Reply to: PCspecialist.co.uk will build me this for £1162...

[Epiphone]

So would Vista Ultimate be worth the extra £70 or so?

If you want to put the machine on a domain and have the media centre stuff, yes. If just media center and using on a workgroup go for Home Premium. If you want a domain, Business is the minimum level.

[Clippy]

OPC I know what you're saying but i can't wait as my home desktop is truly busted... I think the graphics card...

Why not replace the graphics card with a cheapie to see you through 6 months?

[interested]

Get Vista Ultimate, you can't run Virtual PC (if that's the VM software you use) on Home Premium. Joe Black's point is true, there's lots of little things in Vista that you only get with Ultimate but you won't necessarily know what they are until you actually need them

Get more memory, I heard the optimum for Vista is about 4GB

Ditch the floppy

Get 2 screens

Alternatively spend a bit more and buy a Mac Pro. Awesome bit of kit

[ChimpMaster]

OPC I know what you're saying but i can't wait as my home desktop is truly busted... I think the graphics card is gone because I can boot up OK etc but after a few seconds the screen screws up and starts displaying multi-coloured blocks etc and nothing is legible any more.

So hence why I need to buy now.

However I might take on board what you say, and perhaps downgrade the CPU and graphics card for now, and then upgrade them in the future. 2Gb RAM and a big hard drive are cheap and will last me a while.

Also, I found that Cougar-extreme.co.uk are cheaper for the same spec by around 10%.

[opc]

if you take that advice you would be forever waiting for the next breed

Direct X 10 is a major step up and is very new on the market with relatively few (expensive) products available. Dual core has been out for some time and affordable quad core beckons.

I.e. my considered opinion based on current market lifecycles and not a standard "but it will be outdated in 6 months" would be to wait - especially as TazMan asked for high end and future proof.

[HankWangford]

If you want my general advice, I'd wait another six months for the next wave of processors and Direct X 10 graphics cards rather than shell out now.

if you take that advice you would be forever waiting for the next breed

[opc]

The graphics card is lacking for a PC that costs over a grand - I personally would want/expect an 8800 series and the sound card is a bit cheapo (I'd be looking for an X-Fi).

If you're going to spend a decent amount on a highish end PC, I'd invest in a better quality monitor - shop around and check reviews.

It's probably not a bad price compared to buying an off the shelf system, but as one of the other posters said I'd price the components and check how much you're paying for the build. Building a PC does not take hours and hours so you shouldn't be paying through the nose for it.

If you want my general advice, I'd wait another six months for the next wave of processors and Direct X 10 graphics cards rather than shell out now.

[ChimpMaster]

sounds expensive to me for what you are getting. I'd be tempted to check the parts against something like Scan for comparison. Sounds similar to the spec I have and mine didn't cost anything like that.

I'm guessing you built your own PC Tony?

I think I have to accept that I'll end up paying that bit more because I won't be building my own.

[BoredBloke]

sounds expensive to me for what you are getting. I'd be tempted to check the parts against something like Scan for comparison. Sounds similar to the spec I have and mine didn't cost anything like that.

[Joe Black]

Hmm, hard call, hence suggesting doing a Google.

Things like the BitLocker encryption might not be useful if it's not a laptop (unless you're downloading things you shouldn't), but then again some things like backup, the sync manager etc might.

As I said, Microsoft's list is not quite complete as every now and then you find something which you're suprised is only in the Ultimate version. Hence a few people at my work saying that's the only one they'll get.

If you can afford the £70 I'd say go for it to cover your bases...

[ChimpMaster]

Good point Joe ... why would I want Vista Ultimate?

This PC is going to be a home PC... i.e. I work from my laptop but I have a separate PC for home use (including gaming, which I rarely do now anyway!). That's also why I'm only going for the one monitor.

So would Vista Ultimate be worth the extra £70 or so?

[Joe Black]

VISTA Home Premium?

Don't know what the price difference is, but from what I've seen so far I'd suggest Ultimate, or doing a Google on the differences as you might find that better. Especially since MS's "choose which version" doesn't reveal all, some of which might be important to you.

[chubba]

Agree with only one screen, would be cheaper to get two 17" ones and would give you more screen space plus a second to maximise progs to when working. I got three! Dual PCI-Express card and a dual PCI card so I could have four if I had enough screen space...

Beware ASUS motherboards, had two die on me in the last year, the simply will not boot and spend days trying to get the buggers working. From all the research I did it just seems that they die... Any other mobo options?

Self build would probably come in cheaper. Look up all the components on ebuyer and see how much they are making. Only takes about half a day to knock a pc together, install Windows and load all your crap onto it.

[Buffoon]

Only the one screen?

Seriously, since going dual screen nearly ten years ago I can’t be having the single screen. It does my head in working for any period of time on one screen. That sort of thing is for laptops and servers.

[ChimpMaster]

Ditching the floppy disk drive will cut about £3 off, so £1159 then...

Actually £4 ... lol I think I'll get another at that price!

So no serious recommendations then?