On the search for a good computer....

BarginHunter1985

kids are between 10-14 years, like car games and fighting games- don't know the names

albertross_2

Do you need access?

BarginHunter1985

I need anything that I can have a database on and store info...access is not a must have ..i don't think

albertross_2

http://www.openoffice.org/ this is a free alternative, but no access.

Little_John

After the advice given earlier I was shocked, you had the OP asking for a decent pc, and someone replied witht he dual core 9150 from Dell which is a reasonable PC.
The problem I have is lots of people do different things with PC's this PC im using now is used for office work email and internet access and occasional yahoo games and other none power hungry games. It is a P4 2Ghz, 512MB memory and a 74GB hard drive and a 32MB Matox graphics card. When I built it it was really expensive The CPU was fresh out of the factory at the time memory is PC800 Rambus RIMM's and the hard drive is SCSI the Matrox 450 Dual head was one of the first dual head cards all expensive kit and performance still is very good because it is no longer used for gameing that it was capable of when bought back then it would play everything I threw at it.

Standards have changed now if I wanted to do the same I would again have to spend a fortune to be able to play all the games so I bought consoles and a decent laptop.

The OP replied ocasional gaming, and again later car and fighting games without being specific no one can reliably recomend a PC on those requirements I can play Quake 2 for days on this PC but I dont stand a chance of playing Battlefield 2 both are pretty much the same game fighting/shooting anything that moves but Battlefield 2 requires one of the newer generation graphics cards I cover everything else for it just not the graphics. and the same can be said for car games old ones will play on pretty much anything but the newer ones need a decent graphics card. to put that in to perspective cheap graphics cards can cost about £30 the ones people use to play the latest games can cost upwards of £300 and some people put 2 together for added performance.

So you need to decide what you want games or no games latest games or older games theproblem you get is that they will always want a newer game when it is released so sometimes are better to stump up before you are forced in to it.

If you dont want games you can buy the Dell dimension 3100 and it will do everyting you want and perform well at it as long as you keep it clean of viruses and spyware every pc runs slow if infected. it will cost you about £300-£380.
Dual processors dont really benefit home users as very little software is available that makes use of multithreading so a 2.8D will run slower than a 3.0 single core with programs that dont make use of dual core programs that make use of multi threading are mainly graphic design and video editingand your only talking about 20% reduction in processing times anyway. The next generation of games may make use of it but nothing really does yet.

Windows Vista why are you going on about telling the OP his pc will run it, he doesnt need it why becasue the first release never works properly anyway and if you look at the cost of a legal upgrade even on todays Windows XP upgrade which can cost £200 for a retail boxed version of XP I would personally stick to Windows 2000 which is stable hey this PC uses it and I just checked my network connection and its been connected for 36 days 14 hours I think that means its stable. I dont know any Windows XP system that has been on for so long without a reboot.


A decent pc can come in various forms depening what you need it to do.
So BarginHunter1985 please let us know what types of games you are looking to play so we can inform you with the right information.
Thanks
LJ

BarginHunter1985

LJ

Thank you, although I didnt understand most of it, what is a OP btw

U kno wat i think i should 4get the games- because it makes things complicated.

The kids usually use games of the internet but they also play Play station games, i can't assist anymore than to say that the computer shud b able to play a standard amount of games

Little_John

The OP is original poster ie you.

internet games dont need anything special basic onboard graphics can do that and strengthens the reason to save alot of money and buy the dimension 3100.
A standard abmount of games again isnt specific enough if they have a PS2 then one of the best driving games is Gran Turismo I cant think of anything better for the PC.
A pc is diferent to the Playstation 2 in that the game people have a set graphics and do what they can with them, PC games the hardare companies are aways pushing the bounderies with the graphics chips and the games peopple try to make use of the new things there is alway somthing else round the corner and I know people that spend hundreds of pounds everytime a new and better card comes out.

The GeForce 7900 GS is a card that has been devepoled as a cheaper alternative unfortunalty its pretty new and I cant find much more about it. but when they are adding on £305 for the upgrade to a card that normally cost's about £350-370 so they value it at about £60 so I would be a bit wary of the performance.

Recomending a Dell pc is dificult I normally custom build becasue if your spending a fair bit of money the custom pc will be better quality components and better components an ATIx1900 XTX which is the upgrade option does come in a few options with faster speeds it isnt 100% certain what dell are installing.

Personally I would tell the kids if they want to play games stick to the PS2 and save money buying a lower spec pc that will do what you need. The price of that dimesion 9150 is very good but the card could be hit and miss. for gaming it will proberbly play most of the stuff your kids want to play anyway I just want to make you aware. hey you could alway upgrade the card at a later date. check your private message

Mercenary

BarginHunter1985 wrote:

Mercenary- i have seen that one on the site

http://www.evesham.com/products/info.asp?e=B444BBEB-765D-4DFC-8B24-2FBCE832E6BB

Btw wat processor, memory and hard disk is good?

Those specs look very good for the price, although the graphics card is just a basic onboard one. For mainly office use and some basic games it might be ok. If, in time, you find that the machine is used for more games than you ever thought possible, you will wish that you'd upgraded. We found this with our first pc as we all got hooked into games and since then I have always got the best graphics card available whenever we buy a new PC (from Evesham).

Check to see if any PC you buy can have components upgraded easily in the future if necessary.

I can tell you that the Viewsonic 19" TFT monitor is lovely! I have one.

BarginHunter1985

Ok where can i get the dell from- the web? it will either be that or the evesham one,,,,me thinks

albertross_2

Dell site,(post 2) or look here for offers and codes..

http://www.dmxdimension.com/

the prices mentioned usually expect you to downgrade the 3 year warranty.