[cyberspyder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by craiglester /img/forum/go_quote.gif My guess would be you'll save a good 25% minimum, with good oarts, if you build yourself. I couldn't have bought my computer off the shelf for the money I paid. Mostly because no one had a similar spec to customise. you may need to look around, but I'd say 25% of $800 bucks is a lot of money. could be the differenece between a mediocre dual core and a quad core system. Right now you don't NEED quad core.. dual core is sufficient for almost everything. But it sure is nice to have when you're runiing certain software. I Love Supreme Commander on Quad core.

Here's my suggestion:

This PC is MORE than enough, but no sound card...I assume you have your own amp and such...so a sound card may not be all that necessary. If it's too expensive, or if you can't find the parts in UK, then get substitutes.





Brendan

 

[penger]

If you don't have specific needs, I'd say just buy a dell. For normal computers, their price performance is very hard to beat. They also have a lot of nice combo deals out there.

 

[Mysteek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meat01 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would go with a Dell or an HP Core 2 Duo system. I have a Dell and I have upgraded the memory, video card, added a hard drive and sound card , so I don't agree with or understand the lack of upgrade with pre-built systems. Luckily, I have never reformatted my system.

Ah. I've personally had problems with upgrading. My HP computer case was too small when I tried upgrading my power supply. Sure it fit, but so many wires caused ventilation problems and it was just a pain. The cheap motherboard that came with the computer also didn't support PC6400 ram (but that was my fault for not researching that ahead of time).
When I wanted to reformat, I had to use the backup discs made with the HP computer, which ended up not working because I got a new motherboard to support PC6400 ram. Even if the discs did work, I would have also had no choice but to restore all the junk that came with the computer as well.

Maybe I'm just picky.

 

[cyberspyder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mysteek /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ah. I've personally had problems with upgrading. My HP computer case was too small when I tried upgrading my power supply. Sure it fit, but so many wires caused ventilation problems and it was just a pain. The cheap motherboard that came with the computer also didn't support PC6400 ram (but that was my fault for not researching that ahead of time). When I wanted to reformat, I had to use the backup discs made with the HP computer, which ended up not working because I got a new motherboard to support PC6400 ram. Even if the discs did work, I would have also had no choice but to restore all the junk that came with the computer as well. Maybe I'm just picky.

 

[meat01]

I missed the part about being in the UK, so Dell and HP is probably pretty expensive. The computer Cyberspyder speced out is pretty good if you build your own. You may want to go with a P35 chipset motherboard from Asus or Gigabyte.

 

[Rob N]

Any problems with VISTA and older software that works okay on XP?

 

[cyberspyder]

In short, a big, resounding YES. Avoid Vista for now, stick with XP, trust me it'll be much more pleasant.

Brendan

 

[Rob N]

But if I buy an 'off the shelf' PC now it will have VISTA

 

[werdwerdus]

If you truly are only going to be using it for internet browsing and "general use", buy a pre-built one with 1GB of ram or more for around $500, and just buy the biggest hard drive you can afford. You won't need a fast, powerful video card or cpu to do basic tasks.

 

[Honken]

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...hs&~ck=expbuy3
Grab the widescreen monitor, dvd burner, wireless mouse and keyboard, speakers of your choice and the tv-tuner card...

Sounds like it's exactly what you were looking for to me?

 

[lostspyder]

If you get the entry computer (ie you don't add all kinds of RAM, memory card(s) or disk space), building one can actually be more expensive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by craiglester /img/forum/go_quote.gif My guess would be you'll save a good 25% minimum, with good oarts, if you build yourself. I couldn't have bought my computer off the shelf for the money I paid. Mostly because no one had a similar spec to customise. you may need to look around, but I'd say 25% of $800 bucks is a lot of money. could be the differenece between a mediocre dual core and a quad core system. Right now you don't NEED quad core.. dual core is sufficient for almost everything. But it sure is nice to have when you're runiing certain software. I Love Supreme Commander on Quad core.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

The super-generic Dell Inspiron 531 should have more computing power than you'll ever need for the Internet/MP3/Photo/Word/Calculator functions that a normal PC will ever encounter. (Just upgrade your RAM and buy a 2nd harddrive for safety)

If you like games, use mathmatica™, or simulate complex protien folding experiments you want a more powerful setup, but really... most people will do just fine with a computer from 1998.

 

[craiglester]

Quite true, if I you just want a basic simple pc I'd buy a dell or something generic. Much better value Not so upgradable perhaps though. Oh and i think you can still select XP on some dell pc's. Vostro line perhaps? Not sure about the UK though. What about a local pc store. I had a local one that woukld put stuff together for nothing if i was spending that kinda money. Might be worth asking in you local pc shop.

I was thinking if you're looking to spend $1000 to $1400 then you weren't looking for a basic machine. Well I would be expecting something pretty well above ordinary for that myself