new PC tower needed - any advice??

saver123

Thinking of a new PC tower for myself. Have currently got a Packard Bell P4 3.06Ghz with 1GB RAM.

It is quite slow at various applications in my opinion.

I have seen a Vostro 200 on Dell website. Totals ar £281.48 inclusive of vat and shipping. spec below.... ( I definitely want to keep to XP Home and not Vista and my current 19" LCD screen and speakers are just fine).

PROCESSORIntel® Core™ 2 Duo E4500 Processor (2.20GHz,800MHz,2MB cache)OPERATING SYSTEMGenuine Windows® XP Home Edition - EnglishHARDWARE SUPPORT Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 30, _Action);"][/URL]MONITORMonitor Not included[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 5, _Action);"][/URL]MEMORY2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024][URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 3, _Action);"][/URL]HARD DRIVE500GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst™ cache[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 8, _Action);"][/URL]GRAPHICS CARDIntegrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 6, _Action);"][/URL]OPTICAL DRIVE16x DVD+/-RW & 16x DVD Drives[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 16, _Action);"][/URL]KEYBOARDDell™ Enhanced USB Multimedia Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 4, _Action);"][/URL]MOUSEDell Optical Scroll Premium Mouse[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 12, _Action);"][/URL]
MICROSOFT SOFTWAREMicrosoft® Works 8.5 - English[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(3, 25, _Action);"][/URL]SOUND SOFTWAREIntegrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(3, 17, _Action);"][/URL]SPEAKERSNo Speakers[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(3, 18, _Action);"][/URL]FLOPPY/MEDIA DRIVES19-in-1 Media Card Reader[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(3, 10, _Action);"][/URL]MODEMS








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Any advice as to whether I would see a significant change for the better bearing in mind I would be going from a 3.06Ghz to a 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo?

Thanks.

alictait

Hi there,

Check out THIS deal that is posted on HUKD by the dell guru miket !!!

Sounds very similar to your deal, but works out about £40 cheaper. I have just bought one of these to replace a P4 2.8ghz.and it should be a lot quicker at multi tasking. Was too good to be true

Remember to go through quidco, reduce the warranty and choose the 500gb hard drive as an extra.

HTH

You could also look at THIS deal, but I personally prefer the DELL

stan747

b4 throwing money at a new tower, try adding another gig of ram and de-fraging your hard drive, you'll be surprised at how much faster it will be as the hd swap file will be utilised less.

amdavies

The difference in speed will depend upon what you're using the machine for, try this:-

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html

I would pick a Pentium 4 3200 (slightly faster than your current processor I think ?) and the Core 2 Duo E4300 (slightly slower than then E4500) to compare.


I would double-check and make sure these machines have a PCI-E 16x slot for a graphics card. Being able to upgrade the graphics from the built-in one to something much faster if necessary is always nice to have.

Poppycat

Yeah ram is cheap and processor you have should be okay as long as you have a decent enough graphics card.

I agree with what Stan says above.

If all else fails you pc you have should be great for a 2nd pc

Patr100

What do you use your PC for? if just for internet , email and Word processing, you really aren't going to notice a great deal of difference.

A reformat/reinstall may be all you need. Be aware though that WinXp 32bit version which will be on your Packard Bell , will only recognise up to about 3.5 gigs of ram anyway.(officially 4gb)