spec challenge - beat an iMac...

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Joined
2 Apr 2004
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674
Location
Melbourne
Ok speccers, here's a challenge...

I can get a new intel core duo imac from the apple education store for £1155.

I'm a windows guy at heart doing web design and having worked in IT support etc for a year. Anyway I was considering a move to an Apple Mac to try out OSX, yet I thought I'd see what kind of PC system I'd be missing out on, so your challenge is to spec a PC box and 20inch widescreen that costs, £1200 or less. suitable for web design, general use and some gaming (fps, strategy, etc)

fanboys - start your engines :D
 
MO-015-PH Philips 200W6CS 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver (MO-015-PH)
£279.95 £279.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£79.95 £79.95
CD-034-LG LG GSA-4167SBB 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-034-LG)
£24.50 £24.50
HD-048-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 200GB 2000JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-048-WD)
£49.95 £49.95
CP-126-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
£212.95 £212.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£89.95 £89.95
CA-038-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-038-LL)
£47.95 £47.95
KB-036-MS Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Comfort ver3.0 - OEM (KB-036-MS)
£29.95 £29.95
CA-025-EN Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN)
£61.95 £61.95
GX-034-OK OcUK GeForce 6800 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-034-OK)
£114.95 £114.95
Subtotal £992.05
VAT £173.61
Total £1,165.66


Suitibly owned?
 
obviously you don't think he'd need any software? The imac comes with OSX, ilife, frontrow etc. If you added competing windows software (+ windows) you'd put him way over-budget... unless you go linux.

fini
 
fini said:
obviously you don't think he'd need any software? The imac comes with OSX, ilife, frontrow etc. If you added competing windows software (+ windows) you'd put him way over-budget... unless you go linux.

fini
Click to expand...


GIMP

:p
 
good, would love to see some other specs too.

I have a whole heap of windoze software, so that's not an issue.

and linux is reserved for that mythtv/download box/ server I'm never gonna get round to :)
 
fini said:
obviously you don't think he'd need any software? The imac comes with OSX, ilife, frontrow etc. If you added competing windows software (+ windows) you'd put him way over-budget... unless you go linux.

fini
Click to expand...

The windows equivilents can all be gotten for free or come with windows itself.

MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£63.95
CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£175.95
MY-006-OK OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
£89.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£57.95
MO-015-AC Acer AL2016Ws 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-015-AC)
£244.95
SC-037-CL Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 7.1 EAX Sound Card - OEM (SC-037-CL)
£29.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£59.95
KB-058-LG Logitech Cordless Optical Desktop Rechargeable Black/Silver - OEM (KB-058-LG)
£29.95
CD-029-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Beige) - OEM (CD-029-NE)
£24.95
GX-060-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-060-PC)
£239.95

Subtotal £1,017.50
VAT £178.07
Total £1,195.57
 
Last edited:
Philips 200W6CS 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver (MO-015-PH)
£328.94

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
£250.22

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£105.69*

HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1800 XL 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-042-HT)
£182.07*

Abit KN8 Ultra nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-087-AB)
£76.32

Philips SPD2400GM 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Beige) - OEM (CD-007-PH)
£25.79

Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 200GB 2000JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-048-WD)
£58.69

Enermax Noisetaker 485W EG495AX-VE(G) SFMA ATX2.0 PSU (CA-007-EN)
£52.82

Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-038-LL)
£56.34*

Logitech Cordless Optical Desktop Rechargeable Black/Silver - OEM (KB-058-LG)
£35.19*


Total £1172.07 includes VAT

Easily beats the Mac !!
 
Last edited:
ye but at least with the mac it wont fail from massive malware onslaughts. I fix computers for a living, even though id have no clue where to start with a mac it doesnt matter because ive never herd of one need fixing.
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
ye but at least with the mac it wont fail from massive malware onslaughts. I fix computers for a living, even though id have no clue where to start with a mac it doesnt matter because ive never herd of one need fixing.
Click to expand...


