Help I need a desktop computer!

thor

OGR wrote: »

Personally I would avoid AMD at the moment as the Trinity APU's (Piledriver) will be coming out soon and I would feel a bit miffed if something I purchased became superseded so quickly. If you don't mind then by all means look at the older Bulldozer chips.

This happens all the time. If you are constantly waiting for the 'next big thing' then you will never buy anything.

TakeThis

thor wrote: »

This happens all the time. If you are constantly waiting for the 'next big thing' then you will never buy anything.

In addition to this you will be paying a premium for something you probably don't need.

I have never paid more than £250 for a computer for myself.

Buying the latest thing is a mug's game.

OGR

TakeThis wrote: »

In addition to this you will be paying a premium for something you probably don't need.

Buying the latest thing is a mug's game.

Nonsense.

You know as well as I do that AMD know that their chips cant compete with Intel and so price them accordingly. I don't expect the Trinity APU's to cost all that much more than the old Llano parts but they come with increased clock speeds and a better GPU.

The base clock rate of the old top end quad core A8-3870K was only 3.0GHz and that has no turbo. The low end quad core Trinity based A8-5500 base rate is 3.2GHz, turbo to 3.6GHz and it is a 65W chip compared to 100W of the old top end Llano so its runs cooler and uses less power. Also you get the updated GPU which although in this case doesn't matter as the OP just wants it for browsing/productivity will give much better performance than the old one on the Llano chips.

Intel went one better and moved from a 32nm process to 22nm with the Ivy Bridge update so although it was only an interim update (Intel do a big update every 2 years) they managed to drastically cut the power usage and reduce the heat. All this while adding the HD 4000 GPU, tri-gate transistors and support for PCI-E 3.0.

Intel and AMD only update their architecture once a year and Intel only do a big update every 2 years so if the OP chooses to go the AMD route waiting for Trinity would actually be a wise idea seeing as it will give them better performance and last longer. The only reason now to go with Llano or Sandy Bridge is if you are really on a budget. Even if you don't want to go with Trinity at least wait until it is out as it should push the cost of the old Llano systems down as manufacturers will want to get rid of them.

spannerzone

OGR wrote: »

Nonsense.

You know as well as I do that AMD know that their chips cant compete with Intel and so price them accordingly. I don't expect the Trinity APU's to cost all that much more than the old Llano parts but they come with increased clock speeds and a better GPU.

The base clock rate of the old top end quad core A8-3870K was only 3.0GHz and that has no turbo. The low end quad core Trinity based A8-5500 base rate is 3.2GHz, turbo to 3.6GHz and it is a 65W chip compared to 100W of the old top end Llano so its runs cooler and uses less power. Also you get the updated GPU which although in this case doesn't matter as the OP just wants it for browsing/productivity will give much better performance than the old one on the Llano chips.

Intel went one better and moved from a 32nm process to 22nm with the Ivy Bridge update so although it was only an interim update (Intel do a big update every 2 years) they managed to drastically cut the power usage and reduce the heat. All this while adding the HD 4000 GPU, tri-gate transistors and support for PCI-E 3.0.

Intel and AMD only update their architecture once a year and Intel only do a big update every 2 years so if the OP chooses to go the AMD route waiting for Trinity would actually be a wise idea seeing as it will give them better performance and last longer. The only reason now to go with Llano or Sandy Bridge is if you are really on a budget. Even if you don't want to go with Trinity at least wait until it is out as it should push the cost of the old Llano systems down as manufacturers will want to get rid of them.

Well all that is great but the OP basically needs a low to mid range CPU. Let's behonest, a Core2duo 2GHZ from 2008 is still fine for almost every day computing task unless you're into gaming or HD video editing.

prowla

The PC I am typing this on (a Dell Core2Duo 2.33) cost me £60 with 2 GB memory and an 80 GB hard disk off ebay last week.

That would be perfectly adequate for "everyday" use.

I wanted a bit more, so I've put in a bigger hard disk and upped the memory to 4 GB.

Dave_C_2

creamtee wrote: »

Cheers Dave, but I do fancy a new one, glad yours is still going strong!

"Fancying a new one" is a fine reason for getting a new computer

but not a new ... (left as an exercise to the reader)

Dave

creamtee

Thanks again for all of your help! I have just come back from pcworld and got a lenovo with samsung monitor instead of the aov one that was advertised with it. All in all I am happy. Thanks again for all of your advice and help.

I wish I could have come back and said "I bought this part, that part and now have a 2TB computer with 12gb" but nope lenovo it is - it does have i5 core though lol. Thanks again!