Advice Needed Please! - Buying New Computer

FlyingDodo

Advice needed please, as my son wants to buy a computer and we are not sure what or where to buy one. He wants it really for gaming and has about £400 to spend, he doesnt necessarily need a monitor as he has an lcd tv which does both. type of games he likes playing are medival total war/Rome etc - any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance

Art_2

FlyingDodo wrote: »

Advice needed please, as my son wants to buy a computer and we are not sure what or where to buy one. He wants it really for gaming and has about £400 to spend, he doesnt necessarily need a monitor as he has an lcd tv which does both. type of games he likes playing are medival total war/Rome etc - any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance

I know a number of people who have bought from Dell and they are very happy with the results. If you talk to Dell they will customise a computer for you so you get what you want.

Alternatively, contact a few local computer shops and give them a chance to quote you.

If you go to one of the national companies my personal advice is to steer clear of PC World. Of the nationals Staples always have good deals and knowledgeable staff.

Once you get to know what you want take the spec and ask others to quote to it.

Finally, if you are really brave you could look on Ebay. You can even get Dell's on here cheaper than direct from Dell. They are returns but are guaranteed.

Regards,
Art.

FlyingDodo

Many thanks for the advice, we have been looking at Dell, and will probably give them a call to see what they can offer.

CHR15

It is difficult to advise but don't get baffled by processor speeds and hard drives etc.

For gaming there are three things to look at, Graphics, Graphics and Graphics!!

Make sure any machine you are quoted states specifically, that it has a dedicated graphics card.

The majority of pre-built machines have onboard graphics which will be of absolutely no use to you.

A fairly decent graphics card on its own will set you back the best part of £100 so its a good chunk of the budget already (which is why they use onboard!).

Make sure they tell you what graphics are included, then search it out (or post back for someone to advise)

Donnie

Be sure of what you want before you call Dell.....otherwise they'll sell you all sorts of extras. It's their job.

http://www.dmxdimension.com/

Sometimes worth waiting until a good deal is posted. Then you can ask about options for customizing.

FlyingDodo

Thanks for advice so far, I have phoned a local guy who we bought our comp from last year, and should be going to see one that he has, not sure on spec but can let you techies know later, all I know its a Hewlett Packard and he wants £325 + VAT I think he said it had a nvidia 7300 graphics card? Let you know later!

CHR15

Those graphics should be fine for the strategy games your son plays but it would struggle on the latest role playing/ First person shooters being released.

Much better than onboard graphics though.


http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119709

As you can see, the 7300 cost about £20-30 so don't expect too much.

It would be simple to upgrade later on, bearing in mind again, that a fairly decent graphics card will be the best part of £100