Its only computer illiterate people that get malware though so it isnt a problem for people who know how to build their own.
 
Energize said:
The windows equivilents can all be gotten for free or come with windows itself.
Click to expand...
So at least include windows in your spec then (which would put you overbudget)! :p

fini
 
fini said:
So at least include windows in your spec then (which would put you overbudget)! :p

fini
Click to expand...

Not by much i'll use a cheaper mobo

Ultra_Extreme said:
ye but at least with the mac it wont fail from massive malware onslaughts. I fix computers for a living, even though id have no clue where to start with a mac it doesnt matter because ive never herd of one need fixing.
Click to expand...

I don't know that many people with macs, but the two that do... one had thir PSU die on them and the ones iMac G5 is contantly overheating. And I read a fair few webcomics, 3 of which use macs and 3 of which had dead macs. No such complaints from the PC users :p
 
AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-151-AM)
£260.79
DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£93.94
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) **this week only**
£105.69
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£246.69
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31637) (HD-001-HI)
£52.82
Samsung SH-W162C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) (CD-068-SA)
£23.44
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£15.22
Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU (CA-027-AN)
£35.19
Enermax Noisetaker 485W EG495AX-VE(G) SFMA ATX2.0 PSU (CA-007-EN) **this week only**
£52.82
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (KB-072-LG)
£23.44
Acer AL2016Ws 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-015-AC)
£287.82

Total inc VAT: £1197.86

In my opinion, a 512MB graphics card is needed for decent gaming on a 20" screen. Also includes dual core opteron, which can be overclocked very well with the DFI Ultra-D. :)
 
fini said:
So at least include windows in your spec then (which would put you overbudget)! :p

fini
Click to expand...

Ok how does this fit then? It is about £15 overbudget but if the budget is particularly important then you can easily drop the hard drive down slightly and save cash or alternatively go for a 256mb X1800XT.

OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS)
£49.95 £49.95
MO-015-PH Philips 200W6CS 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver (MO-015-PH)
£279.95 £279.95
KB-072-LG Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail (KB-072-LG)
£19.95 £19.95
CA-040-AN Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU (CA-040-AN)
£59.95 £59.95
MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£63.95 £63.95
GX-048-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£209.95 £209.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£57.95 £57.95
CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£175.95 £175.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£89.95 £89.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£25.95 £25.95
Subtotal £1,033.50
VAT £180.87
Total £1,214.37
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
£258.44
Sapphire PURE Advantage CrossFire Radeon Xpress 200P CrossFire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-003-SP)
£93.94
Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS)
£146.82
Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
£110.39
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£258.44
Coolermaster Wave Master - Silver (No PSU) (CA-037-CM)
£88.07
Tagan TG580-U22 580W ATX2.01 2Force SLi Compliant Silent PSU (CA-006-TG)
£73.97
Mitsumi FA 404M 7in1 USB 2.0 Floppy & Media Drive - Silver (HD-000-MI) £16.39
Pioneer DVR-110DSV 16 x 16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Silver) OEM (CD-033-PO) £29.32
SpeedLink Ultra SL-6465 Flat Metal Keyboard (KB-000-SL) £23.44
Acer AL2016Ws 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver (MO-015-AC)
£287.82

Total £1317.89

a little over budget but look at the extra mem faster h/d and power of graphics compared to this

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObj...2HTmIAbhCvOD5NS/0.SLID?nclm=iMac&mco=8C895BA7
 
Interesting that youve all gone for AMD. Is it that much cheaper?

Is it not possible to use Intel based stuff and then install OSX on it? I know it's not that easy but when done it would be a much better buy in my opinion. so in effect he'll have exactly the same as a Mac but be able to install any hardware he wants on it, like having 4 hard disks (this can be done usb style but that's crap).
 
nice digging in the archives.

I got a macbook in the end through work and have never looked back.

planning on getting a 24inch imac in a few months as well
 
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