New PC spec advice

[The_Wookie]

Just got this quote back from Netplus. What do you guys think? Is it a decent set-up?

Product Price
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 BOX CPU $204.00
Asus P5Q-SE2 Intel P45 MB $158.00
4096Mb 4Gb DDR2 800 Kingston $109.00
500Gb Samsung SATA2 HDD 7200 $65.00
GeForce 9800GT 1Gb SLI $169.00
Samsung 22X SATA DVD Writer $49.00
Antec Sonata III Piano Black $224.00
MS Windows 7 Home Premium $119.00

I basically told them I had $1000 budget, and this is what they came back with.

[Morgs]

I would ask them if they are going to give it to you for $1000 as that is the budget you gave them.

It annoys me when companies 'sell up' like this.

[Kingy]

Just got this quote back from Netplus. What do you guys think? Is it a decent set-up?

Product Price
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 BOX CPU $204.00
Asus P5Q-SE2 Intel P45 MB $158.00
4096Mb 4Gb DDR2 800 Kingston $109.00
500Gb Samsung SATA2 HDD 7200 $65.00
GeForce 9800GT 1Gb SLI $169.00
Samsung 22X SATA DVD Writer $49.00
Antec Sonata III Piano Black $224.00
MS Windows 7 Home Premium $119.00

I basically told them I had $1000 budget, and this is what they came back with.

I just ordered a box for my Dad.. my thoughts to be taken with a grain of salt.

Drop the fancy box... waste of $$ unless you are chasing a really good power supply which by the looks that system does not need.

I went with the i5 CPU. Only $20 more and the motherboards are the same price than the one you have there. Alternatively you can get a much cheaper MB (I think it was like $59) assuming you dont want to do major overclocking. I think the i5 will scale better in Windows 7.

I think you can get a better video card for those $$ or alternatively I got a HD4890 for $239 which kicks that cards butt. Even a GTS250 is only $10 more. See here for rough becnhamrks: PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - Video Card Look Up

Actually they even have a HD 4850 for only $169 and it is a much faster card!

[Kingy]

Also a quirk of their online pricing quote system thingy... it based prices and stock on Osbourne Park only... I found that I was selecting things I did not really want because it was showing as not avilable, but if you check the actual product pages they have them at Myaree. A good example was the Cooler Master case that was what I wanted and much cheaper than the ones at Osbourne Park.

[The_Wookie]

I must admit I was thought the case was a bit OTT. Is there one you'd recommend?

[R1 Yammie]

Don't get the graphics card, uts old hat and if you can aford get a ati 5770 for 229 from austins. Soon to have bitstream HD audio through powerdvd when they release the patch.

[Tannhauser]

Austin sucks balls, they never have stock as listed online. The last 4 times I've been in there it's been "oh we don't have it here.. but you can get it from the other shop 30 minutes away". Fuck off son, I'll go to PLE.

The Sonata is a great case, but 220 is a rip. I got mine for 180. The filter works like magic if you clean it, after 12 months there's nearly no dust anywhere inside, it's very quiet and the PSU is solid. Over the top for that build, but solid. And quiet.

The 9800GT is fine. If you're not using it for games, or games only occasionally, I wouldn't bother upgrading, especially if you have a <20" monitor. If you do, look into Radeons, since the new gen's just come out and last year's stuff is plummeting in price.

The CPU is awesome, but the FSB is 333 (IIRC), whereas the RAm they've specced for you is 400. You'll either have to run the RAM in idiot mode, which really kills performance, or jack up the FSB on the chip to 400 to sync them. Fortunately E8400's overclock like a champ, so that shouldn't be hard. My 9300's been doing 400 since the day I got it and hasn't broken a sweat. But if you don't want to do that, get DDR2 667 (or 1333, they both boil down to the magic 333).

[The_Wookie]

The thing is, I need somewhere that can be build it for me. That's why I'm looking at Netplus. I don't have the knowledge to build myself.

[justo]

i cant stress this enough....if you want the best chance at a long lasting, stable system, don't skimp on the power supply.

The one that comes with the sonata 3 is decent considering you're getting a damn good case as well.

Even if you got a cheaper case, i'd recommend using all the money saved on something like a corsair psu....quality stuff there.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Mirkz]

I'm personally not impressed with Austin's just now either.

I sent off two 'contact' request forms this morning, one to PLE and one to Austin via their websites.

The Austin one, requesting info and shipping ETA for some RAM and GFX card I was looking to purchase today. Both I couldn't just click to buy online.

I sent an email to PLE asking them about the GFX card only and what they'd recommend as something similar spec or better to the 8800GTX (As they're discontinued).

PLE reply within an hour or 2.
Advising in a friendly and very helpful way that the card is no longer available and that X card was a similar but newer equivanlent to the GTX and that Y card was about the next step up in performance.
Advising of prices of both items.
They then also asked what sort of PSU I was running.

I replied advising them I had purchased a monitor and 620W PSU from them earlier today and queried the ram, advising what I currently had, that I'd heard mixing brands can be bad and have reverse effects etc and what they could suggest.

They then reply another hour and a half or so later to advise that the PSU I have will power the GFX cards we discussed fine. They also advised that the Ram I had they no longer stocked and that I was right about the reverse effects. They DID say I could put in X brand Ram, and it MAY do the job, but again may be a little unstable (so to speak). They then advised me of a couple of their kits they have for my RAM, so that I could upgrade. also advising prices.

I replied thanking them for their efforts and that I would follow up soon.

Austin reply another hour or so after.

The reply stated the ram I had enquired about (full product description/code), and then in brackets, something to this effect - 'not available, order XXXXXX (some code for another brand) this will declock to current specs (they used some word I can't remember about declock).'
Then it stated the gfx card code I had enquired about with, again in brackets afterwards.
'discontinued, order XXXXX'

Sorry Austin, I know who I'll be dealing with.

(Sorry for the long post, I was quite amused by this today, the difference in customer service was amazing)

[justo]

If you plan on building yourself, and this goes for everyone, always cross check prices with MSY (balcatta)

[Tannhauser]

Don't forget MCGtech.

Wookie, you don't have any nerd friends who can help you build, or show you how? It's surprisingly easy, especially nowadays when everything's all colour coded.

[Kingy]

... words baggin Austin...

I had a similar experience this week and agree completely... they have so much stock online stating "Arriving soon" or "Call to check" what is the friggin point. Plus even when it says they have stock it is always in a different store to the one closest to you.

Also asked them if I bought all the stuff required to make a "box" would they build it and htey said no... I had to buy one of their systems. Hence why I went with Netplus. (granted I could have built it myself easy enough but for the same price why not get them to do it and test it)

[d0t-bat]

Try VTech Industries Online Computer Hardware - Perth Video Cards, Motherboards, RAM, Processors, CPU, Barebones, Networking, Notebook. Buy Computer Hardware Australia Cheapest Prices Perth as well for fuckcheap pricing.

[Cbr1k]

I remember someone doing a post up on Whirlpool about Austins shit service.

The actual manager of Austins come on and basically said we dont give a sh*t thats what you get for low margin.

[MuNch]

I'm buying a Macbook Pro

[Cbr1k]

So you are paying double the amount for the same computing power?

[mcmurray]

So you are paying double the amount for the same computing power?

Just out of interest Munch, will you be running Windows on that? Or OSX?

[Jollie]

The people at MCG Tech will put the box together for you for free if you buy all the parts for it through them... atleast they did when i bought my last computer.

[Magilla]

Netplus are always pretty cheap for parts.