"loz" wrote in message
...

":::Jerry::::" wrote in message
...

Hmm, just check the spec's before buying, If you need a certain chip-set
for
example. Their mother-board bundles seem to be built on price and not
function, I was certainly advised to buy separate components if I need
certain functions the last time I was in there. (IYSWIM)

But unless you know exactly what you are doing, which specs to check, and
which spec on which component to match up with the spec on another, and
you
are comfortable assembling it all too, and are willing to take the risk
that
you put enough cooler between the processor and fan, etc, etc, then
Novatech
offer a painless, assembled and tested alternative.


Oh yes, I totally agree, but the problems crop in *if* you NEED a certain
chipset (for example) to run your chosen hardware - that was my real point.

I live 'locally' to Novatech, hence there are a lot of people who use them
(both experts and novice), I haven't heard a bad word yet.

":::Jerry::::" wrote in message
...

Oh yes, I totally agree, but the problems crop in *if* you NEED a certain
chipset (for example) to run your chosen hardware - that was my real
point.


Chipsets and firewire being a good case in point I guess

Loz

Thanks everyone for the advice much appreciated; although the Pentium 4 with
one gigabyte of memory was probably the best solution, I would still have to
have sufficient cash left to purchase a reasonably sized hard drive and a
decent Freeview card or USB2 adaptor.

I therefore think that with a limited budget the best possible course would
be to purchase the best possible ready made and tested motherboard and
peripherals.

Scanning some of the various digital news groups, It seems that lots of
people appear to be waiting for a stand-alone DTT tuner with HDD and DVD
recorder, which when launched will no doubt quickly drop in price to less
than I have to spend on a reasonable computer upgrade!

"ivan" wrote in message
...
After toying with the idea of buying a DVD recorder, I decided that it
would
probably be more sensible to upgrade my computer and use that instead.

At the moment I'm running a K7S5A motherboard with a Duron 700 CPU, 250M
of
memory and I'm using an external Humax Freeview receiver connected to a
Win
TV card via the S\video input.

I realise that this set-up pretty inadequate, so I'm looking for something
that's a little more up to the job.

I only have around £250 max to spend and was looking for a Motherboard
with
CPU, memory, 80 gig hard drive and a Freeview card (with some decent
software).

However searching on the net, I hadn't realised just how many different
motherboards, socket types and processors (many at around the same price)
that there were available.

So it's difficult to know which is the most suitable for the kind of work
I
want to do, and I didn't want to be wise after the event by being told
"That's the 'worst' possible set up you could have bought for what you
want
to do, you should have gone for XYZ instead".

Any pointers in the right direction would be more than appreciated, thanks
in advance.

what do you intend to do? use it for recording tv or editing video

"critcher" wrote in message
news:1109104679.dcf938bf9de8d23e44c21d17470303b3@t eranews...

"ivan" wrote in message
...
After toying with the idea of buying a DVD recorder, I decided that it
would
probably be more sensible to upgrade my computer and use that instead.

At the moment I'm running a K7S5A motherboard with a Duron 700 CPU, 250M
of
memory and I'm using an external Humax Freeview receiver connected to a
Win
TV card via the S\video input.

I realise that this set-up pretty inadequate, so I'm looking for
something
that's a little more up to the job.

I only have around £250 max to spend and was looking for a Motherboard
with
CPU, memory, 80 gig hard drive and a Freeview card (with some decent
software).

However searching on the net, I hadn't realised just how many different
motherboards, socket types and processors (many at around the same
price)
that there were available.

So it's difficult to know which is the most suitable for the kind of
work
I
want to do, and I didn't want to be wise after the event by being told
"That's the 'worst' possible set up you could have bought for what you
want
to do, you should have gone for XYZ instead".

Any pointers in the right direction would be more than appreciated,
thanks
in advance.

what do you intend to do? use it for recording tv or editing video



Preferably both, but with emphasis on recording, however I'm still a bit
confused, comparing two ready assembled similar priced motherboards within
my budget, I've noticed that one has a Celeron D processor rated at 2.8GHZ,
whilst the other has an AMD Sempron 2600 processor rated at only 1.83 GHZ
does this mean that the board with the Celeron will be superior due to the
extra 1GHZ processor speed?

"ivan" wrote in message
...

"critcher" wrote in message
news:1109104679.dcf938bf9de8d23e44c21d17470303b3@t eranews...

"ivan" wrote in message
...
After toying with the idea of buying a DVD recorder, I decided that it
would
probably be more sensible to upgrade my computer and use that instead.

At the moment I'm running a K7S5A motherboard with a Duron 700 CPU,
250M
of
memory and I'm using an external Humax Freeview receiver connected to
a
Win
TV card via the S\video input.

I realise that this set-up pretty inadequate, so I'm looking for
something
that's a little more up to the job.

I only have around £250 max to spend and was looking for a Motherboard
with
CPU, memory, 80 gig hard drive and a Freeview card (with some decent
software).

However searching on the net, I hadn't realised just how many
different
motherboards, socket types and processors (many at around the same
price)
that there were available.

So it's difficult to know which is the most suitable for the kind of
work
I
want to do, and I didn't want to be wise after the event by being told
"That's the 'worst' possible set up you could have bought for what you
want
to do, you should have gone for XYZ instead".

