I normally get my parts for cheap as mince because there's so many hardware shops around here they drop their prices like clown trousers with no braces. In fact, there's 3 near me, 1 is two shops down from the other and the 3rd is across the block, about 3-4 units away. One's a complete scumbag, and their parts are funny (Bad delivery, fakes, or are they just stolen?) Their prices are terrible, as well. My Friend Euan's computer's button got stuck, and i said i would fix it for them, but when i went around his dad had taken the PC to shop number 3 to get fixed. I have the same case as him, costing £30 including a 350 Watt PSU. They kept the PC for a week, didn't do anything about the button (it needed the edges filed in a little, all they done was take off the front and bash it from the back till it unstuck) and charged him £40 for the Job. The only word i can use to describe my reaction when i heard their price is "Mortified". They have more funny practices than that, though: they con, short change, and sell faulty parts which are, guess what; non refundable-well they give you 75% back, but like i said, they con, so when i took back a faulty sound card, despite my suggestion that they test the card, they claimed that the card definately works and game me about 60% back, which i didn't realise till later. I also bought a 1500Mhz CPU off them which i later realised clocked 1050Mhz. I'm not sure if i'm allowed to post the company's name here without being busted by a Mod, but if you live in Scotland, and you go to Glasgow for your computer Parts, then avoid a certain company with a yellow sign. If a Mod posts that i can write the name then i'll post their name.
Anyway, moral is: reasearch, and build yourself. Trust me, you'll be a much happier bloke for it (if you are indeed a bloke...). Anyway, i agree, definately get an AMD, because Pentiums are notorious for overheating. And plus, the way things are going right now, you'll probably want to overclock that CPU further down the line and nothing overclocks like an Athlon. Actually, i don't know if that's true, because i only use Athlons and Pentiums, don't know what the Xeon overlocks like, or even if it does...
If you want info on Video Cards, there's a couple of websites you can visit, but the most famous one (i think...it's pretty big in Scotland) is Tom's Hardware Guide.
hmm...i never shut up, do i?
-Dave
Your soul...it tastes like chicken
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