Is this worth it.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave M
  • Start date Start date
I'll give the hard drive six months max. Maxtor should be renamed MaxPoor -
they're shit, to put no fine a point on it.

Make sure you get the original XP Pro CD. Don't let him fob you off with a
copy or telling you the files are on the drive.
 
As Chris said, 700+ (USD), UK prices will tend to run higher anyway, not
sure what VAT and other considerations would affect retails prices in UK
too. But based on USD, I estimate:

Case + PSU: 100 (USD)
Motherboard: 160 (USD)
CPU + HSF: 180 (USD)
Memory (512M): 100 (USD) (this is a tough one, lots of fluctuation)
Video Card: 70 (USD)
HD: 160 (USD)
Optical Drive: 30 (USD)
XP Pro: 125 (USD)

Total: 925 (USD), 514 (GBP)

Yeah, I'd say its a good deal, esp. considering you don't have to build,
it's tested, activated, you can check everything out immediately, that's
worth something too.

Only two things that trouble me. The video card is the low-end of the
high-end, so to speak. OK, but not a *heavy* gamer (which may be fine for
you). Also, that PC2700 is the worst possible choice. The Intel 875
chipset will *underclock* that memory due to a lack of a supporting CPU/DRAM
ratio w/ that CPU. Just check the Asus manual (
ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478/P4C800E-DX/e1347b_p4c800-e_deluxe.pdf
, pg 2-11 ), you'll see that a CPU w/ 800MHz FSB combined w/ PC2700 will
only run 160MHz (clock), or 320MHz (DDR), or PC2560! There simply isn't a
6:5 ratio on that chipset (200 / 6 * 5 = 166), only 5:4 (200 / 5 * 4 = 160).
It's bad enough the CPU FSB and memory are running asynch already, this is
even worse. Unless the memory OC's to 400MHz DDR (so you could run 1:1),
it's just not a good combination. But a lot depends on what you plan to do
w/ the PC, it may be fine for your activities. Or you may want to trade up
the memory later for PC3200 (1:1) when you can afford it.

But that's the only two caveats I see, price overall seems pretty good.

HTH

Jim


Dave M said:
Is this a good deal, he is local so i could pick the pc up to save on
postage cost.

Cheers for any response.
Click to expand...
http://www.ad-mart.co.uk/cgi-bin/cl...earch_and_display_db_button=on&results_format
=long&db_id=8008&query=retrieval
 
" Well according to google, 395 pounds is equal to about 700 US dollars. If
this onversion is correct I would say yes this is a pretty good deal. Not
the best I have ever seen but not bad by any means. "


The £ to $ exchange rate is good at the moment, and has varied from $1.56 to
$1.91 over the last year. At the moment £395 in USD might seem excessive to
Americans.

To the original poster; if that system has pretty much what you need, then
you should make a couple of enquiries before considering it. The FX5200
isn't a great gaming card, but it might be enough for your needs. You could
ask the seller why they have PC2700 memory with a CPU that supports PC3200,
and you can also ask about the Windows XP Pro license. Having *XP Pro
installed* does not mean that it's a licensed copy, and there is no mention
of the disk being included.

If you were to build the system yourself without a copy of XP Pro, then it
would cost £521.20 with new retail parts (from price comparisons at
www.dealtime.co.uk ):

- P4 Black Zorro 450W case http://snipurl.com/5rdk (£45.77)
- Asus P4C800 Deluxe http://snipurl.com/5rci (£118.68)
- P4 2.8Ghz 800FSB http://snipurl.com/5rcg (£123.01)
- Maxtor 160GB SATA 8MB cache http://snipurl.com/5rcp (£76.36)
- Corsair 512MB PC2700 http://snipurl.com/5rcz (£75.14)
- Asus GeForce FX5200 128MB http://snipurl.com/5rd1 (£63.92)
- 52x speed CDRW http://snipurl.com/5rd7 (£18.32)
 
Should have added, on that PC2700, of course, you could overclock the CPU
FSB a little to recoup the memory (208MHz (clock) or 832 (quad-pumped) will
do it (208 / 5 * 4 = ~166)). In fact, he may have done this already, you
might want to inquire, the CPU can *easily* handle the slight overclock,
it'll be running 2.91GHz, no big deal.

Jim
 
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