New PC Options

bbhcmike

Finally getting round to an upgrade, and instantly remembered how confusing it can all be!

I am just looking for a speedy system for home use, nothing fancy.

I have heard about reconditioned PCs, as well as building my own, and looking at various bundle offers from places like Dell.

What would you guys recommend? I am looking for a spec around P4 3Ghz for around £500.

Lexis200

Dell is certainly a good bet... biggest manufacturer in the world and all that so they can afford to cut their margins, which means a good deal for us!

Whatever you do, I'd suggest you stick to the big names... I'm not knocking the little suppliers, but you tend to get better after sales support, and I'd steer well clear of 2nd hand stuff unless you know what you're looking for... you don't know how it's been treated. There are hundreds of of good suppliers though... try getting a copy of Computer Shopper and having a look, just don't go for a Tiny system :rotfl:

If you want to post the spec, and what you want to get out of the system (games, MP3, word processing etc), I'll let you know if it's likely to be suitable.

Donnie

http://uk.aldi.com/special_buys/product_311.html

Just outside your price range, as you may need to buy a monitor; http://uk.aldi.com/special_buys/product_312.html

The three year warranty alone would cost nearly £200 with Dell.

tr3mor

in my opinion the best £500ish PC around seems to be the mesh matrix ascenda. £599 including a 17" tft.

specs...
Athlon 64 3000
1gb ram
160gb HD
geforce 6600
dvd-rw

much better than any dell with a lack of ram and onboard graphics!!

https://www.meshcomputers.co.uk

rchddap1

Just built this for around £300 ish

AMD 64 3200
motherboard GA-K8NSC-939
1Gb Ram
80Gb HDD

Using my existing graphics card (Geforce FX 5500), monitor and windows xp home license

Toxteth_OGrady

PC Pro magazine has just run a lab test on 8 budget PCs. The winner was the Evesham Axis 32SB, with the Watford Aries Performa 5563 a close second. The former is £699 and the latter £499.

HTH

:cool:

TOG

bbhcmike

BUMP!

Still struggling guys. Can anyone tell me what the advantage of an Intel Pentium 4 processor is over something like an AMD if the processing speeds are the same????

I've always gone for Intel, but I think that may be just because of marketing!!

bbhcmike

For example, is this a 3Ghz processor or a 1.6????

AMD Sempron™ 3300+ Processor
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
ASUS K8V-MX Mainboard - 1600MHz, SATA

Confusing..... http://www.meshcomputers.com/updated/matrix_1_1.htm

wolfman

At current the AMD64's are the best cpu (generally speaking) on the market. Intel's are superior at certain tasks, but on the whole I'd go with an AMD64 at the moment. They're also cheaper, use less power and run cooler than the Prescott Core P4's.

My AMD64 3500+ is the first AMD I've had and I'm very pleased. I got rid of my P4 2.8Ghz Prescott and haven't looked back since.

rchddap1

My chip is an AMD 64 3200. It runs at around 2.2GHz. The range of sempron processors is a cheaper version of the AMD 64, with a corresponding reduction in features / performance...in the same way that a Celeron is the cheaper version of the Pentium 4 range for example.

This sempron will definately not run a 3GHz.

jampton

Nothing wrong with Dell for 'nothing fancy' system - for example most of the prices above include for a graphics card great if you want play games etc but I own a year old entry level Dell without a separate graphics card for internet, office, music and the occasional movie and I paid about £200.

Dell's are a great buy for a lot of people.