CPU choice

weegie.geek

Agreed, I'd go i3 too.

ddoris

"What I am looking for - and may well get my answer when the sales manager gets back to me - is whether I should go for the i3-530 or G6950?"
Why are you even asking ? It's a no-brainer.

jem16

ddoris wrote: »

Why are you even asking ? It's a no-brainer.

Only if you know the answer, which at the time of asking, I didn't.

ddoris

Something else to find out about is if the onboard graphics will suffice ? I3-530 has built in graphics and the m/boards for it have hdmi but you could also install a graphics card . I guess it will be ok but it's something to check.

jem16

ddoris wrote: »

Something else to find out about is if the onboard graphics will suffice ? I3-530 has built in graphics and the m/boards for it have hdmi but you could also install a graphics card . I guess it will be ok but it's something to check.

Thanks. It's one of the questions I asked in my email to them yesterday.

chris.lewis

If you can afford it go for a shinny new graphics card too! However as someone previously pointed out you could buy a decent motherboard with on board hdmi not sure how much extra this would be!

However I always prefer to have a separate dedicated graphics card but thats mainly a personal choice.

Do you have any idea how much you want to spend on the whole system? What did the shop quote you and for what spec?

ddoris

Oddly the H55/57 m/boards all have hdmi and the P55 boards ,which don't support on-chip graphics, cost more due to having more techy features.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Shop/Computer-Hardware/All/Motherboards-Intel/Socket-1156-Intel-H55-Clarkdale-Core-i3-i5/Socket-1156-Intel-P55-Lynnfield-Core-i5-and-i7

jem16

chris.lewis wrote: »

Do you have any idea how much you want to spend on the whole system? What did the shop quote you and for what spec?

Probably around the £500 mark excluding monitor.

Quote I have was from February and am waiting on updated quote.

Spec is;

G6950
ASUS P7H55-M Pro Mainboard
4GB DDR3
2 x 500GB Seagate Barracuda
x24 NEC DVDRW
Sweex internal card reader
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

£530 approx.

weegie.geek

What case, and more importantly what PSU? A lot of computer shops will use a crappy 20 quid case-and-"500w"-psu-combo.

£70 G6950
£65 ASUS P7H55-M Pro Mainboard
£73 4GB DDR3
£66 2 x 500GB Seagate Barracuda
£17 x24 NEC DVDRW
£5 Sweex internal card reader
£70 Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

£60 case + psu (silverstone precision PS05B + Corsair 400w)


Comes to around £430. Say £450 to account for P&P. You'll probably be able to get stuff a bit cheaper too. I'd take a look at bundles too.

If you feel the process of them building it for you is worth £80 then go for it. If you're techy-minded why not build it yourself? Save the extra or spend it on upgrades. That 80 quid will go most of the way towards a big new monitor. Assuming the prices are the same now of course, the price of a lot of stuff has risen, unfortunately.

Who is your preferred shop, btw? Priceless? Looking at the components it looks like Creative over in Shawlands maybe?

On the odd occasion I've needed something NOW there's really not much choice around here. Forge Computing stock a strange selection of stuff and prices are OK for some of it, assuming they have it in stock. I've never liked Priceless, mainly because of the attitude of a staff member who probably isn't even there any more, but it soured the experience for me. World Of Computing I liked, but they're gone now.

My main problem is that none of the shops are nearly as cheap as online is. I can order online and get most things delivered next day for cheaper than anywhere local could do it.

The face to face service isn't worth as much as the money to me. The choice online is greater, and I always get annoyed and a little angry when given bad advice in computer shops. Sure, I know the guy's talking crap, but how many unsuspecting people has he given this bad advice to, selling them overpriced stuff they don't need...

jem16

weegie.geek wrote: »

What case, and more importantly what PSU? A lot of computer shops will use a crappy 20 quid case-and-"500w"-psu-combo.

It was priced on the Kob K115 - no mention of PSU.

Guarantee is 2yrs standard.

If you feel the process of them building it for you is worth £80 then go for it. If you're techy-minded why not build it yourself?

Techy-minded but not into building systems to be honest.

Who is your preferred shop, btw? Priceless? Looking at the components it looks like Creative over in Shawlands maybe?

It's Creative. Never had much faith in Priceless to be honest.

My main problem is that none of the shops are nearly as cheap as online is. I can order online and get most things delivered next day for cheaper than anywhere local could do it.

Probably agree with you there. Mostly everything else I buy online but usually preferred to go into the shop for complete systems.