Core 2 Duo refurb at pcworld £214.99

triffidfood

Does anyone have any experience of buying PCs (refurbished or otherwise) from Currys?

They've got an Intel Pentium D 915 Dual Core Processor for £229 (can't get link to paste, grrrrrrr), which to my techy illiterate mind looks okay, but I'm nervous about buying refurb'd electronic goods & have never bought anything similar from them ... anyone used them for this before?

[EDIT ~ also, does anyone know if or where it's possible to buy X1300 256mb graphics cards for PCI ([U]not[/U] PCI Express) slots? I've searched everywhere online but I'm struggling......]

foxyloxy

This one:

http://www.currys.co.uk/product.php?sku=950571

The PC comes with an nvidia GeForce 7500LE - is the question about the x1300 card unrelated? I would think the 7500LE is at least as good as the x1300.

Looks good value.

I bought one of the Advent ones mentioned earlier in this thread - no problems at all - 12mths warranty.

Steve

triffidfood

foxyloxy wrote: »

This one:

http://www.currys.co.uk/product.php?sku=950571

The PC comes with an nvidia GeForce 7500LE - is the question about the x1300 card unrelated? I would think the 7500LE is at least as good as the x1300.

Looks good value.

I bought one of the Advent ones mentioned earlier in this thread - no problems at all - 12mths warranty.

Steve

Yep, that's the one.

The X1300 question was unrelated, I'm thinking of either upgrading my existing pc (onboard Intel graphics, PCI slot) or taking a deep breath & buying a new system, depending how much I can justify spending to myself....

Anyway thanks for the feedback .. I'm assuming that "dual core" is different to "core 2 duo" is it? (But either way at least a lot better than the incredibly slow Celeron 2.60 my current pc's got..... :rolleyes:)

foxyloxy

The Pentium D is simply two Pentium 4 Prescott cpus inefficiently paired together and ran as dual core.

The Core 2 Duo is Intel's second generation (hence, Core 2) processor made for desktops and laptops designed from the ground up to be fast while not consuming nearly as much power as previous CPUs.

Yep - either should be lots better than the Celeron.

This graphics card appears to be PCI for £30.24:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-nVidia-FX5200-256MB-Graphics/dp/B00026V8N0/

triffidfood

foxyloxy wrote: »

The Pentium D is simply two Pentium 4 Prescott cpus inefficiently paired together and ran as dual core.

The Core 2 Duo is Intel's second generation (hence, Core 2) processor made for desktops and laptops designed from the ground up to be fast while not consuming nearly as much power as previous CPUs.

Ahhh okay, I tried Googling this but didn't get anywhere ~ that's a very helpful explanation thanks!

This graphics card appears to be PCI for £30.24:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-nVidia-FX5200-256MB-Graphics/dp/B00026V8N0/

Looks good, good price .... I think the FX5200 & Radeon 9250 are kinda equivilant PCI cards, with the X1300 somewhat superior to both (from what I've read anyway), but it's next to impossible to find the X1300 so I may just settle for one of the former.

(The aim is basically to stop texture 'clipping' I get playing certain games, which apparently is entirely due to my onboard graphics).

Anyway thanks for the replies, I feel I'm a bit less floundering around in the dark now.........

roony

I noticed that the description on the website had this machine down as having a 512mb graphics card, when it's actually only a 128mb card.

Being cheeky and with nothing to lose I contacted the customer service department with this complaint and after a bit of a discussion they sent me a cheque for £80 to replace the card myself with a 512mb card.

Happy Days, good machine for £214 - £80 = £134 !!!!

voyager7

roony wrote: »

I noticed that the description on the website had this machine down as having a 512mb graphics card, when it's actually only a 128mb card.

Being cheeky and with nothing to lose I contacted the customer service department with this complaint and after a bit of a discussion they sent me a cheque for £80 to replace the card myself with a 512mb card.

Happy Days, good machine for £214 - £80 = £134 !!!!

Hi, how did you find out the card was only 128mb and do you have the number of the dept you called? I fear after a little digging I may discover that I too have been supplied with a 128mb card...

roony

Look at the properties in device manager, I'm sure they would all have been 128mb though as a 512mb card back when we bought these machines would have been very expensive. When I phoned I think they knew about the issue as I didn't have to provide any proof or take my machine into a store, they just sent the cheque.

I phoned the number on the website for customer services.