New PC needed

marrbett
marrbett Posts: 1,798 Forumite
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in Techie Stuff
Can I ask you experts for some advice. We need a new pc which is used mainly for surfing and emails. My son also wants to play Minecraft(pc edition) which our current computer's graphics card isn't good enough apparently.

Our budget is £350, and I wondered if this would fit the requirements?
https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-slimline-260-a125na-desktop-pc-intel-pentium-8gb-ram-1tb-jack-black/p3161410

Many thanks for any help
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Comments

  • esuhl
    esuhl Posts: 9,409 Forumite
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    If your current PC is fast enough for surfing and emails, you could just upgrade the graphics card. Get a secondhand one on eBay for even more savings.
  • boliston
    boliston Posts: 3,012 Forumite
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    That does not look like a gaming pc as it has no graphics card, just onboard intel hd graphics - also it has a tiny case so no room for a graphics card (not even a mini tower) and i would be looking at i5 processor as a minimum eg an entry level Intel i5-6400
  • marrbett
    marrbett Posts: 1,798 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    esuhl wrote: »
    If your current PC is fast enough for surfing and emails, you could just upgrade the graphics card. Get a secondhand one on eBay for even more savings.

    Thanks, but its an old pc, keeps turning itself off, even when its not been on long, and is so slow and noisy now. So we need a new one.
  • marrbett
    marrbett Posts: 1,798 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    boliston wrote: »
    That does not look like a gaming pc as it has no graphics card, just onboard intel hd graphics - also it has a tiny case so no room for a graphics card (not even a mini tower) and i would be looking at i5 processor as a minimum eg an entry level Intel i5-6400

    Is playing Minecraft considered 'gaming'? I mean I know its a game but I thought it meant for the games like Halo etc. Ok, so thanks for that, Are we likely to find a new one with that sort of spec for £350?
  • chunter
    chunter Posts: 2,000 Forumite
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    edited 12 March 2017 at 11:20AM
    The minimum and recommended specinfications for Minecraft.
    This would seem to be the starting point for any advice.

    Minimum Requirements:
    CPU: Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 (K8) 2.6 GHz
    RAM: 2GB
    GPU (Integrated): Intel HD Graphics or AMD (formerly ATI) Radeon HD Graphics with OpenGL 2.1
    GPU (Discrete): Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT or AMD Radeon HD 2400 with OpenGL 3.1
    HDD: At least 200MB for Game Core and Other Files
    Java 6 Release 45

    Recommended Requirements:
    CPU: Intel Core i3 or AMD Athlon II (K10) 2.8 GHz
    RAM: 4GB
    GPU: GeForce 2xx Series or AMD Radeon HD 5xxx Series (Excluding Integrated Chipsets) with OpenGL 3.3
    HDD: 1GB
    Latest release of Java 8 from java.com

    https://help.mojang.com/customer/en/portal/articles/325948-minecraft-system-requirements
  • LadyDee
    LadyDee Posts: 4,293 Forumite
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    marrbett wrote: »
    Thanks, but its an old pc, keeps turning itself off, even when its not been on long, and is so slow and noisy now. So we need a new one.

    Don't assume your PC is dying. My laptop was doing the same and apparently the fan was blocked with dust/cat hair and the heat sink needed some minor attention - I thought I was looking at buying a new laptop but spending a very small amount resulted in my old one being as good as new.

    Of course, your gaming requirements might mean this wouldn't be sufficient.
  • forgotmyname
    forgotmyname Posts: 32,549 Forumite
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    Switching off because the heatsink looks like this....

    heatsink.jpg
    Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...

  • boliston
    boliston Posts: 3,012 Forumite
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    I find opening my pc every few months and giving a good blow through with a hairdryer on "cool" setting removes LOADS of dust! I also have a small paintbrush handy for loosening dust in fans & heatsinks which can then be blow away with the hairdryer.
  • Johnmcl7
    Johnmcl7 Posts: 2,816 Forumite
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    Zoostorm are generally the best choice for budget desktop PC's, this is probably the best one within budget:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/758530-zoostorm-evolve-desktop-pc-7260-0220

    It only has an integrated graphics card but the AMD onboard graphics are pretty good and also the chassis is fully upgradeable so it would be easy to install a better graphics card later if needed.

    There's also officially refurbished Zoostorm PC's, this one is better and cheaper:

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zoostorm-AMD-A10-7850K-Quad-Core-Desktop-PC-2TB-HDD-8GB-RAM-Win-10-WiFi-/262863366336?hash=item3d33e0a8c0:g:N48AAOSwopRYfjnr

    This one is slightly over your budget but has a much better processor and much more powerful graphics:

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zoostorm-Core-i5-4460-Quad-Core-Gaming-PC-8GB-RAM-2TB-HDD-GTX-960-Win-8-1-/262865004374?hash=item3d33f9a756:g:IvMAAOSw5cNYNIIs#viTabs_0

    John
  • J_B
    J_B Posts: 6,433 Forumite
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    LadyDee wrote: »
    Don't assume your PC is dying .....................

    Come on ... where's Nifty? :)
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