New computer time

[andrewducker]

Thanks to the generous birthday donations from parents, family and friends I got a chunk of cash towards buying a new computer.

And was then astounded to discover how much more awesome they've become since I last bought one.

Specs:
Athlonx4 635
4GB of RAM
1GB ATI Radeon 5770 graphics card
1TB HD

What amazed me wasn't, actually, the specs.  Those aren't that extreme nowadays.  What amazed me was that all of that, plus Windows 7, a decent near-silent power supply, and quiet fans, etc. came to £650 (jncluding tax, delivery and three-year collect/return warranty).

I remember the first time I saw a a front page on PC Pro magazine exclaiming that one could now buy new computers for a mere £1000.  Being able to buy a gaming rig for 2/3 of that is still pretty amazing to me.   Which probably just goes to show how old I am.

Comments

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's great, isn't it? I've been knocking together friends' computers for about £400 for a half-decent gaming machine for a few years now. Good stuff.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I took a long look at the price/performance charts at http://pcpartcharts.com/filters.php and http://pcpartcharts.com/filterGpus.php to see what worked out best, and then found a company happy to put together something close to my specification. I ended up with https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

That's pre-built? WOW. Now I'm impressed. How much was the price difference compared with ordering parts?

[andrewducker]

I didn't work it out exactly - but it wasn't a huge amount. Doing the maths now I reckon about £40, including the warranty. They presumably make more of a profit there, as they'll get parts cheaper than I would.

I did order slightly premium parts when it came to the PSU and the CPU fan, because I wanted ones that were very quiet.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

You are going to be shocked at the difference 4gigs of RAM makes. When I upgraded last month from a 1 gig lap top to to a 4g laptop I felt like I had taken a trip into the future.

[andrewducker]

The laptop I'm currently using already has 4Gig - memory is the one thing I don't skimp on :->

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Gotcha.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

In terms of non-gaming usage I've found the thing that made the biggest difference was not more RAM or a faster CPU, but having a SSD.

I'd suggest you /consider/ getting a 64GB SSD (like an OCZ Vertex 2) for your applications / games / OS to run off.

[andrewducker]

I really want one - but they start at £100, and I could only just get together the cash for what I've spent.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

BTW have you ordered this lot yet?

[andrewducker]

Yup.

Edit - I can probably cancel it if you know of an amazing deal elsewhere.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

No, not really.

I had heard really great things about the price / performance of the GTX 460 (it's apparently the new 8800GT) especially as it overclocks so well.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, the 460 looks nice. Sadly it's another £30 more expensive, and I can'just don't have the cash at the moment.

Next time!

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, serious horsepower has gotten so cheap these days my jaw keeps scraping the floor. I remember my first PC costing CAD$2000 back in '88... I think my current alarm clock ($30 with remote weather sensor) has more computing power than that old thing had.

I, too, definitely love living in the future.

-- Steve'll second the recommendation for an SSD at some point if performance is important; his current ultramobile has one, and as a result its Atom processor outperforms this clunky ol' Pentium-based workstation in the office by an order of magnitude. (Saves on battery power too, for laptops.)

[opusfluke.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to get my head round that the fact that 1TB HDs are standard issue now. I mean 1TB? *boggles*

[andrewducker]

I know!

I remember when Terraserver.com first launched, proudly proclaiming that they had a whole terabyte of data, with maps of the _whole world_. Damned impressive, so it was.

[kvlt-kitty.livejournal.com]

I think my early memories of computers are somewhat later than yours, my family got our first one sometime in 1998. It had a massive 5.5gb HD, a Pentium II processor, a very primitive DVD drive, shiny new Windows 98 operating system, and a mighty 17'' monitor. It cost over £1000 (thought this was with a printer/scanner/assorted bells and whistles). When I inherited this computer sometime around 2003, my MP3 player had a bigger capacity (20gb). I used to have to download songs, a few at a time (via a 32kb dial-up connection that cut out every 15-20 minutes), then transfer them to my MP3 player and delete them from my HD, cos it had so little space :3.

Ah, memories.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I think my first modem was a 28.8, and then up to a 32, then an ISDN line, before I could finally get ADSL. I remember being envious of people on cable!

