Dell 3100 2.6GHz Celeron, 15"TFT - £249 incl printer (merged)

Poppycat

Dont forget Quidco for extra discount.

Gem+Dave+Kaci

I'm thinking of buying this as a second PC and selling the flat panel monitor and printer (maybe the CD/DVD drive and the wireless keyboard and mouse as well depending on how much they sell for), and then using the base shell to connect to my media-center downstairs, and connecting it up to my wireless router to constantly download stuff.

Would this work with a system like this and the memory pre-loaded?? Also would it be worth spending the extra £18 to upgrade the printer to the all-in-one? Is the all-in-one any good as I've been thinking of buying one anyway so it'd save me a bit of cash in that sense. Cartridge costs don't really bother me as the refill kits are pretty cheap and easy to do for lexmark/dell cartridges.

scoobies

welshblob wrote:

Hi People,
Btw the Dimension 3100 has 2 x PCI slots and 1 x PCI-e (think is this a x1 slot) although with this offer one of the PCI slots would be used by the modem.

Hi Welshbob - I agree this looks like a better deal. One question though (Not been into PC hardware for a few years like I used to). I cannot seem to find anywhere that states the 3100 has as PCI-e slot. Surely if it has a PCI express slot then you could add a fairly decent graphics card to it?

welshblob

scoobies wrote:

Hi Welshbob - I agree this looks like a better deal. One question though (Not been into PC hardware for a few years like I used to). I cannot seem to find anywhere that states the 3100 has as PCI-e slot. Surely if it has a PCI express slot then you could add a fairly decent graphics card to it?

Its a bit tricky to find out the Tech Specs on these models but I normally go via the main home page click on desktops -> click on multimedia ones -> click on the 3100 -> click on more details and in there is a tech specs tab. It states it has, 2 PCI slots, One PCIe x1 and PCI 2.3: 120-pin connector, PCI Express x1: 36-pin connector. Now it is my understanding, as I'm new to PCI-e, that there are at least two types of PCI-e, x1 and 16x. The latter is what you need for graphics and unfortunately this only has the 1x slot so no nice graphics cards can be installed on that slot AFAIK. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
Cheers
Rob

foxyloxy

One option discussed here:

here

It's £59.99 right now though.

Steve

welshblob

foxyloxy wrote:

One option discussed here:

here

It's £59.99 right now though.

Steve

Depending on your requirements, maybe just TV out, Ebuyer do one for ~£22+p&p

biglugs

The 3100 definitely does NOT have a 16xPCI-e slot, nor an AGP slot. You can only fit one of the older PCI graphics cards, of which the most powerful available at present is the 3DFuzion FX6200 one being sold at PCW for £59.99. However PCW keep changing the price of this and I bought one about a month ago for £39.99 to put in my son's Dimension 3100. He plays Age of Empires III at 1024x768 without any problems.
To GEM etc. I think this isn't a bad idea, as I was thinking of doing the same myself - flog the 15" TFT and the keyboard for about £80ish after ebay fees, keep the base unit to go with my daughter's 17" TFT and she has got a good but basic machine for about £160. Printer isn't worth selling - it is almost literally worthless.

biglugs

Just ordered one of these for my niece - too good a bargain to pass up on. I have a question for anyone who has bought one though.
Is the integrated sound on the motherboard, or is it on a PCI card? The order site implies that it uses up a PCI slot so presumably it's a separate card. Need to know because I want to add a graphics card and wireless and don't know if I will have to add a PCI card or a USB connector for the wireless.