NEW PC - please help!

[Ross]

Indeed they are ^^

[teeif]

Originally Posted by DaddyCool

are these the samsung 22" jobbies?

Yes. But also no. Mine was subcontrated, made in Slovakia june 2007. Apparently 's' models (made by samsung) have been discontinued. So... I'm defo keeping the box for its 3-year warrenty.

[Ross]

Well yes, Samsung have been a bit naughty, but honestly the picture is superb. There was an S model on Ebay which went for £300 inc. postage, which I thought was a bit much (especially seeing as the VAT couldn't be reclaimed) so I'm happy with what I have.

[DaddyCool]

yay, the samsung crew, lol

Yeah, mines not an "s" model. Doesent even say what type it is in the hidden menu.

Theres some colour profiles on here that you wight want to try - http://www.andrewswihart.net/blog/re...bw-lcd-c-panel.
My colours were awful out of the box, but now its spot on!

[Ross]

Mine looks fine outta the box. Colours seem just fine, so I'll leave it be ^^

[teeif]

Updater..

Everything is fixed up and has been working for a week or so! Putting it together is easier than Lego. Theres plenty of instructions to help you through connecting the motherboard and installing the processor, which are the hardest parts. It all went without a hitch, although when I heard a nasty scraping sound when I locked the CPU in, it got my heart racing! I really made sure I read up on how to install that too, I really didn't want to screw up the single most expensive component on the computer.

Final cost of the whole thing:
PC: £513.80
Vista ultimate: £55
Monitor: £251
Remote: £16
Spent: £835.80

Windows vista performance (not that I think this is either accurate nor suitable for measuring system Performance):
Processor: 5.3
RAM: 5.4
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming: 5.6
HDD: 5.6
(Max = 5.9)
It'd be great if other people would post their own system performance specs up so I have some comparision.

Final thoughts
I like the build, it looks fantastic and has performed well so far, I'm very proud of it. There are two things I regreat for this PC.

Firstly, I think I should have bought a bigger hard drive. I was thinking at the time that 160g would be 4x that of what I already have and would last me longer. I thought I would make a copy of a 40gig drive and have 3x that remaining. To my horror, my install turned out to take up 40% of the 160gig drive or 1.5x more than memory.

Windows Vista is a horribly bloated OS, I blame most of the difference on that. The other significant draws on memory, because of the amount of RAM I'm using, I have a 2 gig page file and a 2 gig hibernation file! Now after a couple of games, I'm using 60%.

I am now considering getting a bigger drive already. I wish I got a large one in the first place or 2 medium sized ones (Which I would setup raid 0).
I have lost out here since I payed 21p a Mb in the 160gig but could've been paying 12p-14p if I went for a large drive.

My second regret is the case I bought. Now it sits next to me, I feel that the PC is just a noisy as a regular one, which defeats the point of paying a premium to have quieter system architecture. I feel let down by Antec whose supplied earthwatts PSU it the biggest noise offender. It emits high pitched, high penertrating sound frequencies. The fan is also noisier, and crazily, releases hotter air than the main fan which cools the rest of the computer, yet produces less heat. I think I'll look it up on their website and check what sort of performance I'm supposed to get!

Overall, I'd say building my own system is much more fun but not alot cheaper. Dell charge £740 for a similarly specced system with 2" less monitor. My goods however, are higher quality and more customisable. Soon I will start squeezing the processor which, I hope will get up to 3.2ghz (apparently 4ghz is not unheard of).

[happosai]

I've said it a million times, and am not going to check whether it still holds true tonight, but 320GB HDs have been the best price/capacity for the last year or more...buying anything less or more is pissing away money (there are good, physical reasons for this).

[Happosai]

[Weirdo]

400gb are the besat value now.

320s WERE the best (which is why i have 4 of them)

Now that higher density platters are getting cheaper, expect the 500/750s to start reducing in price as well.

[happosai]

Originally Posted by Weirdo

400gb are the best value now.

320s WERE the best (which is why i have 4 of them)

Now that higher density platters are getting cheaper, expect the 500/750s to start reducing in price as well.

Just checked Microdirect and confirmed that...about time!

[Happosai]