New desktop advice and suggestion please

[Wardy7]

Hi guys. My first post here and I am here asking for help, what a cheeky sod I am

I am in need of a new desktop, I don't want to build one myself, I'd prefer to keep it simple and get one "off the shelf". I've looked at Dell & Mesh and just don't know what to go for.
I have around £800 to spend which if it can come with a widescreen monitor that would be nice but no worries if not (I currently have 2 17" monitors).

I don't play games but do want a fast machine that is going to keep me going and not slow down. I work for myself from home and use it for web design (dreamweaver) & some paintshop pro as well as the usual internet related things (email, forums, videos, music etc).

I would ideall like it to support 3 monitors but thats perhaps me being greedy and I could do with just 2 I guess, I like the diea of being able to add a third if I wanted.

I have looked at the:
Elite Pro A6600 LE - meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=425896&APPS=210544
and also the
Dell XPS 420 - euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsdt_420?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs
***I can't post links yet as I've not done 5 posts***
If I'm honest there was no particular reason to looking at them as I'm not all that brilliant when looking at computer specs!

So I am after some help and advice please guys on a computer to go for that is going to stay fast and reliable and keep a smile on my face

Cheers
Wardy

[Webby]

If you want 3 monitors you will need 2 graphics cards, so you are going to need a board with 2x PCIe x16 slots open ended 4x slot or be resigned to a PCI card.

Have you considered Scan's building service 3XS? They will probably build whatever you ask them to if you get hold of them.

At a guess I think I could spec you up a PC to build yourself well within the budget including monitor but as you would rather not here are a few things to look for in the specs,

Quad core (if you think multitasking is what you do!)
4GB memory DDR2-800 or faster
Decent quality power supply (if they don't say what it is ask!)
Vista 64 home premium (unless you know of a program you use that has 64 bit or Vista issues)

[DaveVader]

Pretty much what Webby said, I was gonna recommend 3XS and if you need advice on parts, ask, we can help you spec up a PC to get from Scan or what not.
Also, as Webby said, 4GB of memory and Quad core.

[Wardy7]

Thanks for the replies guys, it's mucho appreciated!

OK, after a bit of a think I guess I don't really need 3 monitors to be honest, I'm just after more than I really probably need.
I'm not actually after building one myself, I'd probably stick the graphics card into the keyboard and the mouse into a DVI slot
I have just looked at scan (hav enever heard of them before now). They have a load of machines, in the past I've tended to look at gaming machines as I've thought that they will run fast.

I'll have another look later at possibilties with Quad Core & 4GB memory and then try and narrow down what they have and ask for more suggestions.

Cheers
Wardy

[Wardy7]

Well I've just had a look on the Scan site and there is no 3XS machine swith Quad core & 4GB memory.

I've just looked back on Mesh (I think I read on here quite a few are not a fan of Mesh though?) for Quad Cores with 4GB memory & Vista Premium 64 bit!

Xtreme Gamer - £649
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q8200 Quad Core Processor(2.33GHz,4MB Cache,1333MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English
Coolermaster Dominator 690 High Performance ATX Midi Tower + 550W PSU
ASUS P5QL Pro Mainboard - Intel P43 - Intel Core™ 2 Duo/ Quad/ Extreme - ATX
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM - (2x 2GB)
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
Samsung 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer Super Format +R/-R/RW/RAM
512MB ATi 4850 Graphics accelerator - DVI, DirectX 10.1 PCI Express 2

Xtreme SLI - £749
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9400 Quad Core Processor(2.66GHz,6MB Cache,1333MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English
Coolermaster Dominator 690 High Performance ATX Midi Tower + 550W PSU
ASUS P5N-D Mainboard - Nvidia nForce 750i SLI - Intel Core™ 2 Duo/ Quad/ Extreme - ATX
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM - (2x 2GB)
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
Blu-ray ROM Player Dual layer DVD Writer 24 x CD Writer
1024MB nVIDIA GeForce 9600GT - Dual DVI, HDTV, TV Out


Xtreme Q6600 LE - £799
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor(2.4GHz,8MB Cache,1066MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English
Coolermaster Dominator 690 High Performance ATX Midi Tower + 550W PSU
ASUS P5QL Pro Mainboard - Intel P43 - Intel Core™ 2 Duo/ Quad/ Extreme - ATX
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM - (2x 2GB)
750GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer
Samsung 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer Super Format +R/-R/RW/RAM
1024MB nVIDIA GeForce 9600GT - Dual DVI, HDTV, TV Out
22" Widescreen LCD TFT Digital Display (DVI, 5ms)

Cheers
Wardy

[Maccer101]

Do you need to spend £800?

You can get a Dell 530 inspiron with Quad core and 2gb ram with integrated graphics (no monitor) for only £300 from Tesco Direct. Anyone can easily add another 2gb ram for £25 and an okay graphics card for £50, the dell will take an extra Hard drive if you need. It won't be 64bit but it'll be plenty fast and under £400 if you use the 2 screens you have. IMHO with prebuilt systems I think its better to buy something cheap but fast every 2-3 years than forking out £700-900 for a prebuilt system and keeping it longer.

[Wardy7]

I don't have to spend that much no, it's just a figure I had in my head for a limit really to try and get myself something good

[Wardy7]

Which of the following 2 would people get if they had the choice?

Xtreme SLI - £749
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9400 Quad Core Processor(2.66GHz,6MB Cache,1333MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English
Coolermaster Dominator 690 High Performance ATX Midi Tower + 550W PSU
ASUS P5N-D Mainboard - Nvidia nForce 750i SLI - Intel Core™ 2 Duo/ Quad/ Extreme - ATX
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM - (2x 2GB)
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
Blu-ray ROM Player Dual layer DVD Writer 24 x CD Writer
1024MB nVIDIA GeForce 9600GT - Dual DVI, HDTV, TV Out

Elite Pro A6600 LE - £749
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor(2.4GHz,8MB Cache,1066MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 64-bit - English
MESH Midi-Tower ATX Case + 550W PSU - 190mm(W) x 420mm(H) x 480mm(D)
ASUS P5QL Pro Mainboard - Intel P43 - Intel Core™ 2 Duo/ Quad/ Extreme - ATX
8192MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM - (4 x 2GB)
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
Samsung 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer Super Format +R/-R/RW/RAM
1024MB nVIDIA GeForce 9600GT - Dual DVI, HDTV, TV Out
22" Widescreen LCD TFT Digital Display (DVI, 5ms)

Cheers
Wardy