Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Thanks. I will go and add some parts together. Obviously that is a better spec for less, but is it enough difference to bother putting it together myself I will have to decide.
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Roughly £330, added links to my first post. Some AMD specs too...
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
This is what I would go for:
AMD X2 7750+ ~ £55
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...B-Cache-Retail
It is faster at stock speeds than an E5200 and also an X2 6000+ !
Asus 780G motherboard ~£60
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150278
It has very fast integrated graphics(basically an HD3450 without its own RAM) and every monitor output you can think off and solid capacitors
OCZ 2gb RAM ~ £18
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114728
FSP Blue Storm ~ £28
http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx
or
Silverstorm Strider 350w ~£23
http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx
Samsung 320gb F1 drive ~£38
http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx
Akasa Zen ~ £29
http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx
Vista Home Premium ~ £83
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123067
DVD writer ~ £16
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/154810
A lot of items are on Scan Today Only this weekend!! Remember there is free postage for Hexus members on Scan and free postage for orders over £49.99 at Ebuyer!
The total comes to £327 with the 400w PSU or £322 with the 350W PSU.
You can save a bit more money by going for an Asus barebones for around £101 instead:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151171
This has Nvidia 8200 graphics(basically an integrated 8500gt without the RAM). It also has a 300w PSU and a card reader included!! This will drop the price closer to £300.
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Have a look at BBBB it's cheap, powerful and you could down grade the GPU and save more money.
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...=D045002&s=dhs
This is like exactly the same but in a different case and a crapper intergrated graphics for £279. Should do the job if your grandad doesnt game.
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Another good website is this
http://www.dmxdimension.com/
Plenty of Dell systems
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
For part of the system, what about using this:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s....html?BB-E842P
£249, for a E8400 included with a case, 2gb ram, mobo and 400W PSU.
All you need is a 250Gb HD and a very cheap gpu.
That is a very strong CPU, and will be useful if he uses photoshop or anything.
Will also be alot more future proof than a E5200, being a top of the range 2 core cpu.
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Badbonji
For part of the system, what about using this:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s....html?BB-E842P
£249, for a E8400 included with a case, 2gb ram, mobo and 400W PSU.
All you need is a 250Gb HD and a very cheap gpu.
That is a very strong CPU, and will be useful if he uses photoshop or anything.
Will also be alot more future proof than a E5200, being a top of the range 2 core cpu.
What's the PSU on that like. will it go pop!!
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Will404
What's the PSU on that like. will it go pop!!
Also the cost of an OS needs to be added on top too.
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Infinite
Looks like a good option TBH.Excellent value for £279!!
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
That dell is surprisingly well balanced - definitely a good buy. I have a couple of laptops that use the mobile version of GMA3100 and it's more than good enough for general use.
Anyone else noiced that the upgrade price to a BD-RW + DVD ROM is less than just to a BD-RW? And if so, do you think it's a misprint (i.e. should be BD-ROM + DVD-RW)!?!
Personally, I'd probably go with the XP Pro / Vista Business option for an extra £40, but that's down to a personal hatred of Vista - I think £40 is a small price to pay to avoid it ;)
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
just a question about the RAM you have advised him to get, im upgrading my RAM aswell, in games in mind, what improvements am i expecting by replacing my 1GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 with OCZ 2gb RAM ~ £18
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114728
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
If you'd rather cut back the cost, and this machine is *really* only for interwebs and ceaning up the red-eye on digital photos, then this build may do the job:
Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 Motherboard £43.47
AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640 Processor £30.48
OCZ 2GB DDR2 800MHz Gold XTC Memory £17.99
Casecom Shiny Piano Black Mini Tower Case £20.66
Antec Basiq Power 350W ATX 12V PSU £27.92
Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB SATAII £40.06
LiteOn LH-20A1S 20X SATA DVD±RW £15.39
Grand total (pricing today on ebuyer) £195.97. For preference, I would add Windows XP Home 32bit for £69.99, but you could also choose Vista Home Premium 32bit for £10 more. Even with Vista + a decent keyboard and mouse you're going to be spending less than £300.
That said, the Dell @ £280 has more oomph in the processor, and given that all the other component are basically equivalent it's probably the better buy: the problem with building yourself is the cost of the OS...
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
Also the cost of an OS needs to be added on top too.
It is tested before sent, and should handle the system fine being in the build. A very good price for the cpu in it imo... Given that he had a mouse+keyboard I would have though he would have an OS install disk from the last pc...
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Badbonji
It is tested before sent, and should handle the system fine being in the build. A very good price for the cpu in it imo... Given that he had a mouse+keyboard I would have though he would have an OS install disk from the last pc...
??????????? It is nothing to do about the whether it can run Vista or not!! By the time you add the cost of the barebones, a hard disk,optical drive and Vista you are on the limits(or are even exceeding) the budget of £350.
Also TBH how good is the PSU?? If it is a cheap unbranded £10 to £15 unit what is the point?? Even Dell tends to use FSP units.
Even if the last PC is running XP it is likely to be an OEM install which comes with a recovery disk and not an installation disk.
The OP's grandad is only using the computer for internet browsing and some image editing which means that the £279 Dell listed is the best option.
The specs of the Dell:
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core E5200 processor (2.5GHz, 800MHz, 2MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 32-bit - English
1 Year Limited Warranty - Collect & Return
Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word)
2048MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
Display Not Included
320GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator 3100
DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)
Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Optical Mouse - Black
Accessories
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English
Integrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio
No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
19-in-1 Media Card Reader
No Modem
Services & Software
No Accidental Damage Support
DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 1 year
Also Includes
Resource DVD - (Diagnostics & Drivers)
English Documentation with UK/Irish Power Cord
D045002
Inspiron Desktop Order Uk
1Yr Limited Warranty - Collect & Return
Dell Internet Order
You only have to add a monitor!! It also comes complete with a keyboard and mouse and a card reader too!! :)
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm edging towards the Dell.
The old system originally came from Novatech and has XP pro already installed. I can't recall seeing the original windows install disk however.
I've been very happy with Vista Business on my system. Is the home premium version not so good?
He doesn't even do any photo editing. He just takes photos from his camera and runs off some prints.
Re: £300-350 base unit spec
Quote:
Originally Posted by
adsmithy
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm edging towards the Dell.
The old system originally came from Novatech and has XP pro already installed. I can't recall seeing the original windows install disk however.
I've been very happy with Vista Business on my system. Is the home premium version not so good?
He doesn't even do any photo editing. He just takes photos from his camera and runs off some prints.
For the average user there will be not much difference!!
You can check here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...s/default.aspx
I would go with the £279 Dell. It means less hassle sourcing the parts and assembling the PC and also means Dell needs to support it to if anything does wrong initially(unlikely).
TBH you can always upgrade the warranty to a 4 year In-Home Warranty Support( including evenings and Saturdays) for £89 or the 2 year version for £69 if you want to cover any hardware failures.
However I do not think even this is required as in my experience of Dell PCs I have had no issues with my one at work which is 3+ years old and even ones which are older than this. They tend to do the job well.
The fact it also comes with a new keyboard and mouse and a card reader is an added bonus. I would definitely switch off Aero and hard disk indexing in Vista as it will make things much more smoother running.
You can even make Vista look like XP:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2134805_wind...k-like-xp.html