Any pointers in the right direction would be more than appreciated,
thanks
in advance.

what do you intend to do? use it for recording tv or editing video



Preferably both, but with emphasis on recording, however I'm still a bit
confused, comparing two ready assembled similar priced motherboards within
my budget, I've noticed that one has a Celeron D processor rated at
2.8GHZ,
whilst the other has an AMD Sempron 2600 processor rated at only 1.83 GHZ
does this mean that the board with the Celeron will be superior due to the
extra 1GHZ processor speed?




Firstly, both the Celeron & Sempron are budget processors. The Celeron has
half the cache and a slower FSB which means it's not suited to video work.
The Sempron 2600 is a rebranded Athlon XP (Barton) with a slower clock speed
and higher price.

The Sempron 2800 (1.6GHz), L1 Cache 128KB, L2 Cache 256KB is a Athlon 64
with less cache and the 64 bit instructions disabled but it will run much
faster than the Celeron / Sempron 2600. It's a socket 754 processor so you
will need a compatible motherboard. Avoid VIA like the plague with video
work, NForce are good.

The processor comes in at around £64 with an Asus NForce motherboard comming
in at £50.

Socket 754 motherboard's have 3 ddr slots and do not support dual channel
operation. With this processor this is not a big issue.

Storage. MAXTOR 200GB, 7200 RPM, "8MB CACHE", SERIAL ATA, 3YR WARRANTY.
Comming in at £76 should see you right for quite a while.


Freeview: LIFEVIEW FLYDVB-T, RECEIVE, DECODE AND DISPLAY DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL
TV, PCI, RETAIL BOXED.
comes in at £48

or a Artec USB solution: ARTEC TV TUNER DVB-T, T1, USB2.0 RETAIL BOXED. at
£57

Hauppauge also make a USB Freeview box that you can connect to your pc via
USB and TV via SCART. Best feature is the ability to play your recordings
back from your PC through the SCART onto the TV

It's a Hauppauge DEC 2000t they retail at around £90.

You can buy everything but the Hauppage from this website www.dcs.uk.com

Hope this helps

Andy.

Andy wrote in message ...

"ivan" wrote in message
...

"critcher" wrote in message
news:1109104679.dcf938bf9de8d23e44c21d17470303b3@t eranews...

"ivan" wrote in message
...
After toying with the idea of buying a DVD recorder, I decided that
it
would
probably be more sensible to upgrade my computer and use that
instead.

At the moment I'm running a K7S5A motherboard with a Duron 700 CPU,
250M
of
memory and I'm using an external Humax Freeview receiver connected
to
a
Win
TV card via the S\video input.

I realise that this set-up pretty inadequate, so I'm looking for
something
that's a little more up to the job.

I only have around £250 max to spend and was looking for a
Motherboard
with
CPU, memory, 80 gig hard drive and a Freeview card (with some decent
software).

However searching on the net, I hadn't realised just how many
different
motherboards, socket types and processors (many at around the same
price)
that there were available.

So it's difficult to know which is the most suitable for the kind of
work
I
want to do, and I didn't want to be wise after the event by being
told
"That's the 'worst' possible set up you could have bought for what
you
want
to do, you should have gone for XYZ instead".

Any pointers in the right direction would be more than appreciated,
thanks
in advance.

what do you intend to do? use it for recording tv or editing video



Preferably both, but with emphasis on recording, however I'm still a bit
confused, comparing two ready assembled similar priced motherboards
within
my budget, I've noticed that one has a Celeron D processor rated at
2.8GHZ,
whilst the other has an AMD Sempron 2600 processor rated at only 1.83
GHZ
does this mean that the board with the Celeron will be superior due to
the
extra 1GHZ processor speed?




Firstly, both the Celeron & Sempron are budget processors. The Celeron has
half the cache and a slower FSB which means it's not suited to video work.
The Sempron 2600 is a rebranded Athlon XP (Barton) with a slower clock
speed
and higher price.

The Sempron 2800 (1.6GHz), L1 Cache 128KB, L2 Cache 256KB is a Athlon 64
with less cache and the 64 bit instructions disabled but it will run much
faster than the Celeron / Sempron 2600. It's a socket 754 processor so you
will need a compatible motherboard. Avoid VIA like the plague with video
work, NForce are good.

The processor comes in at around £64 with an Asus NForce motherboard
comming
in at £50.

Socket 754 motherboard's have 3 ddr slots and do not support dual channel
operation. With this processor this is not a big issue.

Storage. MAXTOR 200GB, 7200 RPM, "8MB CACHE", SERIAL ATA, 3YR WARRANTY.
Comming in at £76 should see you right for quite a while.


Freeview: LIFEVIEW FLYDVB-T, RECEIVE, DECODE AND DISPLAY DIGITAL
TERRESTRIAL
TV, PCI, RETAIL BOXED.
comes in at £48

or a Artec USB solution: ARTEC TV TUNER DVB-T, T1, USB2.0 RETAIL BOXED. at
£57

Hauppauge also make a USB Freeview box that you can connect to your pc via
USB and TV via SCART. Best feature is the ability to play your recordings
back from your PC through the SCART onto the TV

It's a Hauppauge DEC 2000t they retail at around £90.

You can buy everything but the Hauppage from this website www.dcs.uk.com

Hope this helps

Andy.


Thanks Andy, just the information I wanted about the suitability of various
motherboards and processor types.

With some shopping around I should be able to just about fit your
suggestions into my budget, however I have noticed that the spec on some of
the Freeview cards only mention Windows XP, and I'm currently using Windows
2000, does this mean that I will have to fork out for an upgraded OS system
as well, or will I at least be able to manage with my existing OS for a
while?