Buying a PC

[Rhyfelwyr]

My old PC just can't handle the latest games anymore, so I'm looking to upgrade to a PC that will tide me over for a good few years. I play a lot of M2TW and other games such as C&C Generals, and I might try the multiplayer, so I need a pretty good machine. These are the main ones I've been looking at so far:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/019066

or

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=FS-030-OK

The Overclockers PC would appear to be slightly better, however I though it might be safer sticking with a better known brand like PC World. As gamers yourselves, what are your opinions on this?

[Gawain of Orkeny]

The Overclockers PC would appear to be slightly better, however I though it might be safer sticking with a better known brand like PC World. As fellow gamers, what are your opinions on this?

Except for the CPU. Dont you have any local shops near you?

[Slug For A Butt]

Use your own judgement, but I wouldn't even consider buying a PC World PC.
It will probably be unbranded RAM made up from 4 * 512mb sticks.
You don't know the specs of the hard drive.
I only know from other peoples experiences that I wouldn't buy a gaming/upgradeable PC from PC World.
Source the parts you want from ebuyer, it will be cheaper.

EDIT: Gawain, I get the impression it's not the same here in the UK. We don't seem to have the same options as you in the US. Really, we are stuck with getting ripped off by the big dealers or build it yourself. Mind you, I think my 8 year old neice could build a PC these days.

[Husar]

Wow, there are at least three small PC stores in the inner city alone here, can't believe those don't exist in the UK, maybe you just gotta look closer.
And of those two options given, I won't vote for either. The PC World PC has a graphicscard that's not even good enough for current games and the overclockers PC has a slower CPU. I'd say save your money for now, wait a bit, have a look at the options you have and then you can get a PC that will really last you for some years. You'll also have the money needed for it by that time.

[caravel]

Just avoid PC World, they're pants.

[Stuperman]

the overclockers PC is WAY over video carded and has a slowish CPU. Crossfire and SLI are kinda a waste of money IMO, they don;t work with many games, and restrict your upgrade path. A single X1950XT or 8800GTS 320MB card would be a better choise IMO

and the PC worlds one has a nice CPU (4 meg of cache!) but has an ATI card that ends with SE, run away, run far and fast. The x1650pro and XT are decent, but (with ATI at least) SE means sexual edition, cause you're getting ******!.

SE cards usually only have a 64-bit wide memory path (the pro and XT have 128-bit wide paths, giving twice the bandwidth at the same Mhz.)

(All-asterisk where other than Backroom please, also more careful expressions would fit in better - LEN)

edit: Sorry! read the rules after posting this, thanks for being leinient(sp)

[Husar]

(4 meg of cache!)

Did I ever mention that from what I read, the cache doesn't really make a big difference? Maybe a few percent and maybe in certain applications but concerning gaming, an oveclocked 4200 or so can get to around 95% the performance of an 6800 at the same clockspeed. While I don't overclock myself(at least until now), I don't think spending a lot of money for more cache is a good idea.