is this pc any good?

[nicky6r4]

A mate of my cousin gave me a link to this website as im after a new unit. It is just the base unit but purely for gaming.

http://www.cube247.co.uk/

On the top left banner click on computer base units. Then click on GAFA and then click on the Zuben ST2

Is it a good buy?

[vrmx]

I'd say no. The Zenith ST3 is a better choice but then again I wouldn't take either of them :).

[Dan]

ready made systems, espically cheap ones always skimp on something.. if you want a good system for gaming your best bet is buy the parts and build it yourself :)

[JamesGT]

The specs looks good, but I would upgrade the graphics card. PCI-E is fast, but not as good as AGP. All the other stuff seems pretty good. The motherboard is still an unknown. ABIT does make some crappy boards too.

[vrmx]

The specs looks good, but I would upgrade the graphics card. PCI-E is fast, but not as good as AGP.
Please tell me how the now slowly dissappearing AGP is better?

There won't be anymore new high level gfx for AGP (7800, X1800) maybe some low level renewed cards if even those...

[pepe2]

I wouldn't buy ready maded brand-computer, I think it's better to buy parts and do it yourself. It's cheaper and you can get better computer with lower prize. And I wouldn't be exited about having Pentium.

[JamesGT]

Please tell me how the now slowly dissappearing AGP is better?

There won't be anymore new high level gfx for AGP (7800, X1800) maybe some low level renewed cards if even those...

Right now, AGP is still slightly faster but the only way to tell is to run benchmark software. Both can't use the speed or buffers of each standard. The cards aren't as fast as their standard.

PCI-E is supposed to be faster, and in the future, it probably will be, if they make cards to use the speed. They haven't even made AGP cards fast enough to use it's 8x speed. I think they are abandoning AGP for PCI-E just to make people spend more money. It's more "this is faster, this is better, you need to get it." syndrome.

As of right now...if you have an AGP slot, and you get an AGP card, it's going to be faster. In the future, the newest PCI-E cards are going to be faster...but I don't like to talk about the future if I can avoid it. Everything is always different and faster in the future. You need to jump in sometime or else you'll be waiting around forever.

[nicky6r4]

cheers for your comments everyone, much appreciated. Im thinking of buying the bits seperately and building it myself. But the main prob is that my budget has gone from 700 to 500 pounds. Could someone on here please tell me what items i would be best buying for the price. As i say i would use it purely for gaming so a massive harddrive isnt nessecery.

cheers

[vrmx]

Right now, AGP is still slightly faster but the only way to tell is to run benchmark software. Both can't use the speed or buffers of each standard. The cards aren't as fast as their standard.
http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20050103/index.html
Both AGP and PCI-E mobos in that test. PCI-E is generally faster using the same gfx but the difference is minimal and they should be as fast as it's the same gfx core and cpu and everything, PCI-E can't pump up the performance like that it just happens to be the standard in gfx soon :).

Same goes with hd's actually. Sata is coming in fast but it isn't really that much faster. Even the former IDE standard can't use all the available b/w :rolleyes::.

[pepe2]

cheers for your comments everyone, much appreciated. Im thinking of buying the bits seperately and building it myself. But the main prob is that my budget has gone from 700 to 500 pounds. Could someone on here please tell me what items i would be best buying for the price. As i say i would use it purely for gaming so a massive harddrive isnt nessecery.

cheers

Well, I have planned about buying parts and building computer myself and I would get top-pc with 450€. And note that Finland is very expensive place.:p

[Tarzan]

Try http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/home.php or other shop. Click, click and you have computer in no time, see picture. 544£ give decent if not good computer ;) Case comes with 1 120mm fan, has room for 1 more so I picked one. I believe that shop also will build and test computer for xx £.

Made a new shot, first one a bit cheap.

[Zieman]

450€ vs £554 ???

[Zieman]

What I mean is that the latter one should be a lot better in every aspect. If not, then select your parts again...

[Tarzan]

I was picking for "now down to 500£" nicky6r4 not pepe2 in Finland.

Dont know if there is such a huge difference in price when you go into details, X2 3800 cost more than 3200 for example, but just the fact they dont mention which power supply is used would be enough for me not to buy build computer. Regardless of price cube computer not the worst Ive seen, they do mention motherboard model at least, not some generic crap. "Corsair Memory - Fastest That Can Be Used!" so you think they mean cheap Valueselect or super TwinX? ;) They do not tell but answer is obvious. Also computer would be better if they stuck with single core 3200 and put in faster videocard. Doing it yourself means you get exactly what you wont. With all the bundles and other content in packages it will be hard for shop to compete. They will save wherever they can - ie. may be you can get dig up a video card with very good cooler, some extras like game bundle - shop computer probably have a generic/oem card with standard cooler.