And I remember downloading images slowly, and leaving a batch of them to download from usenet. Music was awfully slow. It's luxury nowadays - our kids will never believe us!

[kvlt-kitty.livejournal.com]

We went straight from 32k to reasonably fast broadband without experiencing any of the speeds in the middle. It was awesome: one day I was taking 20-30 mins to download a single MP3, the next I was experiencing the joys of online gaming.

Yeah, it's kinda weird realising there's starting to be people who've grown up with super-fast internet, although no doubt they'll say the same thing in 10-20 years about whatever technological advance is the big thing then.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I paid less for my current laptop (top-of-the-range-when-I-bought-it Dell) than I paid for my first Windoze-friendly desktop in 1995. (Before that I only had a friend's discarded Amstrad.)

I love the fact that some things are getting cheaper and cheaper. Like portable music players (why oh why couldn't I buy a portable music player -- I believe they were called 'Walkmans' for a tenner when a tenner was pretty much my monthly disposable income?)

[andrewducker]

I know! I'd have loved to have this kind of tech when I was a kid! I'm spoiled for it nowadays.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Whoa.

Send me the details sometime. I'm still not entirely sure I actually have any free time I can spend on gaming, but I do miss my PC.

[andrewducker]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/400524/PC%20Details.pdf

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

What is this "TB" thing? (Rhetorical question; do not bother to respond.) I don't do Games, and am such an Ancient Geezer as to be still in awe about the idea that any computer (much less an affordable one) can have as much as, or even more than, one GB on its HD. Congratulations, anyhow -- even though after a few years....

(Yeah, living into The Future is (sometimes) fun. The Technological Future, that is; the Political Future... not so much.)

[andrewducker]

I find it pretty staggering too. My first HD was, I think 40MB, and that was pretty massive at the time.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

20MB for mine; the store clerk had to talk me into getting it, too, as I would've been happy with dual 5.25" floppies like the ones at high school.

-- Steve thought he'd never fill that hard drive. *snerk* Twenty-two years later he's about a fifth the way through a Terrabyte drive, plus a small mountain of CDs and DVDs.

[andrewducker]

The terabyte NAS drive is currently sitting around 85% full. But that's mostly TV.

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

Needing some recommendations for games to make that machine sing?

[andrewducker]

It'll probably be Settlers 7 to start with. And I'll be grabbing Modern Warfare, because otherwise octopoid_horror will kill me. Anything else?

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

Portal 2 goes without saying, right?

[andrewducker]

Oh yeah, definitely :->

I must replay the original before then!

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

Depending on your preference for gaming types:

First person shooters -
STALKER. Mostly because it's more of an exploration game than a straight up shooter, and because it's got some incredible environments and a lively mod community.

Bioshock. Beautiful game, beautiful story. Oh and you can shoot bees from your hands.

RPGs -
Mass Effect 2. One of the best sci-fi RPGs around, once you play it you'll wish you'd played it sooner.

Fallout 3. Really there's no way to properly say how much you need to play this. Now. Like right now.

Strategy -
Dawn of War 2. No idea if you're a 40k fan, but even if not this game is spectacular.

Supreme Commander. If DOW2 takes conventional strategy and strips it down to small squad combat, this is the opposite end. Hundred unit armies clash with giant spider bots whilst nuclear missiles fly across the land. Stunning to play.


Make sure you install Steam if you haven't already and get Alien Swarm for free. It's best played with 3 friends on VOIP, if only for the arguements that arise when someone gets set on fire :)

[andrewducker]

I have Mass Effect bought and ready to play - was too slow on the laptop. I also have DOW 1. And I've finished Alien Swarm a couple of times with friends :->

Fallout 3 is on the list :->

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I think I put upwards of 40 hours into Fallout 3 :-) You don't have that kind of time and you know it

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

Make sure you install Steam if you haven't already and get Alien Swarm for free. It's best played with 3 friends on VOIP, if only for the arguements that arise when someone gets set on fire :)
My boyfriend plays many of the games you play. I must persuade him to get Alien Swarm because the arguements sound like fun :)

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

If he's wanting a guide into the game he can add me on steam. I'll usually be on with a few friends. My username is chuckle_h0und

This is how I spend all my time now

[robhu.livejournal.com]

Don't forget Starcraft 2!