10 Jan 2005 11:40:36 31,667 posts
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Aga 10 Jan 2005 11:41:19 2,148 posts
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The AMD CPU's give more value for the money than Intel. They are also good for gaming, maybe the best of the two atm.

Motherboard wise, the new SLI boards are not faster than the current KT800PRO chipsets, but they have this SLI function which can give you a boost if you can afford the two video cards. Do you know the socket type?

Surferrosa 10 Jan 2005 12:57:53 471 posts
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deem wrote:
Shivoa is probably the best person to ask about advantages and disadvantages of shuttles. I'd just prefer one cause it takes up about a third of the space of a tower!

Had a look at Shivoa's system specs which I found very enlightening. I feel as if I am moving closer to making a decision now. Thanks again everyone.

MikeD 10 Jan 2005 13:00:28 10,063 posts
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Don't forget to tell us which choice you make!

deem 10 Jan 2005 13:32:45 31,667 posts
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Surferrosa 10 Jan 2005 15:57:27 471 posts
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deem wrote:
If you let me know your email address, I can mail you a decent review of that shuttle if you are interested. I have it scanned from Custom P.C for when my mate was getting his.

Edited by deem at 13:51:46 10-01-2005

That would be great especially as I'm leaning very heavily towards this system at the moment, ta.

deem 10 Jan 2005 20:11:36 31,667 posts
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MikeD 10 Jan 2005 20:12:45 10,063 posts
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Is that the socket 939 via board?

kifkludge 10 Jan 2005 20:13:11 48 posts
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Shuttles are lovely

I treated myself to one for xmas, and I'm dead chuffed with it so far. I bought it in bits from [link=http://www.komplett.co.uk/">komplett but there were some good deals at