Reply to: What is a state of the art PC nowadays?

[DS23]

I'll second that....
I'll probably end up getting one and dual booting Vista in case I need to run anthing in Windoze...

i've done it (xp not vistas) and i reckon this piece of kit is the dogs danglies. i really do.

[El_Diablo]

Cheers guys, I use to build my PC's but that was years ago.

The cube247 one looks pretty good, I will keep an eye out for the points you highlighted FaQQer. Though seeing as we are IT types we know what to look for, hopefully someone non tech doesn't get caught out.

PC hunting time, yay!

[beaker]

indeed i am. time will tell but as a workhorse it seems spot on.

I'll second that. Bought my wife one for her birthday and I enjoy using it more than my laptop PC. Starts up quick, runs fast, everything works, great for watching DVDs. Mac software (iWorks etc) is good an inexpensive. Battery lasts around 4 hours as well. Ideal for lounging round the house with.

I'll probably end up getting one and dual booting Vista in case I need to run anthing in Windoze. Cleaned up mine and ran a few things to make mine run faster to make it last a bit longer... but the battery life is down to about 45 minutes!

[TheFaQQer]

FaQQer, how's the cube247 PC working out?

Any good?

Pretty good - a few niggles.

- I wouldn't bother with the 7.1 surround sound system that I paid extra for, unless you have plenty of space but in a small enough room to scatter the speakers around.

- I added a card reader on the front of the machine, which hadn't been connected to the motherboard, so didn't work

- Adding the card reader means that four USB sockets on the back don't work, as the card reader takes the USB connection from the motherboard.

- Floppy disk drive wasn't connected, either.

- No instructions at all, so a bit of guesswork was required. e.g. when you plug a cable into the sound card, the drivers ask you what you plugged in. But I did it when the machine was off, so got no sound. A simple note would have helped.

- There is a BIOS password set. I haven't got round to calling them to find out what it is though.

- No paperwork at all - no invoice, no receipt.

- Hard drive is 3x500GB in an array to appear as 1x1500GB drive. No big deal but it means that there is VERY little room for expansion if you want / need to.

That said, I'd still buy it again, and have recommended it to some friends. One final thing to watch for (on any new machine!) is to make sure that you have drivers etc. for everything that will run on 64 bit Windows - I've only sorted my scanner out today with lots of trouble, and ZoneAlarm doesn't run on it, which is annoying.

HTH

FaQ

[El_Diablo]

FaQQer, how's the cube247 PC working out?

Any good?

[DS23]

indeed i am. time will tell but as a workhorse it seems spot on.

[TheFaQQer]

I'm going for a Macbook...

DS23 seems quite pleased with his new one.

[El_Diablo]

I'm thinking of stealing the GF's Macbook, hehehe

Hmm but I'm sure punishment of some sort would ensue or more likely DoS.

[cojak]

Thanks guys. I was thinking it's about time I got "down wiv the hood" It-wise as I am still using my laptop from 2002

I'm going for a Macbook...

[Ardesco]

They look like a lot of hard work to install - are they worth the effort? Also can you cool everything off it?

I'm cooling the GFX card and CPU, you can also cool the northbridge and southbridge on the mobo if you want but my mobo has heatpipes so no fans anyway. The package only comes with a CPU cooling plate though, if you want to cool the other parts you need to buy the appropriate heat plates.

Installation was surprisingly easy, its pretty much a self contained unit. The longest job for me was removing the old heatsink on the gfx card and putting on the water cooling heatplate instead. The rest is a case of cur the tube to the right length, plug them in and pump the water round, easy

Doesn't the pump itself make a bit of noise?

The pump is silent, the only slight noise is the fan, but you can set it to auto so that the fan doesn't come on unless it needs to. Even with the fan going at full speed it makes less noise than a normal computer that is running with the normal fans inside, to me it is silent.

[gingerjedi]

Don't forget to buy one of these:

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/pro...g/reserator-xt

Having a PC that runs totally silent is a wonderful thing

I've got one of those in my pond to keep the fish cool in the summer.

Threaded.

[MrRobin]

Doesn't the pump itself make a bit of noise?

[Zorba]

Don't forget to buy one of these:

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/pro...g/reserator-xt

Having a PC that runs totally silent is a wonderful thing

They look like a lot of hard work to install - are they worth the effort? Also can you cool everything off it?

[Ardesco]

Don't forget to buy one of these:

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/pro...g/reserator-xt

Having a PC that runs totally silent is a wonderful thing

[KevinS]

If Vista is supplied by the laptop manufacturer, you will be fine. If not, then drivers are still a bit thin on the ground, as hardware manufacturers have been really slow to port drivers to the Vista model..

I am running Vista on 2 Dell laptops and a home built desktop, and have no issues at all with compatibility or stability..