Wanting a new system

[oblivion_6]

Hi guys,

Ive been browsing the web today looking for a new system to replace my clapped out banger

And i thought maybe you guys would have some good suggestions

Budget is at max ?500

For that I would like

a very good pci-express gfx
1gb+ddr400
3ghz+CPU
at least 200gb HD

and if possible a 17" tft as well included

ANyone know of any good deals out there?

Cheers

[talizker]

I would keep my eye on Dell to be honest. A couple of weeks back they had Dimension 5100 with 3GHz P4 / 1Gb Memory / 160Gb HDD / 17" TFT for ?410 delivered, leaving ?90 spare for a GeForce 6600GT There's nothing good this week but they will have new offers tomorrow.

[Widegoat]

Are these systems robust?

I mean - what type of motherboard is in that for example? I want a decent PC too, I just spent 600UKP on a Acer laptop, and frankly not bothering to go into any detail - it's ****e.

I haven't looked at the market for ages, but have we moved into an age where buying a pre-assembled PC is better than building one for yourself?

[talizker]

Are these systems robust?

I mean - what type of motherboard is in that for example? I want a decent PC too, I just spent 600UKP on a Acer laptop, and frankly not bothering to go into any detail - it's ****e.

I haven't looked at the market for ages, but have we moved into an age where buying a pre-assembled PC is better than building one for yourself?

I'm sure you are aware that machines like Dell use propriety cases / motherboards etc. The 5100 is a decent, quiet machine that with a suitable graphics card will easily play the latest games. You would certainly struggle to build the same spec PC for ?410. They are not necesserily better but for ?410 they are hard to beat.

[Widegoat]

I didn't know that Dell machines used proprietary mother boards, no!

Thanks for that, very interesting.

[talizker]

I didn't know that Dell machines used proprietary mother boards, no!

Thanks for that, very interesting.

I know that some of the Optiplex's have Asus boards but they are specific to Dell. The basic rule of thumb is that Case, MB and PSU is not standard - everything else should be

[oblivion_6]

THanks for the info guys

I like the look of the dells and for what you say the cash price is hard to beat

i used to build my own machines, i built the last one and saved a fair bit

But its looking more and more like its cheaper to just buy one built

One other question, you think its worthwhile getting a PCI-E board or just sticking with AGP?

[talizker]

One other question, you think its worthwhile getting a PCI-E board or just sticking with AGP?

If you go for a Dell they are all PCI-E. PCI-E cards tend to be slightly cheaper than the AGP versions and sometimes everso slightly faster (acording to the benchmarks!). More and more cards are coming out either first, or only as PCI-E now so no reason not to go for one.

[Len]

Scary dell story coming up...

http://ivlad.unixgods.net/lj/keylog/klog.htm

Though that was obviously a US machine and can't vouch for the authenticity of the story. Still well dodgy...

[superkully]

Are these systems robust?

I'm sitting here typing on a DELL which hasn't been switched off (other than to restart) for coming up 18 months - never a problem.

Here at work, we have Dell machines (desktops and rack mount servers) from early 2000 which have been plugged in and running since then.

Dell stuff is very solidly made and replacing bits is easy as pie. However, I can't vouch for the quality of the components used in their consumer lines and I wouldn't buy a DELL personally because it's much better to build it yourself, you'll know exactly what you have.

[BlackHammer]

Oblivion,

Just a word of warning chap. I just ordered a Dimension 5100 from Dell and allthough im totally happy with it as I got a great deal, the side panels of the tower are white. Just wanted to let you know as I was pretty shocked to say the least when I yanked it out of it's box. - It looked silver to me on their website!