Two brill desktops? Which is best?

frithonthehill

Hello,

I'm totally new! Has anyone got time to cast an eye over these two desktop deals?

DinoPC: Duke AMD 955 - £365

CPU:AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
Operating System Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Motherboard: Asus M4N68T-M
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333mhz (2x 2GB)
Hard Drives: 1TB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Graphics card: Onboard GeForce 7050
Sound card: Onboard 7.1 Audio
Case: Piano Black ATX
Warranty: 3 Year Bronze Warranty

Ebay deal - £479.99

Dell Inspiron 580, Intel i3 Dual Core, 4Gb ram, 1Tb hard disk, ATi 1Gb 5450 graphics, Windows 7

3 Year Premium Next Business Day warranty

I'm pretty ignorant about computers, but the Duke AMD 955 looks better than the Dell Inspiron 580. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go for it (such as no on-site warranty or perhaps Duke are not a good brand)?
Thanks so much!
Lucy x

John_Gray

Since I've never even heard of Duke, you can guess which one I'd go for.

But you haven't said what you want to use the desktop for - a little light internet usage, email, browsing websites; or heavy video editing, gaming, etc? That makes quite a difference what PC you need to buy.

Kilty_2

I assume the former is some DIY job a company has bodged together - so I'd go for the Dell.

frithonthehill

I'm having second thoughts about the AMD 955. It has no online reviews and I'm thinking it might not be a quality build (for that price). Longevity ought to be my priority. On that subject, does anyone know the Paliicomp Core i3 Blast 530oC44 (CPU Intel Core i3, CPU nominal frequency 2.93GHz, CPU overclocked frequency 4.40GHz, Processor socket LGA 1156 HSF (heatsink-fan) ThermaltakeISGC-400)?
The review I read made it sound fantastic, but might the fact it's overclocked undermine it's longevity? The manufacturer says no but should I believe them? Would it be safer to go for a less powerful Dell? If so, would a refurbished one from ebay (with 3yr on-site warranty) be as good as a new one?

Thanks so much all you generous techie gurus!

frithonthehill

Thanks for your reply! I'll mostly use it for streaming (HOURS at a time), storing music/pictures, photo editing ect. The usual stuff but all at the same time and for VERY long periods. I'm used to my laptop getting hot and slowing to a virtual standstill when I do this so I assumed I'd need something powerful and with good specs to make this habit sustainable. Also - I might become computer literate one day and want to do something fancy.

Kilty_2

Doesn't need to be anything fancy for those tasks - the Dell machine will do the job.

Assuming you aren't streaming massive HD video anyway.

frithonthehill

Thanks so much for your replies! I'll probably go for the Dell, but...
Would it matter so much if it was a DIY job so long as the company was reputable? What I have in mind is that loads of individuals make their own computers. Also, DinoPC seems to be quite well regarded on this site. What's more, the AMD 955 is a £100 cheaper! And the processor seems a million times better!...
But I'll probably go for the Dell...
Should I get knew or refurbished? The R one has a 3 yr on-site warranty, the new one only has one.
xxx

closed

what are the specs of your laptop, and what are you streaming?

rachel6188

if you can get in home warranty it saves your laptop having to go off for repair a technician comes to your home. x

spakkker

Since I've heard of dell I wouldn't touch dell. They use cheapest components possible. Build quality of a pc is like build quality of plugging in a light bulb.
How do you "bodge" together a pc?? I'd like to know so I can avoid anything that's been "bodged" in future.

The dell seems expensive for what it is. Refurb means not new -2nd hand.
The amd system would be my choice. An o/c'd i3 530 would be very capable at 4.4ghz. Most of the time quad cores aren't utilised.

frithonthehill

closed wrote: »

what are the specs of your laptop, and what are you streaming?

CPU T2390 1.86GHz
Memory 2GB
HDD 250GB

streaming normal stuff - iplayer, Youtube, also films for 4/5 hours