What do I need in a new desktop computer?

lilbabyadam

We are looking to buy a new desktop, don't want to get ripped off by buying too basic or too fancy a system for what we need.
Our usage is pretty much general multipurpose family, use the internet quite a lot (sky broadband connection) for a bit of everything really except massive downloading, son likes online game sites (kids stuff), bit of word-processing which will probably increase as son gets older, have quite a lot of music stored on here (via itunes which currently stands at 10.56GB), don't really do much gaming although partner might play football manager (around 750mb i think!) more if the computer wasn't so slow and knackered, but that's probably the only game that will be played on it. So we don't want anything that we don't NEED, but also don't want it to be too basic, as we don't need to skimp on the price just don't want to pay out for no reason and would like it to last a few years without having to upgrade internally as not very up on that. Also need a new printer if any recommendations for that, not really heavy usage on that, bit of word documents, some pics and game certificates for son from internet, and the occasional photo.
Thanks

closed

Have you looked at why your computer is slow? What are the specs of your pc, ram, graphics card, operating system, commit charge in task manager/performance.

Is football manager the only thing that's slow? Which version?

lilbabyadam

sorry

had comp a good 5/6 years and deleted FM2008 about 6-9 months ago to try help with speed but not helped. Also got OSD lockout and brightness/contrast box just suddenly apperaring a lot over past couple of months and tried varying different things to get rid of it but without luck. dont really think anything other than buying new will help

thanks

closed

uninstalling games doesn't help speed. Apart from the latest games, a 5/6 yr old machine can do all the things you require easily, if it's slow, that's fixable without spending much or any money.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849

not sure what you mean about osd lockout, or brightness contrast box, but both sound like monitor issues, not base unit.

Football Manager 2008 PC specs Minimum – Windows XP/Vista. 1.2Ghz Processor. 256MB Ram. DirectX8.1 compatible sound card. 4xCD Rom drive, 1024x768 32Bit display. 750MB HD space. MS compatible mouse & keyboard.



Recommended – Windows XP/Vista. AMD or Intel Dual Core 2.2Ghz processor. 1GB Ram.

penrhyn

Have a look here, see if anything takes your fancy.

http://www.dmxdimension.com/

You need to decide what you want to spend first off.

ddoris

Any recent dual core will do -maybe have to install a graphics card £35++
What are the spec's of your current pc?

Snooze

closed wrote: »

uninstalling games doesn't help speed. Apart from the latest games, a 5/6 yr old machine can do all the things you require easily, if it's slow, that's fixable without spending much or any money.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849

not sure what you mean about osd lockout, or brightness contrast box, but both sound like monitor issues, not base unit.

Football Manager 2008 PC specs Minimum – Windows XP/Vista. 1.2Ghz Processor. 256MB Ram. DirectX8.1 compatible sound card. 4xCD Rom drive, 1024x768 32Bit display. 750MB HD space. MS compatible mouse & keyboard.



Recommended – Windows XP/Vista. AMD or Intel Dual Core 2.2Ghz processor. 1GB Ram.

Agree with all this apart from you'll need more that 1 gig of memory if you're running Vista. I'd say 2 gig min for Vista if you don't want it to run at the pace of a snail when you've got all your apps running. 1 gig would be fine with XP however.

Some other person mentioned shelling out £35 for a separate graphics card. You don't need this at all for what you want and you should ignore that advice. The integrated graphics that will come on the motherboard will do the job just fine.

jaydeeuk1

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

I use this when gaming, gets rid of all the crap running in the background, such as unneccessary windows services and programes, virus checkers. Makes a big difference on slower PC's with little memory, not so much on newer ones (although ping rates seem to drop with this running).